April 3: Pittsburgh has formally selected Griffin’s contract, per a club announcement. Infielder Enmanuel Valdez was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.
April 2: The Pirates are calling up shortstop Konnor Griffin, the top prospect in all of baseball, to make his major league debut in tomorrow’s home opener, Pirates insider Jason Mackey reports. The team has confirmed Griffin’s promotion but has not yet formally selected his contract to the 40-man roster. They’ll need to do so and make corresponding 26-man and 40-man transactions prior to first pitch tomorrow.
Griffin was in the mix to break camp on Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster but was reassigned to minor league camp late in spring training. The two parties have continued talks on what would be a record-setting contract extension — expected to be both the largest ever for a player with little to no major league service time (surpassing Colt Emerson‘s recent eight-year $95MM deal with the Mariners) and the Pirates’ franchise-record contract ($100MM for Bryan Reynolds).
It’s possible the Bucs simply wanted Griffin to make his debut at home, popping ticket sales throughout the weekend and further boosting excitement for fans after an uncharacteristically aggressive offseason. It’s also feasible that the two parties have become close enough on a long-term contract that the Pirates are making the move to promote him now and will announce an extension not long after his debut. The benefits in that scenario are straightforward. Players who sign extensions before making their MLB debut are not eligible to net draft picks for their club under MLB’s prospect promotion incentives; players who sign extensions after debuting remain PPI eligible. So long as any contract is finalized after Griffin has debuted, he’d net the Pirates an extra draft pick either by winning 2026 NL Rookie of the Year honors or with a top-three finish in MVP voting in 2026-28. (A player can only generate one total PPI pick for his team.)
Griffin is still three weeks away from his 20th birthday, but the 19-year-old phenom will get his chance to prove he’s ready for the big time. A physical beast already standing 6’3″ and weighing 225 pounds, Griffin is perhaps the most touted No. 1 overall prospect in recent memory. He draws plus (60) to plus-plus (70) grades on the 20-80 scale for all of his tools across the board. Griffin is an elite runner who scouts believe can stick at shortstop while hitting for both average and power.
Selected with the No. 9 overall pick in 2024, Griffin has played just one full professional season, and the results were borderline comical. He sprinted through the minors last year, climbing from Low-A to Double-A and absolutely raking at each of his three stops. Griffin totaled 563 plate appearances overall and slashed .333/.415/.527 with 21 home runs, 23 doubles, four triples and an eye-popping 65 stolen bases in 78 tries (83.3%). He walked at an 8.9% clip and struck out at a 21.7% rate.
Those numbers are staggering on their own. By measure of wRC+, Griffin was 65% better than an average hitter across those three levels. That ignores the context that the Mississippi native was among the youngest players — if not the youngest player — at all of those stops. Griffin hit just .171 in 46 spring plate appearances with the Pirates but still popped four home runs. He’s taken 21 plate appearances in Triple-A to begin this season and gone 7-for-16 with three doubles, three steals, five walks and only four strikeouts.
With the Pirates, Griffin will immediately step in as the team’s everyday shortstop. That’ll push Jared Triolo to a bench role for which he’s probably better suited. Triolo is an adept defender at multiple infield spots but carries just a .234/.319/.343 slash in 1054 plate appearances at the major league level. He can mix in at any of the four infield spots now, though he’s not going to supplant starters Spencer Horwitz (first base), Brandon Lowe (second base) or Nick Gonzales (third base) unless there’s an injury or a prolonged stretch of poor play from Gonzales as he acclimates to the hot corner.
Griffin steps into a big league lineup that has been substantially revamped since last season. The Pirates didn’t get the biggest fish they pursued this winter (e.g. Kyle Schwarber, Josh Naylor, Kazuma Okamoto), but they still brought in several established veteran bats who’ve unequivocally bolstered the offense. Lowe and outfielder Jake Mangum came over from the Rays alongside lefty reliever Mason Montgomery in a three-team trade sending young righty Mike Burrows to Houston. Ryan O’Hearn signed a two-year, $29MM in free agency. Marcell Ozuna later came aboard for a year and $12MM. Griffin now joins newcomers like Lowe, O’Hearn and Ozuna in the heart of a vastly improved lineup that Pirates hopes will better support the team’s excellent young pitching staff.
Service time considerations seemingly weren’t a factor in Griffin’s promotion. He’s still being called up in time to get a full year of major league service even without a Rookie of the Year win. His timelines for reaching arbitration and free agency would be rendered moot if Griffin eventually signs an extension, as many expect, but as things currently stand he’d be on track for arbitration eligibility following the 2028 season and free agency following the 2031 season, when he’d be just 25 years old (and going into his age-26 season). Griffin is so young that even a record-setting extension could still position him to reach the open market well ahead of his 30th birthday.
Griffin is the first of many young Pirates hitters who could impact the team this season. Pittsburgh also picked up touted outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia in a trade with the Red Sox, and he should get a look in the majors before too long. Infielder Termarr Johnson‘s stock has dipped in recent seasons, but he’s still just 21 years old and coming off a nice 2025 showing in Double-A. Catcher/first baseman Rafael Flores Jr., another trade acquisition (from the Yankees in last summer’s David Bednar swap) had a big season between Double-A and Triple-A last year and could hit his way into a bigger audition in 2026 as well.
