The Pirates have placed left-hander Martín Pérez on the 15-day injured list due to a left groin strain and placed catcher Joey Bart on the 10-day injured list with an left thumb injury, per a team announcement. (Further details on Bart’s injury aren’t yet available.) In a pair of corresponding moves, Pittsburgh reinstated third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the injured list and selected the contract of catcher Grant Koch, who’ll make his big league debut when he first gets into a game.
Pérez exited his Sunday start after three innings. The 33-year-old appeared to tweak something while covering first base on a third-inning grounder (video link). While he finished out the frame, he was replaced in the fourth inning. Bart also departed yesterday’s contest early, but the severity of his injury — or even a formal diagnosis — has not yet been provided by the team.
Pittsburgh signed Pérez to a one-year, $8MM contract in the offseason, hoping he could provide some veteran stability at the back of a rotation they were expecting to rely heavily on Mitch Keller, Jared Jones and Paul Skenes. Through his first 11 starts, he’s more or less been that. Pérez has pitched to a pedestrian 4.71 ERA with an 18% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate in 57 1/3 innings. That number is still skewed to an extent by one nightmare outing that saw Pérez shellacked for nine runs at the hands of the Brewers. His combined ERA in 10 other starts sits at a far more palatable 3.61 mark.
While the veteran is on the shelf, the Bucs will still have that trio of Skenes, Jones and Keller to anchor the rotation, with Bailey Falter alongside them as well. They will likely need to find a fifth starter at some point, but they should have some time to figure that out. They were off yesterday and will be off again on Thursday and Monday. That means they could theoretically keep those four guys on regular rest through the first week of June without need of another starter.
Whether they wait until then or decide to bring up another arm sooner, they have some options. Quinn Priester and Daulton Jefferies are each on the 40-man roster and currently on optional assignment. They also have some non-roster guys with major league experience, including Domingo Germán and Wily Peralta.
Behind the plate, Bart’s injury gives the Bucs three catchers on the IL, as Jason Delay and Endy Rodríguez were already on the shelf. Rodríguez is out for the year due to UCL surgery while Delay underwent knee surgery earlier this year. Delay recently started a rehab assignment but has only played two games as part of that so far.
The Bucs have Yasmani Grandal on the roster and could have perhaps recalled Henry Davis to join him. Davis was optioned after hitting just .162/.280/.206 in the big leagues but has slashed .297/.444/.672 at Triple-A since being sent down. That latter line has come in a small sample of just 18 games and perhaps the club wants him to keep getting regular playing time away from the bright lights of the show. It’s also possible that Delay will be ready shortly and they didn’t want to promote Davis just for a few days. Another explanation is just that Koch happened to be available, as Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review relays on X that Koch was on the taxi squad.
Whatever the logic, the result is that Koch will get to the big leagues for the first time. The 27-year-old was drafted back in 2018 and has been climbing the minor league ladder since then. He has never really been on the radar of prospect evaluators and has hit just .203/.284/.322 in his minor league career. That includes a line of .167/.211/.259 in Triple-A this year while striking out in 42.4% of his plate appearances.
Despite the lackluster offense, Koch was the primary backstop of Skenes when the two were both at Triple-A, as relayed by Alex Stumpf of MLB.com on X. Stumpf then theorizes that the two could perhaps work together tomorrow, when Skenes is scheduled to start. Whatever the plan is, Koch will be making his major league debut as soon as skipper Derek Shelton sends him onto the field.
Grant is Koch blocked no more! Welcome to the bigs!
Koch is hitting 167/211/259 in AAA this year. Hopefully he brings a different bat or something.
Koch might only catch a few games until Delay is back. He’s already started his rehab.
Koch is only up because Jason Delay is still injured. When Delay is back from the rehab that think he just started, he’ll replace Kochni would assume. There isn’t much sense to me in recalling Davis to timeshare with Grandal or in the outfield.
Perez has actually been pretty solid, and he also seems to be one of those vets who keeps things loose and is popular in the clubhouse.
