The Pirates brought Beau Sulser back on a minor league deal on Thursday. Pittsburgh assigned the 30-year-old righty to Double-A Altoona. Sulser had been with the Blue Jays on a non-roster contract before being released last week.
A tenth-round pick by the Bucs in the 2017 draft, Sulser got to the big leagues five years later. He made four appearances before being designated for assignment and lost on waivers to Baltimore. Sulser pitched six times for the O’s and finished his first MLB campaign with a 3.63 earned run average through 22 1/3 innings. He didn’t miss many bats, though, and the Orioles cut him loose at the end of that season.
Pittsburgh claimed him back but ran him through waivers almost immediately. Sulser elected free agency and took a job with the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization. The Wiz released him in June, setting the stage for another minor league deal with Pittsburgh. Sulser finished the year in Triple-A with the Pirates before signing with Toronto this May.
In 47 2/3 innings with the Jays’ top affiliate in Buffalo, Sulser turned in a 5.29 ERA. He struck out a below-average 17.5% of opponents against a strong 6.1% walk rate. That’s generally par for the course, but Sulser’s grounder rate fell and he had a very tough time keeping the ball in the park (2.45 HR/9). He’ll now move back a step on the minor league ladder but returns to an organization with which he’s clearly familiar, as this is the fourth time the Pirates have acquired him.
A+
Rowdy Tellez has a .300 batting average with 51 hits, 8 home runs, 31 RBIs and 20 runs since June 1
And?
8 home runs over almost 2 months from a position that has always been historically a power hitter isn’t something I would be bragging about
Sure, Rowdy has been a better hitter since June 1, where was he during the games previously!
Same can be said of the 3rd base position, historically one of power. Instead they have strong arm, poor hitter, Ke’Bryan Hayes and his 13 total extra base hits on the season
Granted, he’s had a stint on the IL with a back injury, but it it remains the reason he’s not hitting well, he should be back on the IL
This is a team recently that has had problems scoring more runs than their opponents
TM
“8 home runs over almost 2 months from a position that has always been historically a power hitter isn’t something I would be bragging about”
How about a 136 wRC+? That’s about as good of a hitter as Corey Seager.
You’re probably not the Corey Seager of anything at your work. Would you brag if you were?
I am a retired Environmental Scientist, Bra ( I deliberately misspelled your name),
Would you brag about having a woman’s undergarment in your name?
TM
Was that mess supposed to be an intelligent comment?
Misogyny mixed with..I don’t even know what.
You appear to be complete waste of time to intersect off
Off to never never land for you
YDGM
That’s a 136 wRC+
Tuff crowd. Hitting 300 with 24 hrs I would take at any position. Maybe your owner Bob Nutting will increase his 2nd lowest payroll in baseball and spend 200 300 400 500 million and get you that 30 40 50 hr guy! Spend another couple hundred million and get you a better 3b. Spending that kind of $ he can just release Hayes and his nothing salary.
You’re hilarious. You’ll moan that “…you guys like to argue…” and then post tidbits like this about Tellez and Grandal. I mean, seriously?
You might not watch as many Pirates games as you used to, you may say you want to “clean house” and see everyone fired but you’ll post mind-numbing things like this
Look, Grandal is here because he’s Skenes’s catcher, nothing more. As a hitter, he’s a bum
Tellez has seemingly won over some fans after going through a horrific first three months, getting booed at every turn and not acting as a prima donna. But he’s still a bum of a player
Love these types of meaningless stats, though. You even got a Dodgers fan to chime in. If they lose 8 of their next ten, constituting 18 of 20, and both these guys get a couple hits, I’m sure we’ll get more of this type of drivel.
SF
“You even got a Dodgers fan to chime in. ”
I chime in of my own accord.
Someone else has posted that 8 HRs in 2 months wasn’t much power. But a 136 wRC+ is very good.
In context, it alluded to the idea that unless you watch these players Dream is trumpeting games and game out, the stats themselves might be seen as impressive
These two players represent just more deadwood for a pathetic franchise
SF
A 136 wRC+ over 2 months is not dead wood – it IS impressive.