For now, all eyes are on Griffin — both to witness the debut of one of the best prospects in recent memory and also to see whether he signs a franchise-altering extension that’d lock him in beyond his original six seasons of club control.
I guess you could say I’m excited.
Some really good young talent in Pittsburgh. But until you’re willing to spend it will be wasted.
And they are spending!
And you just can’t hide it. You dont want to lose control and you think you like it
Sorta
All small market teams have limits as to what they can spend because of their limited revenue streams.
Nutting has shown that the would spend when he has a good team or the potential to have one.
He did this in the middle of the last decade,and he has started doing it now.
Thats why the revenue sharing in the next CBA should require reinvestment in their own players. Pittsburgh received roughly $100M last year. If Pitt got a discount for signing young players to long-term contracts, it would create greater interest in the Pitt area for their team. (Of course, there would be secondary rules preventing funny games from being played.)
Worlds simplest fix.
A cap, a floor and a narrow corridor between the two. Share revenue. Expansion. You know, like the NFL.
Nope, that would break the sport. There would be no agreement on anything close to that. I know you want it, but you’re not gonna get it.
Agree on all but expansion.
Let’s get the current teams competitive with each other before considering adding any others.
A cap and floor will take a few years to be fully implemented and see results.
Cap and Floor wont work. Everyone seems to think that just because football and baseball are both sports, that they work the same. They dont, there are 17 games for a team in football and 162 in baseball. The revenues are massive for baseball teams selling out over 40,000 seats, compared to teams selling under 15,000 for 82 games. Then, add in broadcasting fees, merchandising and concessions.
The disparity between the teams in both sports is much greater in baseball. Pittsburgh, Miami and Cleveland cant just up their payroll to $200M or whatever floor would be. You would only put teams out of business in baseball.
If you consider a $300mm cap and $140mm floor a narrow corridor then sure. But even that would require the Dodgers, Mets to pony up through accelerated revenue sharing for it to work… can’t wait for that battle amongst owners.
That won’t work, it only works because players agree to significant portions of their deals being non-guaranteed. NFL contract situations are annoying to follow along with all the restructuring they do. MLB has been all guaranteed and there’s no way they would let that go
I agree with you to this extent. A payroll floor would have teams like the Marlins keeping roughly the same dudes and paying them assume 20% more. Something like that. They are not goign to chase expensive free agents. The playeers would never agree to a cap unless there was a floow. And a floor well above what some teams are paying now. Effectively a cap to the players, limits their ability to make 500-600-700 million dollar deals. So they would never agree to any kind of cap without a floor of lets say 150 million? AT 150 that means 13 teams would have to spend more. The Marlins payroll would double. They are on their thumbs as it is and that guarantees a forced sale. I am surprised St Louis is that low at 97 million. So half the owners would see their payroll go up 35%-100%. Being totally realistic, there is no way a cap is implemented without a floor.
A 140-150 cap would mean half the teams would be 30-100% higher payroll. Players wont do any kind of cap without a floor. They will sit out as long as it takes.
Its rich vs poor. Seems things are like that in the world today. Except in MLB the poor are still billionaires. Poor in the payroll dept and possibly revenue from MLB.
robw
“A 140-150 cap would mean half the teams would be 30-100% higher payroll.”
A $140M floor would not mean much at all. The lowest payroll in 2025 was Mia at $88M. No team would be raising 100%, and 3 teams would only be raising payrolls by less than $7. And thats assuming no inflation from 2025 to 2027.
spotrac.com/mlb/tax
Are you intentionally being deceptive?
Ok but they seem to be changing that as they’re spending. And griffin is about to sign a record setting rookie contract
@card ag Big deal, they signed a couple of free agents for more than $5 million and are extending a rookie which will most likely save them money compared to what he would get in arbitration. Roll out the parade for the hero Bob Nutting
Griffin would just be one less very good player that the Yankees can poach.
I believe this is a near guarantee that the deal is all but finalized(or announced) at this point. No way the Pirates promote him and start his service time clock now without a done deal.
Ideal timeline for Pirates would be: call him up, he plays 1 game, then they finalize the contract. That way he’s PPI eligible too.
That’s the same thing I think will happen with Cooper Pratt in Milwaukee, unless they are just locking him into a deal and still want him to play at AAA. They learned their lesson I think signing Chourio the day before he made his debut 2 years ago. He didn’t place for the PPI but it would have screwed them big time if he did.
You can’t compare Griffin and Pratt.
Pratt is not going to win RoY
I’m sure they have an agreement that this is happening
Wow that didn’t take very long! Good for him!
Great news!… this bumps Triolo to the bench where he should always be. I’m assuming an extension for Griffin is coming soon also
I feel a little bad for Triolo as he’s not nearly as bad as people act like but this makes the most sense. Not like he’ll never play now but this is the best role for him.
Triolo is a great defensive player but is too erratic at the plate
He just doesn’t hit enough to be anything more than a bench player. I think that his stats over 1000 MLB at-bats show this clearly.
It’s not that Triolo is bad, he’s just misused. He’s a utility player, a good one. He should NOT be getting more starts at any position than another player.