Wrong, It will be Davis who gets recalled not Delay
Because the way Davis has returned to form offensively at Indy, he will get recalled long before Delay
Davis is batting .297 with 6 homers and 16 rbi in 18 games since being sent to Infy
There’s no way light hitting Delay is promoted ahead of Dsvis
Idk about that. Davis is doing good, but they might want to give him a little more time to get things straightened out. Grandal has done fine and can hold the fort down until Bart or Delay are back.
This team needs offensive production and Delay offers none. He also has a weak arm but they like him because he’s cheap and is available
From what I have read, they are going to give Davis another 10-15 games at Indy before recalling him.
The way to straighten out Davis and the rest of the hitters is to chase Haines out of Pittsburgh
There’s no way you would promote Delay over Davis based on talent.
That’s not what I’m basing my prediction off of.
Paul-That is AAA.
They are not going to screw with him anymore.
Yes,he would be a better hitter than Delay,but not as good of a catcher.Bart should be back before too long,and Delay will then go to AAA.
If Endy is to be the catcher next year Davis will have to learn another position.
My guess is that they will start moving him to RF in AAA this year when DeLay comes down.
He can start to learn a new position in the minor leagues without much pressure.This is what they did with Bae.
Delay is good at framing pitches but is horrible at the plate. He strikes out more often than he gets on base and this team needs offensive production from all 9 batters
He provides none and he has a weak arm
And from what I saw the next MLB would be base stealer that Davis throws out will be his first.
I never said that Davis is a defensive whiz but I am firm in my belief that Delay is an offensive liability and this team can’t afford to have a Taylor type catcher playing
Koch will fit right in with the Taylor/Rowdy offense and so will Delay when he comes up
Two of those HRs came against a position player. I just watched him against Omaha on Memorial Day and he didn’t exactly look better at the plate than he has with the Pirates (3Ks, a walk and a double). I don’t suspect a lot is going to change over the next week or so before Delay is finished with his rehab. His Indy numbers seem to be more of a reflection of the inferior competition than any real progress at this point.
I dunno. He’s raised his average 80 points or so. Has shown more power. You’d think that in light of the Pirates’ needs, it’s right up their alley. Given your thinking, why do they bring anyone up, given the fact that AAA pitching is so inferior
I don’t care if he comes up now or in September. It’s obvious they drafted him for his bat and have had no idea how to incorporate it
How this team has messed with the confidence of a number of young players is incredible
If that was the case, inferior competition in AAA, why didn’t Delay or Koch ever hit the cover off the ball when they played there for Indy?
Your logic is convoluted in so many ways it’s difficult to see
Koch’s first plate appearance proves your logic wrong as he struck out looking on a pitch right down the middle
Apparently he didn’t get the memo of inferior competition at Indy
And for those who thought resigning Cutch was a mistake, his 3 run homer put us in the lead
Bart’s doing well with the pirates. wRC+ of 150. Clearly, a new environment helped him. Something must be rotten with the Giants.
He’s been a fantastic pickup. Saved the team from having a black hole at the position.
Something must be rotten with the Giants? Maybe you’d be on to something if Patrick Bailey hadn’t seized the position from Bart in the first place.
They’re essentially putting up the same fWAR right now. So, what happened? Why is he doing much better in PIT than SF?
@old York Man, that is some horrible logic right there!
Because baseball, that’s why. Bart, if injury free, could go hitless in 4 or 5 games and then we’ll call him a bum again.
This thing called opportunity.
Nice crack at a troll for an old man.
@foppert2
How was I trolling?
Sorry. My bad. Bart going ok at the Pirates must mean “something is rotten in SF”.
Of course. Most logical explanation. No trolling there at all. You’re good.
@foppert2
All I’m saying is the guy was not great in SF but once he got traded, he’s doing fairly well. Sure, it’s a small sample size in PIT right now but even as a small sample size, why couldn’t he have done the same in SF?
Yeah can’t blame Bart or San Francisco I think. Replacing Posey and being #2 overall pick is hard enough without getting promoted to the majors too soon because of a global pandemic response.
