Official Game Thread - 5/26 - Bucs vs Braves

[Surgnbuck]

So, no mention in here about Bart and Perez?

A thumb for Bart, a groin for Perez. Not the best two injuries to have for a catcher and pitcher respectively.

Priester just threw 7 innings of one hit ball today. I'm guessing he'll be called up for the Dodgers or Twins series at PNC, I don't see how they'll need a fifth starter, barring another injury, until then. Off day Monday, off day Thursday, off day the following Monday. So they have time to sort out Perez and his injury. They can obviously skip his next start, and then decide.

I'm guessing they'll wait a couple days about Bart. Grandal can certainly catch both Detroit games, but they do need a backup. Could we be seeing the return of Henry Davis? They have a Grant Koch on the taxi squad. IDK anything about him as a catcher, but he has Hedges like offensive numbers. My thoughts are leave him on the taxi squad, bring up Davis. Bart was hurt today, I can't see him being pulled out of the first inning, and then coming back able to play Tuesday. Again, we'll see. Koch isn't on the 40 man roster. If they go with him, I hope it's to DFA Tellez.

[Surgnbuck]

Acuna Jr. out the rest of the season with a torn left ACL

[Doc]

Acuna Jr. out the rest of the season with a torn left ACL

On such an innocent looking non-play. Sad for him and sad for all of us who love watching him play.

[Wildwoodcoach]

I second that, doc

[Bobster]

Mlodzinski has been awful. 4 games, 5.2 IP, 10 hits, 4 BBs, 8 ERs, 12.71 ERA, 2.471 WHIP. In his 4 games, he gave up 2, 0, 3 and 3 ERs.

But what bothers me more than that is why he's even on the team. He hurt his elbow in spring training. He went on the IL and was then optioned to AAA to begin the season. He pitched very poorly for Indy. 12 games, 14 innings, 18 hits, 10 ERs, 7 BBs, 3 HRs, 6.43 ERA, .316 BA against.

But that was of no concern to GM Extraordinaire Ben Cherington. Being smarter than everyone else, BC was able to look past what, to an ordinary person, would appear to be horrendous stats and see that Mlodzinskli was ready to be an asset to the Bucs bullpen. So at a time when Mlodzinski had been scored upon in 5 of his most recent 7 AAA appearances, he was promoted to the Pirates. And now the guy who couldn't get AAA hitters out can't get MLB hitters out either. Who knew?

Mlodzinski was effective last year. But the elbow injury seems to have significantly affected him. A clue was that he couldn't get AAA hitters out. But I guess Cherington didn't pick up on the clue.

[Doc]

Mlodzinski has been awful. 4 games, 5.2 IP, 10 hits, 4 BBs, 8 ERs, 12.71 ERA, 2.471 WHIP. In his 4 games, he gave up 2, 0, 3 and 3 ERs.

But what bothers me more than that is why he's even on the team. He hurt his elbow in spring training. He went on the IL and was then optioned to AAA to begin the season. He pitched very poorly for Indy. 12 games, 14 innings, 18 hits, 10 ERs, 7 BBs, 3 HRs, 6.43 ERA, .316 BA against.

But that was of no concern to GM Extraordinaire Ben Cherington. Being smarter than everyone else, BC was able to look past what, to an ordinary person, would appear to be horrendous stats and see that Mlodzinskli was ready to be an asset to the Bucs bullpen. So at a time when Mlodzinski had been scored upon in 5 of his most recent 7 AAA appearances, he was promoted to the Pirates. And now the guy who couldn't get AAA hitters out can't get MLB hitters out either. Who knew?

Mlodzinski was effective last year. But the elbow injury seems to have significantly affected him. A clue was that he couldn't get AAA hitters out. But I guess Cherington didn't pick up on the clue.

Do you ever sit and wonder if they’re trying to lose? Not the players, the management. How, in nearly the entirety of Nutting’s ownership, can such truly bad decisions be made over and over again? Isn’t it possible that even bad decision-makers can sometimes choose the right player, make the right choice, even some small percentage of the time over nearly 30 years?

[Bobster]

Mlodzinski has been awful. 4 games, 5.2 IP, 10 hits, 4 BBs, 8 ERs, 12.71 ERA, 2.471 WHIP. In his 4 games, he gave up 2, 0, 3 and 3 ERs.

But what bothers me more than that is why he's even on the team. He hurt his elbow in spring training. He went on the IL and was then optioned to AAA to begin the season. He pitched very poorly for Indy. 12 games, 14 innings, 18 hits, 10 ERs, 7 BBs, 3 HRs, 6.43 ERA, .316 BA against.

But that was of no concern to GM Extraordinaire Ben Cherington. Being smarter than everyone else, BC was able to look past what, to an ordinary person, would appear to be horrendous stats and see that Mlodzinskli was ready to be an asset to the Bucs bullpen. So at a time when Mlodzinski had been scored upon in 5 of his most recent 7 AAA appearances, he was promoted to the Pirates. And now the guy who couldn't get AAA hitters out can't get MLB hitters out either. Who knew?

Mlodzinski was effective last year. But the elbow injury seems to have significantly affected him. A clue was that he couldn't get AAA hitters out. But I guess Cherington didn't pick up on the clue.