Watch the games.
Homers or hits when games are out of hand are not impressive to anyone besides the analytics crowd. There’s a great deal of deadwood on this team. These guys are at the head of the pack. But when your farm system is ranked 27th and your owner is driven by profits first and foremost, this is what fans are resigned to
You do realize they only played 4 games in March right? So it wasn’t 3 months of being awful.
Rowdy Tellez had a batting average of .256 with 11 hits, a home run, 6 RBIs and 5 runs scored in 16 games between March 28, 2024 and April 14, 2024
And it wasn’t even 2 months of being awful. Wasn’t good but wasn’t awful.
Rowdy Tellez had a batting average of .138 with 12 hits, 2 RBIs and 6 runs scored in 32 games between April 15, 2024 and May 31, 2024
Month and half. And if the Pirates actually had a hitting coach it may not have been as bad or as long or a slump at all. Had to have his dad and former hitting coach from long ago get him on track after Haines failed him.
“For a second consecutive year, a Pirates hitter has rediscovered himself with outside assistance”
“The longtime coach and scout who helped Tellez is actually someone the Pirates first baseman considers a father figure, Tellez and Dee Brown having known each other since the former was 11 or 12.”
“Around the time Tellez bottomed out, his batting average a mere .175 before three games in Toronto, he connected with Brown — searching for something, anything that might lift him out of a sizable funk.”
“He connected with that style of coaching,” Greg Tellez, Rowdy’s father, told Sportsnet. “The harder Dee Brown coached him and pushed him, the harder he played.” He ain’t getting that style of coaching from anyone in Pittsburgh. They just let him stand at the plate watching his non home runs a d jogging the bases.
“It’s been almost 20 years of dealing with me,” Rowdy said. “I think he really wanted me to reach out, then look myself in the mirror and say, ‘I gotta start fresh.’ Not just a step back but a bus back, a flight back. Step all the way back to day one.
“I put everything I had into it. After those struggles and then hearing fans celebrate me, chanting my name, yeah, it’s been emotional.”
From June 10th article. Took him a week and a half of hitting well to knkw he was right again.
And Haines is still the hitting coach today.
Hilarious. Pirates fans aren’t impressed but someone who roots for a real team that spends 200 to 300 million with real players like Smith Betts Freeman Hernandez Ohtani is impressed. Sounds like Pirates fans need to root for LA or NY. But these guys would be the ones Parroting every single day Roberts Boone Friedman Cashman need to be fired. Ohtani was 0 for 3 with 3 strike outs why didn’t Roberts pinch hit him?
Here’s Rowdys stats when game is late and close the entire season even during his slump.
.160 .295 .340 .635
Looks like you were right. Opps nevermind. That’s Bryce Harper. Ouch
Here’s Rowdy.
.333 average .360 622 slug .982 ops.
He’s a mvp contender when the game is on the line!
Either you are bipolar or enjoy stirring the pot. Or is it something else? Your posts are all over the road, on both sides of issues. Today you post this lot. Tomorrow it’ll be taking the GM to task for dumpster diving
Which is it?
Couldn’t care less about a casual observer chiming in. Must be nice to be a fan of a team so happy to spend.
It’s getting old, Dream. This entire act is childish
Maybe you should go back to Mexico. Rewind. Relax. Sorry I won’t parrot your wrong statement that he only hits when the game is out of hand. Fact is he hits like a mvp when it matters the most. If you want someone who just tells you what you want to hear and not the truth, well anyone in Pittsburgh sports media will give you exactly what you are looking for. I’m not that guy.
I wouldn’t know. I don’t listen to sports media.
I hadn’t had you pegged as a troll or hooligan who just likes to get a rise out of people by being something of a chameleon with his postings, but that’s enough of you
Just today. Tied 1 1 the game VERY MUCH NOT out of hand. Mr Deadwood hits a 2 run hr.
