OnlyBucs

Marte averages about 4.0 WAR a season. If you take out his high and low since becoming a regular, he averages about 135 games a season. Not enough for an outfielder, not doubt but if he plays 150 he's normal. He's also won 2 gold gloves.



Personally, I'm in favor of more 4.0 WAR players and fewer replacement level guys. I have a hunch we will win more often with that strategy.

456865747362753536070 wrote: About as good as the Pirates could have hoped for having the bases loaded and Dickerson up with the game on the line. Disappointed in Marte missing the entire game for a Migraine headache. There are medications you can take for that that can make it go away within a certain amount of time. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but not the kind of start you wanted for a guy like Marte to start the season.
I've had migraines. Thankfully, not for years. But when they hit, you are incapacitated. It is extremely painful, it hurts to even open your eyes and you are nauseous. Anyone who thinks you can just take medication and it goes away has never had one. I played softball and baseball for over 30 years and hated to ever miss a game. I was the most reliable player on any team I was on. One day we were going to be down to the bare minimum of players and I got a migraine. As much as I hated to bail, there was no way I could play with a migraine. They are debilitating. All you can do is lay quietly in a dark room and hope you don't throw up. I'm sure Marte didn't want to miss the game. But if he had a migraine, he could not have played. 


I understand that migraines are very debilitating, but Marte appears to have this ho hum attitude at times , and that drives me crazy. I guess I am an old school fan who wants to see players give it 100% when on the field. I hate seeing Marte strikeout, and then walk back to the dugout with a nonchalant attitude.

Rather than getting my hopes up like I usually do, I'm trying to accept reality right out of the gate that this team isn't good, the starting rotation isn't great, and the division is crazy good.



It all adds up to a nightmarish season.



And the front office is almost exclusively to blame.



THEY MADE NO ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE THE TEAM.



This is the result.

I hope this is just one game, but the right side of the infield looks brutal.

1st base must be fixed immediately.   We continue to hemorrhage runs.  A continuation of last season. A lot of us faced the reality of Bell's limited chances of making it as a first basemen last season. 



To see him floundering around in the field and batting cleanup again on opening day is disheartening, to say the least.   Because of how big of a prospect he was, it's going to take a while to accept what likely is, and move on.



I counted 2 outs given away by Bell, 1 out by Frazier, 1 by Taillon for not covering rundown.  1 run saved by Kang  =  -3 outs defensively infield



1 out given away by Shuck on fly ball.  1 saved by Dickerson   Outfield EVEN outs.



we gave them an extra inning of baseball, give or take

I just heard clips from the Manfred interview with the Cincinnati crew and the Bucs'.



I really hope he checked in with a doctor after the game. He really didn't sound right.

6A636B7A740E0 wrote: 1st base must be fixed immediately.   We continue to hemorrhage runs.  A continuation of last season. A lot of us faced the reality of Bell's limited chances of making it as a first basemen last season. 



To see him floundering around in the field and batting cleanup again on opening day is disheartening, to say the least.   Because of how big of a prospect he was, it's going to take a while to accept what likely is, and move on.



I counted 2 outs given away by Bell, 1 out by Frazier, 1 by Taillon for not covering rundown.  1 run saved by Kang  =  -3 outs defensively infield



1 out given away by Shuck on fly ball.  1 saved by Dickerson   Outfield EVEN outs.



we gave them an extra inning of baseball, give or take




I'm not a Colin Moran fan by any means but I would welcome seeing him at 1b. Even if Bell recovers his offensive production it's not enough to overcome just how terrible he is on defense.

75746F7E68282F1B0 wrote: 1st base must be fixed immediately.   We continue to hemorrhage runs.  A continuation of last season. A lot of us faced the reality of Bell's limited chances of making it as a first basemen last season. 



To see him floundering around in the field and batting cleanup again on opening day is disheartening, to say the least.   Because of how big of a prospect he was, it's going to take a while to accept what likely is, and move on.



I counted 2 outs given away by Bell, 1 out by Frazier, 1 by Taillon for not covering rundown.  1 run saved by Kang  =  -3 outs defensively infield



1 out given away by Shuck on fly ball.  1 saved by Dickerson   Outfield EVEN outs.



we gave them an extra inning of baseball, give or take




I'm not a Colin Moran fan by any means but I would welcome seeing him at 1b. Even if Bell recovers his offensive production it's not enough to overcome just how terrible he is on defense.


If Moran could play 0 DRS as a 1bman.   Can he, though?   I don't know what the answer is.  Well, I do know one answer but my answer isn't under contract beyond 2019.  This year, no idea.

NH was interviewed on 93.7FM prior to the game. he was angry that a scout had given a very negative report on Bell.



“Josh Bell can’t play. He’s not a good defender. He’s a big lump. He has bad agility, bad footwork. He can’t run. Supposedly he’s a big power threat, but he hit 12 home runs at first base. This is not a kid! This is his third year in the big leagues! I don’t think he’s got the ability to get better.”



“They drive me crazy,” said Huntington. “Read the other previews and there’s a lot of criticism of other team’s players, most tend to happen to be minorities which is scathing in and of itself but it’s not just Pirates players it’s kind of all over the board and sensationalism sells and I think it’s a shame, I really think it’s a shame for our game that that is what plays out. Josh Bell is a very talented athlete, we believe he is going to turn into that hitter with power and he’s continuing to get better at first base.”



https://937thefan.radio.com/articles/pi ... -bell-hack



So NH praised his chronically inept 1Bman and blamed the report on racism. And then Bell proceeded to demonstrate exactly what a defensive liability he is.



It's only 1 game but it's a shame that, while we hoped for improvement over last year, he so quickly showed his weaknesses. If he hits 30 HRs and is a run producer, his cringe-worthy D might be tolerable. But if he's going to hit .260ish with 15 HRs or less, they might be better with Moran at 1B. Moran will likely hit that well and might not be the liability at 1B that Bell is.

5C717C6D6A7B6C2C2F1E0 wrote: NH was interviewed on 93.7FM prior to the game. he was angry that a scout had given a very negative report on Bell.



“Josh Bell can’t play. He’s not a good defender. He’s a big lump. He has bad agility, bad footwork. He can’t run. Supposedly he’s a big power threat, but he hit 12 home runs at first base. This is not a kid! This is his third year in the big leagues! I don’t think he’s got the ability to get better.”



“They drive me crazy,” said Huntington. “Read the other previews and there’s a lot of criticism of other team’s players, most tend to happen to be minorities which is scathing in and of itself but it’s not just Pirates players it’s kind of all over the board and sensationalism sells and I think it’s a shame, I really think it’s a shame for our game that that is what plays out. Josh Bell is a very talented athlete, we believe he is going to turn into that hitter with power and he’s continuing to get better at first base.”



https://937thefan.radio.com/articles/pi ... -bell-hack



So NH praised his chronically inept 1Bman and blamed the report on racism.  And then Bell proceeded to demonstrate exactly what a defensive liability he is.



It's only 1 game but it's a shame that, while we hoped for improvement over last year, he so quickly showed his weaknesses. If he hits 30 HRs and is a run producer, his cringe-worthy D might be tolerable. But if he's going to hit .260ish with 15 HRs or less, they might be better with Moran at 1B. Moran will likely hit that well and might not be the liability at 1B that Bell is.   


eh, if the worst thing he ever does is stand up for his employees, that's okay by me.



did you listen to it? It sounds a lot different in RL than the written word. I think he was legitimately angry more than if someone had just said that one of the players wasn't good.