2024 Off-Season Thread

[3pirates3]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... pe01.shtml

https://www.mlb.com/news/brewers-reliev ... ate-father

[Wildwoodcoach]

Bucs non tenure DeLa Cruz, Connor Joe and Stratton

[Wildwoodcoach]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/play ... pe01.shtml

https://www.mlb.com/news/brewers-reliev ... ate-father

For some reason 3, Strzelecki doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling

[Bobster]

Strzelecki is BP fodder. He was DFA'd by Cleveland. If he makes the team, he'll probably be the last guy in the BP.

All teams make these minor moves in the offseason. The problem with the Pirates is that these minor moves are the only moves they make. So we tend to scrutinize them more than we would if other, more significant moves were made.

[Ecbucs]

Right now I think the current 40 man roster is weaker than the roster on September 1, 2024. Ben has his work cut out for him.

[Doc]

Right now I think the current 40 man roster is weaker than the roster on September 1, 2024. Ben has his work cut out for him.

Or, is Ben doing the work his boss wants him to do? There can’t be year upon year of constant failure and it not be fair to at least ask that question.

[Bobster]

Right now I think the current 40 man roster is weaker than the roster on September 1, 2024. Ben has his work cut out for him.

Or, is Ben doing the work his boss wants him to do? There can’t be year upon year of constant failure and it not be fair to at least ask that question.

I don't think losing Joe and De La Cruz weakens them. And neither is worth a big pay hike via arbitration. Bednar just signed and Oviedo, Falter, Santana, Holderman and Bart will all get big raises. Cherington isn't trying to weaken the team, but there's little pressure on him to build a winner either. Nutting has always been fine with the status quo. So his offseason involves moving the limited amount of money around and looking for inexpensive additions to the team. Barring a drastic change in their standard operating procedure they will stick with their "strategy" of improvement coming from within and hoping the players they already have get better. (Hope is a big part of the strategy.) Maybe there's another fat 1Bman not drawing much FA interest they could sign. They've gone thru Vogelbach and Tellez; maybe there's another one out there. Top free agents want more than the Pirates will pay and wouldn't choose the Pirates anyway if they had other similar or better offers. So I don't expect this offseason to be any different from what we are accustomed to. Maybe the strategy of hope will be successful and their players will get better.

[UtahPirate2]

Strzelecki is BP fodder. He was DFA'd by Cleveland. If he makes the team, he'll probably be the last guy in the BP.

All teams make these minor moves in the offseason. The problem with the Pirates is that these minor moves are the only moves they make. So we tend to scrutinize them more than we would if other, more significant moves were made.

Keep in mind that Tannenbaum, our new VP of Analytics, came from the same role at Cleveland. I'm hoping he saw something in Strzelecki he liked before he left.

If Tannebaum is good (and Cleveland has been good) he will prove to be our best off-season move. The hitting approach from the last few years Haines takes the fall for, but he was doing what the old analytics guys told him to do. I can promise you that we waited to hire Hague until after we had a new analytics team in place. And Tannebaum will have a voice in every trade or FA signing we make this off season.

https://piratesprospects.com/2024/10/pi ... pment.html

[JollyRoger8]

The Cubs were rumored to be looking to trade Bellinger.
I believe he is due $28M next year and has a club option for another $29M.
The Pirates should explore a trade whereby the Cubs pick up half his salary for one of the Pirates ML pitchers not named Chandler, Ashcraft or Harrington.
Certainly $14M is within the Pirates cheap budget to acquire a LH power hitting player that can play 1B or OF.

[Bobster]

The Cubs were rumored to be looking to trade Bellinger.
I believe he is due $28M next year and has a club option for another $29M.
The Pirates should explore a trade whereby the Cubs pick up half his salary for one of the Pirates ML pitchers not named Chandler, Ashcraft or Harrington.
Certainly $14M is within the Pirates cheap budget to acquire a LH power hitting player that can play 1B or OF.

I can't help but think there are teams that would make a much better offer to the Cubs than that.