Pittsburgh Pirates - A new beginning...

[moore4807]

Welcome to a historical simulation where I'm going to attempt to do a season breakdown of 162 games and hopefully playoffs (playoffs?!?!?!). So please comment and criticize, I'm just getting a little nuts inside and need to do something to ward off the boredom.
Technical Details - Game is set up for 1-100 ratings, GM Jim Moore handles all but minor league staff hiring/firing and player promotion/demotion which is handled by Neal Huntington. I left the team setup unchanged after being "rudely" welcomed by a disbelieving Pittsburgh press corps.

My owner has left me these goals
1) "Not to Suck" (2019)
2)Upgrade 2nd base (2019)
3)I'm to find a top 6 prospect (2020) Mitch Keller currently #19th.
4) Build a top 6 minor league system (2021) currently #16th.
5) Keep building up team, in order to reach playoffs (2023)

[moore4807]

Ok to start off I'm having some technical difficulties - the print screen is only letting me go to Wordpad and that wont let me post pictures here, as that is not an approved format.

So I will manually enter the starting GM info here. . .

Budget (t-28th) $110,000,000
Player Payroll (27th) $75,693,000
Money for Free Agents $0
Money for Extensions $0
Owner Expectations "Don't Suck Completely"
Attendance (T-24th) 1,821,204

I've been hired to a four year deal for $230,000 per year. My reputation is deservedly "Inexperienced"

[moore4807]

Clint Hurdle has graciously let the new guy in on his early plans for managing the team. First we go over his final 25 players he's chosen to break spring training with. No the new guy is NOT going to mess with his managers plans... yet!

Position players (starters listed first)

C Francisco Cervelli / Jacob Stallings - C
1B Josh Bell / Patrick Kivlehan - 1B - RF
2B Kevin Kramer / Adam Frazier 2B - LF - RF
3B Colin Moran / Jung-Ho Kang 3B - SS
SS Erik Gonzalez / JB Shuck LF - CF
LF Corey Dickerson
CR Starling Marte
RF Melky Cabrera

Vs. RHP Vs. LHP (same as right)
1) Starling Marte
2) Colin Moran
3) Corey Dickerson
4) Josh Bell
5) Francisco Cervelli
6) Melky Cabrera
7) Kevin Kramer
8) Erik Gonzalez

1) Jameson Taillon / Closer - Felipe Vazquez
2) Chris Archer / Set Up - Keone Kela
3) Joe Musgrove / Set Up - Richard Rodriguez
4) Steven Brault / Middle Relief - Kyle Crick
5) Clay Holmes / Middle Relief - Nick Burdi
xxxxxxxxxxxxx / Middle Relief - Michael Feliz
xxxxxxxxxxxxx / Long Relief - Trevor Williams

We soon will be doing a positional breakdown of the team. We will look at what's in the farm system, what's out on the waiver wire, and what trades other teams are dangling out there.

Your comments and input are welcome, but remember I currently cannot post pictures here until I figure out what's wrong with my computer (ie Windows / 365) Thanks for reading!

[moore4807]

Ok its the very first game of the season (March 20th 2019) and Oakland and Seattle are playing... (in China? I forget) Mariners bludgeon the A's 12-3 with 2B Dee Gordon going 3 for 6 and 3 ribbies for P.O.T.G. honors.

The very next day Oakland returns the favor by beating Seattle 10-3 AND Matt Chapman makes a mockery of the game by hitting for the cycle. Matt not only hits for the cycle he goes 4 for 4, drives in two and scores three himself!

Now there is nothing to do but wait for the 28th and pray nobody gets hurt on exercise equipment waiting for the start of the season!

[moore4807]

Ok hold the presses, seriously? I'm gonna have to make fun of this guy... Hey Deli carry outti

Any way Pirates Scout is reporting its too soon to make any predictions for the series. Really now - wrote up this beautiful report to tell me ….nuttin!

@ 410pm the Reds Sonny Gray takes the mound vs. Jameson Taillon and the rest of the Pirate Crew!

