3:30pm: The Bucs have made it official, announcing that Yorke has been selected to the roster with Williams optioned in a corresponding move.
3:10pm: The Pirates are promoting infield prospect Nick Yorke, according to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on X. Yorke is not yet on the club’s 40-man roster, but the Bucs already have a vacancy there, so they will only need to make a corresponding active roster move.
Yorke, 22, hasn’t been in Pittsburgh’s system for very long. He was drafted by the Red Sox in 2020, going 17th overall, but came to the Bucs via a rare one-for-one swap of young and controllable players. The Pirates sent right-hander Quinn Priester to Boston straight up for Yorke in a July trade.
The road to the big leagues has been a bit up-and-down for Yorke. It started with a bang in 2021, as he performed well in 97 games between Single-A and High-A. He hit 14 home runs and stole 13 bases in that time. He drew walks at an 11.8% clip while limiting his strikeouts to a low rate of 15.6%. His combined line of .325/.412/.516 led to a wRC+ of 149.
There were questions about his defense but that offensive performance vaulted him onto top prospect lists. Going into 2022, Baseball America ranked him #31 in the league, though a downturn in Yorke’s performance would follow. He was returned to High-A and only got into 80 games, battling injuries such as turf toe as well as back and wrist soreness. When on the field, his results were noticeably worse. His walk rate fell to 8.8%, his strikeout rate jumped to 25.2% and he slashed .231/.303/.365 for a wRC+ of 84.
He fell off top 100 lists after that season and hasn’t quite been able to get back, despite some improved results in subsequent seasons. He was promoted to Double-A last year and played in 110 games, slashing .268/.350/.435 for a 116 wRC+. His strikeout rate stayed a bit high at 24.1% but he drew walks 10.1% of the time, hit 13 homers and stole 18 bases.
Here in 2024, Yorke has been having another good year. He started out back at Double-A and was decent, slashing .251/.325/.366 for a 101 wRC+ in 45 games. The Sox then promoted him to Triple-A, when he got into a good groove, slashing .310/.408/.490 in 38 games for a 138 wRC+.
It was then that he was flipped to the Bucs, perhaps due to a change in the front office. Yorke was drafted during the tenure of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who had been fired and replaced by Craig Breslow. Perhaps Breslow wasn’t as enamored of Yorke as his predecessor and considered him expendable, though that’s entirely speculative.
Either way, Yorke has kept hitting with his new club. In 40 Triple-A games since the deal, he has hit .355/.431/.507 for a wRC+ of 147. The deal doesn’t look great for the Sox so far, as Priester has a 5.67 ERA in eight Triple-A starts since being swapped, though that’s a very small sample size with plenty of time for the narrative to flip. Yorke had a .364 batting average on balls in play at the Triple-A level prior to being traded and a .441 BABIP since, so it wouldn’t be fair to expect him to continue hitting quite this well in the majors.
Nonetheless, it’s possible that Yorke could be a key contributor for the Bucs. He has played some third base, shortstop and outfield, but his primary position is second base, which has been a revolving door for the Pirates lately. The Bucs have used Nick Gonzales, Jared Triolo, Alika Williams and Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the keystone this year, with none of them locking down the position.
Kiner-Falefa has been playing shortstop lately with Oneil Cruz moved to center field, while Triolo has been covering third base for the injured Ke’Bryan Hayes. Gonzales has been the regular at second base recently but he has a .267/.305/.377 batting line this year for a 91 wRC+ while getting mixed reviews for his defense.
The Pirates are 71-78 and out of contention, so they will use the final two weeks of the regular season to get a look at Yorke and see how he fares against big league pitching. Going into the winter, they will have to decide how they feel about their infield mix. Second base would be one of the clearest areas to upgrade in the offseason but Yorke could perhaps change their thinking if he seems like an immediate solution. Triolo has also been playing better of late, with a .237/.356/.404 line and 115 wRC+ in the second half.
Each of these infielders can play multiple positions, so that can give the Bucs some creativity in movings things around for the remainder of the season and in the future. For now, Yorke can make his major league debut and get a taste of the big leagues before the winter comes.
