5B6965657143606964616E69080 wrote: Yeah, I don't envy NH on this one. I don't know that there are too many teams buying bats, particularly outfielders. Lots of needs for pitching, some teams have a third base need. Catching is always in demand. But, I'm not sure there is a huge market out there for outfielders. Add to that the fact that we SHOULD have a decent team next year, especially if MVP Cutch is back. I have to wonder if NH wasn't secretly hoping the Brewers would knock us out of contention this week. Would have made this decision a heck of a lot easier.
Should the Pirates sweep Neal has the biggest decision in his career. And this board will be ready to erupt. Let us hope for the sweep.
I have to believe it's not just NH's call. If they sell and rebuild the next few years, payroll will be significantly smaller than if they keep what they've got and maybe even add next year to make a run at another post season appearance. I can't believe Nutting wouldn't influence such a decision. Either way he has to be on board with it. So I'm thinking there's a lot of conversion between NH, Nutting and Coonelly as they plan whatever they're going to do.
I don't know. I think there's a >50% chance they take the cautious approach and only tinker on the edges, whether they fall out of it or not. I don't think that's driven by money though, just overabundance of caution.
Major League keeps playing out in my mind....
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Moderators: SammyKhalifa, Doc, Bobster
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dogknot17@yahoo.co
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Trade Freese/Jaso, Watson/Hudson and Stewert if any takers.
Try to get a bullpen arm for this year and next. Try to get a blocked 3B. Might have to use a minor league arm for these additions.
I like that Osuna is taking balls at third base. He is very good at 1B, should be an easy transition. Situational plays will take some time (bunts, stealing), but wouldn't mind the bat if he replaces Freese.
Try to get a bullpen arm for this year and next. Try to get a blocked 3B. Might have to use a minor league arm for these additions.
I like that Osuna is taking balls at third base. He is very good at 1B, should be an easy transition. Situational plays will take some time (bunts, stealing), but wouldn't mind the bat if he replaces Freese.
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2A21292520213A7F790E372F262121602D214E0 wrote: I am going to predict he will never play 1B in his career. As he gets slower, he will just move to RF.
I think he is still pretty fast. He isn't as fast as he used to be, but he is still above average when it comes to speed. He still runs from first to third as good as anyone. He had an infield hit Monday night that not many on the team beat out.
Imagine if his bat would have shown up in April? He would be on pace to have his greatest year ever. I'd rather keep him. Very tough decision.
Yeah I don't get the angst. It's not like Cutch has never been this good. Yes he wasn't good last year. He looks healthy to me. I think his speed is still very much above average. He looked great beating out the infield hit. He is on pace for 30 HR's and 90+ RBI's. His .OPS is now around .900 which is a little higher than his career average. We are on about 10 weeks now of him being red hot. That's not a small sample size anymore.
I think he is still pretty fast. He isn't as fast as he used to be, but he is still above average when it comes to speed. He still runs from first to third as good as anyone. He had an infield hit Monday night that not many on the team beat out.
Imagine if his bat would have shown up in April? He would be on pace to have his greatest year ever. I'd rather keep him. Very tough decision.
Yeah I don't get the angst. It's not like Cutch has never been this good. Yes he wasn't good last year. He looks healthy to me. I think his speed is still very much above average. He looked great beating out the infield hit. He is on pace for 30 HR's and 90+ RBI's. His .OPS is now around .900 which is a little higher than his career average. We are on about 10 weeks now of him being red hot. That's not a small sample size anymore.
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dogknot17@yahoo.co
Positive Thought
Austin Meadows injury put a damper into the plans in my opinion too. There is no replacement that is ready to fill in for Andrew McCutchen.
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SammyKhalifa
- Posts: 3631
- Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:19 am
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0D0C1706105057630 wrote: I am going to predict he will never play 1B in his career. As he gets slower, he will just move to RF.
I think he is still pretty fast. He isn't as fast as he used to be, but he is still above average when it comes to speed. He still runs from first to third as good as anyone. He had an infield hit Monday night that not many on the team beat out.
Imagine if his bat would have shown up in April? He would be on pace to have his greatest year ever. I'd rather keep him. Very tough decision.
Yeah I don't get the angst. It's not like Cutch has never been this good. Yes he wasn't good last year. He looks healthy to me. I think his speed is still very much above average. He looked great beating out the infield hit. He is on pace for 30 HR's and 90+ RBI's. His .OPS is now around .900 which is a little higher than his career average. We are on about 10 weeks now of him being red hot. That's not a small sample size anymore.
It's not angst. I just think it probably affects his trade value if the team thinks it's possible they can't count on him for first months of the final year of his contract. Why wouldn't it?
