ChaosAgent
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Yeah Chavis doesn't seem to be playing. Castillo has a lot to offer this team and has emerged as the readiest of our Util-Impact potential prospects (Castillo, Castro, Bae, Marcano)
OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Congrats to the Houston Cheaters on their win
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Yeah Chavis doesn't seem to be playing. Castillo has a lot to offer this team and has emerged as the readiest of our Util-Impact potential prospects (Castillo, Castro, Bae, Marcano)
ChaosAgent
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Huge loss, but arthroscopic elbow surgery isn't exactly promising.
Also let the record show on Cruz that I don't mind 2 weeks of service time manipulation. I do mind 2.5 months of Super 2 manipulation.
ImporterExporter
"You're a boring old man"
Yeah, the elbow will probably end up going the TJ route but Baz would have fit with the Cherington timeline perfectly. They said he'll be pitching by May. Hope he can stay healthy otherwise. Interested to see if his ceiling is as high as he pitched last year.
ImporterExporter
"You're a boring old man"
Tucker homers. Would be nice if he became a decent utility player though I'm not holding my O2.
ImporterExporter
"You're a boring old man"
ImporterExporter
"You're a boring old man"
Cruz with an ugly K there. Yeah, really see no way he stays up. With them moving him to the OF and batting lower in the lineup, he's not coming up for at least a month.
ChaosAgent
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Honestly I don't know why we're surprised that Cruz needs more time. He struggled at AA at first too and he has massive holes in his swing. Last year he was embarrassing against lefties in the couple ABs he had against them at the end of last year.
I know Cruz '22 is another proxy fight in "is Bob Nutting still evil and will we ever get to a $110M payroll again?" but I don't think he's the right one. Willingness to sign external pitching is what I'm watching for.
DJ Spinoza
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I am certain Cruz will not actually go north with the team but I am not convinced that AAA is the best for him. The second AB today is really his first bad one all spring, and I think if we really wanted to test him and give him a shot to earn a spot, he would be batting leadoff or second as much as possible to maximize his ABs. Today is the highest he's hit in the order all spring.
I hate to be exceedingly cynical, but if they send him down, there's no reason to think or hope that he'll be back before mid-May at the absolute earliest. Even then, it's a dicey proposition, because players can come up around that time and win rookie of the year. If Cruz wins rookie of the year, it negates any service time games we try with him at all.
There are in theory arguments that he is not ready for MLB, but it's never a cut and dry call. What I am really not convinced by is that AAA time is anything more than a holding pattern. This is also the case for Contreras, who I think is an even more obvious "he belongs on the roster given the depth chart" situation.
It is what it is -- the front office has decided not to compete again in 2022 and part of that means service time manipulation. It's messy to sort out which is which, but I don't think they should be given the benefit of the doubt with any excuses until we see behavior actually change.
As a sidenote, besides Castillo, I think two players who have been impressive all spring are Tucker and CSN. I think Tucker alone is reason to be trying to trade Newman ASAP, though obviously there are lots of places Tucker can play as a utility guy.
I hate to be exceedingly cynical, but if they send him down, there's no reason to think or hope that he'll be back before mid-May at the absolute earliest. Even then, it's a dicey proposition, because players can come up around that time and win rookie of the year. If Cruz wins rookie of the year, it negates any service time games we try with him at all.
There are in theory arguments that he is not ready for MLB, but it's never a cut and dry call. What I am really not convinced by is that AAA time is anything more than a holding pattern. This is also the case for Contreras, who I think is an even more obvious "he belongs on the roster given the depth chart" situation.
It is what it is -- the front office has decided not to compete again in 2022 and part of that means service time manipulation. It's messy to sort out which is which, but I don't think they should be given the benefit of the doubt with any excuses until we see behavior actually change.
As a sidenote, besides Castillo, I think two players who have been impressive all spring are Tucker and CSN. I think Tucker alone is reason to be trying to trade Newman ASAP, though obviously there are lots of places Tucker can play as a utility guy.
ChaosAgent
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Brubaker having gopher ball problems bodes badly.
If he can get any sort of regression to the mean there he'll do well. But I'm not convinced that he will regress to the mean.
If he can get any sort of regression to the mean there he'll do well. But I'm not convinced that he will regress to the mean.
DJ Spinoza
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Padres picked up Beaty, sending their 11th rounder from 2021 for him. Not really a surprise that we weren't in on Beaty. He would definitely make our bench or one of the starting spots better, but we're not really trying to do that at this point. Between Tucker and Castillo playing well in ST, the Cruz situation, Gamel probably holding RF down, and Allen/Alford, there's not a ton of room given that 1B is already sort of spoken for.
