OnlyBucs

5D5556617752757A140 wrote: The Brewers won again tonight so these last 4 losses in a row have killed the Pirates in the standings. They were in 1st place on Thursday last week and since this 4 game losing streak started they are now 3 games out of first behind the Brewers. This is exactly like we talked about how losses like this to bad teams who you need to beat will absolutely kill you in the standings.


It hasn't killed them. Killed means dead...as in, no coming back. They're two games out in the loss column. Yeah, you'd like to win these, and Sunday's game should have been a W, but it happens. Cards and Cubs are also going to lose tonight. One game out of the WC. All is not lost.



I know these games can seem very frustrating, but sometimes you have these. I just wish we could figure out how to beat the Reds. We're 3-2 against them, and should be 4-1. I don't care about this game...it's the loss we had in the first series after being up 4-0 that stings. They are still right there in the wildcard race as well just a game or so back. So no it hasn’t killed them but you gotta stop the bleeding here these last two games in Cincy. The starting pitching for the Pirates needs to be better. They have only won 3 games the entire month of May. That can’t continue if this team is gonna compete for a playoff spot. If you can win these last two with the Reds you can get back on track at 28-21 and kind of put behind you  these last 4 losses. Gotta get it going though starting tomorrow night.




I do agree with this. Time to get on the winning track again. Last year's team played down to their competition also. The Reds have been playing well of late, but this is not a good baseball team. Not by any stretch of the imagination.
Well to be honest I'm not sure this Pirates team is very good either. I was shocked by the good start to the season, I won't be shocked if it falls apart quickly.

616860717F050 wrote: Baseball players wear more accessories now than old ladies out to sunday brunch.



Scooter Gennett has red puffy wrist bands, bleach white Franklin batting gloves, a shin guard, and an elbow sleeve and eye black.



Y'all look ridiculous anymore.  You must take 5 minutes to do your hair and makeup before you step into the box!


This has to be one of the funniest posts that brighten up a losing nite. Almost like the clown at the circus.

1133203D3E3B3C33102731313D520 wrote: As several of us have been saying since the winter, I just don't see how the starting pitching is going to hold up over the long haul.



If Taillon is going to be mediocre, and not a stopper, then this rotation has HUGE problems.



This is a rotation with a whole lot of No. 4 caliber starters, and that's not nearly good enough to keep up with contenders like the Cards, Cubs and Brewers. Not even close.



I'll never understand why the front office didn't go out and spend the money in the offseason to sign two LEGITIMATE MAJOR LEAGUE STARTERS.



This franchise has the QUANTITY. We've got at least 6 or 7 decent starters.



But we just don't have the QUALITY ... and that's going to kill this team over the long haul.



I wish we would have tried to claim Matt Harvey a few weeks ago when the Mets released him. He only would have cost 4 million dollars or so which the Pirates can afford to pay. I know he has struggled but he has had success in the past with the Mets and isn’t that old yet. Plus, he looked pretty good last night against the Pirates. I’d feel better with him pitching every 5th day then a guy like Chad Kuhl or even Nova at this point. These are the kinds of things the Pirates have to jump on when they get a chance and they just don’t do it enough times. Instead they send Nick Kingham down for no reason at all while Kontos continues to stay in the roster and suck and give up runs everytime he pitches.

51567A6D7B180 wrote: Squinting hard here but Glasnow looked good tonight.  Since his shellacking against Washington, he has gone 7.1 innings, allowed 6 hits, one walk, one run, and 10 Ks.  We will see how Musgrove does when he returns on Friday against the Cards, but at some point if Kuhl keeps being inconsistent, Nova continues to stink, and they aren’t going to leave Kingham up in the rotation then it’s getting close to the time to give Glasnow another chance in this rotation. The Pirates can’t coddle Glasnow forever here. They need to find out what they have in him at some point here soon as a starting pitcher.

6E49585C59447B4F585959443D0 wrote: As several of us have been saying since the winter, I just don't see how the starting pitching is going to hold up over the long haul.



If Taillon is going to be mediocre, and not a stopper, then this rotation has HUGE problems.



This is a rotation with a whole lot of No. 4 caliber starters, and that's not nearly good enough to keep up with contenders like the Cards, Cubs and Brewers. Not even close.



I'll never understand why the front office didn't go out and spend the money in the offseason to sign two LEGITIMATE MAJOR LEAGUE STARTERS.



This franchise has the QUANTITY. We've got at least 6 or 7 decent starters.



But we just don't have the QUALITY ... and that's going to kill this team over the long haul.



I wish we would have tried to claim Matt Harvey a few weeks ago when the Mets released him. He only would have cost 4 million dollars or so which the Pirates can afford to pay. I know he has struggled but he has had success in the past with the Mets and isn’t that old yet. Plus, he looked pretty good last night against the Pirates. I’d feel better with him pitching every 5th day then a guy like Chad Kuhl or even Nova at this point. These are the kinds of things the Pirates have to jump on when they get a chance and they just don’t do it enough times. Instead they send Nick Kingham down for no reason at all while Kontos continues to stay in the roster and suck and give up runs everytime he pitches.