I think he is still pretty fast. He isn't as fast as he used to be, but he is still above average when it comes to speed. He still runs from first to third as good as anyone. He had an infield hit Monday night that not many on the team beat out.
Imagine if his bat would have shown up in April? He would be on pace to have his greatest year ever. I'd rather keep him. Very tough decision.
Yeah I don't get the angst. It's not like Cutch has never been this good. Yes he wasn't good last year. He looks healthy to me. I think his speed is still very much above average. He looked great beating out the infield hit. He is on pace for 30 HR's and 90+ RBI's. His .OPS is now around .900 which is a little higher than his career average. We are on about 10 weeks now of him being red hot. That's not a small sample size anymore.
It's not angst. I just think it probably affects his trade value if the team thinks it's possible they can't count on him for first months of the final year of his contract. Why wouldn't it?
Positive Thought
I have generally supported NH's tenure as GM, although some of his moves this year have left me scratching my head. For example, going with only 2 real outfielders for much of the season, having what appeared to be an obsession with light hitting middle infielders (Gift, Gosselin, Moroff, Hanson, et al), and sticking with Glasnow when the results just weren't coming.
That said, the 'Theme' of this thread is Positive Thought. Thus, a few random positive thoughts, with some kudos to NH.
1) Did we really manage to trade a assistant pitching coach for at least 6 years of a controlled starting pitcher who appears to be no worse than a #4 starter? The Pirates may not have drafted Trevor Williams, but when Miami came calling it appears that our scouts unearthed a potential gem.
2) Did we really manage to acquire a shut down reliever who throws as high as 102 mph (repeat 102 mph), who has some really great secondary pitches, who is showing more control than in his past, and who regularly can pitch multiple innings and get out of jams? Oh, and he is a lefty to boot. And, he managed to obtain another longer term prospect with promise in the same transaction. Melancon was a very good reliever for the Pirates. If Rivero can continue to perform as he has this year he likely will be even better than Melancon, a pitcher who commanded a very large multi-year contract this off-season and one who has battled injury problems. Again, kudos to the scouting department and to the man who made the decision to hire the talent evaluators.
3) Nova did not appear to have many (any) other suitors this off-season. NH inked him to a very reasonable deal, both dollars and length of contract, and he has outperformed many free agents. In short, NH may have signed the free agent starter who offers the most return based on the amount expended.
4) The Bucs will always need to rely on young (read low cost) ballplayers. While some have not performed all that well, many have been real pluses to the Pirates.
Bell looks like a fixture at first and that the Pirates made the right decision to convert him to a first baseman. It also appears that the Pirates eased his transition into the majors at an appropriate pace.
Frazier has fallen off a bit lately, but he has been an asset on offense, albeit a bit more limited in the quality of his defense.
Osuana, who was not that heralded of a prospect, is performing well in fairly limited action. Quite a few big hits and he looks like he belongs in the majors. If he really can make the conversion to 3rd --- Wow!
Kuhl has had some rough starts, but I believe he has the stuff to be a good major league starter. While the results have not always been ideal, moving 3 new pitchers who are essentially rookies into the regular starting rotation in 1 season (Tallion, Williams, and Kuhl) and with Brault and potentially even Glasnow is a significant accomplishment.
In short, some things have gone really wrong this year, but hey, there are some positives as well, and our GM has helped to make the positives happen.
That said, the 'Theme' of this thread is Positive Thought. Thus, a few random positive thoughts, with some kudos to NH.
1) Did we really manage to trade a assistant pitching coach for at least 6 years of a controlled starting pitcher who appears to be no worse than a #4 starter? The Pirates may not have drafted Trevor Williams, but when Miami came calling it appears that our scouts unearthed a potential gem.
2) Did we really manage to acquire a shut down reliever who throws as high as 102 mph (repeat 102 mph), who has some really great secondary pitches, who is showing more control than in his past, and who regularly can pitch multiple innings and get out of jams? Oh, and he is a lefty to boot. And, he managed to obtain another longer term prospect with promise in the same transaction. Melancon was a very good reliever for the Pirates. If Rivero can continue to perform as he has this year he likely will be even better than Melancon, a pitcher who commanded a very large multi-year contract this off-season and one who has battled injury problems. Again, kudos to the scouting department and to the man who made the decision to hire the talent evaluators.
3) Nova did not appear to have many (any) other suitors this off-season. NH inked him to a very reasonable deal, both dollars and length of contract, and he has outperformed many free agents. In short, NH may have signed the free agent starter who offers the most return based on the amount expended.
4) The Bucs will always need to rely on young (read low cost) ballplayers. While some have not performed all that well, many have been real pluses to the Pirates.
Bell looks like a fixture at first and that the Pirates made the right decision to convert him to a first baseman. It also appears that the Pirates eased his transition into the majors at an appropriate pace.