One of the most anticipated debuts of the year, good luck Nick!
Many Sox fans are probably joining you Fever. As for Priester, I only want him to stay healthy and start over in the spring.
Dewey – I only want Priester to have a great birthday! 24 today!!
Damn what I wouldn’t do to be 24 again, great age!
24? 34? 44? even 54! Man, when I was still 24, the Sox had that miracle against the Angels and I counted my winnings on the WS only to get burned by the Mets. The way the Sox beat the Angels is basically how the team lost to the Mets.
dewey – I sometimes think it would have been better for so many people if the Angels had won.
Buckner wouldn’t have endured a nightmare for decades.
Schiraldi, Gedman, McNamara, Clemens all wouldn’t have been crucified.
And poor Donnie Moore would still be alive.
Priester (without actually seeing him pitch) is already giving me Win Remmerswaal vibes.
How the heck do u remember Win Letit? Lemme tell u.. That was one strange sandwich, don’t get me wrong, I liked him ok enough his 2y playing at winter haven, but saw him do some mighty odd things. Once at a team get together and no.. he wasn’t like falling down drunk, but just off the wall and impulsively weird stuff.
Maybe it was the Dutch in him (he was Dutch) and kind of felt like an outcast, tho his English was fine/understandable enough.
John – All I remember is his memorable name, hard to forget just like when the Sox pitching went from Rainey to Clear.
For sure Fever. Remember that super high leg kick chuck Rainey had, where he brought up his left leg, waist high, then his ball and glove would seperate as the kicked high leg was at it’s height? I never saw another pitcher with such a windup and of course, it was only with bases “clear” haha.
Rainey was only in WH for milb and then mlb ST, he never played for the WH A ball team, but got enough looks at him during ST for minor leaguers and Boston that could never forget that windup of his.
Found 1 video of Rainey doing windup as remember on youtube. 1 pitch him losing a no hitter while he was with CHC and it’s not as high a kick as was early on as remember, still ball/glove split and fairly high kick.
youtube.com/watch?v=1R95rOAuw5k
The guy has absolutely crushed AAA as a 22 year old. Ton of potential, can’t wait to see what he can do.
Meh. Sox didn’t need him. They have Emmanuel Valdez and Vaughn Grissom. [long pause] BAHAHAHA!
Trading Yorke made sense for Boston. He is limited to 2B and between Vaugh Grissom (who should rebound after an injury plagued 2024) and #3 prospect Kristian Campbell, the Sox should have a viable, long term 2B in 2025 & beyond. Hopefully, Andrew Bailey & staff can correct Priester and turn him into a decent #4 or #5 starter. Boston had a ton of promising, offensive players in the minors but they clearly lack a pipeline of promising pitchers. I hope Yorke does well for Pittsburgh and has a nice career, but I agree with the move even if Priester doesn’t pan out. You have to take chances in baseball and this seemed like a good gamble for Boston.
Nick has just tore up the minors this year… sorry to see him leave Boston, but I’ll be rooting for him. Tear it up buddy!
it’s about time though why did it take so long?
Since the day he arrived at Indy and through now, he’s been a solid hitter and in fact leads the team in batting average
I am hoping he carries this successful season for the parent club
Good luck. Still rooting for all former RS players.
even Alex Verdugo?
Still rooting for most former RS players.
To be honest, the trade worked out pretty well, so I don’t dwell on it much.
Wren – For Alex Verdugo I will make an exception. He is one former Red Sox I was glad to see leave. Fitts has looked good in the AAA rotation, and his first two MLB starts – 0 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings. Weissert has 50+ innings with a 3.54 ERA, and most importantly Verdugo leaving opened up RF for Abreu and his .800+ OPS. Shipping Verdugo to the Yankees has been a win, win, win situation for the Red Sox. The icing on the cake is that he has sucked for the Yankees.
Nick Yorke inexplicably started trying to pull and lift everything like he was a power hitter. He got back to what makes him good this year and started hitting those line drives and use the whole field he’s done that this now he’s going to be a big leaguer.
