OnlyBucs

41595B5C5C4B5A5D404157320 wrote: Meadows needs to be playing center field and Marte needs to sit he is not a #3 hitter.  It looked like to me Polanco is swinging much better so for me Marte needs to sit.  Bell needs to sit, and Osuna needs to be playing 1st base or 3rd when a lefty is pitching.  SRod needs to be let go, and Crick needs to be given a chance at closing games.  Those are some of the moves need to be made right now.  I'd see if I couldn't get a decent player for Marte in trade, surely someone could be fooled into taking him. 
You are out of your ever loving mind if you think Polanco should be starting over Marte.
Nope I'm not, he's hitting the ball good right now and Marte is just awful.  Marte and Polanco have about same number of ABs, Polanco has 8 HRs, 25 RBI's, 40 doubles, Marte 7, 23, 7 doubles.  Marte has a better avg and more triples but I believe in the long run Polanco still can be a good player and I think we've seen the best of Marte, he's just not very smart.  He has all the tools but he's never going to be any better.  Meadows  can and should be playing center field not Marte, he should bring a good return if NH was any kind of a GM.
I hope you've had a few too many today for something???

Marte is hitting .303/.353/.487. 10 SB, has an .OPS of 851 and an ops+ of 131. While playing good defense.





Polanco on the other had is hitting .214/.318/428.



3 SB, has an .OPS of 746 and an OPS+ of 103???? Polanco has had a couple of hits in the last few games, but was coming off a stretch where he was 5 for 39.

I wouldn't go so far as to suggest replacing Marte with Polanco, but I definitely understand Skinnyhorse's frustration. A couple times today I wondered if Marte and Bell were swinging with their eyes closed.



Thursday I went to the game with a bunch of Cardinal fans. When Marcell Ozuna' s name came up they acknowledged his poor start, but they all focused on his anticipated correction and the good times to come. I thought jeeze you guys are patient. Check out the stats:



Polanco --- .214 Ave, 318/428/746 slash, 16 2b, 8 HR, 27 BB, and 52 K.

Ozuna --- .265 Avg, 312/340/652 slash, 6 2b, 3 HR, 14 BB, and 42 K.



My Cardinal friends might love Polanco? Ozuna would no Doubt be hitting even worse except for the crazy string of infield hits he has amassed vs. the Bucs.



Not sure where I am heading with all this other than to say, most teams have their Polanco's and Bell's. Hopefully those two have "corrections" coming like my more tolerant Cardinal friends are expecting from Ozuna.

71696B6C6C7B6A6D707167020 wrote: Meadows needs to be playing center field and Marte needs to sit he is not a #3 hitter.  It looked like to me Polanco is swinging much better so for me Marte needs to sit.  Bell needs to sit, and Osuna needs to be playing 1st base or 3rd when a lefty is pitching.  SRod needs to be let go, and Crick needs to be given a chance at closing games.  Those are some of the moves need to be made right now.  I'd see if I couldn't get a decent player for Marte in trade, surely someone could be fooled into taking him. 
Marte is hitting .296 with 7 HRs and playing a good CF. What is your problem with him?


He looks lost at the plate a lot, many of his hits are of the infield variety because of his great speed.   I have no faith in him with runners on base and we have a better replacement in Meadows.   His suspension last year was the last straw, and I think we could get a nice return for him nowl.


This can't be real? Lol



Marte is SLUGGING .500.   tell me about infield hits some more!

In 47 ABs Meadows with 5 HRs is tied with Dickerson and Moran for 5th on the team. 9 of his 19 hits have been for extra bases. Still has a line of .404/.431/.830/1.261. Was named MLB rookie of the month for May despite only playing half the month. There's only 1 person who doesn't think this guy should play everyday and his name is Clint Hurdle.



I agree with this post. Meadows needs to play. It's not like our starting OF is Trout, Harper and Mays.



Meadows needs to be starting ahead of Polanco and playing every day. And I believe pretty much every other manager in the bigs would find a spot for him in their OF.



It's criminal that the Pirates just sat him on consecutive games. He should be getting, at most, 1 day off per week.

