Pittsburgh Pirates - A new beginning...

[moore4807]

The July development player report is out for your perusal. I like the gains made by the pitchers and have to credit the pitching coach for that. Meanwhile after giving out hitting coach a new contract, its like everything he touches now is the reverse Midas touch!

Final two pages continued on next screen.

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Milwaukee's Jimmy Nelson got put on waivers yesterday. I threw in the claim, figuring that Milwaukee would pull him back. Not happening, we got confirmation from the league this morning that P Jimmy Nelson is now a Pirate!

Oh yeah - we also have a weekend series vs. the Mets, who swept us out of NY a couple weeks ago to start this eight game slide...

And in MLB news the LA Dodgers SS Corey Seager is out with a sprained ankle, Dodgers are expected to put him on the IL today.

[moore4807]

The streak is dead! Long live the new streak! Eight games of misery are over...

SP Chris Archer had another very nice game (7.1IP, 5H, 1R, 0BB, 9K's). 2B Jose Pirela went deep for a solo HR, and got on base via an error to score twice. LF Jason Martin went 2-4 with an RBI to pace the win.

[moore4807]

Pitching, Pitching, Pitching, Jacob DeGrom and the NY Mets show why superior starting pitching is a necessity to win.

New Pirate SP Jimmy Nelson had a hard luck start (6.1 IP 8H, 3ER, 1BB, 4K's) but acquitted himself well overall. CF Monte Harrison had a nice day, going 3-4 with 1RBI, but we need to turn those hits into runs at the top of the order.

We still have a chance to win this series, hoping against hope.

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Pirates C Elias Diaz replied to my August 1, 2019 contract offer, we are around a $250,000 difference and at over $4M, is it really a difference I should be quibbling over? The other side of the equation is after a sizzling start in March and April, Elias Diaz has not hit over .220 in June or July and his defense has been pedestrian, so am I paying for a hot spring and a mediocre summer player? Since we are not going anywhere this season and Diaz is a replaceable part I think I'm going to look elsewhere this offseason and pick up a serviceable catcher for much less.

I was unable to sign Taylor Lomack to an entry level contract, and no compensation picks are offered. I am very happy with the draft we had and think we will get at least three players MLB worthy out of it at this point. Only time will tell.

The Cincinnati Reds are openly shopping and looking for a home for 2B Scooter Gennett. 2B Gennett is carrying an albatross of a contract at $9.775M and I cannot see many (if ANY) teams taking him without the Reds eating a large part of that contract.

[moore4807]

Pirates get the win and the series win too. A NY fan may scoff and say so what, but its building the steps to climb back to .500. While it may not happen, it's VERY nice to see the effort on the field.

SP Joey Lucchesi made his second start and no injury concerns this time. A fair result against a good team is all I'm looking for and P Lucchesi made that happen (5 IP, 6H, 2ER, 4BB, 8K's). I'm a little concerned at the walks given up, but Mgr. Hurdle already said he is having pitching coach Hanrahan work with him on it.

CF Monte Harrison (2-4 1HR, 1R, 1RBI) has come up with some big hits this week, I think he's looking to stay here for the long haul.

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We'll hit the contract negotiations first; these are the accepted contracts - C Diaz is only holdout so far.
RP Ryan Brasier 3 yrs. $2.25M/ $850K per
SP Matt Shoemaker 1yr. $4.25M
SP Joe Musgrove 1yr. $950K
RP Kyle Crick 1 yr. $1.05M
RP Rich Rodriguez 1 yr. $900K

We have a 3 game set against the Brewers at home, they lead the season series (8W/5L) and we need to do well against them to keep from sinking further in the standings.

Our team power rankings have sunk to their lowest level yet this season, we are now 24th out of 30 teams. We are going to make changes to our lineup and move some players down to the farm. More on that at the end of this post.

Our pitching staff had an excellent week overall, while our W/L record is only 2-4, pitching wasn't the problem this time. No changes are expected here for this week.

I'm including this pix as proof - if you trade somebody to a division rival they always seem to come back to haunt you. Case in point here RP Kirby Yates, WHERE was this performance when he was a Pirate???

Finally the roster moves at position players and the list is long.
1B Ryon Healy heads back to AAA.
2B Jose Pirela heads to AAA (.235 BA)
3B Bobby Dalbec proved he needs more seasoning in minors. Unsure if he's AAA or AA bound.
3B/OF Brian W Anderson - I can't take any more of his sub-par efforts, maybe this trip to AAA will wake him up.

