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Gothamcityriddler
Let me summarize, they were dreadful & terrible last year & they’ll be dreadful & terrible this year, carry on. Ahahahaha!
ronnsnow
It’s amazing to me how so many people either don’t know how rebuilds work or just choose to ignore it. Yes, the Pirates have been historically bad except for 2013-15. But to hold that against Ben Cherington is ignorant. He’s clearly building an impressive group of young players that are set to debut starting this year and 2023. There’s no point in trying to be competitive this year when the core prospects are on the cusp of debuting.
bucsfan0004
Cherington is doing good things with the young players he’s acquired. However, its still no excuse for ownership to field the current major league roster with uncompetitive, waiver wire trash.
tiredolddude
Agreed. I think most fans can salute what Cherington has done. Most appreciate the idea that the farm is well stocked. But the contrasts to the early years of Huntington’s leadership are striking and upon review, have to give any Pirates fan great pause. I just don’t see how any fan trusts ownership here in that regard. How? Rather than put money into at the very least a “competitive” team over his tenure, he has consistently shown that pulling the rug out from the front office where established vets and coveted prospects are concerned—all to slash payroll and again “rebuild”—are better fits his business model
Yeah, they signed Hayes. But as someone with reservations about Nutting, sending Cruz down and squabbling with Reynolds in arbitration are more the Nutting we all know. The guy will never change
Cosmo2
Yes, they are in rebuild right now but contrary to what many think that doesn’t have to mean losing as much as possible. It’s a shame that Pittsburgh did virtually nothing to try and win a bit more this year.
garth16iorg
This team will be in Charlotte by 2030 unless the Guardians or Reds beat them there. Pittsburgh is no longer a major-league city in the current financial setup of MLB. True, the ownership is unwilling to spend more on payroll. But add to that a local sports media that stomps on the Pirates and baseball in general day after day while pushing their Steelers and Penguins propaganda 24/7. From Honus Wagner to Roberto Clemente, you had a great run, Buccos. Where you go now is a sad mystery.
THE downvoter
Nothing like an absolute uninformed take, partial facts and the ability to weave a tale of futuristic BS. Good work. I bet your mom is proud.
Oh, by the way, this is a public downvote.
SpendNuttinWinNuttin
You’re an idiot pittsburgh is one of the biggest best sports cities in the world this team has been here since the 1890s lol kick rocks if you actually think the pirates leave pittsburgh by 2030.
CubsWin108
idk… PNC Park was pretty filled up yesterday, seems fans like the pirates
mlb1225
L take
PiratesFan1981
Why would Pirates move to Charlotte? They won’t have a bigger market than what they have in Pittsburgh. It’s would be going to one short comings after spending 130 years in another short comings. Charlotte can’t even hold their basketball team and barely their NFL team.
If Pittsburgh goes anywhere, Nashville or even Indianapolis would be the starting point. Unless Las Vegas gets an expansion team, that would be a lock for Rays, A’s or even the Pirates.
User 1471943197
Garth the moron….pirates are staying in Pittsburgh…. PNC Park is among the best…so continue to go to bed at 8 pm….eat your Capt crunch….and play on the computer in mommies basement
Scamlikley
There hitting probably got worse and there pitching has little upside, they need some of their prospect to come and make some waves.
SpendNuttinWinNuttin
7 free agents is exciting for this team not quiet lol
Monkey’s Uncle
Cherington is doing a lot more with a lot less than most would do in his situation.
mlb1225
Its gonna be a rough season, but I think this is going to be the last really bad season they’ll have for a while. Next year, they’ll get full or nearly full seasons from guys like Nick Gonzo, Peguero, Priester and Mlodzinski. They already have Roansy Contreras in the Majors. Once they call up Oneil Cruz, the line up will finally have the big power bat they need. Diego Castillo looks like a major leaguer, albeit in a small sample size. Plenty of other prospects I’m leaving out like Matt Fraizer, Swaggerty, and about a dozen more I could fire off on.
Gterm
Next season is the year we start turning it around mlb1225. The kids aren’t far away. We’ll be bad this year, but the future is finally bright.
mlb1225
I’d like to add that the biggest addition to the organization wasn’t a player, it was part of the player development team. They poached Dewey Robinson from the Tampa Bay Rays. He’s known around the league as one of the best when it comes to developing pitchers.