Like Bobster keeps saying the demand to win from Hurdle just isn’t there. If they play Meadows and they win great. If they don’t play him and they lose. Who cares?? There is another game tomorrow and you can’t win them all right ?? They are more interested in finding out of Polanco can hit and turn things around rather then playing the best team possible every game.

61465753564B74405756564B320 wrote: Like Bobster keeps saying the demand to win from Hurdle just isn’t there. If they play Meadows and they win great. If they don’t play him and they lose. Who cares?? There is another game tomorrow and you can’t win them all right ?? They are more interested in finding out of Polanco can hit and turn things around rather then playing the best team possible every game.


I'm also in agreement with this. Hurdle acts like he's managing a baseball "experiment' rather than a baseball game where the object is to win.

Don’t get me wrong I like Clint Hurdle a lot. I think he is a good man and an excellent human being  that cares a lot about his players and is a great leader and excellent communicator. I feel he has been a tremendous ambassador for this organization and it’s turnaround  from the 20 plus losing seasons. But his in game managerial skills are not very good and his philosophy at times I think just doesn’t give the Pirates the best opportunity to succeed and win more games then they probably could. It just seems at time like he is managing a game of life where he is just happy to be a baseball manager rather then trying to win every game that he possibly can. Maybe I am off base some with these comments but it’s just my personal opinion.

6B4C5D595C417E4A5D5C5C41380 wrote: Don’t get me wrong I like Clint Hurdle a lot. I think he is a good man and an excellent human being  that cares a lot about his players and is a great leader and excellent communicator. I feel he has been a tremendous ambassador for this organization and it’s turnaround  from the 20 plus losing seasons. But his in game managerial skills are not very good and his philosophy at times I think just doesn’t give the Pirates the best opportunity to succeed and win more games then they probably could. It just seems at time like he is managing a game of life where he is just happy to be a baseball manager rather then trying to win every game that he possibly can. Maybe I am off base some with these comments but it’s just my personal opinion.
I think you hit the nail on the head. A great person who leaves quite a bit to be desired as the manager of a team trying to compete. His priorities don't seem compatible with the needs of a team that's trying to win as many games as possible.

Player A: 11 2Bs, 2 3Bs, 3 HRs, .254/.316/.384

Player B: 11 2Bs, 3 3Bs, 4 HRs, .248/.322/.386



Player A is the modest hitting shortstop who bats 8th.

Player B is the first baseman who's batted cleanup in 54 of the team's 58 games.



But the manager is content to allow his lineup to feature a cleanup hitter whose offense is almost identical to the player whose lack of offense relegates him to the #8 slot. No need to change (apparently). That would require some actual managing. Much easier to make the decision before the season starts and just stick with it for better or worse. Oh well, it only took 50 games to move Polanco out of the #2 slot by which time he was hitting .213. Maybe in another 50, Bell can be replaced at #4 by someone who hits better than Mercer. Or at least put Mercer at #4 and Bell at #8. That shouldn't make any difference. Does Hurdle write the lineup in ink or is it carved into a rock? 

5F727F6E69786F2F2C1D0 wrote: Player A: 11 2Bs, 2 3Bs, 3 HRs, .254/.316/.384

Player B: 11 2Bs, 3 3Bs, 4 HRs, .248/.322/.386



Player A is the modest hitting shortstop who bats 8th.

Player B is the first baseman who's batted cleanup in 54 of the team's 58 games.



But the manager is content to allow his lineup to feature a cleanup hitter whose offense is almost identical to the player whose lack of offense relegates him to the #8 slot. No need to change (apparently). That would require some actual managing. Much easier to make the decision before the season starts and just stick with it for better or worse. Oh well, it only took 50 games to move Polanco out of the #2 slot by which time he was hitting .213. Maybe in another 50, Bell can be replaced at #4 by someone who hits better than Mercer. Or at least put Mercer at #4 and Bell at #8. That shouldn't make any difference. Does Hurdle write the lineup in ink or is it carved into a rock? 






I personally would move Bell to the 7 spot until he starts hitting.