1B Adam Lind's contract is purchased and he is brought up to back up Bell at 1B and serve as a bat off the bench.
UI Erik Gonzalez is going to be our starter at 2B for now - he has been a good soldier and deserves the opportunity. Kevin Newman will back him up there.
3B KeBryan Hayes is going to man 3B for the rest of the season barring injury or horrible performance, getting him in now means he will likely be next years starter.
OF Myles Straw is coming back to man RF and lead off. We will accept his rookie mistakes and hope he grows from it, as we turn our thoughts to next year.

We decide to carry 13 pitchers this week and bring up RP Jacob Lindgren - who pitching coach Joel Hanrahan immediately pencils in as one of the setup men. Needing a 40 man roster spot has made SP Jhon Romero expendable and he is designated for assignment and put on waivers.

[moore4807]

I think the players got my message. We won convincingly against a team that has gotten the best of us earlier in the year.

I'll start with our pitching today, SP Jameson Taillon was very good (7 IP, 5H, 1ER, 2BB, 10K's), followed by RP Matt Shoemaker (2 IP, 1H, 0BB, 3K's) in mop up duty.

Our batters collectively scored 8 runs on just 12 hits, 1B Josh Bell leading the way (4-4, 3R, 2HR, 5RBI) with his performance making him obvious P.O.T.G. RF Myles Straw did some damage in his callback debut (2-4, 2R, 1BB, 1RBI). Those two players accounted for half the Pirate hits today!

In MLB news Miami RP Nick Anderson is done for the season after a back injury was diagnosed as a torn muscle. No word on Miami's roster plans yet.

[moore4807]

Win streak reaches two, and a series win too. This team looks like a completely different team than last week. Bats are making contact now and the pitching is remaining good.

Starting again with the pitching, SP Joe Musgrove had it all working for him today (7.2IP, 7H, 1ER, 0BB, 5K's) Musgrove's only run against came in the 2nd inning on a C Grandal HR. RP Dario Agrazal (1.1IP, 0H, 0BB, 2K's) had mop up duty today.

CF Monte Harrison was "en fuego" today, also so far this week (3-5 2-2B, 1HR, 2R, 3RBI)! LF Jason Martin (2-4, 2R), C Elias Diaz (2-4,1R, 1RBI), 2B Erik Gonzalez (2-2 1RBI, 2IBB) all had two hits in the game as well.

In MLB news;
Another P Anderson went down to injury, today it's SP Brett Anderson of the Oakland A's who suffered a torn labrum after being diagnosed by team doctors. P Anderson will be done for the season, No word from the A's on who they are going to replace him with.

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Two more Pirates have signed extensions with the team
SP Jameson Taillon signed a 1yr $1M extension.
1B Ryon Healy signed a 1 yr $900K extension

Yankees SS Didi Gregorius was suspended 4 games after being ejected from a recent game against the Baltimore Orioles. SS Gregorius isn't contrite even after the suspension, but Yankees coaches are keeping him away from the microphones successfully so far.

The San Diego Padres now admit that SP Matt Strahm is going to miss the rest of the year after injuring himself in a game recently. P Strahm has reportedly suffered an pitching arm injury, but specifics still haven't been released by club officials.

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Four wins in a row and swept the Brewers. Sweet!

Starting with the pitching again SP Chris Archer was hit around a little bit in the first two frames as the Brewers broke out to a 3-1 lead, then he settled down and locked in (8IP, 9H, 3ER, 0BB, 8K's) not allowing another run for his 10th win of the season. RP Matt Shoemaker (1IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1K) did mop up duty effectively again.

Kevin Newman (3-5, 2R) filled in at 2B, as 3B Erik Gonzalez (2-3, 1R, 1BB, 3RBI) moved over, giving 3B KeBryan Hayes the day off. The Pirates put up 15 hits and scored 12 times against the Brewers.

In MLB news;
Yankees 1B Luke Voit had quite a day against Baltimore, going 5-5 and leading NY(A) to a 14-2 win.

The Phillies blanked Arizona 9-0 with SP Vince Velasquez firing a shutout 6 hitter. P Velasquez (6-8) even expressed a little surprise at himself accomplishing the feat.

[moore4807]

The Pirates found another player who doesn't want to sign on the dotted line. That player is UI Erik Gonzalez. While I appreciate his contributions to the team, he is not worth starters money to play utility infielder.

