After months of anticipation, top pitching prospect Bubba Chandler’s debut didn’t disappoint — though it probably looked quite different than most fans had anticipated. Chandler tossed four shutout frames in relief of fellow well-regarded pitching prospect Braxton Ashcraft, earning a save in his first MLB appearance. Despite debuting in the ’pen, Chandler will be considered for rotation looks down the stretch, general manager Ben Cherington told reporters this weekend (video link via Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
“He could still make starts,” Cherington said of Chandler. “But pitching in the major leagues is important. We wanted him to get that experience, get that feedback, and start it early enough where there was enough innings where it was a real experience that could inform his offseason going into 2026.”
Cherington went on to note that starts won’t be guaranteed and that manager Don Kelly “will guide” the decision on Chandler’s role from appearance to appearance. There’s no scheduled start on the immediate horizon for Chandler, who’ll turn 23 in a few weeks. Pittsburgh has Johan Oviedo, Mitch Keller, Ashcraft, Mike Burrows and Paul Skenes lined up, respectively, for its next five games. Logically, it seems fair to expect that Chandler could again follow Ashcraft in a piggyback role Wednesday, as the two are on the same schedule.
However he’s deployed, Chandler should reach a new career-high in innings pitched. He tossed 119 2/3 frames last year and is up to 104 innings this season with a bit more than a month remaining on the regular-season calendar. He’ll very clearly be in the mix for a rotation spot in 2026, so even narrowly edging his season-long workload past that 2024 mark would be beneficial as he eyes a first full year of rotation work in the majors.
Chandler’s MLB readiness isn’t the only long-term question the Pirates are focused on in the season’s final few months. In a full column highlighting some of Cherington’s comments — readers are encouraged to check it out for greater context on this and several more Pirates issues — Beazley writes that Pittsburgh’s GM feels infielder Jared Triolo has begun to prove his ability to handle shortstop on at least a part-time basis in the majors.
Triolo, 27, has spent the bulk of his big league career between second base and third base, but the Bucs have given him 15 games at short since being recalled to the majors following the trade deadline. While Cherington stressed that this doesn’t mean Triolo will open next year at shortstop, the Bucs also wanted to gauge how much of an option he is there. Konnor Griffin, the No. 1 prospect in all of MLB according to both Baseball America and MLB.com, is seen as the long-term answer but is only 20 years old and was only recently promoted to Double-A, where he’s played just six games thus far.
Cherington suggested earlier in the month that the Bucs will pursue infield help in the offseason and doubled down on that thought in his latest media session. A short-term addition at shortstop would be sensible. Any work Triolo is doing now would certainly strengthen his candidacy for a bench role, however, and it’s worth noting that he’s doing more than instilling Pirates brass with some confidence in his glovework. Dating back to his Aug. 1 recall, Triolo is slashing .324/.418/.500 (158 wRC+) in 80 plate appearances.
A lot of that production is due to a bloated .400 average on balls in play that he won’t sustain, but Triolo is also chasing off the plate less, walking more often, and more frequently making contact on balls within the strike zone. It’s a small sample, but there are some positive strides being shown, and if Triolo can keep that up for another month to close out the season, it’d bode well for his chances of having a steady role in 2026. He’s still hitting just .213/.308/.343 overall, but he’s a strong defender at second and third with good speed. The pieces for a solid utility option are there, if the bat can rise to even slightly below-average levels.
The catching role, of course, has been a question in Pittsburgh for years now. Several attempts to bring in high-end young players to claim the spot long-term have yet to pan out. Endy Rodriguez’s recent elbow surgery — his second elbow surgery since Oct. 2023 — further calls into question his candidacy for eventually claiming that role. Cherginton said after his recent surgery, however, that the organization still views Rodriguez as a catcher (link via Alex Stumpf of MLB.com).
Cherington called the 25-year-old Rodriguez (26 next May) “a catcher who we believe can be good at the position defensively and hit left-handed” and touted the value of having both left- and right-handed-hitting options behind the dish. Rodriguez’s long-term defensive outlook is something the Bucs will again visit in the offseason as he continues to mend, the GM conceded, but the idea of Rodriguez as a catcher isn’t one that the Pirates “want to give up on easily,” per Cherington.
