OT: Pirates Talk: That Skenes guy is okay at teh baseball

[MrBrightside]

 

[Empoleon8771]

Yeah Steamer really doesn't like the Pirates with their projections, and it's hard to blame them.

Even if they're wrong about how down they are on Bart and McCutchen, there is pretty much nothing else there that will significantly outperform the projections they're putting. They're not getting better than a 95 OPS+ out of Hayes and IKF most likely and they have no one in RF right now.

 

[MrBrightside]

 

[Empoleon8771]

Angels are apparently the frontrunners to sign Santander, him getting signed would make it very likely that Ward gets dealt IMO. I think Ward is basically the best case scenario at this point, so I'm hoping that the Angels sign him and the Pirates trade for Ward.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I’ve seen the Torkelson idea thrown around by some Pirates fans that I’ve been very dismissive of, but I’ve been musing on that idea and I think I may have come around to it. The obvious role is for him as a righty platoon for Horwitz, since Torkelson has hit lefties well in his MLB career (.798 OPS last year and .767 OPS career against lefties). But there’s also some options there with Horwitz playing 2B as well, so you have the ability to get Torkelson in against righties if his play warrants it. Horwitz being able to play at least passable 2B defense and Gonzales being able to play at least passable SS defense makes the idea more intriguing and gives Torkelson a potentially larger role than pure 1B righty platoon.

I think you can fairly easily rationalize just doing Davis for Torkelson with the idea of it being a reclamation project swap.

 

[Fogel]

Considering how high the Pirates pick, that is so bad. They need to raid the scouting and analytic departments of high performers like the Rays, Dodgers and Guardians. It is a testament to the Dodgers drafting and development teams that they always pick late yet have the 2nd highest number of draftees meet the majors and top #5 in WAR.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

Considering how high the Pirates pick, that is so bad. They need to raid the scouting and analytic departments of high performers like the Rays, Dodgers and Guardians. It is a testament to the Dodgers drafting and development teams that they always pick late yet have the 2nd highest number of draftees meet the majors and top #5 in WAR.

Not sure how cheringtons will turn out but those last 5 drafts of the huntington tenure were absolute dogshit. With as much or more talent not signing (mcCarthy, irvin and lodolo) or being traded (baz) as being productive as Pirates.

Woof

 

[Empoleon8771]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gymnast-olivia-dunne-boyfriend-paul-203028703.html?guccounter=1

Damn this is pretty terrifying. Skenes and Chandler were apparently celebrating New Years about 6 blocks away from the terrorist attack in New Orleans yesterday.

 

[Ulf5]

According to Negron at dksports, Robert Murray said on his podcast there's nothing imminent but the Pirates are interested in the Yanks' Verdugo. Or rather he's a "player they certainly like".

 

[Empoleon8771]

I’m not wild about Verdugo but he definitely had a track record as a strong hitter, he’s good defensively and he’s fairly young. I’d prefer trading for Ward over him but I don’t hate the idea of bringing in Verdugo.

They wouldn’t do it, but Verdugo is actually the kind of guy I’d like to see them give 2 or 3 years to.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Right....


... There's one player the Pirates are all in on..


Jamin, Ben Jamin

 

[MrBrightside]

 

[TimmyD]

Rooker re-signed by the A’s. 5 years $60 million…. It’s gonna be really cool watching the A’s spend more than the Pirates this year.

 

[Fogel]

Pretty recent look, but man, Rays, Guardians, Mariners and Brewers are in a sweet spot. Poor White Sox and Angels fans. Rangers at least got a recent championship.

 

[MrBrightside]

It's pretty telling that so many regulars from the 2024 Pirates are still sitting unsigned in January - Tellez, Grandal, Taylor, Joe, Perez - we all lament the lack of moves Cherington has made this offseason, but one can argue that looking at what he added last year, doing nothing may be the better thing.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Rooker re-signed by the A’s. 5 years $60 million…. It’s gonna be really cool watching the A’s spend more than the Pirates this year.

That's a nice contract for the As, I thought Rooker could have gotten more in arbitration. That said, he's also pretty old for just hitting arbitration so might as well secure his bag now.

 

[ImporterExporter]

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Bob Veale Passes Away

Two-time All-Star Bob Veale passed away, the Pirates announced on Tuesday. He was 89. Veale, a Birmingham native, signed with the …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

 

[Empoleon8771]

I didn't realize Grichuk had such a good season last year, he finished with a 140 OPS+ in 106 games for Arizona and had an amazing statcast page:

I obviously wouldn't bet on his random 2024 power surge being real, but even if you look at the previous 4 seasons, he averaged 24 HRs per 162 games and had a .440 SLG over that window. Not anything astounding but is a clear power upgrade for the Pirates.

 

[MrBrightside]

Grichuk is fine, certainly an upgrade over rolling into the season with Palacios and Suwinski, but he's also unlikely to repeat 2025 and would be a one-year stopgap that doesn't really address the position for any length of time. The perfect Cherington addition, really.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Grichuk is fine, certainly an upgrade over rolling into the season with Palacios and Suwinski, but he's also unlikely to repeat 2025 and would be a one-year stopgap that doesn't really address the position for any length of time. The perfect Cherington addition, really.

You're likely correct that it will be a one year deal, but I'm hoping Cherington gives him the kind of deal that IKF got from Toronto (2 years, $15 million). Would at least add a power hitting corner OF for the next 2 years.

I'd expect like 20-25 HRs and a roughly league average OPS out of him, which isn't anything special but it's at least a big improvement for the Pirates.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Also I'm trying to find a source for this, but I just saw a comment that DK said their target payroll for this year is actually $100 million rather than the $85 million assumption I was using. I was working on the "payroll won't increase" bit that Mackey had said, but apparently DK said the payroll will increase a bit.

That said, I'm expecting a Cruz extension sometime before opening day as well, so that extension (assuming it kicks in this year) will add to payroll as well. Cruz is still in his pre-arb years so an extension kicking in will likely add around $5-$10 million in payroll for this year.

Edit: he says it flat out ("yes, the payroll is going to $100 million") to start this podcast:

 

[Mike C]

Just saw that Bob Veale passed away. 89 years old. Didn't get the notoriety he deserved in an era of dominant pitching

RiP

 

[BusinessGoose]

I'm gonna be skeptical on that $100mil figure based on signing exactly no one worth anything so far

Be surprised if we're over 80

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm gonna be skeptical on that $100mil figure based on signing exactly no one worth anything so far

Be surprised if we're over 80

They signed Chapman, Perez and Taylor all after January 1st last year.

Their payroll right now is $79 million and they're going to be adding a FA OF and RP at minimum. Combine those two with a Cruz extension likely gets them pretty close to $100 million.