The weird thing about him though is he sucked as a utility last season and raked as a starter. But neither seem sustainable.
He’s good with his glove, but he can’t play third with that bat. Same way Haye’s needed to be moved because that offense can’t play there
he’s in the lineup for today’s game playing at 3rd base
I don’t think that is fair to Nick Gonzalez as he has been playing well and Triolo has not.
I think that eventually that that would happen as third base is Triolo’s natural position.
I also think that if Ozuna does not start to hit real soon they will DH Lowe and move Gonzalez to second base for a while.
Fell the same but now who’s on 3rd? Gonzales should be with his hot start, but we know Kelly loves Triolo.
Nick is a good player and deserves to start at third now that he has been doing so.
Triolo may have been pressing knowing that Griffin would be coming up but I agree that he is a good utility man and that is his best position unless Gonzalez goes downhill at third base and then he becomes the utility man.
I like Nick G. I hope he gets the chance to play at third. I think he’s a good hitter when he’s healthy
I don’t care if he’s a 12 homer guy. He has goods AB’s and tends to be clutch in key moments
Gonzalez. Sure WAR doesn’t love him but doesn’t it seem like he comes up with a lot of timely hits? People seem to forget he was actually a good prospect. And Triolo can fill in for him, Lowe and Horowitz who’s off to a slow start.
Gonzalez is underrated by many posters on here because he is not flashy with big numbers.
He always hustles and is a smart player who went outside the inept organization structure to become a better player.
He also broke his ankle the first week of last season and his numbers for the year suffered accordingly.
Fortunately Cherington and Kelly have been smart enough to realize that he is a solid player.
In defense of Horowitz, he’s only started three games and is penciled in at the bottom of the lineup, behind, of all players, Triolo
Agreed. The kid really worked on his hitting on his own. Plays hard. There has to be a place for him on the roster even if he’s not starting. Refreshing attitude when so many have come up, floundered, and looked like they didn’t really care
Horowitz was outstanding the latter half of last year.
He may have been thrown by the addition of O’Hearn but I am pleased with how O’Hearn plays RF so Spencer will get his at bats.
I am a fan of his as well but just saying now we have the flexibility to protect him vs some tough lefties. Last year, the offense was so void of talent you felt like they had no shot if 1/2 guys had the day off.
I say Yorke goes back to AAA and En Valdez gets designated for assignment.
Why does it matter where you hit?If you are starting,you are one of 9.They all bat so,it keeps the line moving.
I say Cook gets demoted. Yorke plays multiple positions but Cook is mainly an outfielder
Why do you think that the better hitters are penciled in near the top of the order?
I like Nick G, I just don’t like him at SS. He doesn’t have the range you want there. He fits best at 2B, but you have Lowe there. Doesn’t have the best arm for 3B, but traditionally you take a less than perfect defender at 3B for the better bat, but the Bucs seem to like the WAR heroes like Hayes and Triolo there. So we’ll see what happens.
He still shows almost zero power. They should have made a trade for Paredes.
I’ll take a guy who hustles —like Nick—over an aloof guy who plays like he would rather be anywhere else—like Hayes. And I’d take Gonzales’s bat over Hayes any day
Nick is serviceable at short. Maybe he doesn’t have the range or shotgun arm, but me…I have him playing there before Triolo (who also has limited range)
Moving to 3rd, I still play Nick. Much better bat. Hey, Triolo has a place here as a defensive replacement. Or rotate them. I keep hoping Triolo will find himself at the plate
Also people need to keep in mind Lowe is on the last year of his deal. Unless he accepts a QO, he likely has to be replaced. Likely to be internally.
It will be between Nick and Termarr next year to start at second unless they resign Lowe.
TJ been working hard on arm strength so maybe 3b for him if 2b is needed elsewhere. If the QO is still a thing Lowe might be back 1 year 22m or whatever. Or it will keep his price down in free agency.
Nick G can be a force if he can learn to only swing at pitches in the same time zone as the plate. Hopefully he’s working on it. Can be the new Wade Boggs.
Out of all the middle infielders that once logjammed the farm and were looked upon as big league everyday players, he’s the only one who at the very least lived up to all of the hype. No, he’s not star caliber, but the young man works to improve
I give him credit for that
you’re partially correct, Valdez was dfa and Cook was sent back to Indy
I know.It was a guess on Cook because of the poor outfield defense but Valdez was a lock as he has been superfluous on this roster anyway.
It is smarter to keep Yorke because he needs to get at bats to see if he can be a decent MLer.
Cherington gave him a glove and told him to play RF like he did with Henry.But he could not be used for defensive purposes under the Cherington plan .
I wonder how long before Ben becomes disappointed with signing Ozuna?
He’s only 1 for his last 22 plate appearances and strikes out a good deal
He hasn’t struck out much at all. 17 percent coming into the day
he struck out twice in yesterday’s game
Oh no 2 strike outs in 1 game! Cut anyone who does that!
He struck out twice so far in today’s game too
while he’s only 1 for 25 so far this season
I’m not saying cut him, that’s ridiculous, but he should probably be further down in the lineup
I think Triolo will play third and Nicky G will become the utility guy. Triolo is a great defensive third baseman, as is Konnor at shortstop. It’s tough to give that up. They’ll play it like they are now, each will get enough days off that they make it through the season.