Rodriguez hasn’t hit at all in limited big league looks yet, slashing just .210/.276/.311 in 261 plate appearances dating back to his 2023 MLB debut. Rodriguez missed nearly all of the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery but had a monster 2022 season in the minors and hit decently in 2023’s Triple-A run before being called to the big leagues. He’s expected to be ready for next spring trainings but isn’t a lock to make next year’s roster.
Both Rodriguez and Triolo have one minor league option remaining after the current season, so next year’s camp won’t be a firm make-or-break for either player, but with both in their mid-20s and down to one option year, they’ll need to establish some staying power at some point within the next calendar year.
It is going to be tough for Endy to make it as a catcher with the elbow injuries and he has never proven that he can hit in the ML’s.
His future could be more as a utility man but his running out of options before that can be determined is disturbing for a Pirates career.
on the other hand, if he can fight through the injuries and develop a reputation as a better defensive catcher, his lack of a bat would no longer be all that much of an issue
The Pirates have scored the least runs this year and were near the bottom last year.
The last thing they need is a player who can’t hit
This a bad team with some good/great starters, but no offense, a cheap owner only interested in hoarding his billions, and no chance of competing until the team is sold. Infield help and Chandler up all next year still won’t get them close to .500.
He owns part of a small market baseball team and newspapers. More like billion. And he only gets that billion if he sells his share of team.
Triolo did not do well in a bench role earlier in the season. He has been hitting well once they gave him regular ABs.
Agreed. I’m fine with him in this role but theees positions that need to be upgraded to ensure they have a league average offense. Unfortunately they don’t play the Rockies 162 games a year.
Been good in August with his 400 babip and couple hrs.
I think it good that they sent him down and now give him regular playing time.
I think that he is a good enough hitter to make a fine utility man who plays a lot.
If the Pirates can pick up ANY offense in the off season, they could be a sleeper wild card pick next year. Kelly has them playing right around .500 ball since he took over, and the pitching is there.
Until they fix the lack of offense, this team will lose 2-1 or 1-0 moving forward. Spend some bucks, and get some hitters. Otherwise your star pitching will choose to not resign and get paid else where.
my guess, they will probably trade Keller in the offseason for an outfielder or third baseman
Burrows, Chandler, Ashcroft, Oviedo and Skenes, fills out the starting rotation
Keller would be the odd man out and considering his age, he will probably be traded
Keller is a four month pitcher and always has been.
I think that Kelly should have a short leash with him going forward.
This is where Falter would have come in to pitch five innings after Keller gets bombed.
The way it is now you need two good long men in the bullpen.
Long men are no longer failed starters.
Carmen and Heaney are failed starters but Carmen excels at being a long reliever while Heaney doesn’t
It just worries me to trade him because that’s a lot of innings you’re losing and young pitchers, as good as they’ve looked, are always at risk of injuries, and suddenly the strength becomes a weakness. Mitch isn’t an ace, not even a 2, but dominates for stretches and is overall worth his salary. I think he is worth keeping around at least one more year, or at least until Jared Jones is back.
Mitch will be 31 next season, and like Mendoza said, Kellet is a 4 month pitcher. Yes he’s an inning eater but he’s due for a serious injury. especially given his age
Considering Cherington isn’t likely to sign a top tier free agent position player, he’s going to have to trade from our pitching depth for a controllable player whether it be a third baseman or outfielder
Such a stupid statement, no one is due for an injury
See ya
I think you misunderstood TheMan3’s wit
There was no hitters to sign last year. Maybe there will be this year.
Above, I noted TheMan’s wit
Here, we see the sarcastic genius of AI
I do not know whether it is good for me or not but I think that I understand what AI means.
He means in the Pirates price range.
But then again he could be using hìs sarcasm.
But please don’t use the term genius in the same sentence as AI.
Or is the phrasing a tinge of Old Timer’s sarcastic genius?
Lil fun and lot of truth.
There was no outfielders available.
I ask fans every year who should the Pirates sign. They want to just go the fantasy route Nutting needs to spend get a outfielder and 1b. I won’t allow that.
Names I received Conforto Santander Kepler. Go take a look at their stats and salary. Better off with Pham.
Santana the dream 1b just go put on waivers. Few said Goldschmidt who was chasing ring and wasn’t available but his stats aren’t anything special compared to Horwitz.
Free agent class next year is weak. Year after even weaker.
I wanted Tauchman but even he wouldn’t have helped nearly enough even combined with Pham Hays or Grichuk.