The Giants had to rush him up in 2000 because Posey sat out. He was exposed to MLB too soon. He’s probably closer to on track now. Then they drafted Bailey and haven’t looked back. Bart was from the previous FO.
Definitely rushed him. Ridiculous to think a 3 year old could play mlb.
Give it some time. Lets see if the league catches up with him.
Perez leads the Pirates in HR by 2.
He’s given up 9, Cruz and Reynolds lead the team with 7 hit
Never a good sign when your pitcher has surrendered more HR than your leading hitter has hit
Jared Jones has given up 10 HRs so nothing you said adds up.
Yes you are right it doesn’t add up that it’s a horrible situation when your pitchers are giving up more HR than your leading offensive players have hit.
That doesn’t add up in any way
It kinda adds up in a sense that many of the Pirate pitchers have regressed this year. Granted Jones didn’t pitch at the major league level last year but every reliever did and outside of Holderman, none are having anything close to their potential from last year
Bednar’s era is over 6 and he’s our closer
Perez has had one really bad start where he gave up 5 homers. He’s been better than 90% of 5th starters on other teams this year.
If you take out that one horrendous start that Perez was left in as the sacrificial lamb his ERA is around 3.60 with only 5 HRs allowed.
Shelton has a history of leaving pitchers in even when they are getting creamed by opposing batters
He did it a few times last year when Keller was pitching
He’s undoubtedly the worst manager in baseball in my opinion
Man…that opinion of Skelton is the opinion of a lot of people. He’s trash.
Pin that start squarely on GMBC. Shelton had little to no choice but to leave Perez out there to get shelled because the bullpen was short and tired.
As for worst manager, Bob Melvin says hold my beer. He hasn’t met a roster yet that he can’t get to underachieve, while Shelton has been blessed with years of subpar rosters. I by no means think Sheltie is the best manager, or even a good one, but calling him the worst does a disservice to Bob Melvin and David Bell, who have toiled long and hard to be awful with markedly better talent.
a good manager gets the best from his players, has a support staff that encourages the players and makes decisions based on talent not analytics.
Using Taylor, the strike or bust against lefties, using Williams who only has one hit in the month of May against one of the best pitchers in the American league and accepts defeat without question is hardly the definition of a good manager
There’s never any urgency with him at the helm
The Pirates had an off day yesterday and have 3 more over the next 2 weeks. They might be able to navigate it where Perez only misses one outing.
I will never forgive Cherrington & Co. for selecting Henry Davis.
Funny, I will never forgive Cherington for wasting $10.5 million on Chapman, $3.2 million on Tellez and $4 million on Taylor
Definitely the same blue print each of his previous years. Yet to sign a significant free agent on a multiple year contract
It’s funny how so many people on this board were begging for Taylor, then vanished after the first week when he returned to being Michael A. Taylor. Chapman was a bit of luxury that seemed like a head-scratcher at the time; Tellez seemed worth the flyer at the time.
The 1B market was terrible and Hoskins still would have been a bad move, as it would have probably squeezed Joe off the roster and that’s not even considering the risk regarding his return from injury. At worst, you could blame the Pirates for being risk-averse, but more went into the the Tellez decision than just being cheap.
The Taylor signing still baffles me. Yes, he plays good defense. If not for his first week, his offensive numbers would be as bad as Rowdy’s. The signing was seemingly made out of desperation when it became clear Bae wasn’t going to be ready to head north and due to a lack of faith that Olivares and Joe could handle OF duties regularly, or that Cutch could play the field on occasion. Now he’s just an expensive, untradeable backup plan at worst, a late-inning defensive replacement at best.
Chapman is what he is, and probably still fetches something in a trade. He’s got roughly a month to get things right. To me, he’s not the difference in making the playoffs – so you trade him regardless of the standings if he can be traded. IMO, you’re calling the Orioles around the end of June to see if you can include Chapman and a decent prospect or two for Heston Kjerstad.