Do you ever sit and wonder if they’re trying to lose? Not the players, the management. How, in nearly the entirety of Nutting’s ownership, can such truly bad decisions be made over and over again? Isn’t it possible that even bad decision-makers can sometimes choose the right player, make the right choice, even some small percentage of the time over nearly 30 years?

I wish I did think they were trying to lose. At least that way, I would think they could choose to operate totally differently and try to win if they wanted. But, unfortunately, I think we're seeing the best that Cherington and Shelton have to offer.

Having been with good organizations (although fired as Red Sox GM), I think BC saw the Pirates as (1) a chance to reclaim one of those 30 MLB GM jobs and (2) a challenge to succeed via theories, analytics, Moneyball approach with a very limited payroll. So while other GMs are looking at productive players, BC knows those players are out of his price range but thinks he's clever enough to resurrect once good careers and/or turn players into something they've never been.

And Nutting's never going to give a GM even a modestly competitive payroll so he wants to believe in the BS Cherington no doubt sold him when he interviewed for the job. But the bottom line is that Nutting doesn't really care anyway. It would just be nicer to win and make a profit than to lose and make a profit. But either way.......

I don't think Nutting cares if BC doesn't win but he probably wants him to at least put the money being spent to good use. Not 10.5 million for an aging reliever with massive control issues, 8 million for a starting pitcher who was booted from his team's rotation last year, 4 million for a centerfielder who could never hit, 3.2 million for a 1Bman who can't hit and 2.5 million for an aging catcher who can't hit. Nutting kept Huntington and Hurdle around until fan base resentment made it a good PR move to fire them. He may be reaching that same point with Cherington and Shelton, especially if Cherington keeps wasting millions on ill-advised personnel moves. A new regime won't win either under Nutting but every now and then he needs a positive PR move to keep fan interest alive.

[3pirates3]

The Archer trade didn't help Huntington's cause and Nutting still took his time firing him (I guess Ogden had to convince him).

[Doc]

Mlodzinski has been awful. 4 games, 5.2 IP, 10 hits, 4 BBs, 8 ERs, 12.71 ERA, 2.471 WHIP. In his 4 games, he gave up 2, 0, 3 and 3 ERs.

But what bothers me more than that is why he's even on the team. He hurt his elbow in spring training. He went on the IL and was then optioned to AAA to begin the season. He pitched very poorly for Indy. 12 games, 14 innings, 18 hits, 10 ERs, 7 BBs, 3 HRs, 6.43 ERA, .316 BA against.

But that was of no concern to GM Extraordinaire Ben Cherington. Being smarter than everyone else, BC was able to look past what, to an ordinary person, would appear to be horrendous stats and see that Mlodzinskli was ready to be an asset to the Bucs bullpen. So at a time when Mlodzinski had been scored upon in 5 of his most recent 7 AAA appearances, he was promoted to the Pirates. And now the guy who couldn't get AAA hitters out can't get MLB hitters out either. Who knew?

Mlodzinski was effective last year. But the elbow injury seems to have significantly affected him. A clue was that he couldn't get AAA hitters out. But I guess Cherington didn't pick up on the clue.

Do you ever sit and wonder if they’re trying to lose? Not the players, the management. How, in nearly the entirety of Nutting’s ownership, can such truly bad decisions be made over and over again? Isn’t it possible that even bad decision-makers can sometimes choose the right player, make the right choice, even some small percentage of the time over nearly 30 years?

I wish I did think they were trying to lose. At least that way, I would think they could choose to operate totally differently and try to win if they wanted. But, unfortunately, I think we're seeing the best that Cherington and Shelton have to offer.

Having been with good organizations (although fired as Red Sox GM), I think BC saw the Pirates as (1) a chance to reclaim one of those 30 MLB GM jobs and (2) a challenge to succeed via theories, analytics, Moneyball approach with a very limited payroll. So while other GMs are looking at productive players, BC knows those players are out of his price range but thinks he's clever enough to resurrect once good careers and/or turn players into something they've never been.

And Nutting's never going to give a GM even a modestly competitive payroll so he wants to believe in the BS Cherington no doubt sold him when he interviewed for the job. But the bottom line is that Nutting doesn't really care anyway. It would just be nicer to win and make a profit than to lose and make a profit. But either way.......

I don't think Nutting cares if BC doesn't win but he probably wants him to at least put the money being spent to good use. Not 10.5 million for an aging reliever with massive control issues, 8 million for a starting pitcher who was booted from his team's rotation last year, 4 million for a centerfielder who could never hit, 3.2 million for a 1Bman who can't hit and 2.5 million for an aging catcher who can't hit. Nutting kept Huntington and Hurdle around until fan base resentment made it a good PR move to fire them. He may be reaching that same point with Cherington and Shelton, especially if Cherington keeps wasting millions on ill-advised personnel moves. A new regime won't win either under Nutting but every now and then he needs a positive PR move to keep fan interest alive.

All the money you listed for the failed players brought in this year could’ve gone toward enticing Bellinger to sign here. Chapman wasn’t needed, he was only signed to flip him in July. Same for Perez, Taylor, and Tellez. Grandal was signed as insurance in case Davis needed to be sent down but BC could’ve found any number of unemployed catchers to do the same. I’m convinced they’re just not trying, and never will.

[3pirates3]

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pir ... 2405280041