I haven’t looked at free agents closely but the big teams get their guys. Pirates get scraps. Probably best option is all the guys I just named. We are Phamily
It is always tough to be in the arena like Teddy Roosevelt said and give names of players who the Pirates could sign.
You’re right appropriate players have to actually be available and fit within the Pirates structure and cost limits.
This is an excellent way for the Pirates to use Chandler.
Reduces his innings but still lets him pitch in the majors and face hitters multiple times.
LOVE piggybacking starters as a concept.
It doesn’t teach him the ability to turn the lineup over a third time.
Not sure how much of a positive it actually is.
🤦♂️
Most rookie starters don’t go a third time through due to innings limits anyway.
Break these young guys in slowly.That is one thing that Cherington,the manager,and Marin have done well.
He will start if anyone gets close to an innings bonus.
Konnor is 19, not 20.
Steve is on a roll today. First this, and also not knowing how the Orioles acquired Bradish.
You can see the vision of how this team can win, they just need another 1-2 young bats to make the next step, add a bat who’s an upgrade and hope for good health in the rotation. Endy is out of the picture, current two are fine, Flores forces his way up then trade Bart.
As much as I dream on Suwinski, I think he’s done. Can’t go into next year with him or Canario having a big role. One/both can be DFA. Ideally you get a corner OF with power or a 3B, those aren’t common in free agency. Giving Suarez 30m a year would be a mistake. His bat doesn’t play in every park. It’s not easy at all to just spend money to get better. Grisham or O’Hearn are possible. Conforto, Kepler, Lane Thomas, god no. Yaz, maybe?? Best option is probably buy low on Robert? Or swing pitching to the A’s??
Yes, time to waive by to Suwinski, he had multiple chance to show his worth, move in already. Give Yorke and cook and others a shot
Suwinski has more talent than Yorke Cook. Much more. Not even close. Eventually he will need to hit or get dfa but no need to rush it because of those 2.
eventually should have started by now
Yes, on paper, perhaps. He’s shown little here, unless an occasional homer after every 3-4 strikeouts is your bag
856 ops 2023
794 ios 2022
Around 700 is league average. He was a good player. Can’t see Cook Yorke doing that. Not even close. Anything could happen I just don’t see it.
I agree with you AI but what I do not understand is the severe difference in those two years and the past two years.
We know of the sophomore jinx which often is caused by having the time to study a rookies weaknesses.
You can blame it on Haines but he is gone now.
I am just totally befuddled as to how this could happen.
I have no desire to research it but my guess is they thought Jack could be more than a platoon only strike out or hr guy. And in 2024 he did look like a better hitter. He just lost his power.
I think that what you are speculating is that they tried to change him for the better but like Popeye he is what he is and that is all that he is.
Kelly continues to put Jack’s name on the lineup and he continues to show why he doesn’t belong in the majors
It’s weird though, because he has such a good eye at the plate, but has serious contact issues. Almost having a .300 obp with a .120 average is one of the strangest stat lines.. But I agree though, if he goes somewhere else and figures it out, so be it. There is only so long you can keep trying a player before moving on. I wouldn’t be too upset if they moved Cruz either. He is a big time boom or bust player. Robert has been a weak hitter, but still has power, baserunning and defense, and hard to believe he is a below .300 on base guy forever.
My guess is that Robert is a Cruz clone.
I would definitely shop Cruz for a good hitting third baseman or shortstop.
Who’s trading a good hitting ss or even 3b for a platoon 200 strike out with no cf instincts.
You have said before that there are some pretty dumb GM’s out there.
I think that Cruz has the potential to become a very fine platoon DH.
He may even make a decent first baseman.
And the fact that he is not a good center fielder is not all on him as your guy Cherington never made him switch when everyone and their brother said that he was not a shortstop.
Ben tends to think that everyone is a good enough athlete to play anywhere on the diamond and with little actual training.
Problem is, Cruz will pout
Problem is the dumb gms usually have bad teams and won’t be trading for a Cruz.