What you’re basically saying is we should be expecting another rebuild to happen next year because they simply don’t have the players needed to be competitive
There were a few people who applauded the Taylor signing. Maybe a couple who liked Tellez coming here although they must have thought last season was an aberration. These are the same folks who’ll tell me Suwinski was an all star last year and made marked improvements this season
In other words, there are a great many folks who love to regurgitate Pirate PR propaganda
As for Chapman, I hated the signing them and loathe it now. I wondered why the guy chose to come to Pittsburgh. He must have thought he’d hit the lottery when he was offered $10M
I’m at a loss as to how any bonafide contender takes a chance on him at this point unless they have bullpen injuries
As stated previously, he’s the worst signing here since Derek Bell
I for one wasn’t in favor of signing Taylor or Chapman for that matter. I did see potential in signing Tellez, but obviously I was wrong about one and right about two.
How Cherington can look Nutting in the eye without becoming apologetic on wasting his money is beyond my imagination
“worst signing since Derek Bell”:
1. Raul Mondesi
2. Lyle Overbay
3. Erik Bedard
4. Jeromy Burnitz
5. Rod Barajas
Chapman doesn’t even crack the top 10 after considering guys like Matt Diaz, Scott Olson, Lonnie Chisenhall or Ramon Vasquez, Ryan Vogelsong Part Deux…etc. And that’s just SINCE Bell.
The fly in your ointment of all stars is that each was brought here when there was no idea of “contending”
Notice the quotation marks. This notion has continually been pushed by Nutting, Cherington, the broadcast geniuses and true believer fans here
Chapman was brought in for that very reason. To further protect all of those leads this team was going to have before Bednar came in
Sorry. You’re mistaken
This was a $10m play that was stupid from the start
I think, at least I do, people view the signing of Chapman as a monumental failure because Pittsburgh is a small market town and giving one player, especially one who is 37 years old, $10.5 million dollars is a ludicrous move considering they could have used a b portion of that money for a better first baseman and another portion for a younger pitcher
Chapman is not worth even a fraction of what he’s being paid
Who’s Lonnie Chisenhall? Never seen him in a pirates uniform? lol
He signed as a free agent after the 2018 season from Cleveland for $2.75 million, got hurt in spring training of 2019, during his rehab assignment in Indy, he got hurt again and never played an inning for the major league club
Although Archer came over in a trade and cost the Pirates three top prospects, this was a similar transaction in my mind. An extreme reach in hopes of contending for a wild card berth that didn’t cost them prospects but did have them misappropriating $10m.
Pundit’s listing is a who’s who of free agent failures, but if one keeps it in context, this one was even worse
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the discussion that went into it, and baseball geniuses thought this money was better spent on a guy who’s no longer elite, a question mark in the clubhouse and a luxury when you already have Bednar and Holderman, rather than bringing in an outfielder with a bat at relatively the same price
So….. now what?
I will never forgive Cherington, Shelton and company for messing with the kid’s head. I’d hope that in this very instant someone is explaining to Davis why he wasn’t called up to replace Bart. Yeah, communication. What a concept.
You draft him number 1, rightfully decide Endy is the catcher of the future, and then become clueless about Davis. RF for a few games. Then sit. DH a couple times. Sit again. Never sniff any catching time
The off season comes, the GM talks about how Davis is going to get a lot of catching time in at Bradenton. Endy gets hurt. So they go out and sign not one but two catchers while Davis is having a nice spring.
Tell the kid he’s a right fielder who may be called to catch in a pinch. Give him solid instruction.
If you’re not going to forgive someone, it should be the player development department
The player development system is a function designed by the General Manager who is Ben Cherington
He hires the scouts, managers and coaches at all levels of the organization and apparently discusses the game lineups with Shelton using analytics as their guide
His immediate hiring of Haines only days after Haines was fired by the Brewers over their offensive regression during his tenure as hitting coach has to be one of his biggest failures. Haines has subsequently tinkered with every player on the major league roster, and the results have been very disappointing, yet Cherington supports his decision and coaching staff
The “Bart Dart” backfired and hit is thumb!!