Except that this management is looking to improve their offense and Triolo isn’t hitting the ball with any consistency
Gonzalez on the other hand, is
So Triolo got the start. I am guessing it will likely be a fluid situation. Horowitz may get a few more days off. Lowe has an injury history so he may get a few more days off than I’d prefer to keep him healthy.
He’s going to be forced to continually go with the “hot bat” where starters are concerned and perhaps go to late inning defensive replacements. There are a number of guys in positions where he can do just that. Mangum can play any outfield spot and won’t hurt you at the plate. Triolo should be a late inning glove, although he had two hits yesterday
The three guys who I’ll be interested in seeing the progression of Kelly are Cruz, Ozuna and Horwitz
As many have said, I agree that they can’t win with Cruz in center, at least not game in and game out. Ozuna has shown nothing so far but it’s early. The same can be said for Horwitz
I did think it was odd that Kelly went with Santana in the 8th yesterday instead of closing.
A walk down the Shelton Memory Lane of odd decisions
Kelly may have been playing the %’s with his use of Santana in the eighth inning although it does not necessarily seem so.
As you are quite aware I am in full agreement with having two closers on a good team.
He has to watch overusing them both though so hopefully Lawrence can share the eighth inning load.
Have to believe this means an extension is imminent (or already agreed upon in principle but they’re waiting until after he is called up to formalize it so that he can be PPI eligible).
LET’S GO! Haven’t been this excited for a home opener since….well, forever
This is so exciting. Pirates fan deserve something good finally. I can’t wait to see what this season and the next few have in store.
Those 5 games in AAA were really necessary for his development.
He needed that all-important seasoning.
I’ve seen white people potato salad with more seasoning than Griffin
…so what was the point of not having Griffin on the opening day roster?
Absolutely ensure the Home Opener sells out? Save that pop for the home fans?
This fan is completely in agreement with it.
Everybody knows this new contract is imminent so I’m thinking it was to keep the media circus down?
Service time was the point. But I’d be willing to bet an extension is announced within the next week, making service time largely meaningless.
Leverage in contract negotiations. It’s an ugly dynamic for young prospects but one teams turn to.
As a baseball fan it’s always exciting to see top prospects get called up. Excited for the Pirates and their fans
Seems like too much of a free swinger, i think he still needs work on his plate discipline
He’s 19.
Frqnk Thomas was 19 once and he was already way ahead in plate discipline.
Frank Thomas was playing at Auburn when he was 19
Going back 35 years to find this example? Thanks for proving my point.
His hit tool is graded 60.
I will predict .270 avg .313 obp 19hr 23doubles 159 ks to 49 bb
Thanks dude. We were all waiting for your Konor Griffin projection. Now we won’t need to check the BatX.
I was pretty close to the batx,i gave him more hr but also more ks
He was in college at 19, playing SEC baseball and football. I bet Griffin would have had fantastic numbers in college.
I think maybe you’re missing the in-season progress he made in that regard. He spent most of the year in low-A and high-A ball, and after promotion he sliced 3% off his K rate while almost doubling his BB rate (to a healthy 12%).
He’ll want to work on further progress in both areas, true enough, but check out how he compares to Roman Anthony as he made his progress through the minors.
If he gets demoted, so be it. Trout had to go back to AAA. So did Mickey Mantle. And numerous other great players. Won’t mean the end of the world. Dude is too good to not figure it out.
He ain’t getting demoted ever.
But is he as good as Volpe?
Pittsburgh doesn’t care about winning. they only care about delaying servicetime
How does this comment make any sense
Pirates1987
He hates another franchise more than he loves his favorite team basically.
The large market fans get salty when the small market teams sign young players to extensions. They believe they are entitled to the best players. The last thing they want is a level playing field.
Normally, I would agree with that statement but how did keeping him down for a week accomplish that?
If that was truly the case wouldn’t he be kept down until June?
My-Then why did they spend money this offseason on hitters if they do not care about winning?
Small market teams have to produce from within as they cannot indiscriminately buy players that were developed by other teams.
The Pirates have only developed well from within the last couple of years and they have been pitchers up until now.
Yankee fans just disappointed that Griffin appears close to signing a long term, resulting in the Yankees not being able to poach another Pirate until he’s around 30. I can’t imagine what his contract will be valued at then.
yeah, signing good free agents, raising the payroll to $100 million, the highest in team history and making significant trades to improve their offense, they don’t care about winning
You must be high
Skenes changed all that when he made his comment about wanting to play for a contender in Pittsburgh. Somehow, ownership came out of its coma of frugality. The very fact that they signed some good players and finally elevated talented young arms instead of hunting for retreads in the bargain basement as per usual should say as much
Skenes had to be excited when they scored 8 runs in two consecutive games
I can’t remember the last time they did this
So call him up now that you cant get a 1st round pick for him winning ROTY …..
Not a smart org
They had until April 9th to call him up to be PPI eligible, knowledgeable one.
Pretty ironic screen name he has there, eh?