I certainly hope Yorke doesn’t take any advice from Andy Haines
Bruin – You don’t think the coaching staff had something to do with him swinging for the fences?
The analytics obsessed front office is all about power ….. throwing hard, striking out batters, and hitting homeruns. That’s not on Nick, he was just doing what he was told.
I really don’t in this case. I think it was two-fold when he was promoted to Greenville in 2021 when he burst on the scene he started to hit home runs at a rapid clip but he was pulling the ball and lofting his swing to get to that power and I think it got in his head he was a power hitter. Then in 2022 he got injured and it further exasperated his swing he was hitting to the pull side even more but now it was on the ground more in rollover fashion and his line drive rate dropped dramatically from Salem.
He then went to AA Portland in 2023 but he was still pulling the ball more and his line drive rate was way down. He had a couple of good months in 2023 but I think he got injured again and fell back into bad habits and not using the whole field. Then we fast forward to this season while he started slowly his underlying numbers were looking much better especially his use of the whole field letting pitches get deep go the other way he looked good to me. He really wasn’t being rewarded babip wise for his good approach but then he went to AAA and started to really take off. He’s not going to hit .340 he’s gotten some babip luck with Worcester and especially in Indianapolis but as long as he continues to have the oppo approach and concentrate on gap to gap line drives he’s going to be a good big league hitter.
I also argued there is a non zero chance that he puts it all together and learns to turn on the inside fastball and goes the other way with breaking balls and heat away. If he manages to do that then he’s going to be a star but most likely he becomes a .275 type hitter with 10-12 homer pop and solid defense at second not a star but a solid big league second baseman.
.275 with 10-12 homers would be an upgrade on this current team
Yorke for Preister was such a fascinating trade
It’s the kind of trade that should happen often. Team with surplus pitching trades to a team with surplus hitting. I think too many GMs are afraid they will be the “loser” of the trade and back away.
One of the best posts of the year. I’ve pondered this for about 50 years. If I have 2 SS prospects and you have two 2B prospects, why not trade?
I think, like you said, they are afraid.
Because a SS can move to 2b and be better than the 2b. Or outfield or 3b. Get your point like a position player for pitcher or a surplus of catching for a cf. Can’t have too many ss though.
This is a great article about the trade:
nytimes.com/athletic/5667544/2024/07/29/red-sox-pi…
He has been playing a lot of ss in AAA hopefully they try him there for the rest of the season
Where does he play? Not 2nd? Where does he get regular reps.?
Anywhere. If you hit they find you a spot.
my guess, with Cruz’ injury, Yorke will play in center field tonight
I swear to god if this kid ends up being better than Vaughn Grissom…
It will be moot because Grissom isn’t assured the 2B job long term either. If Roman Anthony carries his prospect credentials to Boston and can play CF every day in the majors than Rafaela probably becomes the regular 2B, especially if Mayer takes the SS job at some point in the near future
Agreed on the players Rsox but Mayer has to prove he can stay healthy but with Story’s deal, he’s going to get a continued long leash to play somewhere, The Sox need to revamp and outside of Devers, they need to build defense first, then pitching. I still believe in Yoshida’s but hopefully he’ll be elsewhere next year. Then either trade Casas or make him or Devers the DH and get a gold glove at third. Team will save the arms if they have a top five defense and pitching staff. That will result in far less earned AND unearned runs. I hate to say it but Bregman may be the guy if a trade for a righty third baseman isn’t made.
Rsox – So basically the Sale trade will depend on who the Sox get when they trade Grissom.
Fever, the Sales trade is already a loser. If he was healthy and pitching like he has in a Sox uniform, ownership would have been forced to buy at the deadline and the team would be in the playoffs.
Grissom’s future may not be at 2B. Even the Braves were considering a move to the Outfield so there may still be a place for Grissom yet
Rsox – Only if there’s injuries would Grissom play OF for Sox. They are loaded with talented outfielder.
