Toggle sidebar

OT: Pirates Talk: Lets Play Ball

If they can win this, it makes yesterday's multi run, blown lead, by the usual suspects, all that much worse. And I put that on Shelton, which is also a usual script for him. Continue trotting out pitchers who have sucked for a long stretch prior to now, in clutch spots. Just because Bednar is on the roster, doesn't mean he needs to be in the closer's role. He doesn't deserve it based on merit/performance.

So, for the love of all that is holy Shelton, keep Keller in the game for the entire 9 if he's doing well.
 
Keller, against the bottom of the order in the 7th, should be an automatic send at 86 pitches.

Unless we blow it open here, you're going to see at least 1 of Holderman/Bednar in the 8th/9th so hold onto your butts.

Edit - Shelton pulls Keller for the 7th....
 
Last edited:
This should be it for Bednar.

It is so obvious that he is actually Wil Crowe that had crazy aura for a couple years. But the aura is gone. He should be in Korea next year
 
The way this played out was even more fitting than the ho hum meaningless win we were on track to secure anyways.

As the game was winding down, I thought to myself: "alright, this is a fine win and what should happen with a good starter vs this abysmal lineup. It still doesn't matter much because right now we should be thinking about whether we can actually pull off the 4-game sweep again or not and maybe get some lucky momentum to kickstart the year".

Instead, we still got the meaningless win, but it came with a reinforcement that the disaster class bullpen we saw last night is probably going to be a constant threat to any of the wins we can deliver to the late innings. That's fitting given how this team handled basically everything headed into this season.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Big McLargehuge and DaveG
NewAgeOutlaw said:
And that is why saves are a dumb stat.

I don't know if he is tipping or if his 4 seam lost spin and made it too hittable in the zone but he is washed.
Click to expand...

I think on this we can agree. His fastball never blew away the eye test to me, but it was crazy effective from '21-'23. The wheels totally came off the pitch last year and this year it is more of the same. He has a nice curve but he can't pitch backwards nor should we employ a closer that has to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DaveG
DJ Spinoza said:
The way this played out was even more fitting than the ho hum meaningless win we were on track to secure anyways.

As the game was winding down, I thought to myself: "alright, this is a fine win and what should happen with a good starter vs this abysmal lineup. It still doesn't matter much because right now we should be thinking about whether we can actually pull off the 4-game sweep again or not and maybe get some lucky momentum to kickstart the year".

Instead, we still got the meaningless win, but it came with a reinforcement that the disaster class bullpen we saw last night is probably going to be a constant threat to any of the wins we can deliver to the late innings. That's fitting given how this team handled basically everything headed into this season.
Click to expand...

Mlod better be a dynamic freaking starter because otherwise we totally destabilized the bullpen just because Jones and Oviedo are hurt. If we had that guy with Santana and the lefties and put Bednar out to pasture, I would feel much better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Spinoza and DaveG
Shelton has the line up card and pitchers. Full stop, in game management with him is an F grade. If he spoke candidly, he's say how atrocious the roster is, especially the bullpen arms, but his arrogance in giving Bednar closing reps is a microcosm of how bad he is as a manager, 6 years later, with no end in sight.

Last year, the spring, and the first 2 games of the year, will change nothing. I promise you that much.

But we really should be 2-0, rather easily if a competent manager was running the game day roster.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DaveG
ImporterExporter said:
Shelton has the line up card and pitchers. Full stop, in game management with him is an F grade. If he spoke candidly, he's say how atrocious the roster is, especially the bullpen arms, but his arrogance in giving Bednar closing reps is a microcosm of how bad he is as a manager, 6 years later, with no end in sight.

Last year, the spring, and the first 2 games of the year, will change nothing. I promise you that much.

But we really should be 2-0, rather easily if a competent manager was running the game day roster.
Click to expand...

This is absurd. Cherington re-signed Bednar to be the closer, full stop. He is the highest paid arm in the pen. The expectation was that he had the job until he blew it, which is generally 2-3 blown saves for closers.
 
I agree that Shelton is too stubborn and old school in that he's gonna run his guy right back out there, but the more depressing thing is that it doesn't really look like anybody in the group is going to stand out.

Santana was great last year but out of nowhere. Holderman is easily worse than Bednar IMO. Bouruki is fine but just a guy.

I think the days of the Clint Hurdle 7th 8th and 9th inning pitchers are pretty much over, but it just doesn't seem like the leverage arms exist to even convert enough wins to keep this team hovering in the .500 range.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DaveG and ImporterExporter
DJ Spinoza said:
I agree that Shelton is too stubborn and old school in that he's gonna run his guy right back out there, but the more depressing thing is that it doesn't really look like anybody in the group is going to stand out.

Santana was great last year but out of nowhere. Holderman is easily worse than Bednar IMO. Bouruki is fine but just a guy.

I think the days of the Clint Hurdle 7th 8th and 9th inning pitchers are pretty much over, but it just doesn't seem like the leverage arms exist to even convert enough wins to keep this team hovering in the .500 range.
Click to expand...

And obviously it's not like Shelton has a pool of arms out of the pen that he can feel good about but damn it, at some point, you need to mix it up, even if it doesn't make a ton of sense on paper. Results matter and you need to find someone who can handle a high leverage spot with what you have now. It might not exist, but our 8th and 9th de facto arms are probably the worst in MLB.

His stubbornness with the back end of the pen is very strange, as he has no problem playing Russian roulette with the line up card, moving players all over the place, repeatedly, which to me is more of a detriment than moving folks who don't pitch every day and sometimes only 2-3 times over the course of an entire week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Ad

Top Bottom