2024 Official Spring Training Thread

[Doc]

Ask Steve Blass about the sudden inability to throw strikes. Turned him into an announcer.

Blass's problem was much different than the Contrares situation. Blass seemed to lose all ability to throw his pitches anywhere near the plate while Contrares is all around the strike zone, just not in it. The Blass ordeal was heartbreaking while Contrares is just plain exasperating. We could all see that Blass was grossly wild and wasn't going to regain what he'd lost. Contrares, on the other hand, still shows flashes that he can pitch, brief as they are. My fear is that we'll release him, he'll be picked up by the Dodgers, and they'll turn him into a consistent, reliable starter.

[Wildwoodcoach]

Good article concerning Henry Davis. Alex Stumpf MLB it is worth reading.

[Bobster]

Ask Steve Blass about the sudden inability to throw strikes. Turned him into an announcer.

OK, here’s my Steve Blass story. I met him at a fantasy camp in 2000. He drafted me for his team, but then traded me so that he could pair a father and son together. We then kidded with one another all week. On the final day of the camp, the campers played a three inning game against the former Pirates. The night before that game, Blass threatened to pitch to me. Someone else told me to stand on home plate because Blass couldn’t throw it there. So it was just a good time, and I thought he was kidding about pitching to me. I was the second batter in our lineup and Blass was not pitching. But after the first batter was out and I was announced, they called time and Blass came out of the dugout and replaced the pitcher. His first pitch was inside. I then took a strike before grounding out to short. And then Blass left and didn’t pitch anymore. So he only faced me. But in subsequent years, he frequently pitched in those games.

I was very surprised to read in his book that when his career ended, he was afraid to pitch to anyone in any circumstance even though he had been working with a sports psychologist. And he wrote that the first person he pitched to after his career ended was a fantasy camp participant who he had been kidding around with all week. He got the year wrong and said that he struck the batter out and pitched the rest of the day. I had a chance to ask him about that later and he said he didn’t remember the details exactly when he wrote the book. But in all my years of following the Pirates, I would never have believed that I would be the first person Blass would pitch to after his career ended.

[Bobster]

I kind of wonder if the Pirates will come up with some type of injury for Contreas when it is time to set the 26 man roster. He has not been very good so far this spring, and he is out of options so they cannot send him down to AAA without running him through waivers. He will get claimed if he is put on waivers. They can buy some time with an injury, and then a rehab assignment.

Contreras doesn't have options and I don't think they can afford to take him north. They could offer him in trades for a bag of baseballs but any team acquiring has the same problem, i.e., no options. So they might just waive him anyway. Not much of a loss if he gets claimed.

It’s always been a head scratcher to me when a pitcher reaches the top tier of his profession, is one of the best performers at his task in this entire world of 8-plus billion people, and he suddenly can’t, or won’t, throw strikes. What goes wrong, either physically or in his head, that turns him into a pitcher who’s on the brink of being gone from baseball? It’s exasperating watching a pitcher, who has thrown a baseball all of his life, be forced to throw far too many pitches because he can’t, or won’t, throw the ball over the plate. Can they no longer do it? Are they afraid? It’s Kip Wells Syndrome.

I think in a lot of cases it's fear. They don't trust their stuff and often rightfully so. They feel they have to get batters out on pitches out of the strike zone. Yesterday Contreras walked the first 2, then got something over the plate for a 3-run HR. When a pitcher doesn't throw strikes, batters will wait him out and take walks. I don't expect Contreras to go north. He's out of options so they could seek a trade or waive him to get him to AAA. Either way, losing him doesn't seem like a big deal. All of their other SP candidates seem like better options.

[Possum]

Contreras doesn't have options and I don't think they can afford to take him north. They could offer him in trades for a bag of baseballs but any team acquiring has the same problem, i.e., no options. So they might just waive him anyway. Not much of a loss if he gets claimed.

It’s always been a head scratcher to me when a pitcher reaches the top tier of his profession, is one of the best performers at his task in this entire world of 8-plus billion people, and he suddenly can’t, or won’t, throw strikes. What goes wrong, either physically or in his head, that turns him into a pitcher who’s on the brink of being gone from baseball? It’s exasperating watching a pitcher, who has thrown a baseball all of his life, be forced to throw far too many pitches because he can’t, or won’t, throw the ball over the plate. Can they no longer do it? Are they afraid? It’s Kip Wells Syndrome.