Bart was given every chance to seize the starting position upon Posey’s retirement. He didn’t do anything to earn it. If it wasn’t for Bart’s ineptness on offense and injuries, we would never have seen Bailey burst on the scene and take the job. I think it has turned out very well for the Giants. Except for the GS Bart hit against the Giants.
I think that the points raised have said that Bart May have been too inexperienced to take advantage of the chance even though he was a very high draft choice.I think that Cherington was shrewd to know that and pick him up off waivers.These young players sometimes just need second chances in another organization to blossom to the level to match their abilities.
When will Tellez be put on the injured list?
When “general ineptitude” becomes an official medical diagnosis.
So they are keeping how many infielders? Need another bull pen arm badly as it is
Tellez has not played in the last 5 games and isn’t i in tonight’s lineup.
That’s wasted roster spot that could be given to a player who can actually hit.
They don’t even bring him in as a defensive replacement towards the end of the game.
I hope they are not shopping him by offering a couple of prospects to go along with him like the Liriano deal years ago,
There is no way that that would happen.
They owed Liriano $20M and were happy that they could get out of it for that price.
They owe Tellez $2M.
I hope you are right.
I do not think that that bodes well for Rowdy.
I hope that they dfa him within the next week and bring up Lamb to give him a shot.He deserves it and they would not have to pay him much.
I am not convinced Nutting will allow Ben to dfa Rowdy with only 60 games in the season
Maybe by the AS break
They are facing one of the best pitchers in baseball tonight and their lineup screams of double digit strikeouts
Against lefty pitchers, Cruz is horrible, yet he’s playing and Triolo isn’t
And then there’s Taylor who averages 2 strikeouts per game and only has 4 XBH this entire season
Matt Gorski, an outfielder at Indy has found his power stroke and has 9 homers this year. He’s also improved his average.
Yet he’s still in the minors and we still have the non hitter like Taylor here
They need to play Bae in CF pretty much full time to find out what they have.
Taylor should not be much more than a defensive replacement and play against lefthanders occasionally.
Gorski has never done much in the minor leagues and has just now started to hit.He needs to prove himself in AAA over time to have any promise.
Trilo to 1st? Gonzales needs to stay put.
Triolo has been another disappointment this year and has regressed offensively
Not as bad as Tellez mind you but this is his second year at the major league level and is close to being pathetic at the plate
Triolo is nothing more than a utilityman,which is all that he was ever going to be.His strengths are that he is fundamentally sound at all infield positions,but is not a much better hitter than Williams but with at least a little power.
the Bucs catch a lucky break for tonight’s game. It’s been postponed due to rain
Lucky break because the Tiger’s scheduled pitcher has an era of 2.25 and 72 strikeouts ( that leads the american league) in 60 innings pitched
It just moves the matchup to Wednesday. They will still get to face Skubal.
and apparently my sarcasm went over your head
Will they get to bring up an extra pitcher for the doubleheader?
I would think so.
They need another reliever anyway.Ryan needs to come up and Carmen needs to then be sent down after the doubleheader.
They really do not have much more in AAA.And none of the touted young pitchers are doing much of anything.
And Bubba is hurt.
All the young pitchers that matter are doing well. They won’t help any this year or even next. Ashcraft could be called up this year but not sure he will help.
Solemeto is not.6.26 era
Samiego and Harrington have low innings totals.
Ashcroft has lowered his era lately.
I am concerned about Bubba and his injury.
