Pittsburgh Pirates - A new beginning...

[moore4807]

Voting results as of 6/23/19;

[moore4807]

Voting results as of 6/23/19;

[moore4807]

How Sweep it is to return the favor!

As the players jubilantly celebrated their first series sweep this year, GM Moore and Manager Clint Hurdle hugged it out in the middle of the locker room. Coaches were high fiving players, players were laughing and clowning around. It was easily the happiest day of the year in the Pirates clubhouse so far.

Afterwards at the postgame press conference, GM Moore acknowledged the other teams efforts... "San Diego is a good team, they dismantled us earlier this year in four straight games" Manager Hurdle echoed that sentiment too. " The Padres are going to make some noise this year, the Dodgers better keep an eye on their rear view mirror..."

Manager Hurdle also made sure attention was paid to P Agrazal, C Diaz and RF Polanco for their contributions to the game. P Nick Burdi also got pitching coach Joel Hanrahan to speak up, which is unusual in itself, that Burdi shut down the Padres as the opener for 2 IP with 1BB, 2K for his line.

[moore4807]

Pirates improved to a 4-1 weekly record, best of our season so far. Our power rankings improved to #18 from #23, so that's good too. Our pitching improved dramatically this week, especially against the Padres, the offense wasn't slouching either.

I made my picks for the All Star teams, generally I chose the top WAR rating for each position. 1B Josh Bell was the top WAR player at 1B position, so it was NOT a "homer" pick. I didn't pick Chris Archer, although I wanted to... too many other players are having better seasons.

We now go back on the road for two tough series, first up the Houston Astros followed by a weekend series at Milwaukee.

[moore4807]

At our meeting with owner Bob Nutting, it was a very relaxed afternoon affair. At Mr. Nuttings insistence Penny Layne was told she was to attend and for her to get a replacement stenograph for the meeting.

First order of business was Mr. Nutting announced he had a promotion to announce, that Mrs. Layne was no longer going to be my secretary. Penny was now Vice President in charge of Executive Operations, with a salary commensurate to the title. Penny was clearly in shock and kept shaking her head, saying that it was too much... I stood and applauded her (along with the owner) and Penny had to leave the room to get herself together. Bob THEN asks me if that was too over the top...

During our little recess I quizzed Bob to ask what/how the promotion would affect our daily operation. He replied that Penny had been a long time employee of the Pirates, predating the both of us, and her handling of "the situation" last month proved to him that she had what it took to run the executive side of baseball operations. I agreed.

Once we reconvened our little meeting, I asked the newly minted Vice President if she could find me a competent replacement before she goes. She said she would stay on until a replacement was found - which was promptly overruled by the owner!

We moved past that to our "State of the Team" part and it is included below.

There were a few MLB noteworthy happenings and we listed them below too.

As we broke up the meeting I asked Bob and Penny to stay as I had a couple transactions to cover with them regarding our team. Bob waved his hand and said he trusted me, handle it... Mr Nutting said he was going down to look over the stadium, he had some improvements he wanted the PA sports authority committee to make this offseason.

[moore4807]

As happy as I was with the team this week, its so far only a blip on the radar of our season. I was getting reports of some unease in LF Bryan Reynolds at AAA, he feels as if he is MLB ready and we have too many OF's blocking his advancement here.

After consulting with Manager Hurdle and Head Scout DelliCarri, both cautioned me not to give him away for free!!! Like that's gonna happen! Asst GM Neal Huntington reported that Seattle had been scouting Reynolds pretty hard the past couple weeks. I did my due diligence and shopped Reynolds around, I needed to NOT take on significant salary and hopefully plug a hole in our needs dike...

Ironically while shopping Reynolds, a trade offer for OF Lonnie Chisenhall came from the NY Mets organization. they offered a variety of players, but the only one who caught my eye is a speedster OF Wes Rogers who is a minor leaguer (no contract minimums to worry about) and it backfills the gap that trading Reynolds makes at AA.

