I don't care what WTM says about MA Taylor. I'd much prefer him in CF while Jack platoons with the best RH outfielder in the org. At worst this is the Bucs going from almost the worst OF metric to average.
Are people looking at his career splits against Lefties? I am assuming he was signed to play center when a lefty starts and make some appearances late in games for defensive purposes. While not sexy (and still strikes out a lot), his career against left handers is decent and was last year. He CAN hit against lefties and if that is how he is used then the team is better.
Who’s his platoon partner? I think he was signed to be he full-time center fielder. Bae might not even make the team, so who’s the lefty starter in center or right?
I guess my initial guess is: vs. RHP: Reynolds - Suwinski - Olivares/Palacios/Cutch vs. LHP: Reynolds - Taylor - Olivares(maybe occasionally Jack). IMO Olivares will be more than a platoon starter so will get starts against LHP and RHP (he was about league avg. vs RHP).
Jason Mackey’s article on the signing says that Taylor will be the regular center fielder, with Olivares in the fourth outfielder role. Cutch has not played a single inning in the outfield this spring —- that ship has sailed. No idea what the thinking is on Palacios.
They're not paying Taylor $4M to platoon. In Nuttin's pitiful world, that's Ohtani money. And Shelton has no history of being realistic about veteran hitters who badly need to platoon. When the Clownshow signs a crappy veteran, he's going to be a starter.
I like the addition for defensive purposes in center, think he's more of a platoon/ defensive sub. At $4 million it's good value, let's hope he has a career year with the bat.
This is the first move, other than the Gonzalez trade and re-upping Cutch, that has made sense all offseason. I have a strange feeling that they got Olivares into camp and realized they made a mistake. At least they are trying to correct it now... better not to have made it though and gone after a CFer from the get go.
Yep, I don't mind the Pérez and Chapman signings. I think they'll overplay Taylor but as long as his defense is top notch it still should be a positive.
The Perez signing was a little too risky for me and may have been trying to stretch dollars a little too far. I would have rather they pooled that money with the money they gave Chapman and got themselves a solid starter on a 2 or 3 year deal. That being said, Perez, when he has it, is very good. The contrasting horizontal movement of his two-seamer and cutter is lethal. The problem is that there is no plan B when he does not have it, and he did not have it too often last season. The potential is there if he can get in a zone for a long while though to imitate a #2 starter.
I agree with pooling the money used on a more sure 3 starter that could fake being a 2. With Oviedo out I thought one mid rotation and 2 bounce back backend starters. With Gonzalez and Perez they filled the bill as backend pieces but still left the more important mid rotation spot vacant.
Is there a way to access the Pirate content anymore? There used to be a team cloud on the right side that would pull up all Pirate articles. Can't find that shit to save my life anymore.
Michael A. Taylor--okay! Who had been regularly calling for this move? I like it--I've been hoping we'd solidify the OF defense and this would seem to do that, while also making us less dependent on Olivares and Palacios who each still have much to prove.
I remain baffled that folks are in favor of this. They're adding a guy with a putrid career wRC+ of 82 to a team that's been starved for offense throughout Clownshow Cherington's tenure. He had an OBP of .278 last year. Out of 245 players with 350+ PAs, he ranked 234th. Awful signing. Pham would have made far more sense, but of course there are other teams interested in him, so the Pirates checked out as always.
82 wRC+ from an elite defensive CFer is completely acceptable. Guy hit 21 HRs last year in 360 ABs. This is a serious upgrade from where they were. What is the alternative to an OF of Reynolds, Taylor, Suwinski? Reynolds, Suwinski, Olivares? There is no way that the latter is better than the former. Olivares may not even put up an 82wRC+ over the course of a full season, and defensively the former OF configuration is miles ahead of the latter. This is good! Hands down... good.
Cherington would approve! Make no effort at all to upgrade the OF, then sign a super cheap OF with a career wRC+ that'd rank him 94th out of 105 OFs with 350+ PAs, and be hailed as a genius because you've "improved" at a position where you made no effort! Brilliant!!
See my other comment about suspecting that have realized that they made a mistake with Olivares. I would have preferred they go after a good CFer from the first moment of the off-season, but I'll take this over nothing. I seriously think that having an elite CFer at PNC is worth several wins. I lost count of how many times I thought better defense in CF would have saved the Pirates runs and games last season. I will go so far as to say that the addition of Taylor gives them an outside chance of making the playoffs, if they stay fairly healthy and Perez and Gonzalez prove OK. I would have laughed at anyone who said they had a chance at the playoffs before this acquisition. I feel that strongly about the importance of CF defense at PNC and how much of an upgrade Taylor is over Olivares. Of course, I watched Olivares a lot last year.