I think Dream should change his moniker to “YourA+DreamGM”
After a while, I wonder if it’s just a love of being sarcastic
To review, and with me it’s not hindsight but actually watching baseball until I’m bug-eyed:
Tellez, Taylor, Chapman, Marco and Perez were *never* A+ variety. I’m betting fans of the teams they came from had good laughs when they hooked on here
Grandal has value in working with young pitchers
The Pirates farm system after a few players like Peguero, Davis, Lamb is awash in the average
Solometo brings to mind Jeff Locke. Just not as average
I have more hope for Oviedo, Burrows or VV being a big part of the late season or ‘25 staff before any of the young guys currently getting shelled and like Mendoza, have some concern about Bubba
Who knows, maybe the ‘25 Bucs will look like the ‘69 Mets, as pitching carries them to a season full of scratch-out wins
Or maybe there will be another young pitcher who needs TJ surgery and more current players regress next year and we will be talking about 2026 because next year never seems to happen
And this game is now officially over with the 3 run homer that should have never happened thanks to the boneheaded play by Gonzalez
None of those guys got a A+ from me except for Perez who was A+ before injury.
They need to move Gonzalez or Burrows to the 60 day IL to open up a spot for the sixth catcher on the 40 man roster Koch.
Burrows would then get mlb service time so not happening. Gonzales can be when needed.
As long as he has patience, that could be
Burrows has been on there for more than a year.Not sure when he is coming off.
I know that that has been the reason but they may soon need that slot.
They do however now have several that they can dfa.
Mendoza, say they dfa Taylor and Rowdy. Who exactly takes their place on the roster?
Do they bring Jack back up even though he’s not the same player as he was last season?
They need a real first baseman who has power potential. Triolo isn’t the answer. Joe is competent at first base but he lacks power too
They had one, not the best but they didn’t want to pay him, Josh Bell. He is surely available again. Anyone is better than Tellez.
If we pay Josh’s salary maybe they will pay Tellez’s.
Bell is 0.5 WAR better than Tellez so far this season, at -0.2 WAR. That’s a pretty hefty price tag ($13+ million in salary) for similar substandard defense, a slightly better average and a handful more HRs. There are much better ways to spend that kind of money. Now if you throw in the plus potential of Chisholm in some kind of trade involving Bell, I’d listen to that. Otherwise, you’re better off telling Rowdy to head home with $3 million while taking your chances with Lamb.
No problem, power hitting Rowdy Tellez is starting the second game while already, that fabulous manager Derek Shelton gave Hayes off in the second game despite just being activated from the IL yesterday
Shelton continues to show why he doesn’t deserve to be a ball boy, let alone a major league manager
While you’re dumping Rowdy, dump Taylor too. All he does is strike out.
5 ks of the first 8 batters
And why is Williams both on the major league roster and playing today?
Olivares wouldn’t be starting every game on any other team but because the player development is so bad in this organization there’s no one else who can come close to hitting major league pitching in their minor league system.
How can every player always be in a slump at the same time ?
Why didn’t Shelton use Bae to pinch hit for Taylor against a right handed pitcher or Cruz to pinch hit for Williams against the same pitcher in the 8th inning?
Not that they would overcome an 8 run deficit but he doesn’t even try to score one run.
He’s an embarrassment to managers of our past like Leyland, Tanner and Murtaugh, all who got the best out of their players even when facing long odds of winning
I worked around the yard in intermittent rain today instead of watching these guys and have to tell you that I recommend it. The wife told it was nice to not hear me telling off a Pirates broadcaster.
Peace of mind.
The first game was your typical offensive-less type that can be expected by players who don’t belong in the lineup and/or major leagues.
The kind of game where strikeouts outnumbered the hits and runs were a scare commodity
The second game was worth watching, even though they equaled their hits vs strikeouts
Cutch became the first Pirate player to drive in 4 or more runs at the age of 37 or older since Stargell drove in 5 at the age of 40 in 1981.
He and Gonzalez led the offense each getting 3 hits, including a double and homer each.
Even Rowdy had a hit and against a lefty
But the star was Skenes. 9 ks in 6 innings and only giving up 2 runs
Relish the offensive production. They probably won’t score 10 runs in another game for awhile
I been watching a lil minor league ball. Haven’t watched any mlb in a month. Don’t recommend minor league pirates baseball. Exactly the same as the mlb. I will watch every playoff game though. With a 162 games the regular season is pretty watered down. Worth watching Skenes starts for sure. Even Jones. After that there isn’t any star power. You can watch Cruz for a week and if you are lucky and catch the one at bat he doesn’t strike out you might see a 120 mph exit velocity if that’s your thing. There’s so many better more entertaining things to do than watch baseball. Many of them are free. If you limit it to pirates baseball the list of things better to do doubles trip trip triples. Can’t you guys find a Matlock marathon or something to watch?