Dream- Real major league players do not need a mentor/ friend to kick them in the butt to perform at their best.
Nor do they need a coach or manager to tell them to run hard out of the batters box.
The Tellez’ come and go based on their natural talents.
They are not a student of the game.
And stats apply to the whole year and not just a gerrymandered portion of it.His salary is guaranteed for a full year.He needs to appreciate being aML player before he is no longer one.
Bro- This is in answer to your later post.
I promise not to call you the name of an undergarment.
No,I have never made $3M in a year.If I did I would do my absolute best to earn it.
I am a civil engineer who worked for 38 1/2 years in a public utility,the last number of which as manager.We were never paid nearly as much as even the minimum ML salary.
I took statistics in college,and am aware of the saying,”figures lie and liars figure”.It is sometimes true.
I was voted as the top of my profession one year in one of the 50 states.I can assure you that we had more to do with the public welfare than Rowdy Tellez will ever have.
Good lawyers and smart people never ask questions that they do not know the answers to.
I am sorry that you do not seem to be either.
ML
“aware of the saying,”figures lie and liars figure””
I’m aware of the saying “a witty saying means nothing”. That applies here.
Figures never lie. People musunderstand figures.
“smart people never ask questions that they do not know the answers to.”
This says a lot about you. Asking questions that you don’t know the answer to is how you learn
You may have taken statistics in college. Seems like that was a long time ago. I don’t think you learned or understood much then, and have likely forgotten much of what you were taught.
“can assure you that we had more to do with the public welfare than Rowdy Tellez will ever have”
Who cares? What does this have to do with anything?
“I was voted as the top of my profession one year in one of the 50 states.”
I doubt that this is true, but maybe. Still doesn’t answer the question if you were one of the top 1000 civil engineers in the world at any point.
You attempted insult is noted
Bro- This is in response to your last response denigrating a poster on here which was me.
At first I figured that you were a youngster who does not know better than to cherry pick stats,
You have proven me wrong.
Then I thought that you were probably just plain stupid but gave you the benefit of the doubt in being well meaning.
Wrong again.
I had hoped to not figure out what I just figured out.
I have henceforth occasioned upon the real crux of your just plain low life personality.
You are arrogant.
Duly noted.
ML
“You are arrogant”
What’s that saying about a stopped clock
Off to oblivion with you
Dream- Why do you think that a “real” team like the Dodgers has all those great players?
Because they can spend close to $300 M.
In your mind that makes them a “real” team?
Bro is cherry picking statistics just like you have.
And he does not know that Tellez is adverse to actually running to first base because he is in bad physical condition.
You do.
Consistency is beauty.
Hasta la vista bro.
Don’t be surprised when you get similiar responses as those that you have gotten here from fans of other teams than the Dodgers who know a lot more about their team than you will ever know.
Bro-Tellez is a bum no matter how well he hits.He does not run out balls that he does hit and thinks that long fly balls will automatically be home runs.
His first two months were putrid and that has been 45% of the season.
There is a reason why they got him for $3M.
I thought that he would be a much better hitter than he has been for the whole year.But that is mostly based on his batting record against Pirates pitchers over the last several years.
ML
“Bro-Tellez is a bum no matter how well he hits.He does not run out balls that he does hit and thinks that long fly balls will automatically be home runs.
His first two months were putrid and that has been 45% of the season.
There is a reason why they got him for $3M.”
What’s your salary?
Are you one if the top 1000 people in your profession?
Are you, then, much more of a bum than Teller?
Yasmani Grandal is batting .283 with 13 hits, 3 homers, 5 RBIs and 7 runs since July 5
?
But he lobs the ball back to the pitchers and does so on a regular basis,
Like Tellez,releasing theses two immediately and putting younger players who actually hustle would send a message to the whole team.Plus they would learn more about the younger players that they do have to replace them.
