406661747D71667078130 wrote: I know it's unfathomable for most of you to see the genius of BC's plan. Let me tell you, he put the ABLE in unfathomable.
Just line up, get that vaccine, and let the games begin. When those few hundreds turn into a couple thousands, when those couple thousands turn into sell outs, you'll be wishing you were there all along.
I know it's going to happen because I was watching a documentary on television, I didn't stay awake till the end, but there was this attractive woman with an invisible airplane, and this guy who was able to grant everyone's wish, so I made a wish for all of us. I don't know what the documentary was about, but you'll see.
You see? We already have a plan in the works!!!
624F42535445521211200 wrote: I know it's unfathomable for most of you to see the genius of BC's plan. Let me tell you, he put the ABLE in unfathomable.
Just line up, get that vaccine, and let the games begin. When those few hundreds turn into a couple thousands, when those couple thousands turn into sell outs, you'll be wishing you were there all along.
I know it's going to happen because I was watching a documentary on television, I didn't stay awake till the end, but there was this attractive woman with an invisible airplane, and this guy who was able to grant everyone's wish, so I made a wish for all of us. I don't know what the documentary was about, but you'll see.
You see? We already have a plan in the works!!! :D
Exactly! Some may call it simply wishful thinking.....I'm going to call it wish FULFILLED thinking!
Cherington was a GM for the big market Red Sox and VP of baseball operations for Toronto. I can't believe he took the Pirates job because he wanted to work in the slums of MLB. More likely, Nutting fed him a load of BS about believing BC could succeed where NH failed in building a winner from the ground up and Cherington accepted the challenge of trying to do that with minimal financial support.
It's hard to figure out, because there's a vague suspicion that a veteran baseball man wouldn't take the Pittsburgh job if he had other options.
A link between the DL/NH and NH/BC replacements is that Nutting spoke about consultations he had done around the league about best practices, and found the Pirate procedures wanting. One problem with that is you end up selling prospective GM's on some consensus view of how how a team should be, instead of on what really goes on in Pittsburgh.
One of my questions when NH came in was how advantageous it would be to embrace analytics when that revolution was already well-developed. I have similar concerns about tanking. When the Astros went down for three years, there were only two other teams that lost 100 games, with totals of 100 and 101. In 2019 alone, four teams lost between 103 and 114 games. Three teams lost 100 or more in 2018. Two more were on that pace last year. I'm just not sure if present losses will lead to future wins as surely as they did 5-10 years ago.
One possible explanation for BC choosing Pgh is that the smaller market, and the fact that the team needs a serious overhaul, gave him a chance to call all his own shots. Big-market teams get a lot more pressure from above, especially pressure not to do any rebuilding. At least, that's an optimistic way of looking at it. (OK, so I'm having a delusional episode . . . .)
60637A7D7C7D576172657E6D787939797263170 wrote: One possible explanation for BC choosing Pgh is that the smaller market, and the fact that the team needs a serious overhaul, gave him a chance to call all his own shots. Big-market teams get a lot more pressure from above, especially pressure not to do any rebuilding. At least, that's an optimistic way of looking at it. (OK, so I'm having a delusional episode . . . .)
You, Doc and Shedman must have a serious dialogue!
There have been messages on this site and others relative to Ben Cherington doing very little this offseason especially with the signing of free agents. I am not going to argue the point, but in my opinion Ben has done quite a bit since his hiring in November 2019. There have been some new hires in the baseball ops department. Going back to the Marte trade last January, he has acquired some young talent with the potential to become solid major league players.
The Pirates catching depth was very lean, and with ST beginning next week 8 catchers will be in Bradenton. I agree none of them is Russell Martin, but the Pirates have depth if any injury would happen. I still hope they can sign a free agent pitcher or two to round out the starting rotation, but I am sure he and his staff are in contract with agents of some free agent pitchers. I agree this team will struggle this year, but I am anxious to see what Anthony Alford can do, or Phil Evans. Can Cole Tucker become a solid major league hitter ? Which Brian Reynolds will we see in 2021, I hope the player from two years ago, and will Hayes continue hitting like he did last September? We will probably lose many games this year, but will some players make the leap to become pieces of the puzzle that brings winning baseball back to Pittsburgh.
