Official Game Thread - 4/20 - Boston vs Bucs

[Doc]

Not a good start to the 9th. Cruz strikes out. One down.

[Doc]

Taylor strikes out on an automatic strike call. That just can’t happen. Two down.

[Doc]

Shelton was ejected but it didn’t help. Olivares strikes out to end it. Bucs struck out 10 more times today. Right now, we stink.

[Wildwoodcoach]

I realize that this is only game #21 but they better figure it out soon.
Unfortunately the bucs can't play the Marlins and the Nationals all the time

[fjk090852-7]

Since the series ended in Philly these games have been tough to watch. The hitting has been horrible. Triolo finally got a hit today, he was 0 for 14. Cruz is something like 3 for 33. Suwinski and Davis are hitting below the Mendoza Line. They will snap out of this funk, but I hope it is very soon. We don't need a losing skid like they had last May. If he doesn't break out soon, Cruz may not be the player we hoped he was.

[Surgnbuck]

Since the series ended in Philly these games have been tough to watch. The hitting has been horrible. Triolo finally got a hit today, he was 0 for 14. Cruz is something like 3 for 33. Suwinski and Davis are hitting below the Mendoza Line. They will snap out of this funk, but I hope it is very soon. We don't need a losing skid like they had last May. If he doesn't break out soon, Cruz may not be the player we hoped he was.

Not to worry...I'll break the losing streak tomorrow.

[fjk090852-7]

Since the series ended in Philly these games have been tough to watch. The hitting has been horrible. Triolo finally got a hit today, he was 0 for 14. Cruz is something like 3 for 33. Suwinski and Davis are hitting below the Mendoza Line. They will snap out of this funk, but I hope it is very soon. We don't need a losing skid like they had last May. If he doesn't break out soon, Cruz may not be the player we hoped he was.

Not to worry...I'll break the losing streak tomorrow.

Good deal. I will be counting on you to break the streak.

[Bobster]

Since the series ended in Philly these games have been tough to watch. The hitting has been horrible. Triolo finally got a hit today, he was 0 for 14. Cruz is something like 3 for 33. Suwinski and Davis are hitting below the Mendoza Line. They will snap out of this funk, but I hope it is very soon. We don't need a losing skid like they had last May. If he doesn't break out soon, Cruz may not be the player we hoped he was.

This Pirate regime has a poor track record of turning their prospects into above average MLBers. Hayes is a success story for them. Reynolds came from another organization where he was already a good hitter. It took a few years but Keller is solid. But last year was remarkable for every young player except Triolo batting below .240. And Triolo is off to a poor start this year. Cruz is supposed to be a stud. It's easy to say he's just off to a poor start at .214 but when he had 331 ABs in 2022 he only batted .233. Suwinski's career BA is .212. Davis isn't hitting but he only hit .213 last year. The rest of the prospects who hit poorly last year are either out of the organization or back in AAA after failing to impress in 2023. So it's fair to wonder if the Pirates are capable of developing their players or if they fail to obtain legitimate players in the first place. (One of the few times you'll see "Pirates" and "first place" in the same sentence.)

They brought in veterans Tellez (.232 career, .215 last season), Taylor (.240 career, .220 last season) and Olivares (career utility OFer). They aren't going to offset the poor hitting of the homegrown players. I wish I could have confidence that the young players just need time to become plus players. But the organization's poor track record of developing hitters just doesn't support that. That doesn't mean it can't happen. But it's more in line with an "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude.

[Carolina Bucco]

The good news is, we combine our "poor track record of developing hitters" with our equally poor track record of developing pitchers, and that gives us a really special franchise.

We have two ELITE legit No.1-caliber pitchers in our system right now.

One is in the minor leagues as we wait for him to "check more boxes," whatever that means.

The other is on a 59-pitch count.

This is NOT the way normal teams would handle these two guys.