OnlyBucs

123F32232435226261500 wrote: Personally, I think Huntington is elite.  I'm "meh" on FC, and tired of Nutting.  But, I think Huntington is a gem.  Is he the best GM in baseball?  Debatable.  But, I'd definitely put him top 5.  Why he stays in Pittsburgh is beyond me.  I've got to believe there are plenty of other teams with more resources who would love to have a guy like NH.  He's made some head-scratching trades, but generally, he has fielded a competitive team.  This year is the first in the last six that we weren't mildly competitive.



2011 we were in the pennant race until Jerry Meals decided he was tired and wanted to go home.



2012 we were 63-47 after 110 games.



2013-15 we made the playoffs.



Even last year, we were half a game out of the Wild Card and even in the loss column until some time in August.



All that on a shoestring budget and being unable to even consider adding a guy like Scherzer.
I think you are giving NH way too much credit. Not because I think he is bad but because I think he is severely hamstrung by an edict from Nutting to not spend money. So it's hard to know what he could do otherwise. I don't think any GM could do well when forced to maintain one of MLB's lowest payrolls every single year. I guess we won't know his true ability until he leaves the the Pirates and gets a real GM job with an owner who truly wants to win. I suspect he could be a good GM if he actually had the chance.




This is why I give Huntington all of this credit. He is performing on a terribly, low budget. How does a huge budget demonstrate how good of a GM one is?



I want to see Theo Epstein take over the Rays, Royals, or Pirates. Not two teams that have all the money in the world. Why do you think Huntington has an easier task with a low budget? He turned around 20 years, has competed for five years and made the playoffs three years in a row?

654845545342551516270 wrote: Personally, I think Huntington is elite.  I'm "meh" on FC, and tired of Nutting.  But, I think Huntington is a gem.  Is he the best GM in baseball?  Debatable.  But, I'd definitely put him top 5.  Why he stays in Pittsburgh is beyond me.  I've got to believe there are plenty of other teams with more resources who would love to have a guy like NH.  He's made some head-scratching trades, but generally, he has fielded a competitive team.  This year is the first in the last six that we weren't mildly competitive.



2011 we were in the pennant race until Jerry Meals decided he was tired and wanted to go home.



2012 we were 63-47 after 110 games.



2013-15 we made the playoffs.



Even last year, we were half a game out of the Wild Card and even in the loss column until some time in August.



All that on a shoestring budget and being unable to even consider adding a guy like Scherzer.
I think you are giving NH way too much credit. Not because I think he is bad but because I think he is severely hamstrung by an edict from Nutting to not spend money. So it's hard to know what he could do otherwise. I don't think any GM could do well when forced to maintain one of MLB's lowest payrolls every single year. I guess we won't know his true ability until he leaves the the Pirates and gets a real GM job with an owner who truly wants to win. I suspect he could be a good GM if he actually had the chance.




Agreed, which is why I think it is so remarkable that he took a franchise with one of the worst--if not the worst--farm systems in baseball, in the midst of an historic string of losing seasons, to being competitive for the last six years, making the postseason in three of them.



If NH had the budget of even a team like the Brewers or Cards, he'd be mentioned in the same breath as Epstein and Beane. The fact that he actually likes it here and reportedly signed an extension is remarkable to me. I'm totally serious...I think NH is a top 5 GM in baseball. If he were running a big market team, heck a medium market team, heck a small market team that didn't handcuff him as much as ours does, he'd have a World Series ring by now.



Whether or not you think they got lucky in acquiring Burnett, Liriano, Martin, Melancon, Happ, etcétera when no one else wanted them, NH and his staff saw talent where no one else did. Problem is, as we're seeing this year, that doesn't always work.

707971606E140 wrote: The season was likely over once it was established that Kang wasn't getting a visa.    The season was over for sure with Marte's suspension.



but we had a .500 ish baseball team with them both.   no doubt about it.   So realistically, the season was over on opening day unless moves were made and we got lucky.  We didn't have a team rostered with any margin for error and there are errors in baseball.    



The self-inflicted Kang and Marte situation is not the FO's fault.   I'll be extremely EXTREMELY generous and say full year Kang, 1/2 year marte is worth a 10 game swing.    



Therefore a .500 team loses 91.  which is going to happen.  


This is a good point. They couldn't have foreseen the problems with Kang, Marte, and Taillon. But, they COULD have, and SHOULD have foreseen problems with SOMEONE. It's professional sports. People get injured. The fact that our issue (so far) hasn't been injuries but rather stupidity is beside the point. It's why you have a plan B, plan C, maybe even a plan D.