606C6D363F363E33342B31060 wrote: There have been messages on this site and others relative to Ben Cherington doing very little this offseason especially with the signing of free agents. I am not going to argue the point, but in my opinion Ben has done quite a bit since his hiring in November 2019. There have been some new hires in the baseball ops department. Going back to the Marte trade last January, he has acquired some young talent with the potential to become solid major league players.
The Pirates catching depth was very lean, and with ST beginning next week 8 catchers will be in Bradenton. I agree none of them is Russell Martin, but the Pirates have depth if any injury would happen. I still hope they can sign a free agent pitcher or two to round out the starting rotation, but I am sure he and his staff are in contract with agents of some free agent pitchers. I agree this team will struggle this year, but I am anxious to see what Anthony Alford can do, or Phil Evans. Can Cole Tucker become a solid major league hitter ? Which Brian Reynolds will we see in 2021, I hope the player from two years ago, and will Hayes continue hitting like he did last September? We will probably lose many games this year, but will some players make the leap to become pieces of the puzzle that brings winning baseball back to Pittsburgh.
good post. I think this is a make or break year for Alford, Evans, Tucker and a number of the pitchers. Oliva probably has this year and next year to show if he can be a player.
I don't think Stallings is a long term solution as catcher but believe he is fine for 2021 and 2022. He could be better if Mike Lavaliere was still playing.
7E58594E58483B0 wrote: There have been messages on this site and others relative to Ben Cherington doing very little this offseason especially with the signing of free agents. I am not going to argue the point, but in my opinion Ben has done quite a bit since his hiring in November 2019. There have been some new hires in the baseball ops department. Going back to the Marte trade last January, he has acquired some young talent with the potential to become solid major league players.
The Pirates catching depth was very lean, and with ST beginning next week 8 catchers will be in Bradenton. I agree none of them is Russell Martin, but the Pirates have depth if any injury would happen. I still hope they can sign a free agent pitcher or two to round out the starting rotation, but I am sure he and his staff are in contract with agents of some free agent pitchers. I agree this team will struggle this year, but I am anxious to see what Anthony Alford can do, or Phil Evans. Can Cole Tucker become a solid major league hitter ? Which Brian Reynolds will we see in 2021, I hope the player from two years ago, and will Hayes continue hitting like he did last September? We will probably lose many games this year, but will some players make the leap to become pieces of the puzzle that brings winning baseball back to Pittsburgh.
good post. I think this is a make or break year for Alford, Evans, Tucker and a number of the pitchers. Oliva probably has this year and next year to show if he can be a player.
I don't think Stallings is a long term solution as catcher but believe he is fine for 2021 and 2022. He could be better if Mike Lavaliere was still playing.
I also appreciate the post, fjk090852-7. I will be very eager to check out minor league box score and game stories. Moreso than since the years when Glasnow was in the minors. There are a ton of really fascinating players, especially at the lower levels. Not to mention, this is going to be an important year for O'Neil Cruz given all that surrounds him.
To PMike and those of you who are interested in following the Bucs prospects and minor league teams in 2021 I strongly recommend that you subscribe to PBN aka Pittsburgh Baseball Network. This is the #1 place to get up to date info and comments on how the minor league teams and the Bucs top prospects are doing throughout the coming season. The cost is not unaffordable compared to some other baseball sites that will only give a hit and miss analysis of Bucs prospects. Give it a try, you can subscribe on a monthly basis and cancel if you are not satisfied. Disclaimer: I am not a paid spokesman for PBN.
1B3A321B30385F0 wrote: To PMike and those of you who are interested in following the Bucs prospects and minor league teams in 2021 I strongly recommend that you subscribe to PBN aka Pittsburgh Baseball Network. This is the #1 place to get up to date info and comments on how the minor league teams and the Bucs top prospects are doing throughout the coming season. The cost is not unaffordable compared to some other baseball sites that will only give a hit and miss analysis of Bucs prospects. Give it a try, you can subscribe on a monthly basis and cancel if you are not satisfied. Disclaimer: I am not a paid spokesman for PBN.
I've been a subscriber since he went to the model. The membership is quite worth it (IMO) in season. It has been a bit barren throughout the offseason. Articles about current events are few and far between. There are lots of stories about baseball cards and Pirates history. Unfortunately, that stuff doesn't interest me much. Again, worth it in total.
I also am not a paid spokesperson. Rather the opposite. I pay them.