And by dumb they are drafting the wrong player or signing free agent. Trading is something just about everyone can do. I rarely give a team a F. Look at Cruz stats. If you want a SS you will get someone with worse stats. 3b you might do same or bit better. Dumb is no team has ever taken a right handed hs pitcher #1. Where do they think college pitchers got their start at?They see it as having less data. Less scouting. Pitched against less competition. Etc. Aka more risk. A genius like myself sees hidden value. Not only that a better player. They worry about tj and protecting the arms right? So who has less milage on arm? Hs or college? Also who’s had more coaching possibly teaching them bad habits? Who’s more likely to get taller or at very least add muscle? 17 18 or 21 22 year old?
Nothing wrong with Cruz in center. The alternative is Jack Canario. MAT type. No need to move Cruz.
AI, by your own admission, you don’t watch the Pirates anymore. I have cut back dramatically, too
But even so, I can say there’s a lot wrong with Cruz is center
Doesn’t matter. Are there better cf available in free agency? Could the Pirates afford them if there was? Would Nutting give the resources? Is there anyone better in Pirates system?
So Cruz is the CF. He looks like a ss they just threw out there. But he can run and throw. Hit hrs. Steal bases.
Don’t forget “creates great exit velocities”. The most important thing to Pirates broadcasters
Old Timer-It is because other than Skenes they do not have much to crow about.
What AI clearly does not know is that Cruz has actually proved to become a detriment to the team.
Everyone on that team who will be with them next year hustles and is fundamentally sound.
They propped him and Hayes up because they had no one else before Skenes.
Now they have the best pitcher in baseball and no longer need Cruz now that Hayes is gone.
With all due respect Reynolds and Keller are not exactly big time personalities and leaders on the Pirates.
But Cruz’ nonchalance affects the team negatively and the Pirates are not good enough to put up with it.
Bring up Bae and put him in CF.Let him play there the rest of this year to see if his resurgent play in AAA can continue into the ML’s.
This would take out of the box thinking that Cherington is incapable of doing until it pounds him in the head.
They would be sacrificing much needed power for outfield defense.But Bae hustles more than anyone and might be the leadoff man that they have lacked for years.
If he is mildly successful a Cruz trade would get something in return that can help the Pirates next year and eliminate the only player who is not fundamentally sound and does not hustle on this team.
I hope that Cherington is a man of his word and actually does read this baseball site.
He’s difficult to watch, for sure. He can’t step outside himself to see that’s he’s blessed with size, speed and strength, and you get the feeling that he’ll always balk at the idea of putting in hours of extra work to improve. Hayes carried himself this way even though he saw the need to hire an outside batting instructor
But so did Rowdy and “Grandpal”. One kid had a cell phone pop out of his pocket while sliding into 3rd. Grandal routinely lobbed a pitcher back to the pitcher with runners on twice, allowing them to advance. The admiration of long fly balls, the jogging out grounders and pop flies. I’d hoped Cutch would have exerted some leadership these past couple seasons but you get the impression that he sees the idea of keeping everyone loose as his duty here
The inmates were running the asylum under “Sheltie”. Things like this are like the flu—they’re contagious. Too often, the team seems to be ok with losing
I think Kelly has tried to rein all that in and he even benched Cruz one day this season. But it doesn’t seem to have sunk in with the young man
Old Timer- fine post-If it quacks like a duck,walks like a duck,and flies like a duck it’s a duck.
He may be too tall to be a great player but he does have a lot of talent in certain areas and it is a shame that he very well may only use a relatively small % of it.
Who else’s name is he going to put? It’s Jack or Canario. So you are pounding the table for Canario?
I’m talking about next season, cannot go into the year with those two both on the team. Canario, who knows, Suwinski, non tender or use as a bat off the bench. At least he will draw you a walk. Has to be someone on the trade block. Doyle or Moniak, McCarthy or someone from AZ, Adell, Kjerstad.
I don’t see the White Sox selling low on Robert. The Pirates need two bats that can generate some power. Brandon Lowe could be someone in their price range. Maybe Cedric Mullins and hope hits like he did a few years ago?
I don’t see the White Sox selling HIGH on Roberts.
There’s no selling on Roberts. Unless Sox pick up his 20m or whatever option he will be a free agent.
Lowe is a very good option. He played corner outfield before if not 2B. Contract is running out though. Boston has young outfielders. Will cost a lot though. Moniak would be cheap, he has power, platoon bat. Doyle has top tier D and inconsistent bat. Bleday is a butcher in CF, passable in corners. Or sign Grisham/O’Hearn.
certainly glad you don’t make roster decisions, those are all incredibly bad ideas
And yet, each is still better than anything the Pirates have
Endy is injury prone and hasn’t shown that he can hit major league pitching
Catching was supposed to be a strength this season and it’s been the complete opposite
Bart went from hitting 12 homers last year in limited appearances to only 2 this season
Davis has the best arm and close to the worst bat.
