Pirates manager Derek Shelton made his weekly radio appearance on 93.7 FM the Fan in Pittsburgh this morning. The Bucs skipper said he “expects” the team will hang onto Aroldis Chapman beyond this evening’s trade deadline (relayed on X by The Fan’s Andrew Fillipponi).
Chapman is playing on a $10.5MM contract. Shelton has called upon him 45 times, usually in high-leverage spots. The hard-throwing lefty carries a 3.63 ERA over 39 2/3 innings. He’s running his typical blend of huge strikeout totals (35.2%) and massive walk rates (19.3%). Chapman isn’t sitting above 100 MPH the way he did at his peak, but his 97.6 MPH average fastball velocity still makes him one of the hardest throwing southpaws in the sport.
The Bucs go into deadline day with a 54-52 record that has them within two games of the National League’s last Wild Card spot. They’re more likely to add MLB talent than subtract, but there’s also been some talk that Pittsburgh could contemplate dealing from its big league pitching staff to acquire offensive help. They made a variation of that move with yesterday’s swap of Quinn Priester for second base prospect Nick Yorke, even if Yorke won’t immediately step onto the MLB roster.
Pittsburgh has looked to bolster their lefty relief depth behind Chapman. They acquired Jalen Beeks from the Rockies last night and are bringing in Josh Walker in a DFA trade with the Mets. Walker still has options and can be stashed at Triple-A Indianapolis.
KC flipped Chapman last year for Cole Ragans. What a deal.
They’re doing something!
No real contender wants all of those walks – nearly a walk per inning…
April/May: 23 BB in 17,1 innings = 11.94 BB/IP WHIP 2,08
June/July: 11 BB in 20.1 innings = 4.24 BB/IP WHIP: 1.13
Chappie has been pretty awesome last two months.
where is the other outfielder?
Chapman has been pitching better than Bednar lately and isn’t being scored on like our closer either
Cmon. Somebody do something.
I don’t believe him
I don’t think he believes him
I don’t believe that you dont think he believes him.
I dont think anyone including himself believes him.
I believe him. I think
You guys are all sick pups.
But funny ones at that.
Still waiting on some offense additions. Cherington sucks.
How do you figure?
Cherington sucks in more ways than just his inability to trade for a bat
How many players has he drafted that have made a positive impact playing on the major league team?
Position players not pitchers
Didn’t draft Cruz, but definitely developed into player he is now with Pirates. He’s a win.
He’ll be a good player if he ever makes the all star team and cuts down on his errors and strikeouts.
It does not rally matter how hard he can hit the ball.It is just hype for him and the Pirates.
25 years old with 1.1 years of service time who has an OPS of .776 playing passable defense at SS.
If he stays healthy, it’s easy to see him become an All-Star caliber player with unmatched tools. Yes, better than Elly.
He has been hitting well lately as that OPS has risen significantly over the last three weeks.I am not saying that he cannot become a good player but I do not see that he is serious enough to improve his weaknesses which are somewhat of a casual attitude in the field and not picking up on the spin of curve balls.
He is next to last in the league in fielding to de la Cruz.
I do not think that he is cocky but many of these players start believing the extreme hype and it clouds their minds to working very hard to improve their play.
Perhaps he should go back to his personal batting coach as he seemed to clearly improve from 2022 to 2023 before he got injured.
Theman, he has drafted HEAVILY with pitching which is evident by the wild success he has already demonstrated with Jones, Skenes, and Mlodzinski making impacts since his first draft in 2020.
With hitting Nick Gonzales was enjoying a positive WAR season who was BC’s first college hitter taken. Henry Davis is still out for discussion for the other college bat, he is still doing great in AAA this year.
For the rest, he’s taken a bigger approach on HS hitters like Lonnie White, Termar Johnson, Meuth, Griffith, Sterling, and Sanford. Even with an express push most of those guys simply aren’t age ready to play yet. Holiday is the only HS player drafted in the same year as Termar to play.
The team’s success so far this year is predicated strictly on starting pitching, of which all but 1 starting pitcher was acquired by BC.
our player development is always predicated upon age readiness which could explain why many of the players you mentioned won’t be promoted until they are over 25
and I said position players not pitchers yet you still decided to include them
I included them because you arbitrarily tried to cherry pick and remove BC’s most successful avenue of player development.
That’s like saying David Ortiz is a bad player and asking someone to defend but they can’t bring up how good he is at hitting the ball.
Trying to remove his exceptional haul of successful major league starting pitching and deep stockpile of minor league pitching is shortsighted at best.
I never mentioned the pitching he developed or traded for to stockpile in the minors but you were committed in a vain attempt to make me appear unaware of that fact
You are worthy of being muted
I am committed to discuss the entirety of his competency as a GM, and not just a straw man’s angle trying to only discuss a perceived weak point in his system.
You phrased it specifically so you can’t discuss a strength and so that you know the only 2 hitters he drafted that are college ready haven’t produced quite to par yet because his HS draftees are not age developed yet.
If you had said something like “We are only in need of a bat because he drafts too many HS bats and Davis/Gonzales haven’t produced to par” or something similar than fine, sure that’s a point.
If you want to mute me for calling you out for cherry picking be my guest.
@Macbeth Well said sir
Don’t understand!? I know trade talks are ongoing but what the F!!! We need Cam back! Pull trigger on something big, been years. Jason Thompson or Bill Madlock! Someone!!
how about Josh Van Meter!
Anyone now almost.
What a failure BC is for not acquiring one bat. Nothing to even try to improve this offense. I hope I’m wrong but this is an embarrassing deadline for the Pirates
I am not a Winker fan but at least his acquisition would have shown an attempt to find a suitable hitter as a stopgap for this year.
It seems BC’s biggest blindspots are taking chances and developing a development team.