Official Game Thread - 5/12 - Bucs vs Cubs

[Wildwoodcoach]

At least Gonzales got a rest after playing 2 games. But he pinch ran so that might require another day off. I'll bet when Cherington reviews the analytics of this game, the trends, the players resting, the pitch counts, the bat speed, the launch angles, etc, he's going to be very pleased. Fans get too caught up in the wins and losses. Only a superior intellect like Cherington can see what really matters. I'll bet he's already scanning the DFA wire for his next blue-chip acquisition.

Here's another feather in his analytic cap. He's going 6 man rotation, and DFA Contreras for Skenes. With Bednars injury history, why are you dumping an arm? Should have sent Priester down, kept Contreras, and DFA Tellez.

Now it appears Chapman might be hurt. Contreras will get claimed no doubt, and whoever does will fix him, and this will be another Glasnow level goof.

What Cherington meant to say about Tellez is, "We are hoping to find some suckered to dump his salary on before we get rid of him, so we have to make up some positive spin. It's how we did business with Tsutsugo and Choi, and it worked with Choi."

This was the year this team was to compete. Apparently, some guys can't handle the expectations.

And sad as it us to say, I'm losing respect for Cutch. He's having so much fun you know. He's showing no leadership whatsoever. I'm not sensing any "veteran presence ". Even more telling, I rarely hear his name spoken by other players. He's the elephant in the room.

They need to figure out who on this team really wants to win, and replace the rest.

But until Tellez is gone, it would appear that failure is okay

[Bobster]

Good point about Cutch. I hadn’t thought about it, but it does seem that he’s somewhat detached from the trials and tribulations of the team and just playing for himself. This is probably going to be his last season and I guess he just wants to have a good time before he hangs them up. But at this point of his declining career, he would be most valuable providing leadership.

[Bobster]

Greg Brown has a great HR call with “cannonball coming!” But I find it very annoying when he personalizes the call based on the player’s name. For Conner Joe, he references the Beatles “Get Back” because it says “JoJo.” So Brown says, “Look out Loretta. JoJo.” He just tries way too hard to be clever. I think his worst ever was “Mack, whack, tallywack” for Rob Mackowiak. Brown reminds me of Michael Scott on The Office, always thinking he’s clever when he isn’t.

[Wildwoodcoach]

I turned it off after Reynolds and Cruz failed to deliver
in the 9th. Concerning Tellez, the Mrs. said it best. "Who
is that big fat #44? He stinks"

[Ecbucs]

looks like the Bucs have put together another bad team. Disappointing but not surprising.

[Doc]

When Jared Jones and Paul Skenes wake up this morning, they'll be smiling. For them, they're now one day closer to wearing another club's uniform.

[Bobster]

When Jared Jones and Paul Skenes wake up this morning, they'll be smiling. For them, they're now one day closer to wearing another club's uniform.

Things will never improve under this leadership. Nutting and Cherington appear to be in lockstep that they don't need to spend for better players. They just need better theories. Or maybe Cherington doesn't even really believe that but sees no other option under Nutting. BC's comment about Tellez's and Taylor's bat speed and "the way they're hitting the ball" says all we need to know. These are two historically weak hitters who BC went out and acquired to add to a weak hitting team. BC's comments appear to be a smokescreen. He won't say anything about poor hitters hitting poorly. Rather, he finds encouragement in "the way the swing the bat." His collection of hitters who, to the naked eye look like a collection of poor hitters, just need to work on bat speed, working the count, launch angles and getting more rest. But that works for Nutting. He doesn't have to spend even a modest amount to improve the team. He's got a GM who can annually explain why the current system is going to work someday.

I believe the only way this team gets better is to get a GM who is less about analytics and more about common sense baseball. Someone who can use analytics but only to supplement "old school" reasoning instead of being the end-all and be-all of running a franchise. They need a strong personality to stand up to Nutting and explain that all the theories and analytics in the world isn't going to turn a collection of dumpster dive failures and poorly developed prospects into winners. More rest isn't the answer. Low pitch counts isn't the answer. Position versatility isn't the answer. And a payroll closer to the middle than to the bottom is needed to acquire and/or keep better talent. And, yes, there are teams that do very well with small payrolls but the Pirates aren't one of them. The Pirates draft the wrong people (Davis #1 overall?, Priester? Swaggerty?), develop them poorly in the minors (Termarr Johnson hitting .167 at high-A) and then coach/manage them poorly at the MLB level. That's not the case with teams who do well with small payrolls. The organization needs a thorough housecleaning. since they fail at developing hitters, they need to spend to acquire some real ones; not DFA guys or FAs no one else wants. Then they need to overhaul the minors so that they can actually develop talent to succeed with lower payrolls like other teams. If Nutting wants to win, Cherington has to go. But other than his annual preseason interview, Nutting doesn't seem interested in winning

[Doc]

When Jared Jones and Paul Skenes wake up this morning, they'll be smiling. For them, they're now one day closer to wearing another club's uniform.

Things will never improve under this leadership. Nutting and Cherington appear to be in lockstep that they don't need to spend for better players. They just need better theories. Or maybe Cherington doesn't even really believe that but sees no other option under Nutting. BC's comment about Tellez's and Taylor's bat speed and "the way they're hitting the ball" says all we need to know. These are two historically weak hitters who BC went out and acquired to add to a weak hitting team. BC's comments appear to be a smokescreen. He won't say anything about poor hitters hitting poorly. Rather, he finds encouragement in "the way the swing the bat." His collection of hitters who, to the naked eye look like a collection of poor hitters, just need to work on bat speed, working the count, launch angles and getting more rest. But that works for Nutting. He doesn't have to spend even a modest amount to improve the team. He's got a GM who can annually explain why the current system is going to work someday.

I believe the only way this team gets better is to get a GM who is less about analytics and more about common sense baseball. Someone who can use analytics but only to supplement "old school" reasoning instead of being the end-all and be-all of running a franchise. They need a strong personality to stand up to Nutting and explain that all the theories and analytics in the world isn't going to turn a collection of dumpster dive failures and poorly developed prospects into winners. More rest isn't the answer. Low pitch counts isn't the answer. Position versatility isn't the answer. And a payroll closer to the middle than to the bottom is needed to acquire and/or keep better talent. And, yes, there are teams that do very well with small payrolls but the Pirates aren't one of them. The Pirates draft the wrong people (Davis #1 overall?, Priester? Swaggerty?), develop them poorly in the minors (Termarr Johnson hitting .167 at high-A) and then coach/manage them poorly at the MLB level. That's not the case with teams who do well with small payrolls. The organization needs a thorough housecleaning. since they fail at developing hitters, they need to spend to acquire some real ones; not DFA guys or FAs no one else wants. Then they need to overhaul the minors so that they can actually develop talent to succeed with lower payrolls like other teams. If Nutting wants to win, Cherington has to go. But other than his annual preseason interview, Nutting doesn't seem interested in winning

It seems so obvious that winning isn't the priority. The objective, first and foremost, is maximizing profit and/or minimizing losses. It can be seen in nearly every decision. As long as the owner remains, it will always be that way. When baseball decisions are made with that objective, it should be no surprise the results are as they've been since the end of the 2015 season. When the organization is run on the cheap, it gets what it pays for. Expecting anything different is just plain nuts on our part.

I'm all for minimizing the use of analytics. I refuse to read anything related to them or listen to anyone espousing them.

[Ecbucs]

Maybe maximizing profits is what the analytics team really works on.

[Doc]

Maybe maximizing profits is what the analytics team really works on.

Sounds about right.