We all lamented how thin the rotation was at the start of the year. Many of us said they were an injury away from having a disaster on their hands in the rotation. They couldn't have known Marte would get suspended, but he's been injury prone. So has Polanco. What was the contingency plan if either had a season ending injury?



As for Kang, again, can't fault them for his stupidity. And, honestly, as far as back up third basemen go, Freese is about as good as you're going to find. It's not like the Rockies were going to give us Arenado for a couple of AA relievers. So, I'll give them a pass on the Kang situation.

I don't think teams build for season ending injuries. Sure, they happen, but are still pretty rare. How many key players (starters) lost their season so far in 2017?



Injured players come back. They only miss a short period. Many teams can replace a player for 10 days. Not many teams can replace 81 or 162 games of their best players.



I am still convinced if Kang and Marte were on this team, they would be in first place. So many bad (real bad) players took their at bats and their gloves (outfield) instead of them. It wasn't too long ago their replacements were batting a little over .200 in 500 some at bats.

414A424E4B4A511412655C444D4A4A0B464A250 wrote:



Injured players come back.  They only miss a short period.  Many teams can replace a player for 10 days.  Not many teams can replace 81 or 162 games of their best players. 






Maybe not, but I mean come on--they can have an idea that they want a fourth outfielder (I mean REAL outfielder). 



Or, you know, five pitchers.

72404C4C586A49404D484740210 wrote:



Injured players come back.  They only miss a short period.  Many teams can replace a player for 10 days.  Not many teams can replace 81 or 162 games of their best players. 






Maybe not, but I mean come on--they can have an idea that they want a fourth outfielder (I mean REAL outfielder). 



Or, you know, five pitchers.


The 4th outfielder got hurt (he is now back). The 5th outfielder had to play 3B (he is now at 2B).



Five pitchers? None of them got hurt. One was already replaced.

212A222E2B2A317472053C242D2A2A6B262A450 wrote:



Injured players come back.  They only miss a short period.  Many teams can replace a player for 10 days.  Not many teams can replace 81 or 162 games of their best players. 






Maybe not, but I mean come on--they can have an idea that they want a fourth outfielder (I mean REAL outfielder). 



Or, you know, five pitchers.


The 4th outfielder got hurt (he is now back).  The 5th outfielder had to play 3B (he is now at 2B). 



Five pitchers?  None of them got hurt.  One was already replaced.


The bench to start the season was Stewart, Hanson, Gosselin, Jaso and Frazier. Frazier (LF) and Jaso (4th OFer) had to become outfielders by necessity. Both had very little experience. When Marte was lost, a first baseman (Osuna) was called up to be a reserve outfielder. Harrison can play OF but he's a starting infielder and has started only 5 games in the OF. So they are making do but never really had a legit 4th outfielder.

When Jaso was bad, they had no other option. Jaso was probably fine in spring training, but was really exposed when he was starting almost every game.



Yeah, they thought Jaso could fill in if there was an injury for a few games or get a start out there here and there. When he wasn't hitting (or fielding), they had no other options as Harrison had to cover for an infield injury.



We don't here much about outfield defense anymore. Is it because Jaso and Osuna are hitting? McCutchen too? We do here about Polanco's bad defense now. Weird, huh?

444F474B4E4F541117605941484F4F0E434F200 wrote: When Jaso was bad, they had no other option.  Jaso was probably fine in spring training, but was really exposed when he was starting almost every game. 



Yeah, they thought Jaso could fill in if there was an injury for a few games or get a start out there here and there.  When he wasn't hitting (or fielding), they had no other options as Harrison had to cover for an infield injury.



We don't here much about outfield defense anymore.  Is it because Jaso and Osuna are hitting?  McCutchen too?  We do here about Polanco's bad defense now.  Weird, huh?
We hear about bad outfield defense when they make a bad play, especially if it costs a game. Thankfully, that hasn't happened recently. Altho Osuna looked pretty bad in LF last week when he was too slow to get to a couple catchable hits that dropped in. I recall the game announcers charitably noting on those plays that he wasn't used to playing out there.

Jaso has gotten a little better out there. Some.



But he should have never have been in that situation in the first place. And I'm a Jaso defender--heck, I started that "he's not as bad as he seems" post back when he was hitting like .120 or whatever. ;D