OnlyBucs

It's kind of basic.  Signing good German players is a good thing to do.  Signing bad Lithuanian players?

Not so much; especially if you're a bad team to begin with.

03242D2D24373424033422410 wrote: The universal hate of signing a player from Lithuania is confusing to me.  Why does it matter where the player is from? The Twins signed a player from Germany that is pretty good.  The Pirates should not be doing that?
I guess your comment refers to my joke "There goes their inroad to the lucrative Lithuanian pitching market."



It was a joke. ::)



It doesn't matter where they find talent. But the Pirates seem to look for talent from places where other teams won't be interested enough to create a bidding war. So they signed 2 pitchers from India (they failed), a pitcher from Lithuania (he failed), a SS from South Africa (he failed) and Kang from Korea. Kang was the only one with real talent. He was the 1st position player from Korea to sign with an MLB team. But the reason he did not require a bidding war was because teams were wary that the AA level of pitching in Korea inflates hitting stats. Then he failed for personal reasons, came back, and failed on the field.



So while other teams are in on the bidding for known talent from baseball rich countries like Cuba and Japan, the Pirates ignore those players and look to countries like Lithuania. It's a creative strategy to sign players on the cheap. But it's not a productive strategy.



So if there's "universal hate" it's not against Lithuania. It's against the Pirates' practice of settling for minimally talented guys like Neverauskas because it doesn't cost much to get them.

Yet, at the same time, we want to get rid of known major leaguers and roll the dice on suspects.



I could see if that's worked well for us, but...



Don't gamble on these guys. Gamble on those guys. Snake eyes either way.

5D687F7F744D7F7F74737F1A0 wrote: Yet, at the same time, we want to get rid of known major leaguers and roll the dice on suspects.



I could see if that's worked well for us, but...



Don't gamble on these guys.  Gamble on those guys.   Snake eyes either way. 
That's the world of Nutting. Get rid of known major leaguers whose salaries are set to increase and find cheap, questionable replacements. Cha-ching!

It was bound to happen political correctness has crept into the onlybucs fans forum.

746C6E69697E6F68757462070 wrote: It was bound to happen political correctness has crept into the onlybucs fans forum.
It came to the wrong place!

6A4D44444D5E5D4D6A5D4B280 wrote: The universal hate of signing a player from Lithuania is confusing to me.  Why does it matter where the player is from? The Twins signed a player from Germany that is pretty good.  The Pirates should not be doing that?


There is no universal hate. It doesn't matter if a guy is from NZ, or Nepal, or The Maldives - you should be trying to sign the best. The Pirates held on too long for guys that never materialized - Gift and this cat.

Burdi cleared waivers and was assigned to Indy.

486568797E6F78383B0A0 wrote: Burdi cleared waivers and was assigned to Indy.
I guess Burdi has declined his assignment to Indy, and has filed for free agency. It is reported the Bucs are keeping the door open for a reunion. Also we are 11 days away until the winter roster is set to protect players from the Rule 5 draft in December. I would expect some player movement over the next several days in order to add space for a couple minor league players to the 40 man roster. The Pirates may also leave an open space on the roster in order to select a Rule 5 player since they will have the first choice in this draft.

535F5E050C050D00071802350 wrote: Burdi cleared waivers and was assigned to Indy.
I guess Burdi has declined his assignment to Indy, and has filed for free agency. It is reported the Bucs are keeping the door open for a reunion. Also we are 11 days away until the winter roster is set to protect players from the Rule 5 draft in December. I would expect some player movement over the next several days in order to add space for a couple minor league players to the 40 man roster. The Pirates may also leave an open space on the roster in order to select a Rule 5 player since they will have the first choice in this draft.
Can't blame him for trying. But his injury history is well known and the Pirates, who are desperate for pitching, waived and outrighted him. The best he can hope for is a minor league deal with an invitation to ST. Which he would have had with the Pirates anyway. So maybe he just wanted to get out of the Pirate organization.