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

[BusinessGoose]

Nice, a little insurance. Let's blow this open.

Man it would have been nice to get more than one run on a two on no outs situation

But it's better than only being one run on the board

 

[WickedWrister]

I'm curious for at what point they pull the plug on this Triolo experiment and call up Gonzalesto be the 2B. He's been atrocious at the plate recently and I don't think they can ignore how well Gonzales is doing in AAA.

Damn you weren't kidding. I liked some of what I saw from Peguero last year too, but Gonzales stat line is definitely impressive.

Falter pitching a gem right now. Let him go out there for the 8th?

 

[BusinessGoose]

I'm curious for at what point they pull the plug on this Triolo experiment and call up Gonzalesto be the 2B. He's been atrocious at the plate recently and I don't think they can ignore how well Gonzales is doing in AAA.

Wasn't someone here screaming that Gonzales was a total bust?

 

[Empoleon8771]

Wasn't someone here screaming that Gonzales was a total bust?

With him, it's just a question of whether he can keep the strikeouts low and can make consistent contact. He clearly has some good power (mostly in the same way Hayes does, hard hit line drives for doubles), he's good at taking walks, he has good speed and is fine defensively. He just has issues making contact on pitches in the zone.

I would probably buy that the issue making contact is a deadly issue that will prevent him from ever really panning out. But if he could even hit .250 in the majors, he'd be a damn good 2B.

 

[BusinessGoose]

RAISE IT

Great defensive win

Falter major props

 

[TNT87]

Raise it!

 

[ChaosAgent]

Falter is Jeff Lockean.

Priester, ugh. Prayers up.

I watched a lot of the game and the offense got some bad BABIP luck.

 

[WickedWrister]

 

[BusinessGoose]

Damn, on the mlb app it says attendance of 9k...that's brutal

 

[ImporterExporter]

Pitching is our hope right now. Falter has been something else, hilariously our best P outside of the phenom Jones.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Pitching is our hope right now. Falter has been something else, hilariously our best P outside of the phenom Jones.

I would have lost money to hear through the first twenty games, pitching was giving us wins lol

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

I would be throughly surprised if this team wins 70 games with the way their offense looks.

At least you know you have one of the games top prospects coming to aid any starting pitching woes.

They don’t have much in the way of hitting coming to make an impact.

I don’t think anyone could have imagined Davis starting off this ugly at the plate. Cruz isn’t helping at all either.

 

[BusinessGoose]

I would be throughly surprised if this team wins 70 games with the way their offense looks.

At least you know you have one of the games top prospects coming to aid any starting pitching woes.

They don’t have much in the way of hitting coming to make an impact.

I don’t think anyone could have imagined Davis starting off this ugly at the plate. Cruz isn’t helping at all either.

Hope yar like ta swimmm, nonbelievarrrrr

 

[ImporterExporter]

Why is Nick Gonzales, a former top 10 pick, who is hitting nearly .400 for the month, who plays 2B, not up in Pittsburgh? I mean the investment the Pirates made in him a few years ago dwarfs Triolo or anyone else playing the MI right now.

When does Bae come up? He's an upgrade on multiple OFs.

Explain it to me.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I dunno - the offense is certainly pretty bad, but if you get healthy, consistent impact pitching, then the win-loss floor is pretty good. Seattle has basically patented this approach in recent years.

It's getting ahead of myself for sure, but these two games show that central division teams are very beatable if you get this level of pitching, even when the offense isn't thunderous. The situation would be different if we had to face Peralta (we will on Thursday, with Keller to counter).

I also think Cruz is turning a corner at the plate. He has a long way to go, but it's natural that he will have moments of struggle, as this is still a development year for him and he needs to acclimate himself over what is effectively his first full MLB season. Davis is a different situation but I think the writing is on the wall. I'd honestly be surprised if we don't swap him for Grandal before the road trip.

 

[Mr Jeff Jimerson]

Why is Nick Gonzales, a former top 10 pick, who is hitting nearly .400 for the month, who plays 2B, not up in Pittsburgh? I mean the investment the Pirates made in him a few years ago dwarfs Triolo or anyone else playing the MI right now.

When does Bae come up? He's an upgrade on multiple OFs.

Explain it to me.

I miss Bae. I guarantee a callup of Bae+Skenes would bring fans to the ballpark.

 

[MrBrightside]

I'm curious for at what point they pull the plug on this Triolo experiment and call up Gonzalesto be the 2B. He's been atrocious at the plate recently and I don't think they can ignore how well Gonzales is doing in AAA.

Yeah, I've never been high on Triolo's bat as his BABIP last year was literally the highest in major league history and the regression to the mean was inevitable. I'd like a look at Peguero myself, but with Williams hitting reasonably well, not sure they actually make a move on the IF unless Triolo totally bombs out.

While I'm likely correct about Triolo I couldn't have been more wrong about Falter. He's been great since the 2nd inning of his first start. Happy to take the L there.

Josh Fleming starting tonight. Assuming that's an opener and Priester comes in for the 2nd or 3rd so they can flip the platoon advantages. Small move by Shelton but a good one.