As a straight platoon (which I hope is what is happening) this is not that bad. He has been significantly better against lefties his entire career and is miscast as a full time starter. If he repeats his career ops against lefties then this could work out. It also does give options for late inning defense which were quite sparse with almost all others in the outfield derby.
Based on his last three years and projections, it seems that he can be counted on for 1.5-2.0 WAR and that's based on ~400 PAs. That kind of contribution would have ranked about 5th on last year's roster, so he seems to upgrade the team. I know defensive WAR is more subject to error than offensive WAR, but with a pitching staff that isn't going to get a lot of whiffs (at least not until we promote Skenes), strengthening the defense is a logical approach.
The projection systems think he’s going to regress to a 1 WARish player. Offensively the Statcast was a sea of blue except for the barrel %. His HR/FB was decently high for his career, 10% above his career average. I wouldn’t expect too much beyond the defense.
Can you translate for us plebes? I know I read that article the other day, but smoke too much to retain that info. I haven't progressed past WAR and OPS+ lol
Barco, Bubba and Bowen are my biggest takeaways. They are all three look legit. Bowen could solve the centerfield position while moving Suwinski to RF. I really like his game. Bubba looked electric and I think he’ll be in Pittsburgh sooner rather than later. I mean wouldn’t be surprised if he’s next years Jones in camp. Barco looked fantastic as well. Excited to see how he fairs this year and how quick he moves up. Side notes Reilly and Curtis look like they could be really good bullpen arms within the next year or so. Exciting stuff.
If these guys reach their potential that could be a World Series rotation. Not to mention they still have priester, Ortiz, burrows, Harrington and Barco too. I have to think at least 4 of this group will slot in nicely with Keller.
There will be attrition via injury and guys just losing it ala Contreras. The Pirates have not shown an ability to fix mechanical issues as they crop up outsourcing such work to Driveline, but Driveline must wait for the offseason. Mechanics are a constant thing and bad habits, once developed over a season, can be hard to break. Whatever the case, the talent is there for a good pitching staff.
Yes, there is a lot of potential but I'm only allowing myself to be cautiously optimistic given that
1. We've been loaded with pitching in the past that didn't fully pan out;
2. This administration hasn't proven they can help pitchers make the AAA-MLB jump.
One reason I liked Skenes as a pick was he didn't require a lot of projection to be a TOR starter, but if Jones can make the jump I'll feel a little less cautious in my optimism about Chandler, Solo, Mueth, Harrington, and others.
I also think some are pretty far over their skis on a few of these guys. Tony Solometo could become a solid #4 - exactly what he's projected to be - and I'm guessing a lot of fans will be disappointed in that looking like 2022 JT Brubaker.
Enjoyed watching some baseball for the first time this year. Man am I drinking the prospect Kool-Aid this year. Things just seem to be different and I can't help be excited. Last year's 14 game improvement is adding fuel to my fire!
Was down at Pirate city on Monday, Forrester had a nice RBI double off of Keller
Pirates released infielder Josh Bissonette and catcher Eybert Escalona. They must be pushing up against the new lower roster limit for the minors
And they did it the day after I finally got a recent photo of Bissonette.
Pirates sign Domingo German to MiL deal.
Includes major league option for 2025.
Still odd that we sign him but not bauer....or clevinger or lorenzen.
Cutch or MA Taylor - best value?
For me a competent CF is a must. An aging no-field very average RH hitter is very much much a luxury.
I don't care what WTM says about MA Taylor. I'd much prefer him in CF while Jack platoons with the best RH outfielder in the org. At worst this is the Bucs going from almost the worst OF metric to average.
He can’t hit. The Bucs can’t afford another offensive sink hole in the lineup.
Are people looking at his career splits against Lefties? I am assuming he was signed to play center when a lefty starts and make some appearances late in games for defensive purposes. While not sexy (and still strikes out a lot), his career against left handers is decent and was last year. He CAN hit against lefties and if that is how he is used then the team is better.
He can hold his own against LHP and protect leads after 7inns.
Who’s his platoon partner? I think he was signed to be he full-time center fielder. Bae might not even make the team, so who’s the lefty starter in center or right?
I guess my initial guess is: vs. RHP: Reynolds - Suwinski - Olivares/Palacios/Cutch vs. LHP: Reynolds - Taylor - Olivares(maybe occasionally Jack). IMO Olivares will be more than a platoon starter so will get starts against LHP and RHP (he was about league avg. vs RHP).
