Pittsburgh Pirates - A new beginning...

[moore4807]

Now this is more like it!

1B Josh Bell 3-4 1 RBI and 2 Rs' scored and SS Erik Gonzalez 3-3 2 RBI and 1R scored are on fire.

3B J. Ho-Kang broke out with a 3 run HR and a double, plating 4 RBI's while RF M. Cabrera set the table for him and scored twice on Kang's hits.

Finally P C. Archer showed the form that the Pirates need him to be, to be competitive. P Archer scattering 6 hits, NO runs allowed (especially after his first game...) and 7 strikeouts. CL Vazquez came in a non save situation and still closed the door promptly facing one batter and striking him out.

Back above .500 is also important to note here. Two more games against the Reds for the week.

[moore4807]

This was brought to my attention today, one of the "Farm Boys" swung a hot bat last night and has some potential usefulness in our near future. LF Reynolds looks like a .240 hitter with decent defense and no arm to speak of, but he comes incredibly cheap compared to what's on the roster right now.

Not planning to move him yet, but good to have in my back pocket, should a trade be offered or even he could be some good trade bait in the right situation...

[moore4807]

One of my favorite real-life players, has been shelved as the K.C. Royals closer due to a season ending injury.

"Big Jake" is only interesting to me here as it puts the Royals in the market for a closer, unless they have a Farm Boy ready to replace him. The Royals are a small market team, so $2.25M is a significant budget hit and I fully expect them to LTIR him, which opens up a spot on their 40 man roster.

[moore4807]

I know there is an old baseball saying about playing a FULL 9 innings. Here is the proof WHY...

Its also supposedly a good thing to chase the starter, sending them to an early shower is usually a good chance for a win. Our Bucs have now done it twice, both Cincinnati pitchers were gone before the end of the second inning, and both times we had to fight for a win!!!

This will definitely be a topic covered for the Manager and coaches meeting this week.

P Musgrove pitched well, but faded in the middle frames, Mgr. Hurdle has got to keep an eye on that too.

[moore4807]

Pirates leave GM pondering moves at weeks end.


Today's Pirates played all 9 innings and played good steady defense too.

Again our starting pitching while not doing bad, was unable to give us 6 innings before requiring the bullpen, which shined brightly again (4.1 In, 3 hits, 0 Runs, 8 K's, 0 W's)

I gotta question the P.O.T.G. choice of Reds P Sonny Gray, Pirates 3B Colin Moran got on base all three times and scored all three Pirates runs and threw in a Sac. to boot. <shrugs>

[moore4807]

Plus + Signs -
Relievers pitched 22.1 innings this week 15H, 11R, 32K's, 13BB.
Take Nick Burdi's implosion against STL. away and its a sterling job by the bullpen this week.

1B Josh Bell batting .500 10-20, 1HR, 5 RBI, 4 R, and 7BB


Negative - Signs -
2-4 record this past week, one shellacking by division rival St.Louis and they swept the two game series.
A 2-2 series split with Cincinnati, who we just swept last week, and no game was comfortably won.
Starting pitching - major problems brewing if we cant get a steady 6+ innings out of our starters, as good as the relievers have been, they cannot sustain this workload indefinitely.

Musings from the week:
C - Cervelli is struggling hitting only .158, but having 3BB's helps save his .304 OBP. Stallings has done nothing to impress so far.

1B - See above, Bell is simply leading the Buc's charge.

2B - has turned into a platoon with Kevin Kramer struggling at the plate but shining defensively, and Adam Frazier hitting a .333 clip but not quite as good in the field.

3B - Colin Moran is sporting a .313 BA and a .389 OBP while doing well at defense. Jung-Ho Kang made a splash filling in for Moran last week 3R HR .250 BA, with a couple PH opportunities.

SS - Erik Gonzalez was a K waiting to happen the first series against Cincinnati, but turned it around and is even hitting .478 / 11-23 for the week with 2 doubles and 4 RBI.


OF - Sterling Marte has struggled at bat, barely maintaining a Mendoza line average, but doing himself proud patrolling CF defensively. LF Corey Dickerson is hitting over .400 this week and no complaints there. RF Melky Cabrera is hitting .273 and scored four runs which is a very good weekly avg. to keep LF JB Schuck so far has a PH role while RF Kivlehan has been the defensive replacement for Melky Cabrera in late innings.