It’s curious to me that Cherington hasn’t promoted tDevaney to play third base since it’s probably unlikely they will re sign IKF
Then again, nothing about this franchise surprises me anymore
The Pirates could actually match up with the Orioles if the O’s look to shop Adley this winter
From what I saw from Orioles fans they would be stupid to trade Adley R as Basallo is clearly not ready to be a first string catcher and maybe never will be if he does not greatly improve his defense.
This team has to slow down on acquiring catchers. I’ve said a million times, there aren’t many offensive forces at the position, Davis/Bart is fine, Flores comes up and maybe makes one expendable. Davis is not going anywhere because Skenes loves him.
You look at their lineup each day and understand why they are where they are. Cherington has produced no impact players from his farm system but has produced numerous busts. Anyone remember the revolving door of outfielders they had on the Indy Shuttle a couple seasons ago? How about the idea of how deep they were at short
And catcher. They had us so convinced that Davis and Endy were both top quality that we were wondering why one wasn’t moved to another position. And we learned neither are
Now Dream is talking about the farm being in the best shape it’s ever been on another thread
Aside from pitching, that’s doubtful.
They say Griffin is can’ t miss. But he can’t do it himself. This franchise has a talent for smothering its prospects in mediocrity.
Who’s they? When did they say Pirates are deep at SS? Who were these SS? Catcher seemed much more promising than SS but don’t remember they whoever they are talking about it. Bright eyes and few other brights maybe.
I heard that Cruz is traveling with the Pirates and is in St Louis ready to be activated from the IL.
Question is, who gets sent down to open up a spot for Cruz?
Let’s see. A long time ago they were loaded with Peguero, Castro, Triolo, Alika and a couple others I’ve forgotten. But the Pirates thought Cruz was the SS of the future, so much that they converted Termarr to 2B.
And wasn’t Nick a SS?
Cmon, Dream.
Simon says Jack
Come on washed.
Apparently you never seen Alika. If you did you wouldn’t have him as anything because he has can’t hit the ball hard enough.
Before the draft every scout had Gonzales TJ as 2b. They were never going to be SS.
Castro not good enough bat or glove.
Cruz all baseball people talked about was when was he going to get moved off of SS.
Peguero was seen as a SS until they seen him hit. If he ever cut down on strike outs he would been SS. So you named 1 actual SS.
Old-The Pirates may not have thought that but the team was bad enough that it did not matter too much that he would make 242 errors a season.
They knew that he was not a shortstop but catered to him.
That is even worse because it did not allow him enough time to become a competent CF while playing in the ML’s.
Simple Simon says Jack too.
Not sure when some of these guys run out of options but next year is probably the last year for many of them who have not proven themselves as MLers yet.
Looks like Heaney 1 short in pen for time being.
Simple Jack too tropic thunder.
Jack will be out I believe. Canario already out. Simon no idea.
But the point wasn’t that they didn’t pan out. The point was they were part of the logjam
What logjam? They all stunk. Only got playing time they did because there was no one else. If they had someone they would find a spot for them. I’ve never seen a player blocked in Pittsburgh. That’s the problem. That’s why they stink every year except 3.
I think that Old Timer may have called them a logjam because no one had a crystal ball at the time to know that they would continue to stink.As you say they did not have anyone better so there was a logjam of mediocrities.
It’s not even stink. Most of them didn’t have the skills needed to play ss. They were never going to be ss.
holecamels35
The only OFer on the White Sox that may interest Cherington is Michael Taylor.
Michael Taylor
been there done that and it wasn’t very good
For sure
This franchise is embarrassing. How about the commissioner thinks about how relegation could fit into his new plans?
Did you say the same thing about the Tigers with a win total of 246 during the period from 2016 through 2019?The Pirates win total from 2021 through 2024 is 279.As bad as the Pirates have been the Tigers had 43 win and 47 full season win totals in this century.
Yes, I am aware of the comparison and refused to watch during the Al Avila regime. But I can hold this position despite my team being bad recently. Relegation would’ve maybe pushed them to be better those years.