Grissom has really been hitting the ball well lately in AAA he finally looks healthy. It doesn’t really matter though since he has been passed by Campbell who should be the Red Sox second baseman sometime next year. It’s possible Grissom starts for Boston out of spring training but it’s only a matter of time he gets injured or just takes to long to get going and he is replaced by Campbell and Boston never looks back.
Bruin – Why are people saying they will sign Bregman, wouldn’t Cespedes be strong at 3B in 2-3 years? Or maybe Mayer could move there?
FPG I don’t think they are signing Bregman. I don’t think they are moving Devers off third to be an overpaid DH so early in the contract.
If they were to move Devers to DH then Campbell would be the likely successor at third if Grissom continues to hit.and then becomes the 2nd baseman out of the gate next year.
I don’t see Boston in the running for Bregman. He probably ends up in Detroit is my guess.
Moving Rafaella to 2B is wasting a gold glove caliber CF at 2B.
He’s the best defensive centerfield fielder by a long shot
Rafaela is universally regarded as a gold glove caliber CF. Duran got benched plenty during his rookie an. Get a clue for once before commenting.
Also Rafaela has played in 144 games this year. If you paid attention to baseball you’d know that
If it wasn’t for spell check you wouldn’t know how to spell universe. Nice that Durran was good defensively this year which I never said he wasn’t but he was atrocious before now. Also I’ll take the words of scouts who do this for a living who project Rafaela to win a gold glove and be elite defensively over a sad troll.
I throw around things like recency bias and small sample size but that’s way above your comprehension.
still can’t get your facts right so you continue to embarrass yourself. and you can’t even spell dumb right. Duran missed games for throwing around a homophobic slur not because he was too immature to handle some heckling but don’t let the facts get in the way of your argument.
Duran played in 149 and Rafaela in 144. end of story.
you’re probably inarticulate in any language. Spectator and fan can be used interchangeably regardless of what you say.
you haven’t said anything funny. Also while we’re giving out english lessons a fan can be a spectator and vice versa.
Kristian Campbell should be the 2B of the future for Boston if Grissom does not pan out. Rafaela can move to RF if Roman Anthony takes over CF. The biggest problem with the Red Sox is that Roman Anthony, Marcello Mayer & Kyle Teel all bat LH. The current roster already has too many LHH batters (Devers, Casas, Yoshida, Duran & Abreu) so Boston will need to try and trade at least 2 of these players for either RHH players or pitchers. I’d expect Boston to try and move Yoshida in the offseason by eating $8-$10M of his annual salary and possibly Abreu as well. I’d love to see Anthony make the roster next season as a 21 year old and see Teel make it up to big leagues by May or June. Mayer could become a trade candidate as well; he could bring back an absolute haul of prospects should they decide to move him.
Roman Anthony will move to RF before Rafaela does and may be better suited there or LF.
Probably about the same. Neither projects to be anything special unless some late unexpected power emerges.
I thought Gonzales had played pretty well this year.
He in my view if he’s back is a utility man. Hamilton will hopefully be packaged for pitching. With that speed he has value before he becomes more expensive. I think his batting this year is the best we will ever see.
He’s talking about Pirates 2B Nick Gonzales, not Red Sox utility man Romy Gonzalez
I like Yorke, but I don’t think he suplants Gonzalez at 2nd.Yorke plays all over the field,so there won’t be a hard time finding him playing time.
He may not supplant Gonzalez at 2nd base permanently but he’s playing there in tonight’s game
But it probably won’t matter with worthless Joe at playing first base and batting clean up, they will be lucky to score multiple runs anyway
it also took long enough to demote Williams
I see Yorke getting better at second the more he plays and I said it in spring training, his ceiling is a little less but similar to Pedie. High praise but I just see Pedie in him.
Gonzalez hustles,is smart,a good clutch hitter with solid fundamentals,and his fielding metrics about a month ago were very good.
He is not someone to build around but is a starter on a good team.
The Pirates need to keep a couple of utilitymen who can play several positions and have almost all starters playing one position..
Cherington’s predilection of excess position flexibility is a main reason why too many are not fundamentally sound in fielding..
