Nicassio and LeBlanc placed on Irrevoccable Waivers

[dmetz]

And I'll let you have your fantasyland where 30 transactions for relief pitchers represents no market.



Almost everyone else out there (who isn't a known FO shill) is puzzled by the move or outright critical of it.



They should just shut up and understand the brilliance of the great Huntington!

[Bobster21]

I really don't have a problem with Nicasio not being traded. At the TDL, confidence in Watson had been lost and they were just trying to get whatever they could for him. Losing him from the BP was almost addition by subtraction. Nicasio, tho also a pending FA, was their 2nd best reliever, their 8th inning setup guy and they didn't want to gut the bullpen unless they got a good trade for him. He wasn't owed that much anyway so keeping him wasn't a problem. At the TDL (7/31) they were 4 games under .500 and 5.5 games back. Most people realized this team was going nowhere but the BMTIB had been blessed to not even be completely out of the race because the better teams hadn't yet left them in the dust. They could still promote upcoming series as meaningful (at least theoretically for business purposes). Of course, they weren't going to invest much money to make a run so they got Benoit essentially for free and added a low cost Kontos and made no more moves. So they could still promote remaining games as if the Bucs were in the hunt even tho they weren't making much of an effort. But that's how this cheap org operates. It almost worked. Between 8/3 and 8/11 they went 7-2 and reached .500. But since then they have gone 5-13 and are now hopelessly left in the dust. So at that point, the cheapness took over. Just get rid of the pending free agent that will surely be claimed and save whatever money can be saved even if it is hardly anything.



So I understand not having traded him by 7/31. In hindsight, that would have been better. But even by 8/11 they were at .500 and 4 games out with many games left to play vs the 3 teams ahead of them. Once all hope was lost that fans would buy into the idea that upcoming games were meaningful, they cut their losses and saved any pennies they could. The savings on Nicasio is so small that all of MLB seems to be scratching their heads at this cheap move. But Pirates fans are not surprised.

[ArnoldRothstein]

6B464B5A5D4C5B1B18290 wrote: But Pirates fans are not surprised.


I don't think there'd be this much of a hullabaloo if they/we weren't surprised.  For me, going back to the earliest days of the McClatchey era, it's just seemed like the budget is conservative and made of iron.  You don't spend a dollar unless you're darned sure that dollar is covered by income.  I fully expected for Nicasio to be traded, mostly because NH is a sabermetric guy and it's Holy Writ that you flip proven relievers for something less-known but more valuable. Again, for me, the Nicasio waiver means that either there's another rule in there, that you recapture every dollar you possibly can, or that there was some seismic shift in the budget recently that predicts unexpectedly reduced revenues.

[IABucFan]

5C717C6D6A7B6C2C2F1E0 wrote: I really don't have a problem with Nicasio not being traded. At the TDL, confidence in Watson had been lost and they were just trying to get whatever they could for him. Losing him from the BP was almost addition by subtraction. Nicasio, tho also a pending FA, was their 2nd best reliever, their 8th inning setup guy and they didn't want to gut the bullpen unless they got a good trade for him. He wasn't owed that much anyway so keeping him wasn't a problem. At the TDL (7/31) they were 4 games under .500 and 5.5 games back. Most people realized this team was going nowhere but the BMTIB had been blessed to not even be completely out of the race because the better teams hadn't yet left them in the dust. They could still promote upcoming series as meaningful (at least theoretically for business purposes). Of course, they weren't going to invest much money to make a run so they got Benoit essentially for free and added a low cost Kontos and made no more moves. So they could still promote remaining games as if the Bucs were in the hunt even tho they weren't making much of an effort. But that's how this cheap org operates. It almost worked. Between 8/3 and 8/11 they went 7-2 and reached .500. But since then they have gone 5-13 and are now hopelessly left in the dust. So at that point, the cheapness took over. Just get rid of the pending free agent that will surely be claimed and save whatever money can be saved even if it is hardly anything.   



So I understand not having traded him by 7/31. In hindsight, that would have been better. But even by 8/11 they were at .500 and 4 games out with many games left to play vs the 3 teams ahead of them. Once all hope was lost that fans would buy into the idea that upcoming games were meaningful, they cut their losses and saved any pennies they could. The savings on Nicasio is so small that all of MLB seems to be scratching their heads at this cheap move. But Pirates fans are not surprised.


Bullseye.

[dogknot17@yahoo.co]

062B26373021367675440 wrote: I really don't have a problem with Nicasio not being traded. At the TDL, confidence in Watson had been lost and they were just trying to get whatever they could for him. Losing him from the BP was almost addition by subtraction. Nicasio, tho also a pending FA, was their 2nd best reliever, their 8th inning setup guy and they didn't want to gut the bullpen unless they got a good trade for him. He wasn't owed that much anyway so keeping him wasn't a problem. At the TDL (7/31) they were 4 games under .500 and 5.5 games back. Most people realized this team was going nowhere but the BMTIB had been blessed to not even be completely out of the race because the better teams hadn't yet left them in the dust. They could still promote upcoming series as meaningful (at least theoretically for business purposes). Of course, they weren't going to invest much money to make a run so they got Benoit essentially for free and added a low cost Kontos and made no more moves. So they could still promote remaining games as if the Bucs were in the hunt even tho they weren't making much of an effort. But that's how this cheap org operates. It almost worked. Between 8/3 and 8/11 they went 7-2 and reached .500. But since then they have gone 5-13 and are now hopelessly left in the dust. So at that point, the cheapness took over. Just get rid of the pending free agent that will surely be claimed and save whatever money can be saved even if it is hardly anything.   