Jason Mackey’s article on the signing says that Taylor will be the regular center fielder, with Olivares in the fourth outfielder role. Cutch has not played a single inning in the outfield this spring —- that ship has sailed. No idea what the thinking is on Palacios.
They're not paying Taylor $4M to platoon. In Nuttin's pitiful world, that's Ohtani money. And Shelton has no history of being realistic about veteran hitters who badly need to platoon. When the Clownshow signs a crappy veteran, he's going to be a starter.
Soooo, we can have nice things?
This exhibition series is the best thing Manfred has done in his tenure. Full stop.
I like the addition for defensive purposes in center, think he's more of a platoon/ defensive sub. At $4 million it's good value, let's hope he has a career year with the bat.
This is the first move, other than the Gonzalez trade and re-upping Cutch, that has made sense all offseason. I have a strange feeling that they got Olivares into camp and realized they made a mistake. At least they are trying to correct it now... better not to have made it though and gone after a CFer from the get go.
Yep, I don't mind the Pérez and Chapman signings. I think they'll overplay Taylor but as long as his defense is top notch it still should be a positive.
The Perez signing was a little too risky for me and may have been trying to stretch dollars a little too far. I would have rather they pooled that money with the money they gave Chapman and got themselves a solid starter on a 2 or 3 year deal. That being said, Perez, when he has it, is very good. The contrasting horizontal movement of his two-seamer and cutter is lethal. The problem is that there is no plan B when he does not have it, and he did not have it too often last season. The potential is there if he can get in a zone for a long while though to imitate a #2 starter.
I agree with pooling the money used on a more sure 3 starter that could fake being a 2. With Oviedo out I thought one mid rotation and 2 bounce back backend starters. With Gonzalez and Perez they filled the bill as backend pieces but still left the more important mid rotation spot vacant.
Taylor!!!!
Can you give me the TLDR on what VAA means?
TLDR version. Vertical Approach Angle
FF:
-4.0 VAA: Flat, elite
-5.0 VAA: Dead zone. Bad
-6.0 VAA: Steep (sink), good if used right (Musgrove)
SI:
-5.0 VAA: Flat, more of a two-seamer
-6.0 VAA: Bad
-7.0 VAA: Steep, elite sink (Holmes)
there is no such thing, one must read Nola's piece and memorize it
And I need to add on to it, probably lol
YES SIR
The scouting primer series FanGraphs is doing right now is great.
Is there a way to access the Pirate content anymore? There used to be a team cloud on the right side that would pull up all Pirate articles. Can't find that shit to save my life anymore.
Good question, didn't know that ever existed!
https://www.fangraphs.com/blog-roll?category=Pirates
Not sure if that pulls in all the sites content or not, but it's something.
I read and enjoyed those. They also had a good article about GM’s making their first trades. Some quality content from FG lately.
MAT signing is pretty solid! Defense just took a BIG step forward assuming that puts jack in right at times
Yet another one-size-fits-all acquisition by Ben and Andy.
Michael A. Taylor--okay! Who had been regularly calling for this move? I like it--I've been hoping we'd solidify the OF defense and this would seem to do that, while also making us less dependent on Olivares and Palacios who each still have much to prove.
I remain baffled that folks are in favor of this. They're adding a guy with a putrid career wRC+ of 82 to a team that's been starved for offense throughout Clownshow Cherington's tenure. He had an OBP of .278 last year. Out of 245 players with 350+ PAs, he ranked 234th. Awful signing. Pham would have made far more sense, but of course there are other teams interested in him, so the Pirates checked out as always.
82 wRC+ from an elite defensive CFer is completely acceptable. Guy hit 21 HRs last year in 360 ABs. This is a serious upgrade from where they were. What is the alternative to an OF of Reynolds, Taylor, Suwinski? Reynolds, Suwinski, Olivares? There is no way that the latter is better than the former. Olivares may not even put up an 82wRC+ over the course of a full season, and defensively the former OF configuration is miles ahead of the latter. This is good! Hands down... good.
Cherington would approve! Make no effort at all to upgrade the OF, then sign a super cheap OF with a career wRC+ that'd rank him 94th out of 105 OFs with 350+ PAs, and be hailed as a genius because you've "improved" at a position where you made no effort! Brilliant!!