Good for him… just saw Skenes is pitching.. impressive but is there anyway Sale doesn’t win the CY in NL?? I can stomach the trade and all but the fact the Redsox are paying most of his salary….OUCH!!!!
Olm – AA probably talked Breslow into paying for Sale’s flight to Atlanta too!
People vote for it so anything can happen. Sale did it all year on a winning record team so should get it.
Awful trade for Boston. They must have really really loved Grissom. No reason to not get another prospect with him or pay salary.
Grissom was probably the best or only offer they got for Sale who had been hurt every year 2019 to 2023. I was happy they got something for Sale.
Who knows what offers were received. Fans tend to believe someone is injury prone vs teams seeing them as extremely unlucky. I imagine Sale received significant interest and Boston just fell in love with a player. But if that’s not the case and they just took whatever they could get that’s on them. After seeing Sale pitch like he did imagine what Atlanta could have received for him if they traded him in May June July.
Mistake Boston made was giving him an extension even though his velocity was down. Red flag for needing TJ. Then they double down and do this trade and he wins or should win the Cy Young. There’s no sugar coating. Bad moves. Let’s say no other team wanted Sale, well simply keep him and let him be one of the best pitchers in baseball for your team vs paying him to do it for someone else.
Agreed that the Sale extension was a bad move. Dombrowski could have waited to see how Sale pitched in 2019 before extending him. Dombrowski made some great moves in Boston, but this was not one of them. I think this was likely a big part of the reason he got fired later in 2019. I was happy to get rid of Sale and get something for him. I didn’t see any reason to believe Sale would stay healthy this year after making only 31 starts in the last 4 years. The Sale trade only looks bad with hindsight. It would have been nice to place a bet on Sale to win Cy Young before the season started.
nypost.com/2024/09/11/betting/chris-sale-is-runnin…
It is nice. I didn’t just bet on him. I bet on whoever the analytics say to. Most lose but it just takes one and you hit big.
You weren’t alone. I remember the comments section of the trade article. There wasn’t many Sale fans. I might have been the only one. Sox fans thought he was toast, glad he was gone, and thought Grissom was really something. Yes he has been hurt a lot but they weren’t something he would never recover from. The odds of him having that many injuries was insane. He was due to have some healthy years.
I actually feel kind of bad for Yorke though I wish him nothing but success in his young career.
The Pirates have a coaching staff that couldn’t teach cows to eat corn. From the lowest rung to the Quad A team that they field, the coaches only ruin players. It is a damned shame. All those first round picks they received because of organizational incompetence…where are most of those poor guys? I have a feeling that Skenes, with his incredible talent and maturity well beyond his 22 years, has told coaches to leave him the hell alone.
I laugh when I see Oscar “The Slouch” Marin come to the mound. Always think of the great Bob Gibson to Tim McCarver line, “All you know about pitching is that you can’t hit it!”
We can’t fire the $#@!×&* owner but he could at least try to find some semi competent people for this moribund franchise. Shelton has the spine of a worm. He and The Slouch must go and take “hitting coach” Haines with them. If Haines had coached the Beatles they would never have had a hit.
Sorry…I was on a roll. I’ll show myself out.
Interesting. I thought Cherington seemed competent in Boston. So, I am a bit surprised he would fail to hire competent people in Pittsburgh. Maybe the budget he is given keeps him from hiring good people.
Cherington is awful. Hopefully gets fired soon. Should have been done already. $ isn’t the problem. Shelton Haines clearly are awful so fire and hire some young hungry person. Rinse and repeat until you find someone at least decent.
Managing only 4 hits has become the norm for this pathetic team
Shelton said that he wanted to win as many games possible for the rest of the season yet his lineups show otherwise
As a team, they lack power, XBH and don’t use fundamentals during any game
A team that has a tendency of not scoring runs, it would make sense to play small ball but they don’t because no one knows how to bunt effectively
That’s the responsibility of the hitting coach
It’s an embarrassing time to be a Pirate fan and what is needed to correct this problem is firing everyone and bringing in a manager who has the will to win, a GM who is competent and a hitting coach who can improve this offense
Under Haines over his tenure, they have finished at the bottom of the league in every offensive category except in strikeouts where they always finish in the top 5
Great observations! Exactly right on so many points but their fundamentals are nonexistent. I have almost had a stroke when I watch just the stupidity they display on the basepaths.