It’s nice that the Tigers are doing well and I’d like them to go all the way, but “relegation” is a derogatory term. Why not place all the have-nots in one division. Pirates. Nats. Rocks. O’s. ChiSox. Best team gets a playoff spot and ticket out the following season. Worst team in MLB drops in
But let’s not call it “relegation”. Don’t want to hurt feelings
Relegation is simply how leagues everywhere but America phrase it.
Rocks Sox Nats aren’t have nots. Oakland Miami Tampa Cleveland Milwaukee KC Pittsburgh Cincinnati
They are talking about severe realignment into four four team divisions in each league with two new teams.
The small market teams are mainly in the central part of the country so maybe they can mostly be in their own divisions.
Big markets pay they bills. They can’t have them missing the playoffs. Gotta spread the small markets out a bit. That’s what I’d be thinking if I was a big market team.
Tigers-The first phase when the Tigers had a fine team was a function of Mike Illitch’s money
They have a very good team this year.
I hope that teams like the Tigers and the Brewers break through and get into the World Series.
I am tired of the big money teams buying their way in.
Have nots are based on record, not size of market. Your realignment would make no sense in terms of the “relegation” idea
Tigers doesn’t seem to get my humor. I meant, we don’t want to offend anyone or scar a franchise for life. And Tigers, your comment is ironic, isn’t it? A couple years ago, Detroit would have been at the forefront of relegation discussions. Were you carping back then, too?
Regulation. Regulators is what’s needed.
If there’s not going to be divisions in his new plan, relegation becomes quite easy. Play one season, top 16 teams get to stay, the other 16 start in the relegated league. Then after that season, bottom 4 get relegated and top 4 promoted. The 12 that don’t get relegated play in the postseason.
Pirates are a joke they traded for Cam Devaney and then they don’t give him a shot that he has earned. That’s why you will always be the joke of AAA organization
241 .318 .345 .663
What stat suggest he earned it?
same can be said about Triolo before his recent offensive output or even Canario for that matter
You earned it Paul. You earned a mute!
Paul-Please do not believe anything that AI GM says.Anything that he says can and will be used in a court of law against him.
Paul hasn’t been to active in our old chats. I been having a good time with you guys. I pitcher Paul sitting there in his underwear having a coffee reading our mischief.
I think Paul is going through one of the periods I do, where watching and commenting on this team is somewhere below getting a colonoscopy on my to-do list
Colonoscopies actually save lives.
Paul probably thinks that we are silly,and rightly so.
Yeah, agree. I just don’t think it’s high up on anyone’s to-do list
If it’s their plan to go with triolo as the ss next season,it will be ,like the Beatles song,the long and winding road. My feeling that if pegeuro played full time, he’s capable of 15 HRs and 70 rbi. And chandler will be in the rotation next year. To leave decisions upto Kelly and cherrington is like telling putin he can have all of eastern Europe. Cherrington and Kelly need axed immediately after the season is over. Both are medicore at best.
I don’t understand your Beatles analogy.
Long and winding road, in other words another long losing season.
The Beatles’ song has nothing to do with losing. Poor analogy.
not the song but the title of the song does
15 hrs could be light. By a few. Problem is striking out.
Peguero Triolo at SS instead of a free agent. Bob Nutting likes this idea.
Peguero is going downhill quickly.
Yeah, I was thinking he’d link it to Nowhere Man. It’s more fitting
Same group,same meaning. Pirates management is like the fabled own town pittsburgh bridge to nowhere
The bridge that people would drive off of because there was no there there.
Kriedler is the future!
This organization truly is a mess.
This organization has been a mess for the last 25 years
1993 to 1999 definitely not a mess.
Looks like Cherington is preparing us for Triolo to be the starting shortstop in ’26. I am preparing for Cherington to not be the GM
That goes for Kelly also. Be a big mistake bringing Shelton bench coach back.
I hope not. Williams hiring a gm is scary. Nutting replacing Williams even scarier.
Cherington had a amazing year. The dream gm fans are looking for other than myself is 2025 Cherington.
Dream, nobody loves you like you do
When you stop to think that Milwaukee’s current GM interviewed for the same job here, but the Pirates went with Cherington, it makes one want to laugh
When you think about the most incompetent front offices in MLB, he should be the poster boy
That’s just the talking heads. Milwaukee gm inherited a brand new car. Already had the best scouts development in baseball or close to it. Cherington had the worst. I mean the worst. Truly awful.