I devote my free time during warm weather to my large fenced in vegetable garden and probably on average spend 4 hours stabilizing the tomato c plants, weeding where necessary, stabilizing the multiple trellises that allow zucchini, cucumber and pole beans to spread and pick lettuce ready for consumption
By harvest time in the fall, and after everything has been picked, what can be is blanched and jarred for the winter season
Sorry if that doesn’t fit your description of spending time other than watching baseball
We have similar interests, TheMan3
I think Dream exaggerates, of course, but I agree with the overall point about investing too much interest in a team that literally doesn’t deserve it
But he discounts what you and I have said many times, that we grew up with the game and before cable and social media, were around people who enjoyed discussing baseball. Maybe he thinks that while we watch, we are chewing on towels
Discussion, critique…to me at least, that’s what makes it fun
Have to add that I laughed about the Cruz comment. The guy will get 2 hits in a series, and we’ll still be treated to comments about his exit velocity.
Never will be manager of the year, Derek Shelton ruined another fine pitching performance by Falter by pulling him after 6 scoreless innings and 83 pitches then proceeds to use every reliever until Toronto wins in the bottom of the 14th inning
Not that the Bucs actually had a chance of winning considering they only managed 6 hits, alp singles and struck out 10 times
Odd enough, the two best hitters are former number one draft picks and one is 37 years old
Pulling Falter was mind-numbing
But in this era, it’s hard to fathom the thinking. That is, pitchers used to be judged by wins and losses, and innings pitched. Now, no matter the team, starters are deemed “excellent” if they give you 5-6 innings
Yeah, this was a boneheaded move but it’s what we have been seeing in baseball for some time.
I expect another double digit strikeout performance by the lackluster offense of the Bucs and a remote possibility of scoring more than 2 runs
One day, the powers to be will come to the conclusion that having a worthless hitting coach and his staff isn’t the way to make this offense competitive
Keller dominates and gets pulled after 6
Yeah, new era baseball
Luckily, Ortiz was pretty solid for 3
Nice that Triolo had a nice day and that the recipe for wins entails a strong start and some random player contributing. Tellez, Grandal and Taylor certainly aren’t among them
Priester goes tomorrow. Enough said
I don’t mind with a lead. It’s a long season keep the arms fresh. Close game though how many guys do you really trust. Bullpen looked good on paper. They are hard to predict.
I was very wrong about yesterday’s game and will admit it but this game today is a joke
Koch doesn’t belong in the majors, especially on a team that has to scratch their way to score runs
Cruz should not be the clean up hitter and Priester needs to stop shaking off his catcher
Taylor should be a dfa candidate as long as Cherington doesn’t mind admitting that he made a mistake by signing him
Before Tellez hit the rbi single, he was mired in a 4 for 40 slump
Pathetic
I am just waiting for the trade deadline. Grade some trades and take my victory lap for my incredible off season analysis. Will see if I watch much Pirates this year. Having lots of fun without them. I enjoyed the start of the season but that stretch of the entire team not hitting killed it for me. Seems they are doing better of late but going to give it some more time.
Most interesting thing about the Pirates will be the evolution of their starting pitching. They have 4 good starters right now. I’m going to speculate that moving forward, the 5th starter will be in the form of VV, Burrows or Oviedo, but we are admittedly likely looking at ‘25 for all three
Don’t know about that victory lap, Dream
None of the signees have been above C-
Hard to see this team contending even for a WC berth. Their MO will continue to be to scratch out runs to support their big 4 starters.
I tend to think someone will take a chance on Chapman at deadline time. Taylor, Grandal, Tellez? Not so much.
I’d hope by that time Gonzales has positioned himself as their regular 2nd baseman. Maybe they can then package guys like Termarr, Cheng, Alika and any number of farm pitchers for outfielder or a 1st baseman with power potential.