Too early for me to get revved up over those knuckleheads, so I’ll stop now. Everyone have a great day!
@rheman. Your premise is wrong though much of your analysis is spot on in my opinion. Four hits is not the norm for this team. During September, the Pirates have averaged 6.9 hits per game while their opponents have averaged 8.6 hits per game. Only on three occasions have the Pirates managed not to get more than four hits. However, the Pirates do have a winning record for the month (big thanks to Miami).
In August, the Pirates went 8-19. Of those nineteen losses, the Pirates outhit their opponents ten times. In the ten game losing streak, the Pirates outhit their opponents six times. They averaged 8.9 hits per game while their opponents averaged 9.0 for the month. Only once in August did the Pirates fail to get more than four hits.
While more hitting is definitely welcome, the Pirates need to improve what they do with their hits.
As to small ball, that is game strategy and falls on Shelton and the bench coach. Don’t know if all of you caught the Athletics victory in 12 innings the other day where they bunted three times on four pitches to produce two runs.
Be that as it may. Skeptical, they still rank second to last in total hits for the season in the league with 1194, near the bottom in runs scored, doubles, homers and average
Lineups don’t matter. GM gives you the players. Everyone has to play some. He puts the weaker hitters at the bottom and less weaker hitters at top. Lineups are one of the few things he can do. Literally anyone other than fans can do a lineup.
using that logic, DLC should be in the number 8 position instead of in the # 6 or 7 in the lineup
I am done watching them but Taylor Bae Triolo Williams Davis Joe Cook Yorke aren’t any better than Cruz or even worse. Grandal Hayes IKF Tellez Gonzales aren’t drastically better or anything. Bat these scrubs 6 7 8 9 let ai or fans vote. It’s such a irrelevant micro decision. I wouldn’t care if they traded dfa released any of them so there’s no words to describe how little I care where they bat. No idea why some of these guys are even here. They aren’t going to be here next year. They are just taking playing time from someone who will be and can use it.
Suit- I have mixed thoughts on Cherington.
He has signed a few free agents that worked out,while others have not.Two major trades were salary dumps,while some others worked out but others not.Some of his waiver pickups were good,but,like most teams,most were bad.
None of the young players that he got in numerous trades have produced.
He has drafted well in my opinion,but his development group for hitters has been awful.Fundamentals are often lacking,although some learn in spite of it.
He is very slow in firing the manager and hitting coach,and actually gives the a thumbs up to them.He fired a good minor league hitting instructor because he did not espouse the company line,which has repeatedly failed.
He seems to be a slave to analytics,and has 18 non players in important positions to over analyze things.He cannot see the forest for the trees.
One poster has generally said until recently that he is in the top ten GM’s.He has proven not to be over the past year.
My guess is that he is in the lower third,but one must take into account his lack of money to spend.
He has fired certain personnel but two years too late.
He is clearly to me as I have said over the last year that he needs a baseball person over him to see the big picture.
In lieu of that,he probably needs to go along with the manager and the non pitching coaching staff.
This young team has potential but they need an infusion of enthusiasm and rigor that they are not getting from the current structure.
Mendoza Line: Great post. It is interesting that you say Cherington needs a baseball person to oversee him. John Henry concluded the same thing in Boston and he hired Dave Dombrowski to oversee him. Cherington didn’t like this and left Boston.
he fired the International scouting and development department blaming them for the lack of progress in making players major league ready but failed to mention that he oversaw this program for the past 5 years
It took him that long to determine this shows how incompetent he is as GM
Thank you Suit.
Unfortunately,the Pirates would never be able to get someone of DD’s level as a small market team with a penurious owner.
John Henry knows a lot more about baseball than Bob Nutting does,and would spend the money for a higher level baseball executive.
