Toggle sidebar

OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Congrats to the Houston Cheaters on their win

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
Status
Not open for further replies.
Scott Abrams will not last a month they are lost and over matched right now. Bart has over 100 AB in the majors. The cubs OF will win it like Ichiro and shouldn’t be considered a rookie lol. If they extended him when they call him up then it doesn’t matter. Clubhouse politics might mean he doesn’t get more than Hayes then.
A lot of teams are doing this stupid core position players than platoon’s every where else right now. It seems Perez Hayes and Reynolds are our core.
 
Not saying there’s a standout, should be lead off hitter on this team - though I’d like to try Hayes there.


But Vogelbach??? What am I missing.
And leadoff single lol
 
wheelz87 said:
Not saying there’s a standout, should be lead off hitter on this team - though I’d like to try Hayes there.


But Vogelbach??? What am I missing.
And leadoff single lol
Click to expand...
ON base percentage it’s why Kyle leads off in Philly
 
The Vogelbach thing is part Shelton is gonna always play matchups and part Vogelbach has a good approach at the plate I think.

I'd like to see Hayes leading off for an extended stretch, but I guess the idea is to get someone on base for Reynolds, and I guess Hayes could still use his speed in a scenario where he's on first base with two outs, etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scandale du Jour
And I always say, walk is as good as a hit. It’s just.. the speed and station to station.. in front of Reynolds/Hayes to boot. Oh well.
 
Some big 2-out RBI hits in this one.

Hayes is such an easy guy to root for. Having the whole team at the press conference was a little over the top, but there does seem to be some team comradery centered around him. Good to see. Would be better to see it around Hayes AND Reynolds.
 
Thompson just got smoked by a line drive in his pitching shoulder, he's being taken out. It sucks, I thought he was having a pretty solid first game.

He's obviously not a top of the rotation guy, but I think he can comfortably slot in as a #4 guy.

Edit: I also just realized that Thompson doesn't even have a year of service yet and isn't arb eligible until 2025. That's a really solid piece to have at the bottom of your rotation, a league minimum #4 pitcher.
 
Last edited:
Hayes is the perfect 2 hole hitter when he's driving the ball gap to gap. I don't really care about homers at this point. Just keep putting the bat to the ball and making hard contact. If they go out, great.

His glove and movement skills on the field are so smooth. You can tell his dad impacted him greatly at a young age, especially on defensive side of things.

Once Cruz comes up, I'd love to see (we won't) Cruz, Hayes, Reynolds. That puts a ton of speed on the bases early and if those guys can get on base at a strong clip, puts pressure on the pitchers when Reynolds comes up. After that, we hopefully find a legit #4 hitter (calling Henry Davis sometime next summer/fall).

Sucks Thompson took that drive. Hoping he's ok. He looks like a guy who might be able to eat innings while not getting regularly pounded in the process.

BTW, Crowe looks fantastic coming out of the pen. He didn't show an ability to extend starts but maybe he'll be a 2 inning force.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Spinoza
Would you rather have Shelton's juggling of the lineup or Hurdle's tendency to stick with guys for ages who clearly don't have it? I think I'd take Shelton, not that it's ideal

I feel like by the end of the season they'll be in a similar situation they were about a decade ago where the young guns at top of the lineup (Marte, Cutch, Walker, Alvarez) were being overly relied upon to create runs while any sort of production from the bottom felt like bonus money.
 
KesselMania said:
Would you rather have Shelton's juggling of the lineup or Hurdle's tendency to stick with guys for ages who clearly don't have it? I think I'd take Shelton, not that it's ideal

I feel like by the end of the season they'll be in a similar situation they were about a decade ago where the young guns at top of the lineup (Marte, Cutch, Walker, Alvarez) were being overly relied upon to create runs while any sort of production from the bottom felt like bonus money.
Click to expand...

I think it depends on what Shelton would do with a lineup that actually had legitimate starters say 1-7 at least. Hurdle was old school, stubborn, and over time that got him fired but at least he can say he got the Pirates to a couple of postseasons in the last 20+ years. I was way over Hurdle by the time they finally pulled the plug, but Shelton has done nothing to peak my interest. Nothing. The only saving grace for Shelton is he's not had legitimate talent to this point in time yet. Not enough to win with.

The constant lineup changes bother the hell out of me. I'm not sure he'd ever keep people in a stationary place even if you added a Cruz, Gonzalez, Davis etc and the lineup was more stacked on paper.
 
Hayes looks awesome.

Crowe is going to be a monster out of the pen. He has the mentality for it and the stuff is playing WAY UP. Even the 93-94 MPH fastballs looks explosive coming out of his hand.

VanMeter has a cool looking swing but won't be on this team is 3 weeks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ImporterExporter
DocEmrickSkitters said:
Hayes looks awesome.

Crowe is going to be a monster out of the pen. He has the mentality for it and the stuff is playing WAY UP. Even the 93-94 MPH fastballs looks explosive coming out of his hand.

VanMeter has a cool looking swing but won't be on this team is 3 weeks.
Click to expand...

Thinking the same thing on Crowe. Always cool to see the 3 inning save. He's now pitched 7 innings out the pen and has given up 1 hit, 3 walks, and 9 K's, with 0 runs scored.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChaosAgent
I've been thinking a bit about Nutting's comments about needing to add to the MLB team, so I was curious about the most the Pirates have been willing to pay a player in a season under Nutting to get an idea of what he could be willing to spend on adding some MLB talent to the team. Guys like McCutchen, Cervelli, Liriano, Polanco (they paid him $11.6 million last year, good lord) and Melancon all fell in the ~$10 million to ~$14 million range, those were the most expensive guys that the Pirates actually signed.

I think something in that range on a 3 year deal for a #3 pitcher is something I could see the Pirates pursuing next off-season. I bet you could probably pull off Musgrove as a UFA for that price, but you may need to give him more term. Steven Matz signed a 4 year, $44 million deal with the Cardinals and I think he'd fall roughly on that level of a pitcher I'd target.

It's still early but there are a decent amount of pitchers that catch my eye. Gray (although I imagine the Twins pick up his option), Paxton, Musgrove, Taillon and Clevinger all caught my eye looking quickly.
 
Empoleon8771 said:
I've been thinking a bit about Nutting's comments about needing to add to the MLB team, so I was curious about the most the Pirates have been willing to pay a player in a season under Nutting to get an idea of what he could be willing to spend on adding some MLB talent to the team. Guys like McCutchen, Cervelli, Liriano, Polanco (they paid him $11.6 million last year, good lord) and Melancon all fell in the ~$10 million to ~$14 million range, those were the most expensive guys that the Pirates actually signed.

I think something in that range on a 3 year deal for a #3 pitcher is something I could see the Pirates pursuing next off-season. I bet you could probably pull off Musgrove as a UFA for that price, but you may need to give him more term. Steven Matz signed a 4 year, $44 million deal with the Cardinals and I think he'd fall roughly on that level of a pitcher I'd target.
Click to expand...
Getting Musgrove back would be a dream, but he won't come cheap. I think it would be like 5/$90
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom