Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: Pittsburgh Pirates' to a friend
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By charliewilmoth | at
Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: Pittsburgh Pirates' to a friend
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costergaard2
MLB is more fun when the Pirates are relevant. Raise the Jolly Roger !
Samuel
Another stat-oriented moneyball team that overthinks things instead of using proven baseball methods that have worked in the past and are still working. Can get into the playoffs but not far in them.
As a caller to our local radio station said a few weeks ago, “moneyball works for large market teams with massive payrolls”.
stl_cards16 2
The playoffs are a crap shoot. The way you win a World Series is maximize your opportunities. The Pirates are doing that. They ran into pitchers on a tear the last two seasons in a one game Will Card, that doesn’t take anything away from what a great team they are.
aberdeen101
I have to admit … trying to figure out how anyone can give the Pirates a B or C. This is an F. The starting rotation is a mess. Niese, Locke and Vogelsong are the answers? We don’t have a first baseman. Another year of a non-first base starter. The two most pressing needs weren’t filled. Instead of getting viable options on the mound, the Pirates are looking to be bailed about by Searage again with reclamation projects. Could have traded away the next to last pick in the first round (our farm system is deep) and sign Gallardo. Instead, we have three number six pitchers for the rotation.
stickyweb
Just curious…what grade did you give the team for the last few offseasons? And I mean when they occurred, not in hindsight. Feel free to give them an F, just realize we have actual proof they know what they’re doing.
cardfan2011
You know, everyone’s hyping the Cubs, but it seems like few remember Pittsburgh. They’re a very solid team, much respect for them.
aberdeen101
Cardfan2011, Pittsburgh’s starting rotation after Cole and Liriano is garbage. They have three six starter types. Again, they should have traded its first round pick, next to last pick, and signed Gallardo. They will once again have to rely on Searage, the best pitching coach in the business to do his magic once again. Offensively, the lineup should be able to score. They will need to … to offset this starting rotation. It was a “F” offseason.
cxcx
Do you remember when Liriano, Burnett, and Happ were not that long ago considered garbage?
Gotta love buy-high fans.
Robertowannabe
Fans in the Burgh seem to parrot the sports talk guys and the print writers. All bemoaned the lack of a huge splash signing for the pitching staff. What many miss is the fact that the Bucs have several young guys that will be ready for the majors early in the season. Glasnow will be first. People forget that the Mets got to the Series last year on the backs of guys like Glasnow & Taillon. cxcs is correct. Liriano, Burnett, Happ, Volquez, and Blanton were all guys that the Pirates acquired that the talking heads and hence the fans all moaned about those guys when they were brought on board. All then moaned when they were not all given huge contracts (except for Liriano) to stay on the board. Big money is not the answer all the time. See the Yanks, Angels, White Sox etc. Rather, I like the Cards model. They spend but do not seem to overspend much on FA. They develop young guys and trade off older guys that are replaced by younger guys who are equal to the older guy at the older guys present production but since they are young, are cheaper and more of an upside. Pirates are finally on the cusp of being able to use that model to keep the team productive and yet the fans here complain. It is what Pittsburgh fans do.
futureGM
This is the guy who thinks the Pirates should go out and sign medium range free agents to 10-20m a year contracts and clearly doesn’t understand how the Pirates payroll works
Jaynestown
Yep you are 100% right. People like to spit out crap that Mark Madden says thinking they are talking smart. All last year the talking heads (therefore most fans) called out Neil Walker for his defense and Pedro Alvarez for basically his whole game. Now that those guys are gone now that is the new complaint.
Next year I can;t wait for gems like “Man how can this organization not sign Juan Nicasio to a 5 year 85 million deal, what cheapskates”
ammiel
I cant see them consistently producing enough runs without Pedro and Walker. Jaso wont hit nearly as much, tho he is a better defender, u need runs on the board to make saving runs a relevant piece of data. The inclusion of Freese somewhat negates the loss of Walker, however, I think they shouldve got at least a mid-rated prospect to complement i Niese in the trade.
L.Wrong Hubbard
I agree with ammiel. I would’ve liked a prospect in the Walker deal, but Niese can be controlled two more seasons I guess. Rotation is kind of shaky, but Nicasio might just save the day. This season will be interesting to say the least.
christian18cutshaw
Ignorant
thechiguy
Awesome perspective! I can’t remember the last time I had so much laughter in a positive way for a sporting article! This was brilliant work that I am sure exceeded all expectations of the fans, your co-workers and especially MLBTR readers! I could not agree more with your perspective on how the Bucs are such a hard team to read! I hope that this is the year that their under-the-radar moves falter so that the Cubs can waltz into the playoffs, But it is always great to see the Pirates as a good team, as it is always great for the history of the sport and makes things even more fun! Great read and hopefully the pitching brain-trust that headed to Miami cause the Pirates to fall back just slightly. Good luck to the Pirates… as long as their luck falls short of the Cubs success!
charliewilmoth
Thanks so much! The check’s in the mail.
cxcx
Why don’t you think Aramis Ramirez was a significant loss for the Pirates? He kind of played a lot and I think batted cleanup down the stretch.
thechiguy
LOL! Seriously great read!
rayrayner
Rodriguez can also dispose of any offending beverage coolers handily.
felinelopez2
I think all you commenters are forgetting that these are actual people we’re scrutinizing. Who’s to say that a surprise candidate in the Pirates rotation isn’t on the rise? These guys have been busting their tails all offseason trying to make the cut/ or improve. That’s the problem… Everybody hastily prejudges before anything actually plays out. Just you wait. This team will be just fine.
Okie_baseball
It is because we are baseball fans! Analyzing is what we do. It sets us apart from football people, who just sit around and jabber about a player’s 40-yard dash time. The Bucs will be ok, though it is hard to pick them over the Cubs at this point. I think it will be fun to watch a healthy Kang.
thechiguy
Wishful thinking on the part of a Cub fan:
Chicago Cubs………… 100-62
Pittsburgh Pirates …97-65
St. Louis Cardinals…90-72
Pirates will be fine… they seem to have something figured out that keeps putting digits in the left column…..
I hope that the central division has the top 3 records in all of baseball again this year like it did last year. I don’t have a clue why I want any other team to be close to the Cubs in that division, but as long as the Cubs come away with the most victories, I guess i will be fine.
Call me weird…. But that’s ok…. I been called much worse…. today.
dempsey77
Wow, ok…where to begin…
aberdeen101-
Everyone is entitled to there own opinions, but I don’t think that you are properly informed to have a better opinion on the situation. So I will try to help you understand the situation with the pitching staff and offense.
I understand that you are frustrated that the organization didn’t go out and spend a bunch of money on a big named pitcher or a “legit 1B” but you need to remember how much those types of players cost! The Pirates can’t afford to go out and throw 35-40 million dollars away to fill 2 roster spots.
As far as the starting rotation goes, Jon Niese is a fine pitcher, and a SOLID #3 guy behind Cole and Liriano for the time being. Nicasio has looked fantastic and will most likely a lot in as the #4 and Locke/Vogelsong will be the #5 to start the season. HOWEVER, make no mistakes about it, by the second week in June (once the Super Two date has passed) either Glasnow, Taillion, or BOTH will be called up and placed into the rotation. THAT is exactly why you don’t run out and throw away draft picks and ridiculous market value contracts to established starters! Because what we have coming up will be better, and won’t cost us but a fraction of the amount! This rotation will not only be fine, but it will be one of the best in MLB by years end.
Next, the first base issue is temporary until Josh Bell is called up. (Most likely in June as well once the Super Two date has passed) then Jaso turns into a bench player. But until that happens, Jaso’s on base percentage will absolutely lead to runs being scored that would have never been scored if Pedro were still playing first…
I personally rated this off season a “C” because I would have done several things differently, however, the largest upgrades to the team and it’s roster have nothing to do with the off season, it has to do with internal promotions and calling up the organizations top prospects…THAT is what is going to make this team as good if not better than last years team.
FINALLY,
TheChiGuy-
Your team is STACKED bro…no two ways to look at it, however, with so much youth, growing pains and sophomore slumps are always a possibility. Don’t count the Buccos out this year, and NEVER underestimate the Cardinals (we have learned that the hard way for the last several years).
We are coming to win this division this year and make someone else play in the wild card game…should be a fun and entertaining season of Hurdle, Madden, and Matheny trying to outsmart one another all year long! The games amongst those 3 teams are going to be like playoff games because everyone realizes that at the end of the year, 1-2 games will probably be the difference between getting a 7 game series or a 1 game wild card game!
Best of luck to you guys!
chasmin
The Pirates are going to be a better team this year than last and it’s not really that difficult to project why. They lost Neil Walker, but picked up David Freese who is, at the very least, an equivalent player. I’d call that moneyball – trading an $8MM salary for one of $3MM and staying equivalent with talent. Jaso is clearly an upgrade over Alvarez. Forget the 27 homers. The poor defense, high number of strike outs and poor on base percentage just killed us. Jaso should be a big improvement. Moneyball? Trade Pedro’s $8MM for Jaso’s $4MM. Can Nicasio and Niese combine to be at least the equivalent of Morton and Burnett/Happ? Can’t be too sure about that one, but you have to be excited about the spring that Nicasio had and the fact that there are two young, electrifying arms on the way in June with Glasnow and Taillon. Most teams would like to have one young pitcher like this on the way. The Pirates have two. And, the Pirates bench strength and talent hasn’t been better for decades. The Pirates look solid in all phases of the game and have an offensive line-up that most opposing pitchers will not enjoy slogging their way through. Will they win the division? With a little luck on their side, sure. But, for certain, they will be a very, very competitive team.