You really believe this 1 guy would magically turned things around? Maybe he gets things to where Cherington has them now a year sooner thats fair. Maybe he never gets them there. We have no idea what he can build because he never built anything. Cherington has built something from Nutting.
Milwaukee wasted 34 million on Hoskins.
Cherington got better production from Santana for 5 or 6.
Horwitz for Nutting minimum wage.
Heck even Rowdy was close enough. Rowdy Chapman MAT Grandpal wasn’t much more than 1 year of Hoskins.
All Arnold had to do was not fire anyone which obviously he wouldn’t do. Milwaukee been great for a long time. Why Cohen Mets stole their gm.
Arnold may have been a big help to Stearns.
He may have been part of the hiring process for all of those scouts.
We do not know for sure that he sensed that Stearns would eventually leave or that he turned down an offer from Nutting.
Or Nutting just preferred Cherington. According to Nutting and Williams it was Williams job to hire the gm.
Arnold could be great. I have no idea. If you give me classic car and a team of great mechanics I’ll keep it running. You won’t have any idea if I know how to fix cars though.
Hoskins contract was bad. I said that the day they signed him. So that’s 1 instance I knew better than him. And a very big one. Not like Milwaukee signs many free agents of that $.
It surprised me too.
Hoskins hit the hardest ball that I ever saw hit actually at the game but he is an absolute butcher at first base.
He can still hit OK but his only position is DH.
He may have said that but Williams seems like a knucklehead to me and I doubt that Nutting would not be the one to make the decision.
He may have used Williams to slim the hurd of candidates however.
I thought it was a lot expecting him to hit some hrs but he doesn’t even do that. Just a dh. 1 tool player.
Just what they both said. I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t true. Or he could have used the we will make the decision as an organization. But no Williams was it’s me. Reporter ask Nutting about hockey guy hiring baseball guy and Nutting bragged Williams up.
I remember it so well because it’s rare to get a honest not bs avoid the question answer.
Williams should be gone for another baseball person.
Why? He’s lining up candidates for pierogi races next season as we speak.
It’s his obsession.
So what do people have about giving Cam Devaney a shot yes I get he is 28 but he earned a shot ever since he was 25.
His previous teams should have given him a shot. He’s been terrible in Indy for Pirates.
Suwinski is again in the lineup for tonight’s game while Cutch who’s driven in 6 runs over the past three games isn’t
And Simon? He shouldn’t be batting lead off, he strikes out almost as much as Jack
Kelly brings in Holderman carrying a gas can to put out the 5 alarm fire that Heaney started.
Should have pulled Heaney after he gave up a run or two. Kelly needs to go and both these guys need to be DFAed.
This game he reminds me of Shelton.
If a pitcher is mediocre and does not have it you have to get them out quickly.Always have two warming up and the other one to be dependable.
They should dfa Heaney today and bring up Sisk.
Enough is enough.
Was thinking the same thing on all fronts. Too bad i can only rec your comment once
Holderman is running out of chances.
You freaking love Canario
Now AI,you know that Canario was your man when they got him.
He was my man when they made approach change to whenever teams game plan discovered how to attack him. After that they could have dfa him at any point because I have no confidence they can make a swing change to fix him permanently. No confidence in any team doing so. Fine keeping him and Jack as they are the 2 best outfielders other than Cruz Florentino in the system.
Me? I am impartial to him. I feel like he’s the kind of guy every team has. Not quite a prospect but has some tools and the build of a pro, just not a good hitter and career bench guy.
I guess you since you admitted it but the man3. Always complaining about Jack and Canario is the only other option.
I am certainly no expert on hitting mechanics but it seems to me that Canerio’s swing is too long.
That may have worked 30 years ago when the pitches were 5-10 less mph and the breaking balls did not break nearly as much.He certainly looks like a fine athlete.But he has to start the long swing much sooner and he may not have a good idea where the pitch will end up.
Hole- I tend to agree with AI on this one.
You may be right in that he could last another year.
But he has bounced around enough teams that he should have proven himself by now if he was going to do so.
April May pirates had Canario striking out 22 percent of time. It had been like 40. He was awesome in April. Good in May. But by May it was over. His K rate kept climbing. Once they realized he wasn’t chasing so many pitches they adjusted and he was toast. Long swing could be it. Bad spin recognition.
