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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SamFuldsFive
Lost better guys than they gained from a mediocre team. Enjoy fighting for third place and a .500 record again.
vtadave
Yeah I’m sure guys like Cole, Taillon, Polanco, Bell, etc. won’t make any progress this year right?
chesteraarthur
Even if they make progress, they still look like the 3rd best team in the division. They’re projected to be 82-80, That seems pretty mediocre. I guess there is room for debate on what counts as mediocre.
They will most likely be fighting for 2nd in the NLC not 3rd though
jimmyz
Just like the past 5 years it looks like the Bucs and Cards are pretty comparable teams on paper so I’d expect them to be close to each other in the standings at the end of the year again. The biggest difference in the NL Central race (or wild card race if you wanna concede the division to the Cubs, which I dont in March at least) could be which of the top 3 teams ends up having the most trouble beating the Reds and Brewers consistently.
rounder829
Vegas has their O/U set at 85.5 so I think it’s pretty safe to say they’ll be better than 78 wins and even 81-81.
aloliver16
The Rays were picked to win the AL East in 2016 by one projection system, and most analysts disagreed with that assessment. Pirates look like an 87 win club, in contention for a WC. Some of the talented young players will be improving, Nova for the full year, and both Cole and McCutchen should bounce back.
chesteraarthur
And projection systems said the dbacks were gonna be terrible and most analysts disagreed with that…
Anyone can go through and pick examples of times each was right. Projection systems obviously aren’t perfect, but they do a pretty decent job of giving an unbiased look at a team.
Philliesfan4life
only reason the rays were projected to win the east last year because they had the best rotation in the al east, but now it looks like boston took the cake this year
Bank On It
Cardinals got better then then the pirates this offseason Fowler Cecil Lance Lynn return
joew
I might have missed it but didn’t see a mention the possibility of having 5 lefties in the pen. Watson, Antonio (no last names cause it gets flagged), Rivero, LaBlanc and Webb.
charliewilmoth
That’s covered pretty extensively in the Camp Battles piece linked above, but yeah, the LeBlanc deal in particular should have been in there. I added a paragraph. Thanks.
ilikebaseball 2
I can see why Nova stayed in Pitt. If other offers were only 10-20% better than what Pitt was offering why not stay where you had a run of success and still have a chance at another decent payday in 3 years.
Reecemann13
He’s not about the pay that’s why he’s still in Pittsburgh.
bigpapijuicer
I have a bridge to sell you.
No free agent is taking 20% less to play in Pittsburgh of all places.
jimmyz
Seems like Nova is an exception to the rule. He stated a week or two after signing, without citing specific numbers, that he did take less to resign with Pittsburgh and also that at the start of free agency he told his agent to get the best deal from Pittsburgh before even considering any offer from other teams. He’s made a couple comments recently during spring training reiterating his desire to play in Pittsburgh by explaining the differences between his entire career in New York and the two months in Pittsburgh.
L.Wrong Hubbard
Well I guess it’s time to stop dumpster diving and test the young arms.
cxcx
“RHP Ivan Nova: two years, $26MM (re-signed)”
Three.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
I would have liked to have seen them make an offer for Luis Valbuena but LAA could offer him a bit clearer path to playing time, so…oh well.
Other than that, I like what they did given where they are at. Nova was a great deal.
On a different Pirate related matter, I have finally found the part about rooting for a small market team that bothers me….
It’s still almost a week before a Pirate spring training game will be on TV.
I don’t care that big market teams get all of the big free agents, etc. but I am jealous that their games are on TV.
jimmyz
Valbuena wouldve been interesting but the team has enough infield depth with Freese, Bell, Jaso, Kang, Harrison, Mercer, Frazier, and Hanson to fill four spots. I wouldnt mind Angel Pagan given his price has dropped to peanuts at this point to get a true 4th outfielder on the team instead of putting natural infielders (Frazier, Hanson, Bell, and yes I know Bell started in the outfield but he’s not suited to play out there and possibly Harrison) in the outfield when Cutch, Marte and/or Polanco need rest or get hurt. Main issue with that is that it would all but assure that Hanson doesn’t make the team and presumably gets lost on waivers for nothing or that Hanson makes the team and Frazier is optioned in which case you arent bringing your best 25 to the big leagues.
HarveyD82
there’s no chance In hell they can surpass the cubs for the division. Bullpen is shaky, pitching a huge question mark beyond cole and nova— will the young guys have a sophomore slump? Cutch gonna be. .250 guy or .310 guy? marte and Polonco are only sure things. Catchers are lucky to hit the ball to the outfield. Jaso, Jhey are subs on any other team. Frazier could provide a spark, and Mercer provides veteran leadership. will bell stay healthy? does freese keep up the good work? does jung ho ever come back. last year was a “bridge year”. this season doesn’t look good. I’ve seen it before. 3 winning years, then losing. 3 winning season, now a losing one…these friendly contracts aren’t gonna work forever nutting….Should of traded Cutch for a sp while they had the chance. if he is slow out of the gate, does he ruin his trade value. who knows, he may have reached his ceiling. I hope I’m wrong.
theeterps
I mean sure, we could list a ton of questions for every single team in the league. I don’t think anyone is contending that they will surpass the Cubs for the division. I don’t think any team is particularly capable of a better regular season record this season, other than maybe the Red Sox.