Neither will be resigned for next year.
while $8.75 million dollar third baseman Hayes is 1 for his last 24 plate appearances , the lone hit, a solo homer and including 11 strikeouts
Release him
I agree, Dream and have to wonder if Cherington regrets signing him to that contract and even more, if Nutting has any regrets
You’re not much of a Dream GM if you don’t look at Hayes as the first guy you’d try to trade. One of the few guys on this roster you might—might—get something back in return as he’s a Gold Glover, even with a handful of seeds as the ball is live in the outfield
Here’s a guy who will never be more than a .250 hitter with weak power that somehow was signed as “the cornerstone of the franchise”
Yeah, the cornerstone whose aloof style is the epitome of what it means to be a Pirate these days. Can someone introduce him to Bill Madlock?
At this point I would settle with introducing Hayes with Richie Hebner or Jim Paglioroni from an even earlier time in Pirates history
Don’t forget Bob Bailey or Jose Pagan
I did in fact forget, thanks SenorFigs
or remind Hayes what the salary structure was before the advent of free agency
1 for his last 24 Figs. He’s toast. Release him. You can’t make trades until November. I can’t wait that long. I want him gone now.
I actually had even an earlier third baseman watch several of my high school games.
His name- Harold (Pie) Traynor.
Needless to say,he was not watching me or anyone else on my high school team.
You mean you’re not going to post something that lauds Hayes, Dream? Instead, you’re gonna come with this reply?
The snark is thick these days
They won today. All is well. Maybe you want to talk about them being in the hunt and how the GM has done well. Or that Shelton is a master strategist
Until the next set of horrendous losses when we’ll read a different Dream altogether
The act is getting old
Ke’Bryan Hayes has a batting average of .094 with 3 hits, a homer, an RBI and a run scored in 8 games since August 9, 2024
What? Am I afraid to call Paul out? He’s telling the truth. The data never lies. Enjoy the hr though because you won’t get many of them from Hayes.
I was very extremely obviously catering to Paul’s sss overreaction. Just like #JackIsBack #SlumpOver etc. I used to tease him about it but now I embrace it. It’s fun. Hayes will improve eventually. At .094 he can’t get much worse!
The guy is truly an artist at third base.
He was never going to be over 12 homeruns and a 270 average.
Sorry,I do not know how to equate that to OPS.
He has never really hustled all that much.The Pirates gave him the contract to show that they were trying and spending money.
It was better than signing Kris Bryant.
The Pirates have historically signed their young players to extensions and some have worked out and some have not,
I think that we have to give him some benefit of the doubt regarding his back injury as I doubt that he is faking it.
And I think that it sucks the life out of a hitter when the team fires your hitting guru.
Two things, my friend
One, I don’t think he’s faking an injury. Numerous fans have talked about how debilitating a back injury is. I believe that. And from a personal standpoint I wouldn’t wish such a thing on the young man
Two, ok, they fired his hitting guru. Wouldn’t it behoove him to hire his own hitting coach?
Senor-Sorry for the late reply.I think that we even have Dream GM on our side now regarding Haines.
The fact is though that these players should not have to go to someone outside of the organization to coach them on hitting..Does Hayes hire Nunnaly to be his private tutor?Cruz actually had evidently hired one before the fated injury last year and it may have very well worked.Tellez evidently has gone outside too.But I would think that BC would certainly not endorse that hire.
It seems to me that what you see in Hayes is a combination of a natural nonchalance that may suggest laziness but not necessarily,a complete frustration with the Pirates hitting coach,and all of us can share that pain,and real problems with his back.
He is not tradeable but I generally see the glass as half full even though I share the same angst that you and Paul and any other long time Pirate fan naturally feels
I watch the O’s whenever I can
Young guys
Play with fire. Hustle. Will go after umps like O’Hearn did today for poor calls
Imagine that here
Instead, we have zombies
Agree to some extent about Hayes. They’re not about to cut him loose. Would be nice to see him take some responsibility and show some pride
And yeah, I’d bet that having outside coaches in the middle of the season is taboo here
I give credit to Hayes,Cruz,and even Rowdy who at least were trying enough to improve once they realized that Cherington’s hitting direction was not working.
