OnlyBucs

I have scoured the Internet and haven't found a single rumor about the Pirates adding to their 2020 team, except some less than impressive returns for our most saleable commodity, Starling Marte. MLB Trade Rumors omits the Pirates as it discusses possible suitors for Kole Calhoun.



I don't have to count Hector Noesi, do I?



If all of the best FA catchers get snapped up*, I'm going to boycott PNC in 2020. I'm not interested in supporting a team that won't spend anything to field a competitive team. I know that some here want a <60 win season and a number #1 draft choice. If it were football, where such a pick would practically guarantee future stardom, I would yield the point. But baseball picks are almost never such a sure thing.



Come on, Ben, give us something to talk about!



*A trade for Reese McGuire would also be more than acceptable!

I was preparing to post something in this same vein.



I was ready to stoop so low as to suggest trading the Never Ask Man just to let us know that the new front office still has a pulse at these meetings.



To date, nearly all of the action appears to be surrounding free agents with even the very lesser tier players now being offered contracts. So, perhaps the Marte market has not yet jelled.



At this point, acquiring Reese McGuire would be big time news.



Be patient, hope for the best, but be prepared to be really disappointed.

This is the Pirates. Nothing has changed. You could tell this with the comments from Nutting, Williams and Cherrington. They won't be aggressive on the free agent front even though there are quite a few good matches within their money structure. I'm glad Cherrington is there this year instead of NH though. In the unlikely event Marte is trade, I think he engineers a better return. Not sold anything good comes of this and expecting a 65-win ball club or worse based on what I see.

Blake Trienen (sp) just lands a 1 year $10 mil contract.



Hard to imagine what Vasquez may have been worth on this market. Vasquez clearly had his demons and his actions likely will land him in prison, but I sometimes feel like this franchise is cursed.

123E36313A1D2A3C2C5F0 wrote: Blake Trienen (sp) just lands a 1 year $10 mil contract.



Hard to imagine what Vasquez may have been worth on this market.  Vasquez clearly had his demons and his actions likely will land him in prison, but I sometimes feel like this franchise is cursed. 


If NH wasn't steadfast on getting Lux from the LAD instead of asking for XXX and YYY, he wouldn't have been our problem. He isn't our problem now, but the Pirates wasted a great asset and failed to unload at the right time.

4959586F7979751A0 wrote: Blake Trienen (sp) just lands a 1 year $10 mil contract.



Hard to imagine what Vasquez may have been worth on this market.  Vasquez clearly had his demons and his actions likely will land him in prison, but I sometimes feel like this franchise is cursed. 


If NH wasn't steadfast on getting Lux from the LAD instead of asking for XXX and YYY, he wouldn't have been our problem.  He isn't our problem now, but the Pirates wasted a great asset and failed to unload at the right time.


Agreed. But Vazquez was worth a Lux return.

Had that trade happened and Vazquez did not have the criminal issues; I believe that the Dodgers not the Nats win the World Series

517477776249747C7E691B0 wrote: Blake Trienen (sp) just lands a 1 year $10 mil contract.



Hard to imagine what Vasquez may have been worth on this market.  Vasquez clearly had his demons and his actions likely will land him in prison, but I sometimes feel like this franchise is cursed. 


If NH wasn't steadfast on getting Lux from the LAD instead of asking for XXX and YYY, he wouldn't have been our problem.  He isn't our problem now, but the Pirates wasted a great asset and failed to unload at the right time.


Agreed. But Vazquez was worth a Lux return.

Had that trade happened and Vazquez did not have the criminal issues; I believe that the Dodgers not the Nats win the World Series


But we didn't need Lux. We needed a C prospect which the LAD had and May or another starting pitching prospect. Those two pieces were needed more than Lux.

So ... SD is making a push for Marte despite them adding Pham. I'm seeing two sickening names - Hedges and Myers. Hedges can't hit and Myers is on the decline and sucks.



Cherrington better get Campusano and Baez for his best asset.



In addition, Frazier to Oakland might be in the works for the A's 21st ranked prospect, Heim, a defensive minded catcher that starts in AAA this year.

I suspect what's happening is teams are seeing what additions they can make for free (that is, since prospects are now so highly valued, what they can get by only parting with free-agent dollars, not prospects). Once that is settled, the focus will shift more to trades. Hopefully BC is laying the groundwork for that sort of move and we'll see something in the next few weeks. And by something, I mean something positive.

They'll almost certainly get something out of Rule 5. Every new exec has someone they love from the old organization who wasn't getting any traction there.