OnlyBucs

Our farm lacks impact prospects in AAA.   Making Keith Law, baseball America or anyone else's ranking tougher to pin down.



Farms not real good.   But a few years ago farm seemed great and quite a few of the top guys then aren't living up to the hype, so maybe the opposite will happen and we will get a bunch of guys stepping up?



There's way too much hype put on farm guys here.  In Pittsburgh on general but especially OBN and a couple of other sites that heavily support pirates prospects.



It's a defense mechanism of being a Pirates fan being held hostage by this ownership.   "Yeah but the farm is good.  Help is coming, 20** is looking good"

5E575F4E403A0 wrote: Our farm lacks impact prospects in AAA.   Making Keith Law, baseball America or anyone else's ranking tougher to pin down.



Farms not real good.   But a few years ago farm seemed great and quite a few of the top guys then aren't living up to the hype, so maybe the opposite will happen and we will get a bunch of guys stepping up?



There's way too much hype put on farm guys here.  In Pittsburgh on general but especially OBN and a couple of other sites that heavily support pirates prospects.



It's a defense mechanism of being a Pirates fan being held hostage by this ownership.   "Yeah but the farm is good.  Help is coming, 20** is looking good"




Of course it works the other way as well.



GIants spend tons of money on f/a pitchers and are right now holding the bad to the tune of 90 million for Samzjia, 110 million for Cueto(who will likely opt out), 30 million for Pence and 20 million in options on Matt Moore and they have no farm.



I blame our current season on the Marte and Kang, the lack of clutch hitting (breaking it down further, the inability to get guys home from third with the less than two outs has cost us more games than the bad bullpen) and the bullpen. Despite the wailing, it's not been the starters that keep this team down.



I trade Cutch for as much as you can get for him. I don't know his market

I also look to trade Cole. I would look to get a upper lever position player and sp for him in a bidding war.

I'd also float Rivero out if we can get Chapman or Miller type return for him.

The rest I trade if we are getting good returns.if someone overplays for Harrison or Nova, I look at it, but we have a good long term core in Nova,Taillon, Bell, Harrison, Frazier, Marte, Polanco (I still like him) and the minor leaguers.

2E272F3E304A0 wrote: Our farm lacks impact prospects in AAA.   Making Keith Law, baseball America or anyone else's ranking tougher to pin down.



Farms not real good.   But a few years ago farm seemed great and quite a few of the top guys then aren't living up to the hype, so maybe the opposite will happen and we will get a bunch of guys stepping up?



There's way too much hype put on farm guys here.  In Pittsburgh on general but especially OBN and a couple of other sites that heavily support pirates prospects.



It's a defense mechanism of being a Pirates fan being held hostage by this ownership.   "Yeah but the farm is good.  Help is coming, 20** is looking good"


I agree with you on the opinion about the farm and help is on the way. That was the case for 20 years. I used to follow the minors as much as I did the Pirates. That isn't the case anymore. I follow the Pirates as the talent is there and the minors isn't what to look forward to.



The minors has been good. Players have come up and replaced others and added to the winning. The minors is down now because players made the jump, a lot of them made it together. Now, just a few need to make it to add to the current talent.



I do think people who went through the 20 years of losing do put to much emphasis on the minors. I also think there are people who put down the farm because they are against Bob Nutting.



In my opinion, the farm is pretty good. The pitching has depth and there are some fine impact hitters soon to be up. But most of the guys are lower in the minors due to being promoted already to the major league club. It is no shock to me that once the farm was built the Pirates starting winning. The Pirates had a harder task than most due to the prior GM not doing a thing on the farm.

Felipe Rivero should get 2X what Chapman got. He's better RIGHT NOW and he has significantly longer term left. Truthfully, there's no reason to hold onto an elite closer (even a really cheap one) if the rest of the team is struggling and flailing.

Unlike some, I don't think this organization and the MLB team is that far off. They've had some really bad luck this year. If I were the NH, I'd look for a quick rebuild. Trade Cutch, Cole, Harrison, Watson, Freese, Nicasio and Jaso. I'd take offers on Rivero (Gleyber Torres was a top 15 prospect at the time Chapman was traded and they got some other pieces. I'd be looking for double that.) With Cutch's resurgence, he should bring back at least a top 50 player if not more. Gerrit Cole should bring back a ton as a potential frontline starter with 2.5 years of term left (think Yankees who are falling back). Harrison just made the All Star team for the 2nd time. You could get a significant return for him. All these moves would be geared at trading for players who could contribute tat the major league level in 1-2 years. That would leave the MLB team with Taillon, Nova, Kuhl. Williams, Bell, Frazier, Moroff, Osuna, Marte, Polanco. Combine those with the players in AAA. This type of rebuild could be fruitful and FAST. Very quick with very high upside.

Is one to two years away mean 2018 & 2019 or 2019 & 2020?



I would hate to be rebuilding with guys like Taillon, Bell being wasted on bad teams. Taillon is special. Bell is looking like a long term first base fixture the team hasn't had in years.

Keith Law had our systemranked 4th and baseball America had it ranked 7th. 

Our bullpen is a mess, the defense is a mess, the hitting a mess, but we have a decent core and there is nothing wrong with our farm.




Josh Bell and Tyler Glasnow are no longer considered prospects.



Austin Meadows has been injured and not performing well.



Kevin Newman has not hit.



Mitch Keller is the only top prospect performing well.



Baseball America will likely drop the Pirates 5-10 spots in their rankings to the middle of the pack.

7F7876232922221B0 wrote: Felipe Rivero should get 2X what Chapman got.  He's better RIGHT NOW and he has significantly longer term left.  Truthfully, there's no reason to hold onto an elite closer (even a really cheap one) if the rest of the team is struggling and flailing.

Unlike some, I don't think this organization and the MLB team is that far off.  They've had some really bad luck this year.  If I were the NH, I'd look for a quick rebuild.  Trade Cutch, Cole, Harrison, Watson, Freese, Nicasio and Jaso.  I'd take offers on Rivero (Gleyber Torres was a top 15 prospect at the time Chapman was traded and they got some other pieces.  I'd be looking for double that.)  With Cutch's resurgence, he should bring back at least a top 50 player if not more.  Gerrit Cole should bring back a ton as a potential frontline starter with 2.5 years of term left (think Yankees who are falling back).  Harrison just made the All Star team for the 2nd time.  You could get a significant return for him. All these moves would be geared at trading for players who could contribute tat the major league level in 1-2 years. That would leave the MLB team with Taillon, Nova, Kuhl. Williams, Bell, Frazier, Moroff, Osuna, Marte, Polanco.  Combine those with the players in AAA.  This type of rebuild could be fruitful and FAST.  Very quick with very high upside.
The problem is the core you are building around is not very good. Outside of Taillon, Bell and Marte. Nova should be the pitcher being shopped in my opinion, his value should be pretty high. Polanco is well not very good to be kind. Williams has been good lately. Kuhl, Frazier, Moroff, Osuna, ect are not part of a "core" IMO.

Harrison, Mercer, maybe a healthy Cervelli? Kang? Why didn't you include them in the core?



Polanco is a fine addition. He might not be a super star like some hoped, but he is a fine second tier player. He is still improving. He is only in his third year and can be here for another six years. He can duplicate 2016 with even more power and a higher average.

Cole to the Astros!!!



Anybody know if they have anything decent in their system? They should go all out

Question:



If Cole is so bad, why would a contending team want him?