See my other comment about suspecting that have realized that they made a mistake with Olivares. I would have preferred they go after a good CFer from the first moment of the off-season, but I'll take this over nothing. I seriously think that having an elite CFer at PNC is worth several wins. I lost count of how many times I thought better defense in CF would have saved the Pirates runs and games last season. I will go so far as to say that the addition of Taylor gives them an outside chance of making the playoffs, if they stay fairly healthy and Perez and Gonzalez prove OK. I would have laughed at anyone who said they had a chance at the playoffs before this acquisition. I feel that strongly about the importance of CF defense at PNC and how much of an upgrade Taylor is over Olivares. Of course, I watched Olivares a lot last year.
As a straight platoon (which I hope is what is happening) this is not that bad. He has been significantly better against lefties his entire career and is miscast as a full time starter. If he repeats his career ops against lefties then this could work out. It also does give options for late inning defense which were quite sparse with almost all others in the outfield derby.
You know they’ll play him full time.
Based on his last three years and projections, it seems that he can be counted on for 1.5-2.0 WAR and that's based on ~400 PAs. That kind of contribution would have ranked about 5th on last year's roster, so he seems to upgrade the team. I know defensive WAR is more subject to error than offensive WAR, but with a pitching staff that isn't going to get a lot of whiffs (at least not until we promote Skenes), strengthening the defense is a logical approach.
The projection systems think he’s going to regress to a 1 WARish player. Offensively the Statcast was a sea of blue except for the barrel %. His HR/FB was decently high for his career, 10% above his career average. I wouldn’t expect too much beyond the defense.
This said, part of me is just happy when Cherington makes any effort to upgrade the team no matter how small that upgrade is.
That's the plan. Do so little to improve the team that any move at all seems like a good thing. Setting the bar so low it's subterranean.
I feel like an asshole every time fans get excited over literally any semblance of prospect success or an attempt to acquire better players.
Astros about to lose Urquidy. They're dropping like flies out there.
Barco had a -4.6 VAA on his sinker. That'd be quality for a FF. But it was a sinker (two-seam)!!!!
Barco had a -4.6 VAA on his sinker. That'd be quality for a FF. But it was a sinker (two-seam)!!!!
Knowing that Bubba was at 20” of IVB last year and now knowing his VAA…. 🤌🤌🤌
Can you translate for us plebes? I know I read that article the other day, but smoke too much to retain that info. I haven't progressed past WAR and OPS+ lol
same.
Barco, Bubba and Bowen are my biggest takeaways. They are all three look legit. Bowen could solve the centerfield position while moving Suwinski to RF. I really like his game. Bubba looked electric and I think he’ll be in Pittsburgh sooner rather than later. I mean wouldn’t be surprised if he’s next years Jones in camp. Barco looked fantastic as well. Excited to see how he fairs this year and how quick he moves up. Side notes Reilly and Curtis look like they could be really good bullpen arms within the next year or so. Exciting stuff.
Skenes, Kelller, Bubba, Solo, and Jones in the rotation coming to you soon 😀 Brubaker, Burrowas Ashcraft, Barco, Harrington in reserve…😀😀😀
I hope Harrington is not hurt. I thought I saw something special about him at Pirate City this year that I can't really explain.
I'm worried, since they referenced his shoulder. OTOH, there are several recent examples of shoulder impingement or tightness that turned out fine.
If these guys reach their potential that could be a World Series rotation. Not to mention they still have priester, Ortiz, burrows, Harrington and Barco too. I have to think at least 4 of this group will slot in nicely with Keller.
There will be attrition via injury and guys just losing it ala Contreras. The Pirates have not shown an ability to fix mechanical issues as they crop up outsourcing such work to Driveline, but Driveline must wait for the offseason. Mechanics are a constant thing and bad habits, once developed over a season, can be hard to break. Whatever the case, the talent is there for a good pitching staff.
Yes, there is a lot of potential but I'm only allowing myself to be cautiously optimistic given that
1. We've been loaded with pitching in the past that didn't fully pan out;
2. This administration hasn't proven they can help pitchers make the AAA-MLB jump.
One reason I liked Skenes as a pick was he didn't require a lot of projection to be a TOR starter, but if Jones can make the jump I'll feel a little less cautious in my optimism about Chandler, Solo, Mueth, Harrington, and others.
I also think some are pretty far over their skis on a few of these guys. Tony Solometo could become a solid #4 - exactly what he's projected to be - and I'm guessing a lot of fans will be disappointed in that looking like 2022 JT Brubaker.
Yeah... I think some of the expectations here are too high. If Solometo becomes a solid 4th starter, I would be quite happy with that outcome.
Enjoyed watching some baseball for the first time this year. Man am I drinking the prospect Kool-Aid this year. Things just seem to be different and I can't help be excited. Last year's 14 game improvement is adding fuel to my fire!