[moore4807]

Our next opponent is another division rival.

Our hitting struggles are plainly seen in print as we drop 11 places to 13th in power rankings.

I'm including some leaderboard screenshots showing our players rankings -both good and bad

[moore4807]

adding a few more leaderboards...

[moore4807]

In a shocking move GM Jim Moore announced a trade with the Miami Marlins. Moore has traded longtime favorite 30 y/o Starling Marte to the Marlins for the paltry haul of 25 y/o 3B/OF Brian W. Anderson, 25 y/o RP/CL Kyle Keller, and 23 y/o OF Monte Harrison.

The Pittsburgh press corps is in a tizzy and wants to know why a stalwart like Marte got traded. GM Moore said it was a good move for the cost conscious Pirates to get 3 good players/prospects and there would not be a falloff in production as Marte was struggling early on anyway.

"The Pirates organization thanks Starling Marte for his valuable contributions to the ballclub and wishes him the very best in Miami".

Early reports indicate that Pirates fans are not on board with this move yet, but some are saying for time be given to Moore to see how this plays out.

** After the press conference was over a junior publicist for the team announced that P Clay Holmes had been optioned to AAA Indianapolis, and P Dario Agrazal was called up to replace him. No other information is available at this time...**

[moore4807]

Pirates win a squeaker over the Cubbies!

The big question according to team broadcasters was how the Buc's were going to fill Marte's shoes, so to speak. JB Schuck played CF capably and surprisingly Brian W Anderson started at 3B over Colin Moran. 3B Anderson went 1-5 and JB didn't get a hit, so a combined 1-10 days production isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the trade, but as a few have said, let the trade play out and see what happens.

A bright spot was Kevin Kramer's 3-3 day bringing his overall BA to .250 and did we mention a win over our division rival? Y E S !

[moore4807]

Today is the off day between games, so I'm checking the waiver wire this morning, I find what I believe could be a hidden gem for our SP problems.

P Matt Wisler is only a 2 star rating, however he is a physical horse of a human being and showed a lot of promise in ATL a couple years ago when I was working there in the scouting dept. As he is a minimum salary player, he is a safe pickup and we have spots on our 40 man roster for him.

[moore4807]

Game #11 vs. Chicago(N) is supposed to be the headline above...

This is just a good effort by both teams - just didn't go our way this time. I liked P Dario Agrazal's effort out there against a quality opponent.

CF JB Schuck went 0-3, with a walk for his second game,
3B Anderson also disappointed with his 0-4, but he got on an error by Chicago(N) replacement SS Descalso, scoring on 2B Kramer's double.

** A side note... Former Pirate Austin Meadows suffered a season ending injury on 4/9/19. The Pirates organization wishes Austin well with his rehab and looks forward to seeing him back on the field! **

[moore4807]

Another one that got away...

Actually a pretty entertaining game, 1-1 tie all the way until the 10th inning, Sloppy fielding conditions after the rain delay both helped and hurt us, but we both played on the same surface.

[moore4807]

As the team is back at the hotel before we leave Chicago for Washington DC. (our next opponent). My cell phone rings and its my secretary Penny Layne telling me that our claim for P Matt Wisler went through and what arrangements should I make?

I get Matt's phone number to welcome him and have Mrs. Layne make travel arrangements for him to meet us in Washington DC. I also tell her we are going to need a flight from Chicago to Indianapolis also, but I don't know for which pitcher yet.

I catch Clint already downstairs in the lobby and tell him the news, when I ask him who he wants to send down, my manager surprises me by immediately saying "Nick Burdi"... I have to open my tablet and find out P Nick Burdi has options left on his contract, so we won't have to go through waivers.

As the players are still coming downstairs from their rooms, we cant find Nick anywhere. Turns out Nick was already on the bus for the airport, and Clint and I have to take him back inside to a small room off the front desk and give him the bad news. Nick is deeply disappointed but accepts it and his flight arrangements are given to him to Indianapolis IN from Chicago.