Getting back to the Seattle trade, I'm eyeing up 27 y/o 1B Ryon Healy and I'm gonna ask for some cash back to cover his contract. Seattle GM wants another player in return for the cash, so I offer 1B Jose Osuna to essentially swap minor league 1B!! The sweetness for me is by trading Osuna and Reynolds I actually will gain both $1M to our coffers and a 40 man roster spot.

Both the other GM's sign off and the deals are made... waiting on the reaction from fans.

I also moved LF Adam Frazier back up to the parent club to take OF Chisenhalls spot, I don't know how Manager Hurdle will handle the playing time as Melky Cabrera has been playing well lately in LF.

[moore4807]

We have a three game series kicking off away at Houston, no season stats against them to talk about yet.

AAA CF JB Shuck unloaded on his opponent last night - 3 bombs from the decidedly NOT home run centric player!

in MLB news - the Phillies did some minor league shopping with Miami, while the Dodgers made their usual splash, landing CL Alex Colome from the White Sox for a minor league haul.

[moore4807]

We win again, our streak is four! Scoring eleven runs and it still ends up in a nail biter. Kudos to 1B Josh Bell for another outstanding game. Our bullpen made it interesting, but CL Kela pulled it out in the end.

On to the next game.

[moore4807]

The Streak is 5! Our second consecutive series win, can we sweep em twice in a row?

Simple question - who is this team? Consistent pitching, consistent offense, good defense. We are closing in on first place in our division, with a still losing record, but we are only two games out??

C Diaz is hitting well, good behind the plate and a good teammate. He's definitely an improvement at C position.

[moore4807]

The Seattle Mariners just keep helping us out.

This time its a scrum between the Mariners and Brewers, the Brewers lose SP Jimmy Nelson for 6 games - which will affect their rotation while playing us.

[moore4807]

The Streak is six!

Well done Pirates! A dominant performance by SP Chris Archer, 2B Kevin Kramer jacks two homers to reach 10 on the year, and everybody contributes in a blowout sweep of Houston.

The Houston Astros manager compliments us on the sweep, but makes it a backhanded compliment too. "The Pirates certainly played well, but I don't think we underestimated them. "They just got hot at the right time". While I secretly agree with his thoughts, the team has chosen to make that their "corkboard diss". If that's the motivation they need to keep playing well, then its good by me!

[moore4807]

Our three game series with Milwaukee begins today. We have a six game winning streak on the line, but players are loose and confident.

There is also some MLB news for your reading pleasure.

[moore4807]

The streak is over, and old problems are back. Pitching...lousy pitching...

SP Bumgarner (5 IP, 8H, 5ER, 0BB, 7K's)
RP Burdi (0.0IP, 2H,4ER, 2BB, 0K's, 1WP)
RP Wisler (1.0IP, 6H, 3ER, 0BB, 0K)
RPGant (2.0IP, 2H, 1ER, 1BB, 2K's)

[moore4807]

Losing streak is two... For some reason when we play the Brewers our pitchers seem to forget how to pitch... While it wasn't horrible, we had been playing so much better.

SP (Op) Burdi (1IP, 2H, 2ER,)
RP (Fo) Agrazal (5.0IP, 4H, 3ER, 1BB, 4K's)
RP Clouse (1.1IP 1BB, 1WP)
RP Yates (0,2IP 1K,)

[moore4807]

Voting results as of 6/30/19

[moore4807]

Voting Results as of 6/30/19

[moore4807]

At the halfway point of the season We are in 4th place, but only a1/2 game out of 2nd and 4 games out of 1st.

In MLB news a fight between Cincinnati and Philadelphia cost OF Jesse Winker 5 games suspension, and P Cole Hamels 6 games suspension.

[moore4807]

We avoid the sweep and close the gap between us and the Brew Crew in the standings.

SP Shoemaker got injured again, we are going to have to monitor him closely before putting him on the mound as a starter again.

The bullpen did a good job holding the lead for 7.2 innings. Some of the pitchers who had trouble earlier in the series came through today. The offense got 13 hits, which is a nice stat.

[moore4807]

7/01/19 - Pirates Development Report

[moore4807]

7/01/19 Pirates Development Report