[moore4807]

Top of the 1st - CF Marte and 3B Moran both fly out F9, Dickerson grounds out 1-3.
Bottom of 1st - Y. Puig leads off F9, Matty Kemp singles to left, Joey Votto has a small 7 pitch battle with Taillon before
grounding out FC 1-6 taking out Kemp at 2B, Suarez grounds out 1-3 after six pitch battle.

Top 2nd - 1B Bell leads off with a sharp sinking liner to left for a single, Cervelli promptly K's, Melky quickly out F8, Kramer swings at the first pitch, grounding to Votto - but Votto muffs the throw to Gray!! Safe at first - Bell to 2B, SS Gonzalez to bat and is Gray's second K swinging. Gray is on track with 26 pitches through two innings.
Bottom 2nd - CF Schebler F2 (3rd base side), C Barnhart watches four straight for a W, SS Iglesias swings first pitch and narrowly gets it past Gonzalez for a single - Barnhart holds at 2B, 2B C. Colon is hit by a 93MPH slider on the left leg and the trainers check him out before letting him continue playing, the sacks are filled with only one out for P Gray batting. Taillon gets Gray on a one bounce grounder to him and quickly throws home, Cervelli completes the twin killing and the Pirates are out of their first nail biter!

Top 3rd - P Taillon does a decent job in getting 5 pitches before he too joins the fly out to RF club, CF Marte K's on 3 pitches, Moran hits a first pitch fastball to right field, just getting down before Puig's gloved it, Puig is complaining and Umps now review the play - It Stands! The Pirates have a two out baserunner LF Dickerson hits a grounder wide of second base, scooped up by 2B Colon for the easy 4-3 out, and the Pirates are retired.
Bottom 3rd - 32 pitches into the third and RF Puig once again is leading off.. a three pitch swinging K for Taillon! LF Kemp steps to the plate 1-1 on the day, he steps out of the box and is staring at Taillon, now steps back in, Taillon throws a wide one and Kemp isn't fooled one bit, Taillon now drops a 95 MPH fastball down the chute and BOOM! Kemp watches that ball is GONE! Taillon is pissed and starts jawing at Kemp for admiring that 404 ft shot to the left center stands, Kemp just ignores him as he rounds the bases...Reds 1 Pirates 0, 1B Votto 0-1 now comes to the plate and lets see if anything comes of this tension... But Votto grounds out to G3 unassisted, two down, 3B Suarez runs the count full before Taillon loses him for his second walk.GM MOORE notes baserunners in every inning so far - NOT GOOD... CF Schebler cooperates and goes quietly F8 for the final out. Taillon's pitch count has jumped by 22 to 54.. keeping an eye out.

Top 4th - 1B Bell steps in and works the count full and its Gray's turn to give up the walk this time, baserunner with nobody out, Lets Go Bucs! C Cervelli 0-1 now bats and after taking a strike he jumps all over Grays offering, an 84MPH slider and rips it between SS and 3B for a clean single, Bell to 2B, RF Cabrera steps up and swings at the first pitch, a little late on that swing, but its has its desired effect.. A single to left and Bell comes around to score from 2B! still 1st n 2nd occupied and no outs with the game now tied, 2B Kramer comes to the plate 0-1 on the day, Gray gets a GENEROUS call on the first pitch strike, Kramer keeps his head down, not looking at the man in blue at all, Grey now pitches to the same spot and the man in blue says BALL!, Grey just stares and shakes his head, Gray's third pitch is grooved right down the middle and Kramer doesn't miss, its down the first base line and RF Puig is chasing it hard - its going to be a double for Kramer and Cervelli scores easily, Cabrera standing on 3B... Bucs up 2-1 and still no outs, SS Gonzalez steps up and is a strikeout victim for the second time today, One out and two runners in scoring position for P Taillon, Taillon swings on his second pitch and it has eyes - it's a single right over 2B! Cabrera scores, Kramer to 3B and its now 3-1 Bucs.. CF Marte steps up - is this a Marte Partay moment? Noooo a regular grounder right at the SS. he throws to 2B... and Colon has to stretch to catch it, he cant make the turn for the second out! Kramer crosses the plate, it's 4-1 now and Marte with a FC 6-4, 3B Moran steps to the plate, takes a ball, then Marte takes off for 2B on a steal attempt, he is out easily on C Barnharts accurate throw. Bucs up 4-1 and Grays pitch count is now just at 70 after 4 innings. Nice
Bottom 4th - C Barnhart settles in and is quickly down two strikes, he battles back full only to K on an outside 99MPH fastball, Taillon got him to expand his strike zone! SS Iglesias is next up Taillon is fired up and throwing near triple digits now, one strike past Iglesias now he swings hard at the next 98MPH fastball, but its driven right at CF Marte for the F8, that brings up 2B Colon who got plunked by Taillon last AB, Colon takes the walk on 5 pitches and another inning with baserunners again. P Gray steps in and you can almost hear a sigh of relief from the GM... Gray does as expected, F2 (1B side) and the 4th inning is over... No runs hits or errors, one walk, and your Bucco's are leading 4-1