So I understand not having traded him by 7/31. In hindsight, that would have been better. But even by 8/11 they were at .500 and 4 games out with many games left to play vs the 3 teams ahead of them. Once all hope was lost that fans would buy into the idea that upcoming games were meaningful, they cut their losses and saved any pennies they could. The savings on Nicasio is so small that all of MLB seems to be scratching their heads at this cheap move. But Pirates fans are not surprised.


Good post. I totally agree. They missed out at the trading deadline on Nicasio. Watson did have more value being a lefty and former closer (we know teams love that closer title). Once the waiver trading happened, the Pirates were getting blocked to get any value for Nicasio. Instead of giving in to those demands, they kept him. Is that better than be taken advantage of? I don't know.

[rucker59@gmail.com]

474C44484D4C571214635A424B4C4C0D404C230 wrote: I really don't have a problem with Nicasio not being traded. At the TDL, confidence in Watson had been lost and they were just trying to get whatever they could for him. Losing him from the BP was almost addition by subtraction. Nicasio, tho also a pending FA, was their 2nd best reliever, their 8th inning setup guy and they didn't want to gut the bullpen unless they got a good trade for him. He wasn't owed that much anyway so keeping him wasn't a problem. At the TDL (7/31) they were 4 games under .500 and 5.5 games back. Most people realized this team was going nowhere but the BMTIB had been blessed to not even be completely out of the race because the better teams hadn't yet left them in the dust. They could still promote upcoming series as meaningful (at least theoretically for business purposes). Of course, they weren't going to invest much money to make a run so they got Benoit essentially for free and added a low cost Kontos and made no more moves. So they could still promote remaining games as if the Bucs were in the hunt even tho they weren't making much of an effort. But that's how this cheap org operates. It almost worked. Between 8/3 and 8/11 they went 7-2 and reached .500. But since then they have gone 5-13 and are now hopelessly left in the dust. So at that point, the cheapness took over. Just get rid of the pending free agent that will surely be claimed and save whatever money can be saved even if it is hardly anything.   



So I understand not having traded him by 7/31. In hindsight, that would have been better. But even by 8/11 they were at .500 and 4 games out with many games left to play vs the 3 teams ahead of them. Once all hope was lost that fans would buy into the idea that upcoming games were meaningful, they cut their losses and saved any pennies they could. The savings on Nicasio is so small that all of MLB seems to be scratching their heads at this cheap move. But Pirates fans are not surprised.


Good post.  I totally agree.  They missed out at the trading deadline on Nicasio.  Watson did have more value being a lefty and former closer (we know teams love that closer title).  Once the waiver trading happened, the Pirates were getting blocked to get any value for Nicasio.  Instead of giving in to those demands, they kept him.  Is that better than be taken advantage of?  I don't know. 




There was another option, the one 29 other teams would have exercised: just keep him. 



This by itself isn't a big deal. This is just another Little irritant  that is now adding up to a very large problem: no one believes anything the Pirates say or do.



Personally I have a picture in my mind of Nutting slipping $660K into his wallet and walking out of the office whistling. Somewhere along the line the Pirates have to understand their horrible PR. It's like they just poke us in the eye and then offer some lame excuse.



What this FO needs to do is have a pressed and say "we now realize we've been poking our fans in the eye.  We apologize AND we promise to run this team in a manner that unites our fans in support and reflects the best of MLB".  And then they need to do it.  All they do now is save a buck and make lame excuses

[dogknot17@yahoo.co]

If people don't believe them, yeah they will be excuses. I understood the situation. Understanding doesn't mean I liked the move. He should have been traded at the deadline. You can go back and look up my responses then too.



I think the front office knows if they win, the fans will show up. They proved that from 2012 to 2015. Even in 2016, they had their 5th highest attendance in franchise history. They will be close to 2 million fans again this year.



If the team is run solely on PR moves, they will be in even bigger trouble.

[SammyKhalifa]

The other part of this "what are the Pirates doing?" issue is . . .



What are the Phillies doing?

[notes34]

I know what I'm doing, is switching the channel. I'm not watching another inning. I hope a lot of other people do the same.

[Ecbucs]

172529293D0F2C25282D2225440 wrote: The other part of this "what are the Pirates doing?" issue is . . .



What are the Phillies doing? 


apparently the Phillies are short of pitchers due to injuries, innings limits. Not that Nicasio can help tremendously as far as innings go (can't imagine he will pitch more than a dozen innings for Phils) but he is an experienced reliever who should be able to provide some quality innings and perhaps even have some of his experience rub off on Phillie bullpen members.