Knowledge is acquired
Thanks for the info
Still this guy got absolutely no development in 7 days and Pirates likely lost a game or 2 because of it
Goku- If Griffin makes the difference in one or two games out of six that means that he would make the difference over a season to 40 games.I have not seen many 40 WAR players.
Currently 1 win is the difference between 2nd and last in the NLC
Not saying that races cannot be that tight but he in essence would almost certainly not have made a difference in just 3 losses especially in one or two of them.
Any player can add to more losses also especially someone who is 19 and had zero games at AAA.
They had 2 games go to extras, won one of them.
Also that 0-2 game in cinci could’ve gone differently.
Agreed we dont know for sure, but a team like the pirates needs all the help they can get.
Why wouldn’t they still be eligible for that?
They are as long as they extend him after he comes up.
How would the pirates get the draft pick? If he wasn’t called up on opening day, how come Skenes didn’t
Get them a pick despite winning ROY
As long as he doesn’t sign an extension before his start tomorrow and he places in the top 2 in ROTY voting, they will get the draft pick. Skenes didn’t get called up until May which is why he wasn’t eligible for the pick
I believe its with in a few weeks of opening day.
Skenes called up too late to be eligible KG called up soon enough to be eligible.
Oh baby! I heavily invested in Griffin in fantasy drafts, let’s see what you got, kid! Congratulations!
Nice! I grabbed him off the wire yesterday on a hunch and luckily guessed right. Thought I’d have to stash him for a few weeks, but here we go!
U play w some idiots or a 8 team or less league
Excellent! Surprised he was still out there, but good hunch!
Opening day is sold out, so “ticket sales ” is a line of Crack. The extension news has been blowing up my feed so much that I read the Cincinnati reports for yesterday’s game.
Whole weekend will probably be packed because of this. Exciting if you’re a Pitt fan. I thought about taking a trip up to see him play the O’s this weekend.
I agree with both grumpy and Baltimore that the second and third games are often played in inclement weather and this hype will possibly guarantee sellouts in them also.
This kid can’t even go out for drinks with his teammates for just over a year. He’ll be 20 in late April
Probably doesn’t drink and no one is carding him. Doesn’t look like your average 19 year old.
This is awesome, this is the most hyped I’ve ever been for a game I have tickets for.
I’m jealous. Have fun!
3 of the most exciting position players I have seen in quite sometime are Griffin, McGonigle, and Jesus Made. If those 3 even get close to their ceilings. This next generation of superstar prospects are going to be so much fun to watch. I would lock any of those 3 into a long term extension ASAP. The Pirates also have one on the pitching side that in Seth Hernandez who has all of the tools and pitches to be a front of the rotation talent. Between him, Skenes, and Bubba Chandler headlining a future rotation, and Griffin anchoring the lineup. This should be the time that The Pirates start finding all of the pennies they have stowed away under the couch cushions and start extending some of these guys now before they get too far out of the price range. Although Skenes may be already.
Watch McGonigle. He’s already there. He makes contact and hits the ball hard, even when he makes outs. He runs hard. He fields consistently even though there was a knock against his fielding. He wears his socks high. He is a ballplayer. Good luck with Konnor Griffin. Maybe the Tigers and Pirates will meet in a future World Series!
If they do I hope that the results are the same that they were in 1909 when Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner met.
Aw when we were youngsters, eh Mendoza?
I actually was Honus’ mentor.
Well I’m not going to wear a suit and top hat to the World Series like my great-grandparents might have done!
You’re gonna be missing all the fun. And you forgot the eye monocle and growing your handlebar mustache
If that doesn’t happen this year, it wont
Tigers WS shot is this year. They will always be solid and a playoff team for next half decade or so, but no ACE / no WS
Can they repeat the drabek, Bonds, bonilla, van slyke era?
Thats what they will be measured against as i doubt they win a WS unless they extend Skenes.
My favorite era, and I’ve been around since the late Forbes Field days. Best team ever to not win a WS
This team doesn’t approach that talent. But maybe it doesn’t need to.
You two seem to forget how awful Bonilla,Van Slyke,and Bonds were during the games that by far meant the most.
And don’t get me started on how a good Pony Leaguer could have thrown Sid Bream out at the plate.
Give me the Lumber Company any day of the week.
And the Battlin Buccos of 1960 and 1971 were not too far behind.
Those three teams had true superstars who showed up when the lights were brightest.That is the reason why small market teams no longer win championships.Their superstars have already been poached.
Yeah I remember the Lumber Company. I loved the ‘79 team and I was 11 when they won in ‘71 but remember Clemente during that series
I didn’t say that the Bonds-Bonilla-VanSlyke era was the best era, just my favorite
Very entertaining years
And yes, I grant you that they sure choked in playoff games
If you were born in 1960 maybe you brought the Pirates luck!
And you are still a young man!
I used to waste a lot of time playing baseball sim games. I always took the ’71 Pirates and always did well. That was a great team. Early 90s Bucs lacked solid bullpen else Bream would have not had the opportunity to challenge Bonds. I am afraid that the pen is the Achilles heel this year.
Yeah. Stan Belinda. And Mendoza always fails to mention the ground ball that went through Lind at 2nd base that put all of the final drama in motion
I don’t think this Pirates team has the firepower to match that one or even the Hurdle glory years. And if starters were still going 7+ innings, I guess I’d see them as being more of a real threat. I love the upside of their starting pitching but let’s face it, it’s not as important as it once was where playoff games in particular are concerned
Actually their outfield defense is their Achilles heal.
