OnlyBucs

6A464E494265524454270 wrote: The Pirate's pen has little depth, particularly in comparison to last year.   Last year Vasquez, Krick, Rodriguez, and Santana were all good or superior relievers, and the Bucs added Kela (grossly  underperforming) to the mix in August.   



This year, Rodriguez is every hitter's friend, Santana is out for the year, and Kela is sort of available and pitches okay now and then when he is available.  Liriano, unexpectedly, is our 3rd best reliever, and heaven forbid, Feliz may be #4 on the depth chart.



The bullpen, like the starters, has had little depth since the start of the off-season.  The failure to add more talent this past off-season is not only at the surface, it is ready to sink a team that really has little business being an above .500 team.



As others have noted, the injuries will give the front office the excuses that they are looking for when the team's record sinks.   Unfortunately, we, the fans, will suffer through another season that could have and should have been so much better. 



While I like the positives of this year's team:

- Excited and honestly somewhat stunned by Bell's hitting,

- Love Tucker's enthusiasm and believe he can be a major league player,

-Am encouraged by Reynolds play in the majors  before any of us thought that he would arrive;

- Can't believe that Lyles has been as good as he has;

- Like how Vasquez is a beast,

- How Melky has demonstrated how little I know about baseball,  and a few more.



The disappointments on this year's team are pretty overwhelming:

-  Kang, the tank may be empty.

- Moran, does not even look like a short-term option at 3rd (then again, maybe he will have a Josh Bell learning curve);

- Gonzalez, little with the stick,

- Frazier, limited fielding ability and is not hitting all that great

- Cervelli is not hitting and he doesn't try to block pitches with his body, his main goals appear to be animated behind the plate and to make throws.

-  Archer - not looking good.

-  The 6th & 7th starters, Kingham and Brault, have been horrible.

-  The AAA call-ups for the pen have generally been pounded



In short, there is only so much I can tolerate when Greg Brown tries to direct enthusiasm to the good things (I know it's his job), when on the whole, there is no progress to winning a division, the team is at best, treading water.       


In response to Mainer's excellent post I have come to the conclusion that it is time to "Trim the sails me matey's and make some bandages" for this team. ;D

15322327223F00342322223F460 wrote: I’m just tired of Clint Hurdle and his usage of this bullpen and his resting of players and his excuse making yet again for Marte forgetting how many outs there were again last night that almost cost Bell getting an at bat with 2 men on. Bob Nutting is the main problem but this team is not gonna go any further under the guidance of Huntington as GM and Hurdle as the manager. Both of these guys need to go. There are just not enough good players on this roster right now to be anything better then a .500 team.
What bullpen!!!

The bullpen is a total disaster. Do you want Hurdle to throw Vazquez every day? All he has is Vazquez, Crick-who has been underwhelming this year and Liriano for situational situations.

The rest of the pen has been abysmal



Santana was lost for the year, Kela was lit up in the spring and has not been right, losing Burdi in my opinion was huge as he had lights out stuff, Rodriguez has been a gopher ball machine. Feliz has been very inconsistent since he was asquired. Holmes, Kingham, Brault, Neveraskas....they’re great if you like ERAs over 8.

So Freddy-what do you want Hurdle to do?

Drastic times call for drastic measures. Maybe you don’t have any starters at all and throw 9 different pitchers out their each night to throw an inning.

66434040557E434B495E2C0 wrote: I’m just tired of Clint Hurdle and his usage of this bullpen and his resting of players and his excuse making yet again for Marte forgetting how many outs there were again last night that almost cost Bell getting an at bat with 2 men on. Bob Nutting is the main problem but this team is not gonna go any further under the guidance of Huntington as GM and Hurdle as the manager. Both of these guys need to go. There are just not enough good players on this roster right now to be anything better then a .500 team.
What bullpen!!!

The bullpen is a total disaster. Do you want Hurdle to throw Vazquez every day? All he has is Vazquez, Crick-who has been underwhelming this year and Liriano for situational situations.

The rest of the pen has been abysmal



Santana was lost for the year, Kela was lit up in the spring and has not been right, losing Burdi in my opinion was huge as he had lights out stuff, Rodriguez has been a gopher ball machine. Feliz has been very inconsistent since he was asquired. Holmes, Kingham, Brault, Neveraskas....they’re great if you like ERAs over 8.

So Freddy-what do you want Hurdle to do?

Drastic times call for drastic measures. Maybe you don’t have any starters at all and throw 9 different pitchers out their each night to throw an inning.


Yeah. The bullpen was supposed to be a strength this year. Ironically, if it had lived up to billing, the Pirates would probably be in first place.

01090A3D2B0E2926480 wrote: I’m just tired of Clint Hurdle and his usage of this bullpen and his resting of players and his excuse making yet again for Marte forgetting how many outs there were again last night that almost cost Bell getting an at bat with 2 men on. Bob Nutting is the main problem but this team is not gonna go any further under the guidance of Huntington as GM and Hurdle as the manager. Both of these guys need to go. There are just not enough good players on this roster right now to be anything better then a .500 team.
What bullpen!!!

The bullpen is a total disaster. Do you want Hurdle to throw Vazquez every day? All he has is Vazquez, Crick-who has been underwhelming this year and Liriano for situational situations.

The rest of the pen has been abysmal



Santana was lost for the year, Kela was lit up in the spring and has not been right, losing Burdi in my opinion was huge as he had lights out stuff, Rodriguez has been a gopher ball machine. Feliz has been very inconsistent since he was asquired. Holmes, Kingham, Brault, Neveraskas....they’re great if you like ERAs over 8.

So Freddy-what do you want Hurdle to do?

Drastic times call for drastic measures. Maybe you don’t have any starters at all and throw 9 different pitchers out their each night to throw an inning.


Yeah. The bullpen was supposed to be a strength this year. Ironically, if it had lived up to billing, the Pirates would probably be in first place.


I think that the main reason the pen is bad right now (excepting injuries) is because the rotation is bad right now. You can't keep expecting them to go five-six innings every day.