Hopefully Henry will be OK working under the AAA hitting coach.
The guy who I feel sorry for is Suwinski who is awful in AAA.Like Bednar I think that he has lost his confidence and that is a tough thing to get back.
I really think that under competent coaching and leadership the Pirates can become a decent team with the guys that they have,They just need someone to set rules and get them all on one line and figure out the best positions for each to play.
To me it is an optimal situation for young management types who have proven themselves in lesser roles in good to very good organizations.
Let’s hope that Nutting agrees and soon.
His glove is worth that much
Triolo plays a very good third base, doesn’t cost as much, is an equally weak hitter and with the money saved they could add much needed offense to this team
Paul-No one is going to want Hayes and that contract with this contract hanging over his head.
otherwise, it’s that time of the season when the Bucs begin their annual dumpster dives.
Yeah, I get it, this guy is a depth piece considering how the manager has misused the bullpen, you can never have too many pitchers, but with Cruz and Cutch being pulled from last night’s game with injuries, Triolo isn’t the answer as an offensive replacement for Cruz and Bae isn’t the offensive answer for Cutch because both will probably be rested over the next few games
DodgersBro can dish it out but can’t take it so he’s been added to my list of muted names
Dodgersbra sounds like the mickey troll who mutes everyone.
And I see dreamscapecomaGM is spewing more of his goofy crap
but hey, the Bucs won last night but not before losing 2 key players to their offense and the closer once again making fans sit on the edge of their seat by allowing a home run
The very team that has had problems with scoring runs this morning promoted Alika Williams because of the injury to Cruz’ ankle in last night’s game
Williams has yet to learn how to effectively hit major league pitching and this move remains a head scratcher by what is becoming known for as the worst GM and his failed player development system in baseball
I just don’t understand how Cherington can overlook the numbers Nick Yorke is putting out in Indy in favor of this weak hitting player
100%. What have they got to lose at this point? We all know what Alika brings and it’s not much. They need a fire lit under them the way Nick Gonzales did earlier in the year. But someone looked at a list and saw Williams’s name at the top so he’ll be starting at short tonight and hitting cleanup. (The second part is a joke. Grandal will obviously be hitting cleanup because he connected on one pitch one time.)
“All” 31 comments are hidden because you muted the comment authors. Lol
You’re not muted, Human Being
No. It means he hid most of the commenters here. I’ll reply in kind
The human bean needs muted
In a rarity, the Pirates play this afternoon at 1:05 so their lack of attendance can be attributed to the Steelers game tonight despite their downward spiral where no one cares about them anymore
Who cares! Some heads need to roll! Crazy management, really thought Ben was answer not so sure now! Need different core, plus coaches!!
my concern with bringing in a new GM and management staff is another rebuild effort because new GM feels the current players and prospects aren’t ready to compete and wants his own players and prospects
Soon it’s 2021 all over again and it’s another 3-4 years until they become serious contenders
The endless cycle of next year will consume
Said this elsewhere but recourse do they have than to stay this course and hope stellar starting pitching staff can grind out wins?
Paul- They have no recourse at this point other than to make serious changes.
Otherwise it will be “Groundhog Day” every year.
But how, my friend?
Dream is right in this regard, the rebuild is over
They’re not going to burn it all down.
They have little on the farm
They have an owner who won’t spend
The road ahead doesn’t look pretty
See my post above young man.
The Pirates have had plenty of dark days before as we veteran Bucco fans know all too well.
You and Paul expect the worst so you will not be disappointed.
I get it.
But we need to be like the late great Willie Stargell who did not get too high after wins and too low after losses.
The Orioles are now a fine team during the regular season but as I have said before one needs to have the Clementes and Stargells to win a WS.
But give Cherington his due.He has drafted well,and has plenty of good young pitchers,the best crop that I have ever seen in Pittsburgh.
Yes,the lack of good system hitters and position players is alarming.
Like an Olympic relay race,though,they just need to pass the baton to a faster runner to take over the management positions without dropping the baton.