Mangum will get a lot of playing time.It was also the reason why I thought that they may keep Cook and send Yorke down.
O’Hearn I think is at least average in RF but Reynolds has slowed in left and Cruz unfortunately has proven to be sadly lacking.
Defense up the middle is a key in winning baseball games and although Davis and hopefully Griffin will be fine Lowe lacks range and the aforementioned Cruz are the other two playing there,
The pen worries me more than the defense. Santana succeeds by drawing chases on his slider, and Mattson throws the same pitch over and over. Seems like teams will sort them out eventually. I’d rather see Carmen Mlod out there in the late innings, alone with Lawrence if he stays healthy.
I do not totally disagree.Soto has looked good and Santana uses smoke and mirrors.They need another good right handed reliever but the pickings are slim in AAA especially now that they have lost the depth in Nicolas and Shugart.
Mayza for the Phillies has pitched well and I thought that he was a good pickup last year for the Pirates.The guy from the Rays scares me as he is a classic three outcome guy but two of the outcomes are bad.
Sisk does not impress.
But I think that any outfield with O’Neill Cruz in centerfield has to take the cake.
Don’t need Skenes. They have Bubba Ashcraft Hernandez. Another high pick this year. Prospects from Skenes trade.
They will not win a WS anyway but if they have a chance they need a shutdown starter like Paul Skenes to do so.
These other guys are not even close to him and if he stays healthy he is a first ballot lock to the Hall Of Fame.
They probably waited until today to post this, so older fans wouldn’t be thinking Sid Finch.
The Griffin ERA starts NOW! Ready for a superstar, here we GO.
I want to congratulate Scott publicly. He called this a few days ago. Maybe it was predictable, maybe not. But I hope they put him in the lineup and keep him there. How they wrecked Henry Davis when they called him up a couple years ago should be a blueprint of how not to handle a young player. He’s just now starting to come out of his funk, however incrementally it might be
MLB.com says that Griffin is scheduled to start in the home opener
Davis still swings at pitches no where close to the plate, striking out 3 times in yesterday’s game
And Bart is no better offensively so far
They now need a catcher who can hit consistently
Henry Davis=Big bust.
Henry is a fine catcher who has hit extremely well in AAA and was brought up too quickly and shuttled to RF in the undending Cherington philosophy that anyone can play anywhere with little or no training at the new position.
If he is good enough for Paul Skenes he is good enough for me.
His selection at number one enabled them to save money to get Bubba Chandler.
For all of his faults Cherington has been very good at drafting good prospects.
Okay
If you have a strong lineup, you can live with Henry. Wait for someone’s catcher to get hurt and you can unload Bart for a warm six-pack and bring Endy up.
Endy has had one good hitting year in the minor leagues and has not been healthy either of the last two years.He is also not hitting in AAA now.
He needs to establish himself in AAA for at least most of this year before he can be depended upon on the Pirates.
He amazes me that he’s a catcher and is often fooled by pitch location or in general, what a pitcher is throwing.
But it’s too early to throw him in the dust bin. His defense has improved. He just needs to keep working.
Bust? Could be. We’ve had a revolving door here.
Perez might be catcher of future and better than Davis Endy.
He is only 19 but at 5’9” and 155 pounds he needs to grow a lot to withstand the constant punishment of catching.
He also has 2 home runs in 650 minor league at bats and is hitting 235.
I will believe it when I see it.
Well played Buccos, well played. Even if somehow Griffin doesn’t live up to the hype, the Pirates brass have played the media card very well in this case.
Getting that PPI!
The Pirates come into their home opener a respectable 3-3 and now they are bringing up Griffin for the game. For the first time in a while Pirates fans actually have a reason to be excited
They had the same reason to be excited two years ago with Paul Skenes.
So disingenuous of that organization. He was good enough six games ago and should’ve never been subjected to the ugly side of mentally abusive ownership
Yeah whatever bro lol
He’ll never know the feeling of making the team. Just being called up. Home or away, opening day is still opening day, and he had to watch it on television. Disgraceful. Word gets around MLB. The brotherhood talks, and to a man, every one of them will refuse to ever become a Pirate. Wouldn’t surprise me to find out that the ones on the team just live out of a suitcase with a Bible on it to pray they get out.
I’ll never know the feeling of making the Pirates either. Explains why mi so sour too punching the clock for boss man until 25 minute break so I can bologna sandwich sustenance. Ironically the factory mi worky at makes suitcase and bible
I don’t think you’ve ever had a kind comment about the Pirates, Slider
It’s almost like you are jealous that this franchise is making strides to become a better offense
Maybe not jealous, maybe angry because they might just be better than you expected
Players go where the paycheck is like everyone else. I’ve never seen an organization be boycotted by anyone because they dared to hold a player down. In the end everyone understands (or needs to) that the game is a business and they are subject to business decisions whether they agree with them or not
The man..I haven’t been this excited about the pirates since I was 10 and started following them in 1966. Hes noe considered the cire of s young crop of pirates. Future looks bright. Can’t say the same for sloppywithcheese. He must be one miserable person.