[moore4807]

Top 5th - 3B Moran steps in 1-2 on the day, Red's Gray is at 70 pitches in his first start of the season, How long will the Reds Manager let him go? We'll see, Moran swings late to go opposite field, but its an easy F7 catch for Kemp, one down. LF Dickerson 0-2 for today puts the ball on the ground almost exactly where he did last at bat and with the same results, out 4-3... 1B Josh Bell is quickly cut down for Grays 5th K of the day and Gray gets out of the inning on only 8 pitches, 78 is his total now..
Bottom 5th -For the third time today RF Puig leads off and P Taillon has 69 pitches thrown today, nearly matching his opponent's totals... RF Puig swings a mighty bat and that ball sails long...far...outta here! Puig makes that 0-2 batting start history and closes the gap to two... Bucs 4 Reds 2... Hold on folks! LF Kemp steps in the box and has been Taillons kryptonite all day today, the count is 1-2 and Taillon tries sneaking a cutter by Kemp, Kemp promptly deposits that ball into center field for his third hit today in as many tries... baserunners again and no outs, already a familiar refrain in just the first game of the season... 1B Votto is at bat and he tries to strike on the first pitch, its a grounder just on the first base side of the mound Taillon got a good jump on it, gloves it, wheels towards 2B and fires it for the force out on Kemp, there's no chance at getting the slow Votto though... one down, one on first... 3B Suarez stands in takes a low strike and waits, the pitch and Suarez swings hard - but its a grounder to 3B scooped by Moran who starts the 5-4-3 double play... another twin killing getting Taillon out of a jam.. Bucs still lead 4-2 end of the 5th..

Top 6th - C Cervelli 1-2 today is facing starter Sonny Gray, on the second pitch Cervelli slaps it to the SS - its a no doubt out... 6-3 and moving on, RF Cabrera at bat also 1-2 on the day, battling to a full count, Melky tries to inside out Grays pitch and simply popped out opposite field F7, I wonder if he was doing that deliberately since he had success earlier with that? 2B Kramer settles in the box 1-2 and a run scoring double last AB, lets see what Sonny Gray has left in the tank... Kramer is rung up on a called third strike that 93MPH cutter looked low and away to me... Kramer is still standing in the batters circle, his back to the ump, but obviously having a conversation while NOT looking at him... I hope he doesn't get tossed in the first game of the year... Bottom of the 5th coming up