Cherington may not have a choice to leave this second time.He is still probably doing the same things wrong that he did in Boston.
Spoiler alert-I am still mad at your Red Sox for beating the Pirates in the 1903 first World Series as the Boston Robins.
I am old but do not remember that Series.
The Red Sox organization also changed when Dombrowski joined the Red Sox.
Tom Werner: “Although we have achieved tremendous success over the last 14 seasons, we had reached a clear internal consensus that we needed to enhance our baseball operation.”
Ben Cherington: “We’ll have to wait and see what the exact structural changes there are.”
bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/08/18/red-sox-hire-dav…
Ben Cherington said on his way out that there were structural changes in the Red Sox organization as I posted above. He is not part of ownership. Looks like there were structural changes and you have it wrong. You assume things you have no way of knowing such as what I believe.
Larry retired in 2015 a full four years before dumbo came on the scene. get your facts right before you embarrass yourself again.
I’d think you know about matchups dictated changes if you were so knowledgeable about baseball…
no apologies necessary, everything you said is correct and b factual
Igor- Marin has done a reasonably good job as pitching coach as many have progressed through the system.
I would think that he is at least somewhat responsible for this,but Cherington has drafted well in this regard.
Don’t understand either. Really happy have him.But I’m alittle lost.
The game started as expected with Connor Joe, in a 7 for his last 34 with 13 strikeouts, strikes out looking and against a pitcher not known for his ks
Yorke can hit.
Butch – He reminds me of 2006 Freddy Sanchez.
Shelton’s lineup managed to strike out another 13 times, 9 alone against a pitcher not known for strikeouts.
It says alot when arguably the best pitcher in baseball gives up only one run and still loses
Everyone in management needs to be fired, from cCheringtin down to the bullpen coach
Theman – They need to fire the damn parrot too!
And Joe Blockhead.
Joe Blockhead is the only announcer who doesn’t have a connection to the Pirates outside of his position
The other announcers are former Pirate players except Brown, but he’s a lifelong Pittsburgh resident, Block is from Cleveland
Block is the most horrible baseball announcer ever. If Block starts ranting one more time about chocolate ice cream, I am not responsible for my actions. (Not a threat…I will just swear louder at the TV and then turn the sound off.) Brown is just good for spouting the inane stats that the guys in the truck feed him and for waxing eloquent for whatever promotion is coming up during the home stand.
Personally, I would can everyone in the various broadcast positions except Bob Walk and Rob King. (Mr. King recently became the radio voice of the Steelers. I wish him the best!)
You always knew the score with Bob Prince.
He was also Mr Entertainment.
He did tell a lot of stories but they were always entertaining ones.
He would give shout outs every game to the shut ins.
Back then there were many great announcers who each had their own style.
But there was only one Bob Prince.
it’s still unconscionable that this group of major league players can be so horrible at the plate and no one in management is held accountable.
Cherington hired Andy Haines immediately after his departure by firing from the Brewers for failing to improve their offense during his tenure as hitting coach.
And Milwaukee historically has always had a good offense, so what in the world did Cherington see in Haines that made him believe that he could improve the Pirates’ offense?
Haines’ philosophy which BC believed in was using analytics to determine how to construct a lineup and to swing just to make contact
Neither philosophy works on this team and their offensive numbers prove it
Doesn’t make any sense to judge the Boston side of this deal on the basis of what Priester has done thus far. It’s pretty obvious that the Pirates were selling him because he needs work and Boston bought him because it sees a winning project – but that still makes him a project, one that surely wouldn’t seen major progress until after this offseason at least.
It will probably be a few years before we can start to reasonably gauge this one.
Priester has potential to be very good pitcher, he needs to learn how to keep his signature pitch, a sinker low in the strike zone and has a tendency of leaving his fastball in the middle of the plate
Long- I agree with The Man above.
Don’t judge Priester on this year with you as he has always had good results in AAA.
I think that he will turn out to be another Nick Pivetta with you.No star,but an innings eater 4th starter.