These are the moves the Pirates make and get blasted for not signing anyone good and another reclamation project. The guy hasn't been good since 2015. It was a good trade for the Reds as they dumped their expensive back up catcher and had to replace a guy with a 7.40 ERA. Even with his good start last night, his ERA is down to 5.49. No Pirates starter deserved to be removed for Harvey at the time.

5C575F5356574C090F784159505757165B57380 wrote: As several of us have been saying since the winter, I just don't see how the starting pitching is going to hold up over the long haul.



If Taillon is going to be mediocre, and not a stopper, then this rotation has HUGE problems.



This is a rotation with a whole lot of No. 4 caliber starters, and that's not nearly good enough to keep up with contenders like the Cards, Cubs and Brewers. Not even close.



I'll never understand why the front office didn't go out and spend the money in the offseason to sign two LEGITIMATE MAJOR LEAGUE STARTERS.



This franchise has the QUANTITY. We've got at least 6 or 7 decent starters.



But we just don't have the QUALITY ... and that's going to kill this team over the long haul.



I wish we would have tried to claim Matt Harvey a few weeks ago when the Mets released him. He only would have cost 4 million dollars or so which the Pirates can afford to pay. I know he has struggled but he has had success in the past with the Mets and isn’t that old yet. Plus, he looked pretty good last night against the Pirates. I’d feel better with him pitching every 5th day then a guy like Chad Kuhl or even Nova at this point. These are the kinds of things the Pirates have to jump on when they get a chance and they just don’t do it enough times. Instead they send Nick Kingham down for no reason at all while Kontos continues to stay in the roster and suck and give up runs everytime he pitches.




These are the moves the Pirates make and get blasted for not signing anyone good and another reclamation project.  The guy hasn't been good since 2015.  It was a good trade for the Reds as they dumped their expensive back up catcher and had to replace a guy with a 7.40 ERA.  Even with his good start last night, his ERA is down to 5.49.  No Pirates starter deserved to be removed for Harvey at the time.

Well Harvey at least has a pedigree and has pitched in big postseason games and has proven he can pitch consistently in the Majors. I still don’t know if Chad Kuhl can do that as he has yet to prove himself as a quality consistent Major League starter. Plus, they took Brault out of the rotation who wasn’t very good, and have been bouncing Kingham up and down with no consistent 5th starter pitching every 5th day. So I disagree with you when you say Harvey wasn’t at least worth looking at and couldn’t have potentially been better then guys like Kuhl,Brault, or even Nova.

7D5A4B4F4A57685C4B4A4A572E0 wrote: As several of us have been saying since the winter, I just don't see how the starting pitching is going to hold up over the long haul.



If Taillon is going to be mediocre, and not a stopper, then this rotation has HUGE problems.



This is a rotation with a whole lot of No. 4 caliber starters, and that's not nearly good enough to keep up with contenders like the Cards, Cubs and Brewers. Not even close.



I'll never understand why the front office didn't go out and spend the money in the offseason to sign two LEGITIMATE MAJOR LEAGUE STARTERS.



This franchise has the QUANTITY. We've got at least 6 or 7 decent starters.



But we just don't have the QUALITY ... and that's going to kill this team over the long haul.



I wish we would have tried to claim Matt Harvey a few weeks ago when the Mets released him. He only would have cost 4 million dollars or so which the Pirates can afford to pay. I know he has struggled but he has had success in the past with the Mets and isn’t that old yet. Plus, he looked pretty good last night against the Pirates. I’d feel better with him pitching every 5th day then a guy like Chad Kuhl or even Nova at this point. These are the kinds of things the Pirates have to jump on when they get a chance and they just don’t do it enough times. Instead they send Nick Kingham down for no reason at all while Kontos continues to stay in the roster and suck and give up runs everytime he pitches.




These are the moves the Pirates make and get blasted for not signing anyone good and another reclamation project.  The guy hasn't been good since 2015.  It was a good trade for the Reds as they dumped their expensive back up catcher and had to replace a guy with a 7.40 ERA.  Even with his good start last night, his ERA is down to 5.49.  No Pirates starter deserved to be removed for Harvey at the time.

Well Harvey at least has a pedigree and has pitched in big postseason games and has proven he can pitch consistently in the Majors. I still don’t know if Chad Kuhl can do that as he has yet to prove himself as a quality consistent Major League starter. Plus, they took Brault out of the rotation who wasn’t very good, and have been bouncing Kingham up and down with no consistent 5th starter pitching every 5th day. So I disagree with you when you say Harvey wasn’t at least worth looking at and couldn’t have potentially been better then guys like Kuhl,Brault, or even Nova.