Frazier has fallen off a bit lately, but he has been an asset on offense, albeit a bit more limited in the quality of his defense.
Osuana, who was not that heralded of a prospect, is performing well in fairly limited action. Quite a few big hits and he looks like he belongs in the majors. If he really can make the conversion to 3rd --- Wow!
Kuhl has had some rough starts, but I believe he has the stuff to be a good major league starter. While the results have not always been ideal, moving 3 new pitchers who are essentially rookies into the regular starting rotation in 1 season (Tallion, Williams, and Kuhl) and with Brault and potentially even Glasnow is a significant accomplishment.
In short, some things have gone really wrong this year, but hey, there are some positives as well, and our GM has helped to make the positives happen.
Positive Thought
456961666D4A7D6B7B080 wrote: I have generally supported NH's tenure as GM, although some of his moves this year have left me scratching my head. For example, going with only 2 real outfielders for much of the season, having what appeared to be an obsession with light hitting middle infielders (Gift, Gosselin, Moroff, Hanson, et al), and sticking with Glasnow when the results just weren't coming.
That said, the 'Theme' of this thread is Positive Thought. Thus, a few random positive thoughts, with some kudos to NH.
1) Did we really manage to trade a assistant pitching coach for at least 6 years of a controlled starting pitcher who appears to be no worse than a #4 starter? The Pirates may not have drafted Trevor Williams, but when Miami came calling it appears that our scouts unearthed a potential gem.
2) Did we really manage to acquire a shut down reliever who throws as high as 102 mph (repeat 102 mph), who has some really great secondary pitches, who is showing more control than in his past, and who regularly can pitch multiple innings and get out of jams? Oh, and he is a lefty to boot. And, he managed to obtain another longer term prospect with promise in the same transaction. Melancon was a very good reliever for the Pirates. If Rivero can continue to perform as he has this year he likely will be even better than Melancon, a pitcher who commanded a very large multi-year contract this off-season and one who has battled injury problems. Again, kudos to the scouting department and to the man who made the decision to hire the talent evaluators.
3) Nova did not appear to have many (any) other suitors this off-season. NH inked him to a very reasonable deal, both dollars and length of contract, and he has outperformed many free agents. In short, NH may have signed the free agent starter who offers the most return based on the amount expended.
4) The Bucs will always need to rely on young (read low cost) ballplayers. While some have not performed all that well, many have been real pluses to the Pirates.
Bell looks like a fixture at first and that the Pirates made the right decision to convert him to a first baseman. It also appears that the Pirates eased his transition into the majors at an appropriate pace.
Frazier has fallen off a bit lately, but he has been an asset on offense, albeit a bit more limited in the quality of his defense.
Osuana, who was not that heralded of a prospect, is performing well in fairly limited action. Quite a few big hits and he looks like he belongs in the majors. If he really can make the conversion to 3rd --- Wow!
Kuhl has had some rough starts, but I believe he has the stuff to be a good major league starter. While the results have not always been ideal, moving 3 new pitchers who are essentially rookies into the regular starting rotation in 1 season (Tallion, Williams, and Kuhl) and with Brault and potentially even Glasnow is a significant accomplishment.
In short, some things have gone really wrong this year, but hey, there are some positives as well, and our GM has helped to make the positives happen.
Good post. I truly believe that NH is a top five GM in baseball. He consistently has this team in contention with one hand tied behind his back financially. I'm pretty torqued off at the Pirates this year, but all in all, he's done pretty well. We also don't hear about the Liriano giveaway anymore, now that Liriano is struggling, as are McGuire and Ramirez. Regardless, kudos to NH. We've got a good one. I hope we keep him long term.
That said, the 'Theme' of this thread is Positive Thought. Thus, a few random positive thoughts, with some kudos to NH.
1) Did we really manage to trade a assistant pitching coach for at least 6 years of a controlled starting pitcher who appears to be no worse than a #4 starter? The Pirates may not have drafted Trevor Williams, but when Miami came calling it appears that our scouts unearthed a potential gem.
2) Did we really manage to acquire a shut down reliever who throws as high as 102 mph (repeat 102 mph), who has some really great secondary pitches, who is showing more control than in his past, and who regularly can pitch multiple innings and get out of jams? Oh, and he is a lefty to boot. And, he managed to obtain another longer term prospect with promise in the same transaction. Melancon was a very good reliever for the Pirates. If Rivero can continue to perform as he has this year he likely will be even better than Melancon, a pitcher who commanded a very large multi-year contract this off-season and one who has battled injury problems. Again, kudos to the scouting department and to the man who made the decision to hire the talent evaluators.
3) Nova did not appear to have many (any) other suitors this off-season. NH inked him to a very reasonable deal, both dollars and length of contract, and he has outperformed many free agents. In short, NH may have signed the free agent starter who offers the most return based on the amount expended.