Bottom 6th - P Taillon is at 82 pitches and we wonder when Mgr. Clint Hurdle will pull the plug on Jameson...CF Schebler is due up first, and watches Taillon hit his corners for a three pitch K! Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Night! One down... C Barnhart is next 0-1 on the day, Taillon gets ahead quickly 0-2, a 79MPH changeup seems to fool Barnhart, but he makes just enough contact and it flares and drops in just past the shortstops outreached glove...a baserunner again threatens the lead with the tying run approaching the plate... SS Iglesias simply watches Taillon struggle with 5 pitches and takes his W, 1st & 2nd with one out...93 pitches and that was Taillons fourth walk... What are you waiting for manager??? 2B Colon steps in and Taillon is still out there...Colon has HBP and a walk today... Colon watches two balls go by - then slaps a pitch between 3B and SS and load the bases, Barnhart to 3B, Iglesias to 2B, Pull the pitcher, PULL him now!!!! In the meanwhile a pinch hitter is announced for Sonny Gray and his day is done, PH Jose Peraza, a good hitter who sprays the ball, occasional longballs 10-15 dingers a year steps into the batters box, Peraza waits on Taillon as Taillons scratches and claws his way back to a full count... 94MPH fastball and Peraza gets nothing but air! Two down, Taillon is over 100 pitches, GM Moore is openly agitated in the Skybox, pacing back and forth.. RF Yasiel Puig is announced, he's 1-3 on the day with a long bomb to centerfield last AB, and still Taillon is pitching... Taillon struggles and is 2-0 on Puig, here's the bases loaded pitch, Puig swings and its a grounder to short, Gonzalez picks it up, fires from his crouch to 2B... Man in blue indicates OUT! … Whoo hoo! The Bucs squeak by again, score remains 4-2 for the Buccos!! GM Moore is fist pumping and high fiving everyone in the Skybox...

Top 7th - The Reds replace Sonny Gray with a 2 way player Michael Lorenzen, as a pitcher he is a serviceable to good reliever, as an outfielder he hits with both contact and power just not quite a pull hitter but close enough. First up for the Bucs is the #8 hitter and savior of the last inning Erik Gonzalez, also with two K's on his resume today, a good time for a hit here to get off the schneid! Nope four pitches, same result, a K! That's the baseball hat trick! One down, a PH is announced and its Jung-Ho Kang.. obviously his first AB, so here we go..1-1 pitch, a bouncer down the 3rd base line, Suarez collects it, strong throw to Votto and out number 2 in the books, the #1 hitter CF Marte is at bat, Marte waits on a couple pitches from Lorenzen to get his measure, then 2-1 pitch he hits a hard grounder to 3B, Suarez takes it into his body, and it squirts loose! Suarez is quickly on it, but the throw is late and lets see if they... Yes they do - E5 for Suarez on that, seems a shame, but happy for the Bucs! 3B Moran comes to the plate, Moran sporting a 1-3 record today, Lorenzen winds up, not even glancing at Marte .. Moran swings st the first pitch and its short hop bouncer right to the pitcher, Lorenzen throws to Votto before he's even on the bag, Votto steps on the bag for the out and the Buc's 7th comes to a close, there will be a new Pirates pitcher but first lets all stretch for the 7th inning!!
Bottom 7th - The New Buc's pitcher is righty Richard Rodriguez his first opponent will be the smoking hot LF Matty Kemp who is 3-3 with 1 RBI and a run scored. There's a slight delay as Rodriguez asks for a new ball.. were now set, Kemp waits until two strikes, here's the 1-2 pitch Kemp goes opposite field and its a screamer, RF Cabrera is running hard, I don't know... but Cabrera reaches out and comes up with that!!! he literally STOLE that hit from Kemp, Kemp is shaking his head and raises his arm to Cabrera in salute, Cabrera tips his cap in reply - good sportsmanship there folks, top notch players there One down, Votto comes up to the plate, he's 0-3 so far Rodriguez hopes to extend that streak, Votto has been battling hard this AB, Rodriguez pitching him exclusively outside so far, here's the full count pitch, a high fly ball to left, Votto throws his bat towards his dugout in disgust and starts trotting towards first, LF Dickerson closes both hands on the catch and its now 2 down in the bottom of the 7th. 3B Suarez now up and he swings on the second pitch, its a grounder to 3B, similar to his error last inning, bur3B Moran handles it and sends it to first for the out, No Runs No hits and none left, onto the 8th inning.