Here’s for Paul. He loves small samples. Like even 1 game or 1 at bat. This is a month so huge mega sample for Paul.
Canario had a batting average of .308 between April 25 and May 27
Everyone thinks you thought Canario should play lol. Darn right I did and I was right.
Canario was even better in April than May. He stuck to his approach and was see the ball so well. Just he had the lowest babip I ever seen a player have for a month. Like league average is around 300 and his was .052 or something insane.
I was another who thought there was upside with Canario but this is baseball Siberia, where young player careers stagnate
His swing is too long to be sure
He needs Uchiyama, Dream
He fixed Selleck. He could fix this guy
Canario above average player. Just needs K rate to go down to mid 20s which it was in April May.
I’m fine with Suwinski being in the lineup. Recently, the Pirates have a habit of calling up a young player who is doing well in AAA, playing them sparingly once they’re up and then acting puzzled that the player has lost their edge. Play Suwinski regularly till the end of the season, give him a real shot. If he doesn’t figure it out by the end of the season, consider cutting ties. What do the Pirates have to lose? Use the rest of the season to develop and evaluate the young players and the questionable ones, not the old veterans.
Oh, yeah. DFA Heaney as soon as possible, like yesterday.
Too bad it wasn’t yesterday or they would have won that game.
They will even save money for a pitcher who does not deserve a bonus.
That roster spot is important to find out about young players.
Here’s my thing, Skeptical, and Dream will jump all over me for it. I agree with your premise but remember two years ago, when they called up everyone and their grandmother listed as outfielder at Indy? Guys would last 3 games and get sent back down
Why the long leash with a guy who has shown no ability to play at this level while doing quick peeks with everyone else
And don’t even get me started on how they bungled the Andujar tenure
Suwinski had 2 good mlb years. Has power. Him and Canario are superior talents to guys in Indy.
Just forget about Yorke Cook Cheng Alika whoever else is there. They aren’t happening. That’s the mindset you have to have. Obviously anything could happen but go with probable not possible. If they take a step forward awesome. But I don’t expect anything of them. Yorke could be a average 2b maybe a bat only utility player. Cook a glove only quad a utility player. Cheng defense only ss.
I hope they all overachieve but there’s better prospects coming who are going to kick them to the side.
What happened to having Horwitz lead off?
I thought he was doing well there.
Kelly wants speed at the top of the lineup and it would work well if Simon could get on base often
He tends to swing at everything and without making hard contact or contact at all
You’re right, Horowitz did well batting lead off
The fact that he was doing well was evidently too much for Kelly to bear.
If the computer is telling him who to lead off they should unplug the computer.
They need a set lineup with little variation.
Wouldn’t bother me to keep bring Frazier back as a utility guy. I also feel like Urias from the A’s is a prime candidate, unfortunately. Moncada plays 3B, poorly, but seems to hit when healthy.
I like Frazier to replace IKF.
I am fine with Peguero Triolo Gonzales. Call up KG as soon as he can’t win ROY.
Or trade for someone.
Free agents usually are in short supply.
Go offense and Horowitz to 2b and get your big bat at 1b where it’s cheaper easier to get.
AI- What do you think happens to Termarr?
Gonzales 2.0
Hot takes-They have actually contacted me at almost 80 years old for next year but I told them that I wanted $6M for 1 1/2 months because I would be too tired to play the whole year.
You can run pierogi races, too
His problem is he stopped running and playing tennis!
I can’t even run anymore.
Jed Clampett told me that I was “pitiful,pitiful.
He asked me where I grew up.
I told him Pissburgh.
That’s pretty good, Mendoza. Now I know where Bell got it from
Who knew he was a Beverly Hillbillies fan?
212 days until the opener, Pirates fans!
In late March. In NY. Ok
How many days to draft and trade deadline? That’s the most exciting time of year for pirates fans
Trade deadline day should mean a day off from all local Pittsburgh employers, free pizza at Mineo’s, free Iron City beer and free pierogis
Good new Old Timer.
I am in a fitness program to become one of the pirogies next year.
I have signed a contract with the Pirates for $10M that I will split with my friends on MLBTR.
But they say that I have to win every race.
I evidently got the work because I was the only potential entrant over thirty years old.