I think in a lot of cases it's fear. They don't trust their stuff and often rightfully so. They feel they have to get batters out on pitches out of the strike zone. Yesterday Contreras walked the first 2, then got something over the plate for a 3-run HR. When a pitcher doesn't throw strikes, batters will wait him out and take walks. I don't expect Contreras to go north. He's out of options so they could seek a trade or waive him to get him to AAA. Either way, losing him doesn't seem like a big deal. All of their other SP candidates seem like better options.

Jason Mackey on The Fan suggested that RC might end up in the pen.

[Doc]

It’s always been a head scratcher to me when a pitcher reaches the top tier of his profession, is one of the best performers at his task in this entire world of 8-plus billion people, and he suddenly can’t, or won’t, throw strikes. What goes wrong, either physically or in his head, that turns him into a pitcher who’s on the brink of being gone from baseball? It’s exasperating watching a pitcher, who has thrown a baseball all of his life, be forced to throw far too many pitches because he can’t, or won’t, throw the ball over the plate. Can they no longer do it? Are they afraid? It’s Kip Wells Syndrome.

I think in a lot of cases it's fear. They don't trust their stuff and often rightfully so. They feel they have to get batters out on pitches out of the strike zone. Yesterday Contreras walked the first 2, then got something over the plate for a 3-run HR. When a pitcher doesn't throw strikes, batters will wait him out and take walks. I don't expect Contreras to go north. He's out of options so they could seek a trade or waive him to get him to AAA. Either way, losing him doesn't seem like a big deal. All of their other SP candidates seem like better options.

Jason Mackey on The Fan suggested that RC might end up in the pen.

Jesus, I hope not. I can see it now: he comes into a one run game, runners on the corners, one out, and 10 pitches later, we're down by five with still only one out.

[Possum]

I think in a lot of cases it's fear. They don't trust their stuff and often rightfully so. They feel they have to get batters out on pitches out of the strike zone. Yesterday Contreras walked the first 2, then got something over the plate for a 3-run HR. When a pitcher doesn't throw strikes, batters will wait him out and take walks. I don't expect Contreras to go north. He's out of options so they could seek a trade or waive him to get him to AAA. Either way, losing him doesn't seem like a big deal. All of their other SP candidates seem like better options.

Jason Mackey on The Fan suggested that RC might end up in the pen.

Would you rather that they trade him or try to put him through waivers and let some other team who "fixes" pitcher fix him?

Jesus, I hope not. I can see it now: he comes into a one run game, runners on the corners, one out, and 10 pitches later, we're down by five with still only one out.

[Possum]

I think in a lot of cases it's fear. They don't trust their stuff and often rightfully so. They feel they have to get batters out on pitches out of the strike zone. Yesterday Contreras walked the first 2, then got something over the plate for a 3-run HR. When a pitcher doesn't throw strikes, batters will wait him out and take walks. I don't expect Contreras to go north. He's out of options so they could seek a trade or waive him to get him to AAA. Either way, losing him doesn't seem like a big deal. All of their other SP candidates seem like better options.

Jason Mackey on The Fan suggested that RC might end up in the pen.

Would you rather that they trade him or try to put him through waivers and let some other team who "fixes" pitcher fix him?

Jesus, I hope not. I can see it now: he comes into a one run game, runners on the corners, one out, and 10 pitches later, we're down by five with still only one out.

[Doc]

Jason Mackey on The Fan suggested that RC might end up in the pen.

Would you rather that they trade him or try to put him through waivers and let some other team who "fixes" pitcher fix him?

Jesus, I hope not. I can see it now: he comes into a one run game, runners on the corners, one out, and 10 pitches later, we're down by five with still only one out.

If he’s fixable, I’d rather the Pirates try to do the work, although they didn’t seem to make much progress with him last season. If they do all they can and still fail to fix him, or conclude he’s a lost cause, then they’re going to end up not using him anyway, so it doesn’t matter if he goes elsewhere and is fixed by another organization. One thing I don’t want right now is him coming out of the bullpen while he’s still pitching badly and giving games away because he can’t throw strikes.

As frustrating as he is, he still at times shows an ability to pitch well. I think it’s too soon to give up on him but how much does the team invest in getting him to be consistent? A recent example of it being beneficial in giving a struggling pitcher more time is Mitch Keller. So many of us had concluded he was never going to succeed. But now we have an All Star. I don’t know if Contrares can reach that height (at this point it doesn’t look like he can) but who knows, the light might go on for him at any moment and he begins pitching the way he sometimes shows.

[Doc]

Nice start by Marco Gonzales today. Very encouraging. I’ve noticed that Reynolds continues to struggle at the plate. Would like to see him put a string of good at bats together to get him on track.