4) The Bucs will always need to rely on young (read low cost) ballplayers. While some have not performed all that well, many have been real pluses to the Pirates.
Bell looks like a fixture at first and that the Pirates made the right decision to convert him to a first baseman. It also appears that the Pirates eased his transition into the majors at an appropriate pace.
Frazier has fallen off a bit lately, but he has been an asset on offense, albeit a bit more limited in the quality of his defense.
Osuana, who was not that heralded of a prospect, is performing well in fairly limited action. Quite a few big hits and he looks like he belongs in the majors. If he really can make the conversion to 3rd --- Wow!
Kuhl has had some rough starts, but I believe he has the stuff to be a good major league starter. While the results have not always been ideal, moving 3 new pitchers who are essentially rookies into the regular starting rotation in 1 season (Tallion, Williams, and Kuhl) and with Brault and potentially even Glasnow is a significant accomplishment.
In short, some things have gone really wrong this year, but hey, there are some positives as well, and our GM has helped to make the positives happen.
Good post. I truly believe that NH is a top five GM in baseball. He consistently has this team in contention with one hand tied behind his back financially. I'm pretty torqued off at the Pirates this year, but all in all, he's done pretty well. We also don't hear about the Liriano giveaway anymore, now that Liriano is struggling, as are McGuire and Ramirez. Regardless, kudos to NH. We've got a good one. I hope we keep him long term.
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ArnoldRothstein
Positive Thought
72415D5C5F57615C475B4047565A5D330 wrote:
The early 70s Pirates made the postseason 3 years in a row, then stumbled around for a year and a half. After 86 games in 1974, they found themselves 37-49, but righted to ship to go 51-25 the rest of the way, and clinch a weak division on the last day of the season.
The 1974 team had also gone off at this point, winning 10 of 11 to improve to 47-50 after 97 games. They were 3 games out of first place.
The early 70s Pirates made the postseason 3 years in a row, then stumbled around for a year and a half. After 86 games in 1974, they found themselves 37-49, but righted to ship to go 51-25 the rest of the way, and clinch a weak division on the last day of the season.
The 1974 team had also gone off at this point, winning 10 of 11 to improve to 47-50 after 97 games. They were 3 games out of first place.
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Bobster21
Positive Thought
6E66655244614649270 wrote: I truly believe that NH is a top five GM in baseball. He consistently has this team in contention with one hand tied behind his back financially. I'm pretty torqued off at the Pirates this year, but all in all, he's done pretty well. We also don't hear about the Liriano giveaway anymore, now that Liriano is struggling, as are McGuire and Ramirez. Regardless, kudos to NH. We've got a good one. I hope we keep him long term.
I agree NH does a good job considering the financial constraints he works under. I do, however, wish he would find a better manager than Hurdle. I don't necessarily agree that he has them consistently in contention but that's largely the result of the owner's unwillingness to spend. He was hired in 9/07. They had losing records thru 2012 and again in 2016 (when they finished 25 games behind). 2017 is just now getting interesting because the division has allowed the Bucs to be in contention at 49-48. There are years when that record would have them out of the race. But it's starting to get fun now. If they make moves now, let's hope it's to compete and not to save money.
I agree NH does a good job considering the financial constraints he works under. I do, however, wish he would find a better manager than Hurdle. I don't necessarily agree that he has them consistently in contention but that's largely the result of the owner's unwillingness to spend. He was hired in 9/07. They had losing records thru 2012 and again in 2016 (when they finished 25 games behind). 2017 is just now getting interesting because the division has allowed the Bucs to be in contention at 49-48. There are years when that record would have them out of the race. But it's starting to get fun now. If they make moves now, let's hope it's to compete and not to save money.
Positive Thought
Let's talk about how good Ell is. He's be walking away with the ROY in any year but this one...
Or how Taillon seems to have beaten cancer while remaining a good MLB pitcher....
Or how good Trevor has been, both on the mound and on the twittersphere....
Or how much fun it is to see the Cardinals falling apart.....
Or how awesome it is to see 73 throw 101 and then throw an 80 mph change....
Or despite his knuckleheadedness, how good it is to see Marte back, hopefully contrite and committed....
And how nice it is to see 22 smile, perform well and be in black and gold.
Or how Taillon seems to have beaten cancer while remaining a good MLB pitcher....
Or how good Trevor has been, both on the mound and on the twittersphere....
Or how much fun it is to see the Cardinals falling apart.....
Or how awesome it is to see 73 throw 101 and then throw an 80 mph change....
Or despite his knuckleheadedness, how good it is to see Marte back, hopefully contrite and committed....
And how nice it is to see 22 smile, perform well and be in black and gold.