We start a 3 game away series against the Cardinals. The Cardinals are on a three game losing streak right now.

Speaking of the St. Louis Cardinals, they announced a big signing today. OF Marcell Ozuna signed a 5 yr deal reportedly for $84M or $16.8M per year. OF Ozuna is currently hitting .301 with 11 HR and 36 RBI.

Houston's injury woes still are occurring, this time SP Brad Peacock is the latest to go on season ending IL. A torn labrum is the cause and P Peacock is scheduled for surgery soon.

[moore4807]

The win streak is over, courtesy of the Cardinals. We had gotten used to having very good starting pitching during this past week, so when Jimmy Nelson (5IP, 6H, 4ER, 3BB, 4K's) had just an ok game, it seemed like he didn't do well. The truth is very few Pirates had a good game, only 2 regulars had multi hit games and the bullpen did very well for 3 innings work.

[moore4807]

After having a relatively easy time versus the Brewers, the Cardinals have delivered a jolt of reality of how far we need to improve still.

SP Joey Lucchesi (4.1IP, 8H, 6ER, 2BB, 3K's) disappointed the GM with his lack of control. We ended up using both long relief men for second straight day, which makes them unavailable for tomorrows tilt.

Our batters were equally inept, SS Iglesias was the only batter to get more than one hit. Just close the door on this loss and lets move on.

Philadelphia Phillies shut out the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park today, SP Nick Pivetta only allowed 3 hits and struck out 9 batters in his feat.

Cleveland Indians 3B Jose Ramirez has batted safely in his 20th consecutive game. 3B Ramirez his currently batting .306 and has 13HR's and 63RBI.

[moore4807]

Winning the game avoids a sweep and we're back to 9 games under .500.

SP Jameson Taillon (6.1IP, 9H, 2ER, 2BB, 1K) struggled early and couldn't hold the first 2-0 lead he was given, but he and the bullpen then settled in and didn't allow another run for the rest of the game RP Jacob Lindgren (2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 3K's) locked it down in the 7th & 8th before yielding to CL Archie Bradley who struck out both batters he faced for the save.

RF Myles Straw and 1B Josh Bell both had two hits on the day for 3RBI combined, and LF Jason Martin hit solo HR to account for the fourth RBI.

In MLB news

Atlanta RP A.J. Minter is headed for the IL, he reportedly has a partially torn labrum. P Minter is expected to miss 2 months of the season.

Boston RP Wilmer Font (former Pirate) is out for the rest of the season according to Red Sox officials. Font is said to have a finger injury and rumors say its a tendon problem that he can't recover from in time to finish the season.

[moore4807]

A finally a winning week to report, 4 wins and 2 losses.

Our power rankings also shot up by 8 places to 16th. Nice!

Offensively C Reese McGuire (0-8) 1B Adam Lind (0-1) and 3B KeBryan Hayes (2-19) were the only ones not to hit at least .300 on the week. Very Nice!

Pitching Staff had a similar week, SP Lucchesi (12.46 ERA), SP Nelson (7.20 ERA) RP Ryan Brasier (6.75 ERA) were the only three pitchers to have over a 3.50 ERA for the week.

Minor League Awards - 3B Oneil Cruz won the South Atlantic League P.O.T.W. award. Oneil's stats (12-24, 5R, 9RBI) stood out among his peers and he wins the award for the first time

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We travel west to meet the LA Angels of Anaheim for a three game series. This will be a tough series since ALL of LAA's pitching and hitting metrics are in the top 10.

In MLB news;

Cleveland Indians 3B Jose Ramirez got jinxed by the spotlight and his 20 game hitting streak is over as soon as it got reported by the press. Ramirez reportedly was happier that his team won the game than his hitting streak was over.

[moore4807]

I seem to keep forgetting about the manager screen and my organizational depth chart each week... sigh

[moore4807]

Dang it!!! A good game gone bad, the archetypical "Bottom of the ninth, two runners on and the closer..." lets up a three run HR to the catcher!!! Otherwise a good game until the ninth inning I'd say.

At the postgame press conference Mgr Hurdle said he was going to sleep "fine", it didn't seem to bother him about the HR and the reporters questions kept going back to it... Finally Mgr. Hurdle had enough "It's not something I can change now... We will go back and play again tomorrow. You people are getting ridiculous! He then stood up and left the podium table.