** also in league news HOU has signed RP/CL Ryan Madson to a 1 year deal, and ANA OF Mike Trout is going on the DI list for approximately 6 weeks, that's a player they wont replace easily... **

[moore4807]

Victory, and a few problems resolved...
P Joe Musgrove addressed his prior pitching problems and pitched and hit effectively tonight, he was awarded P.O.T.G. for his efforts.

3B Brian W Anderson broke out of his slump, but still has a ways to go to be where we envisioned.

We have a nice situation at 2B right now, 2B Adam Frazier is very productive with his AB's, I hope the rest of the team feeds off this success.

LF Corey Dickerson can't go off like that in a game that close. We will speak to Corey about it, but I'm sure he already realizes it, Corey is a pro's pro... He knows his value to the club and that we can't have anyone getting suspended over a strikeout or even a single run. That subject is closed, Any other questions?

[moore4807]

The Phillies have pulled out the stops and signed possibly the biggest free agent available SP Dallas Keuchel to a one year $13.7M deal. Our Scout Deli takki outti (jk!!!) agrees with the general consensus that with Keuchel in the starting rotation, that strongly improves the Phillies chances to make the playoffs.

[moore4807]

Ok readers, I need some feedback here... 280+ views and not ONE single comment???

Am I doing it "right"???? Am I not doing something you want to see? I've been thinking about using the game log instead of the box score, but I tested it and its about twice as long a post as the box score currently unless its a 2-1 game

I plan to finish the Washington series tonight, then I need a couple days off to attend to my personal stuff, I may be able to sneak in and post a game or two, or maybe get done my promise of team position evaluations, but not much more..

I hope to hear from you - I really want to make this a worthwhile read to you. I'm having fun and I don't mind changing things up

[moore4807]

It happened again... The sheer inability to hold a lead is slowly driving the GM insane. offense puts up 2 runs, defense gives up 5 runs, offense gets 3 more runs to tie it up, Defense gives up the winning run the immediate inning after we score.

GM Moore just leaves the ballpark and goes straight back to his hotel room. Manager called, but Moore doesn't answer it right away. When he does finally answer 90 minutes later, Clint is also back at the hotel and suggests they have a drink in Moore's hotel room...

Moore prepares a couple of Green Label Johnnie Walker whiskeys, only to find out that Clint is a recovered alcoholic. Feeling dumb Moore puts the drinks back on the bar top... Hurdle laughs and says he said the word drinks and the friendship bond is formed. A couple of bottles of water are shared instead

Hurdle begins talking about the game and both converse on the result and collapse of the Pirates once again with a lead. Hurdle wants to replace JB Schuck in CF, but wants to keep him on the team too. After discussing some moves and possibilities for CF both men agree to wait until Monday's off day to finalize the moves.

[moore4807]

Some sound bites from GM Moore during the after game press conference.

"This time we win! Hopefully we can build upon our 8-7 record".

"As I said last week Corey Dickerson is a pro's pro and he showed that today." "2-4, 2HR, 2R, and 2RBI including the winning run." "Outstanding work".

"Jameson Taillon? Pitching like an ace is supposed to pitch from what I see so far". "He's leading the team in wins, K's IP's, right?"

"Lets get the men up here and let them talk, they did all the heavy lifting today". (GM Moore gets up from seat and walks away from the gathered sportswriters).

[moore4807]

On the flight out of Washington, Joe Dellicarri (Head Scout) has sent me some e-mails concerning MLB's waiver wire and some interesting players there he found for us. I have instructed Joe to not pursue million dollar players, unless its a can't miss type of player.

P John Gant is 26, low cost and looks like a good fit to our bullpen, only we already have a good bullpen and chemistry is good right now. I'm still undecided and I do not want to trade with division rivals if I can help it. Stealing players like this from your division rival IS the way to do it!!!

CF Hershel Powell is also 26, low cost and is a tweener between starter and reserve OF, he does play all three positions and is out of options because he is on the waiver wire...hmmm It would be an upgrade in CF and a youth movement over reserve OF JB Schuck and OF Patrick Kivlehan who are both 31.

Any thoughts out there?