That’s about all you can hope for here
A ‘69 Mets-type team, with stellar pitching and a scratch and claw offense
Priester historically only pitches well for 4-5 innings so let’s see how he does today.
I don’t have much faith
When is Davis coming back? We need a catcher that can hit, Koch can’t
Will need all those and more with pitching injuries.
As I said, Priester is only good for 4-5 innings. In this game, 4+
Before someone says he’s only/ 23, he’s been a pitcher since little league
Yeah, you’ll get the standard “He’s young. He deserves a chance”
Davis, Lamb, Peguero and even Gorski are doing well at AAA but guys like Taylor and Tellez are at the MLB level
Boggles the mind.
Surprisingly Rowdy drove in all 4 runs today while our catcher situation can’t do squat offensively
And another double digit strikeout performance by the Pirates hitters
13 is embarrassing
Priester’s pitch is the sinker yet he threw more sliders which he was getting hits off of. I saw him shake off Koch 3 times and 3 times the Blue Jays got hits
If he’s not going to throw his out pitch, he should stay in the minors. So should Koch for that matter
It’s time to send Taylor to the dfa heap and send Koch back to Indy
Matt Gorski hit his 10th homer today and Henry Davis hit his 7th in 22 games since being sent back to Indy
Gorski plays first base and in the outfield
I’m glad Tellez had a nice game.
Hopefully it’ll spark something
But the leash should be short if Lamb continues to hit
I don’t know much about Gorski, but if he continues to hit homers, why keep Taylor?
Peguero looks to be lost in the shuffle here
And Suwinski …7 Ks in two games?
But they’ve heard you. Davis is coming up
Gorski is similar to Suwinski except he doesn’t draw as many walks.
Bae Suwinski any better than Taylor? Think Gorski will be?
I rely on you for that kind of info, Dream, and catch very few Indy games. And like you, in truth I’m catching fewer Pirates games these days
While you make me laugh with the “A+ signing” tags you often throw out with free agent signings or retread pickups, your minor league prospect comments often turn out to be quite on target when the kids get to this level. Uh, aside from the “Suwinski and Joe are All Star worthy”
I liked Shelton’s comment about guys going from level to level and having to adjust to a higher level of play, especially when they get to the MLB level. Kind of dispels a great deal of hype we get here. He was talking about Gonzales and his adjustments at the plate but he seems to be one of the few so far who’ve made such adjustments.
In particular, I’m wondering if any of the young arms discussed ad infinitum here will ever make it to the show.
It’s yet another reason that Jim Bouton was right in once saying, “Tell your statistics to shut up” especially in the era of analytics gobblety-gook
My A+ have been incredibly accurate. They guys who stink all got C’s and not because I loved them. But someone was going to sign them and the Pirates paid a fair market price. 3 4 million doesn’t buy much so for a guy who has the ability in him somewhere to hit 25 hrs or play gold glove cf defense it’s not a Lil to no risk high reward. Any waiver claim will get a A+ usually. You are dumping old trash for new trash your geniuses can try to improve. What’s it cost 50 grand? Used to be 25 then went to 50. Could be 100 now. I been out too long to keep track of it but whatever it is it’s absolutely nothing.
Gonzales this time last year as is was a failed prospect. His bat wasn’t good enough for mlb. He they improved it. So hope for Gorski and Bae sure but they don’t have the ceiling of Gonzales. Part of Gonzales problem was his swing was so short and so fast it caused higher K rate. Unfortunately those 2 don’t have that problem. I hope for the best and maybe they improve but I don’t have them written down for future lineups. Gorski can at least field well and hit hrs. If he can just walk more or really hit hrs then alright. Bae needs to K less or become an elite defender.
I said near all star and they were as a platoon at that time. Joe might be alone this year. If he was a big known name he might be. Or if there was no Jones Skenes then Joe or Cutch could very well be the 1 all star if Bednar Keller numbers weren’t impressive or they needed position players.