He's right though.  If they Pirates had picked up Harvey they would have gotten slammed.  "Dumpster Diving!"  "Same old Pirates!"  Etc. etc.  You can probably write the criticisms yourselves. 



I think he'd be okay to take a chance on, but at the same time not over any of the guys we're already giving a chance to. We already have Kingham who I'd like to see but probably won't get the chance. I'm all for upgrading the rotation but not with such a big question mark. That's the problem now. A bunch of "interesting" but so-so guys.

12202C2C380A29202D282720410 wrote: As several of us have been saying since the winter, I just don't see how the starting pitching is going to hold up over the long haul.



If Taillon is going to be mediocre, and not a stopper, then this rotation has HUGE problems.



This is a rotation with a whole lot of No. 4 caliber starters, and that's not nearly good enough to keep up with contenders like the Cards, Cubs and Brewers. Not even close.



I'll never understand why the front office didn't go out and spend the money in the offseason to sign two LEGITIMATE MAJOR LEAGUE STARTERS.



This franchise has the QUANTITY. We've got at least 6 or 7 decent starters.



But we just don't have the QUALITY ... and that's going to kill this team over the long haul.



I wish we would have tried to claim Matt Harvey a few weeks ago when the Mets released him. He only would have cost 4 million dollars or so which the Pirates can afford to pay. I know he has struggled but he has had success in the past with the Mets and isn’t that old yet. Plus, he looked pretty good last night against the Pirates. I’d feel better with him pitching every 5th day then a guy like Chad Kuhl or even Nova at this point. These are the kinds of things the Pirates have to jump on when they get a chance and they just don’t do it enough times. Instead they send Nick Kingham down for no reason at all while Kontos continues to stay in the roster and suck and give up runs everytime he pitches.




These are the moves the Pirates make and get blasted for not signing anyone good and another reclamation project.  The guy hasn't been good since 2015.  It was a good trade for the Reds as they dumped their expensive back up catcher and had to replace a guy with a 7.40 ERA.  Even with his good start last night, his ERA is down to 5.49.  No Pirates starter deserved to be removed for Harvey at the time.

Well Harvey at least has a pedigree and has pitched in big postseason games and has proven he can pitch consistently in the Majors. I still don’t know if Chad Kuhl can do that as he has yet to prove himself as a quality consistent Major League starter. Plus, they took Brault out of the rotation who wasn’t very good, and have been bouncing Kingham up and down with no consistent 5th starter pitching every 5th day. So I disagree with you when you say Harvey wasn’t at least worth looking at and couldn’t have potentially been better then guys like Kuhl,Brault, or even Nova.


He's right though.  If they Pirates had picked up Harvey they would have gotten slammed.  "Dumpster Diving!"  "Same old Pirates!"  Etc. etc.  You can probably write the criticisms yourselves. 



I think he'd be okay to take a chance on, but at the same time not over any of the guys we're already giving a chance to. We already have Kingham who I'd like to see but probably won't get the chance.  I'm all for upgrading the rotation but not with such a big question mark.  That's the problem now.  A bunch of "interesting" but so-so guys.
Totally agree with Dog. Lets look at Harvey:

2012: rookie, 10 starts, nice 2.73 ERA.

2013: a great season (26 starts, 2.27 ERA, 0.931 WHIP) ends in August when he needs TJ surgery.

2014: rehab

2015: Good season, 29 starts, 13 wins, 189 IP, 2.71 ERA, 1.019 WHIP.

2016: Bad season: 17 starts, 4-10, 4.86 ERA, 1.468 WHIP, shoulder pain. Shut down for thoracic outlet surgery.

2017: Bad season: 18 starts, 6.70 ERA, 1.694 WHIP, 3-game team suspension, missed 2 months with fractured shoulder blade.

2018: DFA'd by Mets after 4 starts with 7.00 ERA.



He has not been a good pitcher since 2015 and has suffered arm and shoulder injuries. Exactly the kind of "used to be good" pitcher the Pirates often go for when past their prime. There's no way I would have taken him to be in the Bucs rotation. Yesterday was the first time in 3 Reds starts that went more than 4 innings and in one of those he gave up 7 hits and 3 runs. Maybe it'll work out for Harvey and the Reds. Maybe it won't. But I won't look at 1 game out of his poor body of work since 2015 and say the Pirates made a mistake by not getting him.

Not for the Pirates, but for the Reds why not?

0A3834342012313835303F38590 wrote: Not for the Pirates, but for the Reds why not?


yeah, the deal makes sense for the Reds, they dealt an overpaid catcher (Reds still paying his salary) and get a chance at a pitcher who might rebound. If it comes out to even a 25% chance of rebound then it is a plus for the Reds.



For the Pirates it would not have been worth sending a prospect (don't think anyone on MLB roster that Mets would want who the Bucs would be willing to deal) for a small rebound chance.