 

[TimmyD]

Why is Nick Gonzales, a former top 10 pick, who is hitting nearly .400 for the month, who plays 2B, not up in Pittsburgh? I mean the investment the Pirates made in him a few years ago dwarfs Triolo or anyone else playing the MI right now.

When does Bae come up? He's an upgrade on multiple OFs.

Explain it to me.

Lol. Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?

 

[ImporterExporter]

Lol. Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to?

I mean it's frustrating because you spent a 7th overall pick on the kid and he's absolutely raking in AAA. So what if he's been uneven in the big leagues? He's 24. It's not like he's a washed cause, even if the hit tool probably never becomes a plus at the MLB level. He hasn't had a long run in the bigs anyway.

It's about cost per win. You're paying a hellova lot more for Gonzales to hit in AAA, than Triolo, Cruz, and whoever else is rotating around the MI in Pittsburgh, combined.

For a team that wants to pinch pennies, I find it alarming that this situation exists. I find it alarming that they're willing to risk losing a year of control for Jared Jones, but will almost surely slow roll Skenes for another month to 6 weeks even though he should be throwing baseballs in Pittsburgh and other MLB cities. Especially considering his output and invested cost.

I wanted a complete teardown and rebuild with premium picks. Cherington accomplished that and I think was at least solid in drafting from the looks of it. At least pitching wise. Hitters remain big question marks, which sucks. Development of said hitters sucks.

Cherington is in charge of call ups. He's in charge of putting the best talent on the MLB roster. He is failing that.

He is clearly failing in keeping Shelton and Haines around. Their record as coaches is disastrous and in no way should be a resume bullet point in leading a potential team into better waters. I had hoped these were budget buys to handle shitty teams. I'm not convinced we'll ever be rid of these managers, at least until Cherington is also canned and we end up repeating the same cycle.

It's year 5 of this thing. It's make or break time, and I was one of the biggest supporters of what Cherington was doing. His plan made complete sense given where the org was in 2020. The execution leaves a lot to be desired at this point though.

 

[ChaosAgent]

I've been anti-Gonzales but performance matters. AAA is easier but he is raking. It is just about time to see what Gonzales and Bae can do swapping for Triolo and Suwinski.

I may even extend this to Jake Lamb vs. Tellez.

 

[WickedWrister]

Free game of the day: https://www.mlb.com/news/watch-minor-league-baseball-games-for-free?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

Skenes at about 60 pitches through 4 innings.

Just allowed an unearned run. Bat broke in half and he had to dodge it while trying to turn a double play. Threw to the second baseman for an error allowing a run to score.

Edit: Going back out there for the 5th

 

[WickedWrister]

Skenes done for the day. 4.1 IP 71 pitches 2 runs (1 earned) 5 hits 1 walk 7 K's

 

[BusinessGoose]

Skenes done for the day. 4.1 IP 71 pitches 2 runs (1 earned) 5 hits 1 walk 7 K's

Almost a bad day for him

Lol

 

[MrBrightside]

 

[sovietsanta87]

I mean it's frustrating because you spent a 7th overall pick on the kid and he's absolutely raking in AAA. So what if he's been uneven in the big leagues? He's 24. It's not like he's a washed cause, even if the hit tool probably never becomes a plus at the MLB level. He hasn't had a long run in the bigs anyway.

It's about cost per win. You're paying a hellova lot more for Gonzales to hit in AAA, than Triolo, Cruz, and whoever else is rotating around the MI in Pittsburgh, combined.

For a team that wants to pinch pennies, I find it alarming that this situation exists. I find it alarming that they're willing to risk losing a year of control for Jared Jones, but will almost surely slow roll Skenes for another month to 6 weeks even though he should be throwing baseballs in Pittsburgh and other MLB cities. Especially considering his output and invested cost.

I wanted a complete teardown and rebuild with premium picks. Cherington accomplished that and I think was at least solid in drafting from the looks of it. At least pitching wise. Hitters remain big question marks, which sucks. Development of said hitters sucks.

Cherington is in charge of call ups. He's in charge of putting the best talent on the MLB roster. He is failing that.

He is clearly failing in keeping Shelton and Haines around. Their record as coaches is disastrous and in no way should be a resume bullet point in leading a potential team into better waters. I had hoped these were budget buys to handle shitty teams. I'm not convinced we'll ever be rid of these managers, at least until Cherington is also canned and we end up repeating the same cycle.

It's year 5 of this thing. It's make or break time, and I was one of the biggest supporters of what Cherington was doing. His plan made complete sense given where the org was in 2020. The execution leaves a lot to be desired at this point though.

That whole draft class is a mess (unless you’re the Baltimore orioles).

I never understood the love of triolo other than maybe a more stable player than Gonzales. But he’s very unathletic and doesn’t have the range to play second base. I hope they can bring Gonzo up and he can at least contribute at the dish but I’m not confident he’s anything more than a AAAA player.

Right on cue about the 2020 class….cardinals sending down Jordan Walker