Players go to whoever gives them the most $
Being called up is making the team. He’ll be there for opening day next year. I like how youre making up drama storylines about the “brotherhood” like a gossip girl writing a fan fic.
You know I wish them well. It’s all in good fun. Beautiful park, good fans, tough city that puts french fries on sandwiches for some reason
Fun? As in whee?
Permantis makes those sandwiches and they were basically the whole meal for the dockworkers.
I tried Permanti and extremely disappointed. Slaw was awful. No meat on sandwich. Got steak it wasn’t good what there was of it. Terrible. I like the fries on sandwich. Even better on a salad. Permanti was bad though.
I had one maybe 30 years ago and it was fine but famous for the novelty more than anything else.
Like everything else in this Country it has probably been cheapened over time.
Mendoza. I still have one of the green weenie from 1966. The green weenie invented by Bob Prince.
Primanti Brothers started the fries on sandwiches with their menu years ago
It’s a staple of their menu ever since
I see your usual rosy outlook for the Pirates.
If that is what you are focusing on so be it.
Cal Ripken Jr with speed?
Surely not as surly as iron cal
Reminds me of a more athletic Honus Wagner
A more loquacious Pie Traynor.
Pie used to attend some of my high school games when he was basically an honorary scout for the Pirates.
He wasn’t showing up for my high school team but for the other team when we played large high schools.
This Bowman’s are through the roof.
The ladies haven’t all been this excited since John Shaft entered the room
I thought u had to be on the opening day roster to net a PPI
You have to be up for a full year of service time which this year makes the cutoff I think April 9th?
Congrats Pirates fans, looks like a deal is being finalized and a potential young prospect will be called to help make this team much more competitive.
Honey wake up, the next wave of elite SS prospects are here.
Wondering if the current trend of extending young prospects/ players may be driven by anticipated changes to the Collective Bargaining Ageement?!
There is talk and proposals floating around MLB of shortening the path to free agency.
If that happens, then getting many of the top, young prospects “locked up”
on team friendly deals may be not only wise, but essential for middle and smaller market franchises to retain their top young talent and be competitive for the future after the New CBA is finalized.
Nobody knows – owners/Manfred and players and MLBTR users included.
There’s no point in conducting business for a hypothetical new CBA. All I know are baseball attendance and revenue are at an all-time high and nobody wants to disrupt that continuance.
Congratulations to Pirates fans!
The Next Big Pennant Contending Pirates ballclub looks to be “on the rise” in the East!
Ben Cherrington and his team have worked very hard to help make this happen!
Pirates Ownership is FINALLY SPENDING SOME MONEY!
Is it a serious attempt to contend for NL Pennants
OR
Have the Pirates, like the A’s, been pressured by MLB
to spend money, build a competitive ballclub or be cut off MLB revenue sharing ?!
Perhaps, a little of both?!
Washed up old timer says that Skenes initiated the change in stance of Nutting and his comments probably did affect it.Nutting spent money when the Pirates were very good in the mid 2010’s but he does not spend it if it will not make a real difference.
I think that it is a serious attempt to become a good team and contend for the wild card and maybe the division championship.
Beyond that it would be at best pot luck.
YES! I’m Red Sox fan but happy for Pirate fans.
Been a long wait for them to have a compelling team, and it’s evolving into some must-watch baseball. Skenes, Griffin, Cruz (if he ever untaps that sky-high potential), plus a few nice complimentary (but productive) vets they added in Lowe and O’Hearn. And Marcell Ozuna’s on this team, too? The Password waiting for his shot and looked awesome in Spring T.
There’s a LOT of reasons to be excited about Bucs baseball at the moment. Its been long overdue
These rules surrounding prospects and service time are so complicated but easily exploited. The issue should be whether Griffin is ready to hit big league pitching, but that apparently is too obscure to even figure in the discussion about calling him up.
He’ll be the biggest bust since Pamela Anderson.
Jealous that your team didn’t draft him?
As a White Sox fan, I kind of wish the same, but it happens every year. Look where Trout was picked.
FGDC projection
100 wRC+ and 2.3 WAR in 500 PA
Juan- Do you have any idea how these projections are made for players with no ML experience?
Signed. Nine years, $140m…
So freaking happy for Pirates fans. They deserve this big time.
Baseball especially mid market teams need expansion to really be competitive.
As an Os fan i think they should wait one more series before bringing him up!
Definitely agree, although introducing him for the home opener seems fitting.
Volpe will be SS of the year
First player born in 2006 up in the Major Leagues!
I’m getting old!
Good start to his career….
I am watching the Pirates game and Griffin is going to be special and this team looks like it could challenge in the NL Central with solid pitching and a good nucleus of players. But if they keep putting Cruz in CF they won’t make the playoffs. Three times today he has proven he has no idea how to play the OF and on top of that his at bats are nothing special and of course his lack of interest in the game is evident.
Cruz shouldn’t be batting in the top spot of the lineup. He hits better down in the order
But yeah he’s not a good center fielder
My concern is Osuna. He’s stinking up the lineup batting clean up
Make Cruz the DH against right handers and Ozuna against lefthanders.
Put Mangum in CF.
