Official Game Thread - 4/2 - Bucs @ Reds

[maher.timothy20@gm]

5D707D6C6B7A6D2D2E1F0 wrote: “We faced some pretty good pitching,” Shelton said. “The top of the rotation for the Reds is pretty good, with (Hunter) Greene, (Nick) Lodolo and Ashcraft. They have good stuff."



This is my point and it drives me crazy.



1. Every season we hear this over and over, again and again, about how "the other pitcher" was great, fantastic, just too good, etc. Even if the pitcher entered the game with a 5.29 ERA. They always are "too good" for the Pirates.



2. But my bigger point is this ... the Reds apparently have 3 decent arms at the top of their rotation. And the Reds are terrible. No manager is going to say anything similar about the Pirates ... because our rotation is so dreadful. Out of 162 games this year, how many times will be other team have the clear advantage in starting pitching for that particular game? I'd guess 100+ times. And how many times will the Pirates have the clear starting pitcher advantage? I'd guess maybe 20 times? That is NOT a good business model entering a long season.
I think it was due more to the fact that those Reds pitchers were facing a team that is unlikely to hit well against any pitching. Acquisitions Cutch (over the hill), Santana (way, WAY over the hill), Hedges (never able to hit), Choi & Joe (marginal hitters at best) are all below average hitters at this point. As were Suwinski (.202) and Castro (.233) last year. After his incredible 24-game hot streak to begin his career in 2020, Hayes has hit .247 since. That's more consistent with his career AAA BA of .264. There is hope for Cruz and Reynolds but little else.



What we see is what we get. It seems legitimate to hope for big things from Cruz and Reynolds. But for the rest, I don't know that we can hope for anything more than a rise to mediocrity. And for most of them, that's probably asking too much. Are aging, declining players supposed to have bounce back years? Are below average hitters supposed to become average or above? Are players who never showed much ability to hit supposed to suddenly develop into productive hitters? I just can't look at this roster and see where the hitting is supposed to come from?


I find it hard to be bothered by the position players. By the end of this year Endy, Davis, Swaggerty, Nunez, Gonzales should all be up with the big club.



Where they effed up is: they didn't pick up a better starter (or two).

[GreenWeenie]

I'm not a Brubaker fan, but he wasn't available. What difference it may have made, I have no idea. Maybe some. Maybe none.



We knew going in that the team goes only as tar as it takes it. It seems to me, though, that the SP was reasonably sufficient.



We didn't improve enough at SP for my taste, but I'm not faulting it much.



I'm not one who ever thinks that we should overlook existing guys because some suspect awaits. By then, the season's shot.