CubsWin108
All what the pirates need to do this season is simple.
1. Start Quintana and hopefully filp him for prospects like you did for Anderson, (he had a pretty good 1st start on Tuesday, giving up 1 ER over 6.
2. Extend Bryan Renyolds, give him a similar extention to Hayes, but say… 6 million more a year? and make it front-loaded of course.
3. Let your guys play, this is a perfect oppotunity to suck, but inprove long-term, get Cruz some playing time, get your other guys some playing time.
4. Give a bunch of SP’s chances to start with Perez, similar to 3, this could be a good year for a few Pirates pitchers, delevop them.
I project a slightly better record then last year: 67-95
JoeBrady
IRT Cruz, imho, what he really needs is mostly a full season of learning to play RF in AAA. For all the love that MLB-R gives him, his K/W in AA last year was a poor 64/20..He did better in AAA, but that was only 21 ABs. There is absolutely no reason to rush him until he improves his K/W, and they either decide he is a SS, which looks unlikely, or until he learns a new position.
My guess is a minimum of three months in AAA.
SpendNuttinWinNuttin
No real prospect needs a full year at AAA for anything. Most of the best guys go straight from AA to the majors with very little AAA time.
madmc44
The Red Sox didn’t have a place in the line-up for Michael Chavis–though 1 B and 2 B
were probably his best opportunity.-Cherrington will find the right fit for him.
CubsWin108
Chavis batted 3rd at DN yesterday off to a alright start
mazbilleroski
The statisticians have already figured out Pittsburgh’s magic number: it’s 911
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Nutting says it’s $7.25/hr.
bucsfan
Definitely lol’d at that one.
GinaNCRaysFan
The rebuild is beginning to show progress. It looks to me like the Pirates will be able to field a decent team by 2024 if they keep to the development plan and add a couple solid players by free agency, not stars necessarily. They should have a good idea how the prospects are panning out by then and a clearer idea of what the team needs are.
bigdaddyk
Cruz Swaggerty Martin Mitchell will all make it to the majors this season add Castro as well. They pitching is a year away but they will be fun to watch this summer.
Hopefully Quinntana Jake Ben Yoshi Newman are flipped for scratch off tickets or comp picks. I think they win 70 games this year and if they get any pitching next year they will win 85 games
bucsfan
What I’m watching for is the willingness to spend come 2024-2025. At that point, most of the young position prospects will be established, but not all the pitching will be quite ready. Will Nutting be willing to open up the checkbook for a top line starter, or extend one that has broken out?
tiredolddude
Exactly. This is the million dollar question that no one can answer
joew
Team has great promise going into 23 and “Shouldn’t” need to spend much. With the prospects that have a better than fair chance of coming out of spring next year.
Cruz, Gonzales, Bae, Swaggerty, Martin, …. Basically have most of their position players with cost control… assuming non bomb and their offense gets closer to average and allows their defense to play.. like Bae and Swaggerty.
jimmyz
Getting a top of the rotation starter in free agency is too rich for Nutting to sign off on. However if they can raise the floor of their starting rotation to a collection of mid rotation starters as opposed to the current collection of back end starters and one or hopefully two from the group emerges as a front line starter then they could be legitimate World Series contenders in a few years. Haven’t looked at next offseason’s FA starters but using this past offseason as an example they are probably better of going for two guys in the Jon Gray range instead of one Scherzer.
joew
yeah if things go well in ’22 as a whole they should grab a ‘more sure thing’ or two for the rotation, even in trade this season if things are going really well.. not sure what all would be available though.
Don’t think Nutting would ‘need’ to sign off on unless it is a long term commitment and as long as they stay in a certain range as a whole.I would guess if Ben thought they had a real shot at the play offs i’m sure the pocket books would open.. probably still well under league average salary as a whole though.. And that is fine with a team full of rookie contracts.
joew
Keys are Hayes health, reynolds continuing to be reynolds young pitching staff improvements and Call ups like Martin, Swaggerty, Cruiz, Gonzales, Bae, etc…
By the end of the season they can have a team full of some of their higher prospects that are good+ ceilings..
Could push the team closer to 500 than not if/when that happens. They need to build fast to take advantage of the time remaining with Reynolds.