Top 8th - LF Dickerson is at bat here, one of the few Bucs without a hit, the 1-1 pitch and its low, Dickerson swings like he's golfing, gets a piece of it and probably wishes he hadn't as its right at 2B Colon and he quickly disposes of Dickerson 4-3 for out #1, 1B Bell steps in facing Lorenzen and Bell hits the second pitch thrown to him, its a tapper and rolling directly to P Lorenzen - he throws to first for the second out, C Cervelli in in the box facing Lorenzen the 1-0 pitch and its high but Cervelli fights it off and it goes past the surprised 1B Votto, he and just about all the spectators thought it was going to be caught by him... Cervelli is safe with his single, his second hit today. RF Cabrera is up to the plate now, his absolute steal of Kemps woulda-coulda-shoulda hit last inning is already a season highlight, now Cabrera wants to make a new memory here, It's a 1-1 pitch and Melky drives this ball hard into Kemp's left field and no, Kemp isn't gonna catch this one, its into the corner where Kemp picks it up and fires it to 2B, where Cabrera is easily safe, Cervelli stands on third after that double... Two two-out hits and suddenly the Pirates are knockin on the door for more runs... 2B Kramer steps in and he already is 1-3 with his earlier run scoring double, can he do it again? here we go... Kramer is taking his pitches, no doubt trying to get Lorenzen's timing, here's the 1-2 pitch, and it FREEZES Kramer for strike three, that was a perfect pitch from Lorenzen to end the inning...

Bottom 8th - Bucs reliever Rodriguez comes back out for the 8th inning, and he'll face the 5th, 6th ,and 7th hitters in the Reds lineup... CF Schebler is in the box and here we go... Rodriguez fires two strikes past Schebler and Scheblers not gonna watch the third one I can tell you! A 92MPH fastball from Rodriguez is driven almost straight up in the air, now its drifting over towards first base, still not coming down, 2B Kramer comes in behind and finally the ball settles in his glove for the first out. C Barnhart is now up to bat, he's digging some dirt around the box, now the ump has to clean off the plate, Rodriguez doesn't like the stalling tactics and has the catcher come out in retaliation, the ump settles everybody down and were back to baseball... the 1-0 pitch is thrown and Barnhart hits it up and out to left field, where LF Dickerson has to run a little to compensate for the suddenly windy conditions...out #2 is in the books and four more outs to go. SS Iglesias comes to bat and the 1-1 pitch to him he drills a liner towards 3B, but Moran spears it and spins then shows the umpire the ball in his glove - Nice play! End of the 8th inning and its still 4-2 Pirates!

Top 9th - SS Gonzalez has had a hat trick in K's today, hopefully the game will be kinder this time... Lorenzen is still pitching for Cincinnati, here's the 1-2 gunner, and Erik Gonzalez has 4 straight K's for today, that's the Golden Sombrero! Usually the victim is buying the beer for the next off day clubhouse spread...lol a PH is being called up for Richard Rodriguez's spot... Adam Frazier is to the plate, the left hander managed to foul off a couple pitches before becoming the innings second K victim... CF Marte is the final out, I mean if he doesn't get a hit that is... Starling Marte wastes virtually no time, he absolutely unloads on Lorenzen's offering, but he undercut it... big time, CF Schebler is tracking it down going back and he makes a relative eeasy over the shoulder catch for the third out..

Bottom 9th - Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez is out for his first save of the season, no stats so far, and here we go... 2B Colon is up, credited with one AB and one single so far, he's also been HBP and walked once today... Colon waits until the count is 2-2, then he hits a easy grounder to 2B Kramer who throws him out by a full stride, P Michael Lorenzen is up to bat - no PH needed here! Lorenzen swings on the first pitch - a high F8 to Marte that drifted a little because of the wind, but Marte hung with it... RF Puig is the last hope for the Reds here, he's had a good game so far with one HR and one RBI, Puig with the 2-2 pitch swings and its a flyball and its being taken by the wind towards foul territory... but RF Cabrera runs it down and that's the final out... Raise the Jolly Roger - the Pirates are victorious!

[moore4807]

trying to test screenshots here - success, but need to crop these - coming up as .png files, seems fuzzy compared to older ones

[moore4807]

Just adding this in - obviously I have a long way to go to get one of my prospects on here

[moore4807]

Manager screen for Friday - I think I'll do one every Monday from here on out to keep track of changes - Also will include some mail of interesting items and trades.

