OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: New season of plundering begins

[Scandale du Jour]

Raise it.

 

[WickedWrister]

Raise it!

 

[Empoleon8771]

Hell of a game from the offense. Really like the job that Falter did as well, and nice job by Ortiz to limit the damage.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Is there a worse bullpen in baseball?

 

[td_ice]

I just think Block is not attuned to the attitude of the fans the way Brown is.

As I have said before, Cherington's best quote ever was acknowledging that being a Pirate fan is being a part of "collective trauma." Brown understands that. Block does not. To yuck it up in the 8th inning after the last 48 hours is so irresponsible. Walk played into it too

You know who I am really impressed with? Matt Capps. I actually find all the the "new" color guys, Walker, Young and Capps informative, but especially Capps. I admit I wasn't a big fan of Capps the player, but as a color guy, I think he breaks down the game, especially from a pitcher's perspective, extremely well.

Super impressed with what he adds to the game. And having those guys, the three aforementioned, it really points out how lacking Wehner and Walk are at their jobs, imo. Their knowledge seems super simplistic in comparison. Not sure if it's a lack of baseball IQ, or the inability to articulate the game to the extent that the "newer" guys do.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Snatched victory from the jaws of.. Uh.. victory, I guess

Most pirates way to play the game. This week has had it all

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Bittersweet after the last two games but I guess there's nothing else you can do besides win and move on.

What sucks most beyond how brutal those games were to watch is that if we somehow manage to get the win in this series, it's just a 3-3 homestand. I don't trust us to win vs Lopez or Sale, but at least the offense is going.

 

[Coastal Kev]

Or they can just move Reynolds to 1B, which both solves the issue of a long-term 1B and fixing Reynolds being unplayable in the OF. Reynolds is already at a -5 OAA in just a third of a season this year and is ranked 120 out of 125 outfielders in terms of OAA.

Even taking Tellez out of the equation entirely, it makes far more sense to move Reynolds to 1B and go shopping for another LF than keeping Reynolds in the OF and shopping for a 1B. There are far more good OF than good 1B in the MLB today.

Why not Davis to 1b?

 

[Empoleon8771]

Why not Davis to 1b?

I have no issue with that either, but at some point you're going to need to have Reynolds not playing in the OF. Frankly they're already at that point, he should probably only be a DH by now.

 

[Factorial]

Block is absolutely brutal. Boring as heck. As stated above, has done this a few times this year, calls the outcome of the game before it's over. And he asks the color guys the most inane questions. This is one of a handful of ridiculous questions he has asked this year. "do you find that the team plays better when you have everyone of the players on the team contributing?" To Wehner, who left about 5 seconds of dead air because he was shocked to be asked that question.

I have not heard a worse PBP Pirates announcer.

EDIT: not watching the game just the box, and of course we gave up 5 runs in the 8th. That's what we do.

In this case it's acceptable.

Funny how relief pitching was a suggested strong point and the starting pitching was the big question mark coming into this season.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Henry Davius needs to do in MLB what he's doing now in AAA. My goodness.

 

[sovietsanta87]

I’m too lazy to look up the stats but the eye test tells me this team started scoring when Nick Gonzales became a regular in the lineup. The turnaround has been remarkable

 

[Empoleon8771]

I’m too lazy to look up the stats but the eye test tells me this team started scoring when Nick Gonzales became a regular in the lineup. The turnaround has been remarkable

Yeah Gonzales has an expected slash line of .285/.377/.536 this year. He's absolutely slaughtering the ball, to the point where his already great numbers (.300/.357/.500 current slash line) could be even better.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Tellez is not in the lineup today vs Lopez (RHP) and Sale is pitching tomorrow.

What are we doing? You have to churn the roster spot for something else.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Yeah Gonzales has an expected slash line of .285/.377/.536 this year. He's absolutely slaughtering the ball, to the point where his already great numbers (.300/.357/.500 current slash line) could be even better.

Very pleasantly surprised to have been wrong about him. Clearly the contact has improved versus last year, and he stings the ball when he connects. He also plays a very nice 2b and I bet he could do decent at SS for a time.

Marlins probably kicking themselves for not jumping on him for Edward Cabrera 2 months ago

 

[ChaosAgent]

Tellez is not in the lineup today vs Lopez (RHP) and Sale is pitching tomorrow.

What are we doing? You have to churn the roster spot for something else.

I do not understand what the intention even is at this point. They have cut bait with guys who make more than $3m all the time. Someone pointed out Tsutaugo which is a great comp. And if Tellez is going to rebound (possible) it is going to be in AAA and not here. Too much scar tissue especially with the fans. Lamb isn't great but anything is better than what we have gotten from Rowdy.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Very pleasantly surprised to have been wrong about him. Clearly the contact has improved versus last year, and he stings the ball when he connects. He also plays a very nice 2b and I bet he could do decent at SS for a time.

Marlins probably kicking themselves for not jumping on him for Edward Cabrera 2 months ago

Yeah like I've said a bunch of times, his only issue and the one thing keeping him from being a MLB is making consistent contact. Even back in 2022, Fangraphs was noting that he was having huge issues with making contact, but his results were so good because the contact he actually made was excellent. If he couldn't fix that issue, he'd never be anything more than a AAAA player. If he could fix that issue, he's a future all-star 2B.

I think his upside is pretty similar to Neil Walker, although a bit faster and a bit better defensively.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Not that I mind these presentations, but I feel like they have some sort of ceremony like this every year for the past Pirates teams. Almost feels repetitive at this point.

 

[Factorial]

Not that I mind these presentations, but I feel like they have some sort of ceremony like this every year for the past Pirates teams. Almost feels repetitive at this point.

As a fan of the 70's Pirates, I enjoyed it.

Saw game 5 (crappy 600 level seats) when Rooker pitched.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Bae’s having a nice performance this year as well. Would be nice if he can solidify the CF spot like Gonzales solidified the 2B spot.

If they’d move Reynolds to 1B, they could run with Joe in LF, Bae and Taylor platoon in CF and Olivares and Suwinski platoon in RF.

 

[WickedWrister]

TRIP TRIP TRIPLE

 

[Empoleon8771]

Nick Gonzales is the real deal.

Triple to knock in Cruz and then scores on a sac fly by Olivares.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Nice ABs from both Cruz and Gonzales. Lopez has been really sharp so taking any advantage that we can will be key.

We'll see what Keller can do. It's tough to be confident in much of anything right now, as basically you hope Keller can keep this exactly where it is through 6+, then maybe the combo of Stratton, Holderman, and Bednar can lock it down. Just hard to see a path to winning a 2-run game even if the SP goes 6-7.

 

[WickedWrister]

Gonzales averaging about an RBI per game

Has as many as Cutch in about ~100 fewer AB's

 

[WickedWrister]

I’m too lazy to look up the stats but the eye test tells me this team started scoring when Nick Gonzales became a regular in the lineup. The turnaround has been remarkable