OnlyBucs

Marte is putting up a ton of excess value and will be through the end of his contact. He won’t be traded because he’s making too much money. He’ll only be traded if the Pirates aren’t going anywhere and it’s late in his contract.

0E2C3F222124232C0F382E2E224D0 wrote: Can someone please post a summary of Neal's radio show interview today. I can't wait to hear what he has to say about the hottest team in baseball with the trade deadline just 9 days away.


NH Radio Show 7-22 from PG

634455515449764255545449300 wrote: Why would they trade Marte?



Honestly if they traded Marte I would go ballistic ... unless they were getting Mike Trout or Mookie Betts in return.



He's our best player. He's in his prime. We are trying to win ... aren't we?


The FO and ownership would have some serious explaining to do if they traded Marte. The same can almost be said for Dickerson if the Pirates keep winning games like this and are within a couple games of the wildcard in the next few weeks. You can’t justify trading Dickerson at this point as well as he is hitting and as well as the team is playing fighting their way back into contention.




I've been pro holding Dickerson and Cervelli throughout. I was of the opinion that Nova needed to be traded/cut, but he's been steady as a middle rotation guy for a long stretch. I think bringing Kramer up now to start at 2B would be a boost and wish they would do that. I'm obviously not a scout, but he dominated AA last year until his injury, and after looking a bit lost in AAA to start the year, and striking out too much, has been batting .370 over the last month. He's be inching his way up to a .900 OPS. I'm not sure where there's a breakdown by position for team stats, but looking at the guys who have played 2B for this team this year, I think they've gotten sub-.650 OPS from 2B this year.

I kind of think that if Luplow was given more playing time, he would break out as a legit OF power bat. I'm not sure how the league see's him, but I think he could be used as a potential trade chip.

Interesting dilemma with Luplow and Meadows versus Dickerson and Nova versus Kingham, Holmes and Kuhl when he returns from disabled list.



If Dickerson would sign a reasonable extension say 3 or 4 years at $9M, $10M per I think I'd do that and trade Meadows to improve pitching. I think we need a lefty starter and lefty reliever for next year. So if I could find two ML ready LH pitchers I make that trade.

594E4159485C45485D45290 wrote: Interesting dilemma with Luplow and Meadows versus Dickerson and Nova versus Kingham, Holmes and Kuhl when he returns from disabled list.



If Dickerson would sign a reasonable extension say 3 or 4 years at $9M, $10M per I think I'd do that and trade Meadows to improve pitching. I think we need a lefty starter and lefty reliever for next year. So if I could find two ML ready LH pitchers I make that trade.
I would try to extend Dickerson, but I would see if there was any interest in Polanco before trading Meadows.

Meadows hasn't established that he's an impact MLB player. He came up out of necessity when Marte got hurt. He wasn't viewed as a replacement for Polanco. Meadows played out of his mind for ten games and then it coincided with a Polanco slump, so he got to stick around. Meadows wasn't particularly good at all after those first ten games. He's never dominated AAA. Let's just let him grow. It would be dumb to trade Polanco with his play and contractual situation. Let's play out the string with Dickerson as long as there is hope for the Pirates to play meaningful baseball late. I doubt someone like him who has never had a big contract would sign a team-friendly extension, but if he will, great. If not, keep playing him.

We need to prepare for some Minor League promotions next year. Will Craig needs to play 1B at Indy or he needs to be traded. Same for Ke'Bryan Hayes at 3rd and Cole Tucker at SS.



If we can find a taker for David Freese, who plays very well in a part-time role, then we can promote Osuna and see if he can be an effective big leaguer as a part-time player. That leaves a spot for Craig.



Unless the Bucs are content to continue moving Osuna between 1b and 3b at AAA, there is no obstacle to Hayes' promotion.



Mercer will almost certainly leave next year - maybe even by 8/31 if the Bucs' surge ends - then we have room for Newman and a spot at AAA for Tucker.



Josh Harrison's had a bad year and he will be the toughest incumbent to move. The Bucs can just buy him out next year and roll with Kramer, or subsidize his departure (or Sean Rodriguez'es) and speed the process up.



One non trade-related move I would like to see is to send Luplow down and bring Bostick up. Bostick plays CF and Luplow doesn't. Bostick projects as a utility guy while Luplow should at least be considered in a platoon and should play every day at AAA.



The AAA OF next year should have 4 legit prospects as Reynolds will be promoted from Altoona. With the DH, there should be enough at-bats for all.



Don't ask me about Adam Frazier. The Bucs don't seem to have a plan for him and I see him as a trade sweetener. He's too good to be a utility guy at AAA, and he can't play SS well enough at the MLB level to move ahead of Mordoff. Still, I hope he makes the Bucs next year as their 25th man.



One thing is certain: next year's Pirate INF will have a sea change in personnel.

2D3A352D3C28313C29315D0 wrote: Interesting dilemma with Luplow and Meadows versus Dickerson and Nova versus Kingham, Holmes and Kuhl when he returns from disabled list.



If Dickerson would sign a reasonable extension say 3 or 4 years at $9M, $10M per I think I'd do that and trade Meadows to improve pitching. I think we need a lefty starter and lefty reliever for next year. So if I could find two ML ready LH pitchers I make that trade.
I think we have that lefty already in Hearns

We need to see what he can do at th ML level

6C7B746C7D69707D68701C0 wrote:



If Dickerson would sign a reasonable extension say 3 or 4 years at $9M, $10M per I think I'd do that and trade Meadows to improve pitching.


I think that would be a low low low ball offer