The trade block is of no real interest at the moment - I am up against the cap and first need to shed some salary. Next up will be my "On the Farm" report - remember the AI Asst. GM is handling my farm teams promotion/demotion and hiring/firing minor league managers/staff.

It's a handicap I willingly chose, but if it really goes wonky I can always fire the Asst. GM too

[moore4807]

Well a wild game goes right for the Bucs and they hoist the Jolly Roger a second straight time. The Reds scratched back twice in the first 3 frames to tie the game up, but finally the Buc's put the game away.

3B Colin Moran dominated P Luis M Castillo with two bombs in the first two innings, no doubters, both of them. He was P.O.T.G. and a nice shout out to the bullpen for holding the Reds scoreless over the last 6 frames.

Let me know how you like this format - much less wordy and a lot less to post!

[moore4807]

This is where my team is hurting badly... We got a ton of $$$ in injury report. Farm Team Report after Sundays game

[moore4807]

A Sweep of the Reds, There is a lot to like about this team out of the break, but still a lot of questions to answer, but the upside is we are in 1st place!

[moore4807]

Plus + Signs:

3 - 0 record for the week.

Relievers combined gave up only O N E run over 12 innings in the three games.

Plenty of contact & power in the lineup (Tied with the Phillies for 1st place in Power Rankings).

Negative - Signs

Starting pitching in 1 of 3 games stunk pretty awful, Joe Musgrove's performance stood out for that reason.

I'm happy overall - Keep this up and there likely will be playoffs for us!

[moore4807]

The current state of the Pirates farm system isn't bad, but it isn't good either. There is some middling talent bookended by good and bad.

Here's a look at the best pitchers and position players we have by potential.

Over the next two game weeks I will start looking at each position and seeing how we stack up strength wise and where we need to bring in help.

[moore4807]

in a word.. WoW! that was pretty much a complete dismantling of our team. Everything I pointed out as a strength last week was not shown here!

Five base hits vs. their fourteen!

1 EBH vs. their 7 EBH!!

We did draw 4 walks, but they kept us from converting them into runs, while 10 walks were given them including their pitcher - twice!

There's always a game that exposes your flaws... I hope that was it! Lets get back out there and give a better accounting of Pirates Baseball..

[moore4807]

There is a "interesting" player on waivers;

Domingo Santana (NOT Santiago...) from SEA. He is a poor fielder and not "interesting" enough to take a flier on. A low contact Bopper is not needed here, especially considering he cost's just under $2M - No thanks

[moore4807]

As they say... It wasn't close as the score indicates. Those three runs in the second inning took the winds out of our sails.

The bright note I see is there was good pitching for the most part, Taillon was shaky but settled down, our relievers worked three innings only 25 pitches and NO hits or walks.

Batting? Yes we scattered fourteen hits and left 11 of them on base, St. Louis only had EIGHT hits but plated five runs in 6 innings... LF Ozuna was a beast for them tonight.

All that's left to say is we still are above .500 and only a game back. We'll pick up the pieces and figure this out quickly...

[moore4807]

First off a four game set to wind up the week against the team we swept to start the season. Cincinnati was able to win one of their three other games but still look pretty desperate not to fall into a huge hole early.

We first get another crack at Luis M Castillo! Will he survive more than 2 innings this time? Will Chris Archer do the same?

[moore4807]

Well I asked for it, we sure got a shot at P Luis M. Castillo... Totally different pitcher this time out.

It was a cold damp rainy day but for Reds 2B Colon, he was hot as the Fourth of July. 4-5 1 HR, four RBI's 2 R's scored... P.O.T.G? Ya think?

What had me scratching my head was AFTER the third hit (3 run HR) WHY in Pirates history are you pitching to him a fourth time? (a double..) Walk that man to first base and offer to carry his bat...

What is becoming a pretty regular occurrence, the Buc's bullpen is proving to be a strength; 3.1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs allowed and 4 K's. The only blemish is 3 W's allowed, but I'll take that as long as no runs are scored.

One game lost, but three more chances to get back where we belong. Winning!