I think the big question for this upcoming week is obviously Cruz. They are going to say he needs more development, but a big week at the plate at least casts some doubt on that. For my money, Cruz needs to be challenged, and the Pirates badly need a positive story heading into the season. I really do not see what Indianapolis can provide for Cruz outside of an extra year of service for the Pirates. I guess you can really squint and say that we'll want to maximize opportunity for Tucker while also seeing if Newman can claw back a little at the plate in order to be tradable, but the lingering problem with that IMO is really the new rule about rookie of the year.
Once Cruz is in Pittsburgh, unless he were to get hurt, there's a very good chance that he'll emerge as a pretty clear candidate for 1st or 2nd, which nullifies service time manipulation. The Pirates have to factor this into their decision, even if they also have to factor in a genuine call regarding what's best for his development. Always possible that someone else emerges, but his competition figures to be Keibert Ruiz and perhaps Hunter Greene. Even if he's not called up until June 1 or later, unless he really struggles I find it hard to expect him not to be right in the mix for the reward, which nullifies anything going on with service time.
I think the big question for this upcoming week is obviously Cruz. They are going to say he needs more development, but a big week at the plate at least casts some doubt on that. For my money, Cruz needs to be challenged, and the Pirates badly need a positive story heading into the season. I really do not see what Indianapolis can provide for Cruz outside of an extra year of service for the Pirates. I guess you can really squint and say that we'll want to maximize opportunity for Tucker while also seeing if Newman can claw back a little at the plate in order to be tradable, but the lingering problem with that IMO is really the new rule about rookie of the year.
Once Cruz is in Pittsburgh, unless he were to get hurt, there's a very good chance that he'll emerge as a pretty clear candidate for 1st or 2nd, which nullifies service time manipulation. The Pirates have to factor this into their decision, even if they also have to factor in a genuine call regarding what's best for his development. Always possible that someone else emerges, but his competition figures to be Keibert Ruiz and perhaps Hunter Greene. Even if he's not called up until June 1 or later, unless he really struggles I find it hard to expect him not to be right in the mix for the reward, which nullifies anything going on with service time.
ImporterExporter
"You're a boring old man"
College bats are off to a very hot start this year and we know Cherington loves going the college route in round 1.
Brooks Lee is my pick as of right now if we went that direction at 4 overall. Switch hitter, plays legit SS defense, is hitting a ridiculous .422/.531/.733/1.264 with 4 homers, 14 doubles, 22 walks w/just 6 K's over 90 AB's. He';s already walked more this year than he did in all of 2021 (222 ABs). He raked in the Cape last year, hitting north of .400 with the wood bats. If he continues to dominate, there's a good chance he ends up going top 3 and knocking a HS kid down to us.
Can never have enough SS prospects and although we have Cruz and Peguero, the former seems destined to play the OF for the big club and Peguero still has a lot of variance left in his profile.
Chase DeLauter is off to an equally impressive start .417/.561/.750/1.311 (5 homers 10 xbh) though he's K'd 16 times in just 60 AB's (17 games) and plays in a much weaker conference (Colonial Athletic Conference). I'm leery of investing into a small school player that high in the draft. Not enough of a track record on him yet, and the one series he played against legitimate comp (Florida State), looked completely overmatched.
Jace Jung and Jacob Berry off to good starts, though nothing earth shattering, both playing in strong conferences (Big 12/SEC).
Will be interesting to see how everything shakes out but I feel really good about getting a top bat in July. HS players scare me and looking at the numbers, Green is the most volatile. In the early going, I'd say it's Johnson/Lee for me at 4.
Brooks Lee is my pick as of right now if we went that direction at 4 overall. Switch hitter, plays legit SS defense, is hitting a ridiculous .422/.531/.733/1.264 with 4 homers, 14 doubles, 22 walks w/just 6 K's over 90 AB's. He';s already walked more this year than he did in all of 2021 (222 ABs). He raked in the Cape last year, hitting north of .400 with the wood bats. If he continues to dominate, there's a good chance he ends up going top 3 and knocking a HS kid down to us.
Can never have enough SS prospects and although we have Cruz and Peguero, the former seems destined to play the OF for the big club and Peguero still has a lot of variance left in his profile.
Chase DeLauter is off to an equally impressive start .417/.561/.750/1.311 (5 homers 10 xbh) though he's K'd 16 times in just 60 AB's (17 games) and plays in a much weaker conference (Colonial Athletic Conference). I'm leery of investing into a small school player that high in the draft. Not enough of a track record on him yet, and the one series he played against legitimate comp (Florida State), looked completely overmatched.
Jace Jung and Jacob Berry off to good starts, though nothing earth shattering, both playing in strong conferences (Big 12/SEC).
Will be interesting to see how everything shakes out but I feel really good about getting a top bat in July. HS players scare me and looking at the numbers, Green is the most volatile. In the early going, I'd say it's Johnson/Lee for me at 4.
bigdaddyk88
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Beaty only has one option left doesn’t really play decent defense at any position. Padres are going to hide him in LF I guess we could have his in him RF.