Mangum has to be the center fielder here.
Oddly enough, O’Hearn, who is really at 1st baseman, plays a decent right field. Cruz today wanted to play the entire outfield himself. He’s a real liability out there
Mendoza likely has the easiest answer but if Ozuna gets hit, he hits everyone. Then what?
Add to all of this that they have guys like Garcia and Florentino pushing their way up through the farm
Cruz was bad at shortstop,maybe the worst in the league,but I do not recall him being buffoonish there.
He may be trying too hard and like you say trying to do too much.
He definitely is too casual at times but it is sometimes tough to tell whether someone that large is hustling.
I do not know how many games Griffin played in CF but he would be a natural there.
I will say though that Cruz took the one pitch to left field and scored the runner and I was very impressed with that hit.
If Cruz was a good SS, then maybe you make that switch. But he isn’t. And you don’t screw around with the prize pupil in such a scenario
As I’ve said, Kelly has a problem and it’ll be magnified tenfold if Garcia and Florentino rip it up in the minors
Your idea makes the most sense—alternate DH’s. But I’m betting that if this were to happen, you’d have two malcontents in your hands
You’re right,Kelly has a problem.
And you are probably right about the malcontents but Ozuna is stinking it up at bat and Cruz in the field.
I would use Gonzalez at DH tomorrow.See how that flies.
Florentino is way too young.
Password is hitting the same as Ozuna.Endy and Flores are basically just as bad.
And the Indians are a bad team with little or no pitching.
Marcell Ozuna had a .199 batting average with 59 hits, 11 homers, 43 RBIs and 34 runs scored in 90 games between June 2, 2025 and September 30, 2025
Andrew McCutchen hit .224 with 68 hits, 8 home runs, 39 RBIs and 33 runs scored in 83 games between June 2, 2025 and September 30, 2025
Mike Tauchman had a .247 batting average with 72 hits, 7 home runs, 34 RBIs and 34 runs scored in 81 games between June 2, 2025 and September 30, 2025
Starling Marte hit .291 with 58 hits, 6 homers, 20 RBIs and 25 runs scored in 60 games between June 2, 2025 and September 30, 2025
Obviously pretty much anyone done better than the guy Cherington signed and for much much much much less than 12m
I think that they decided to move on from McCutcheon and opted for the power hitter even though his stats were not great.
Who else should they have signed who has more power?
I don’t care about power. Just want production. Sign Suarez if you want power. I was fine with Cutch back. Use dh spot for rest days. Fine with Ozuna. 12m not so fine with. What was 2nd highest bid? He can work out still.
It did seem like a lot of money.I hope that Ben was smart enough to not bid against himself.
It seems to me that a good batting coach can get a decent hitter back on track as Ozuna is pretty bad at this point.
Konner had the worst opening day for a number one prospect in the history of Major League Baseball. Even John champ Summers went 3 for 4 with two homers and seven RBIs in his debut. With Skenes having a 9ERA they’re thinking about unloading him to Seattle as a punishment of a 10% state income tax. Pirate executive claim they were pressured by the press and fans to give Skenes contract even though they know he has arthritis already in his elbow and shoulder.
This is probably the most bizarre post that I have seen in my ten years on this site.
The dog as his avatar explains it lol
Mendoza..Mr Bob mouse is just abtroll trying to do his best comode routine while sitting on the commade. Hes a commodian
Not sure that he is a troll as the post was bizarre even though it was negative.
I guess it depends on the definition of troll.
Or maybe he was just having a bad day.
Usually trolls are pretty obvious to me as they are negative and clearly so and clearly want to be just to get a reaction.
Only miserable people try to make others miserable. It must be hard to live a life in misery. Sad miserable life of a sad miserable squirming troll.
Way too early to make wholesale changes, Mendoza, or judgments about guys on the farm.
I do believe Garcia, Florentino, Termarr and a couple others are going to be knocking at the door here in short order. And given what happened in the Futures game, perhaps Hernandez, too
I don’t know that Kelly feels any urgency to juggle things just 7 games in. I think it’s apparent to everyone that Cruz is no center fielder. I’m sure he knows what he has in Mangum. But beyond that, I’m guessing he’s going to allow it all to play out. Creative usage of line up card—Mangum starts in center, Cruz sits. Mangum starts in left, Reynolds sits.
Ozuna certainly doesn’t look like the fearsome hitter he was two years ago, but it’s early.
Truthfully, Horwitz is in a real funk, too
Marcell Ozuna had a .199 batting average with 59 hits, 11 homers, 43 RBIs and 34 runs scored in 90 games between June 2, 2025 and September 30, 2025
Still too early to make an assessment although your listings call the signing into question. Having seen him in his first games with the Pirates, I’d wonder why anyone would ever throw him a fast ball. He’s a sucker for any breaking pitch over the outside corner, every time
That is what happened to Nick Castellanos with the Phillies.
It seems to me that they cannot pick up the spin on the ball.
By the way,did anyone notice that Nick was playing first base for the Pirates during some of Spring Training?
You mean Gonzales, I take it
No,I could have sworn that I saw Castellanos but it must have been Nick Cimilo with perhaps a typing error as I know that he was going to get time playing there with San Diego.