DJ Spinoza
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Yeah, I just don't think Beaty makes a lot of sense -- useful player for a team going in a different direction, but the Pirates would rather see some combination of Allen/Alford and Tucker in addition to Gamel. Plus, if Alford struggles again in the early going, the easy route for the Pirates is DFA and then give an opportunity to somebody like Smith-Njigba, Swaggerty, Mitchell, etc., depending on who is performing in AAA (and not all of the options are on the 40-man).
Beaty would have made some more sense if we could slot him in at 1B a bunch.
Beaty would have made some more sense if we could slot him in at 1B a bunch.
i hate reading the athletic baseball coverage hoping for an interesting pirates tidbit and seeing the source of the comment is going to be beer temple. i dont know of anyone that puts less effort into their job. has he ever broken any news or had an interesting take? the worst.
DJ Spinoza
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He's awful, I think I may have said this before but I actually like a chunk of the national writers, other team's beat writers, and fantasy stuff, so naturally I would pay for the Athletic... I did for a while, but he was so singularly bad that I just cancelled it because I came to hate it so much.
I find Jason Mackey to also be a little annoying sometimes -- I know Pens fans seem to like him, but he tends to be grating to me. That said, he also has to put up with people just yelling at him constantly over the same BS about Nutting, so I can see why chatting with fans might get annoying each week. One thing with him, though, is that he is clearly sourced up and also engages with the fans. Biertempfel is basically constantly scooped, offers absolutely nothing in the way of analysis, and even his gamers are mailed in.
I find Jason Mackey to also be a little annoying sometimes -- I know Pens fans seem to like him, but he tends to be grating to me. That said, he also has to put up with people just yelling at him constantly over the same BS about Nutting, so I can see why chatting with fans might get annoying each week. One thing with him, though, is that he is clearly sourced up and also engages with the fans. Biertempfel is basically constantly scooped, offers absolutely nothing in the way of analysis, and even his gamers are mailed in.
he wrote like one article per week during the peak of the baseball season last year. how is that even possible
DJ Spinoza
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I bet part of it is that the Athletic really isn't all that concerned with any kind of Pirates market. Hard to blame them too much.
DJ Spinoza
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I am constantly reminding myself that it's just spring training, but I think it's undeniable that Keller looks like a completely different pitcher.
Empoleon8771
Registered User
What's funny is that I believe Keller is arbitration eligible for next year, so he probably ends up getting shipped out in a year or two if he ends up legit.
ImporterExporter
"You're a boring old man"
Keller becoming a legitimate starter would be massive for a multitude of reasons.
I'll believe it when it happens in games that matter. I truly hope it does but not getting my hopes up.
I'll believe it when it happens in games that matter. I truly hope it does but not getting my hopes up.
ChaosAgent
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DJ Spinoza
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PiratesProspectsTalk / Kody Duncan is claiming on twitter that the Pirates are sending Cruz to AAA.
Personally, I don't find it to be very credible -- seems more like a guy who claims to have sources banking on the inevitable. We just cut some position players on Sunday and had the day off yesterday. The timing would seem pretty weird, even if it still seems very likely that he'll be sent down.
Personally, I don't find it to be very credible -- seems more like a guy who claims to have sources banking on the inevitable. We just cut some position players on Sunday and had the day off yesterday. The timing would seem pretty weird, even if it still seems very likely that he'll be sent down.
Gallatin
A Banksy of Goonism
I'm bought in on Perez. Could care less how he hits - that's The Guy this team needed to develop our young pitchers at the Major League level. Cherington's thinking on this move is crystal clear, and on the money IMO.
How do you tell the difference between Keller's Cutter & Slider? Did I see a LH swinging strikeout on a 94mph Change? Or was that a 2-seamer?
Keller is so much more interesting this year!
I've never seen him over 96pmh. Seems like the movement is improved, as well as the velocity. Those 99mph lasers in the 4th seemed under control.
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Empoleon8771
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You mean this guy? I also feel like this guy insinuated that the Pirates and Reynolds were getting close to a long term deal, only for Reynolds to say that they had no discussions over that.
ImporterExporter
"You're a boring old man"
I mean Cruz is probably 3-4 days away from going down to it's a perfect time to make that claim even if you're full of shit.
There is zero chance of Cruz staying up. He's blocked by Newman at SS (ugh) and "needs to iron out defense in the OF/get more AB's", etc, etc. Don't even bother thinking otherwise. He'll be back in early/mid May assuming he performs well enough at Indy.
There is zero chance of Cruz staying up. He's blocked by Newman at SS (ugh) and "needs to iron out defense in the OF/get more AB's", etc, etc. Don't even bother thinking otherwise. He'll be back in early/mid May assuming he performs well enough at Indy.
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