OnlyBucs

1. Kevin Newman (R) SS

2. Adam Frazier (L) 2B

3. Melky Cabrera (S) RF

4. Jose Osuna (R) 1B

5. Pablo Reyes (R) CF

6. Jacob Stallings (R) C

7. Jake Elmore (R) LF

8. Erik Gonzalez (R) 3B

9. Joe Musgrove (R) P



Reynolds not in there. Sore hammy. Let him sit the rest of the season and injure himself any further. Hopefully these last 4 games will see the end of any era in Pirateland. Goodbye NH and CH. Now if only Bottom Line Bob would sell and complete the end of the era totally.

How nice it was to see the Pirates scrubs sweep the Cubbies scrubs.

I was surprised to hear the praise for Eric Gonzales. Hard to tell when it's Blass and Block, but it sounded from them as though he might be a piece going forward. I had sort of written him off after the poor offensive start.

686A707660050 wrote: I was surprised to hear the praise for Eric Gonzales. Hard to tell when it's Blass and Block, but it sounded from them as though he might be a piece going forward. I had sort of written him off after the poor offensive start.


10 game hitting streak right now. Tough season for him with the early bad injury and then not getting any consistent playing time when he came back. Now that he's getting consistent ABs he's shown a lot more potential.



I think his future depends on what we do with Frazier in the offseason. Frazier has had a really good second half and would have some value to the right team. Does he stick around with Newman at SS? Or is he a trade piece for some type of pitching? Gonzalez at SS and Newman at 2B in 2020? Who knows? Whatever happens with the front office, I think this will probably be the most interesting offseason we've had for awhile.



And in a season that's been so down, can I just say that I think we showed something by sweeping the Cubs. Yes Possum, you are right, our scrubs beat their scrubs last night. But they came to town needing wins to stay in the race. And after getting blasted by them in Chicago, we outscored them 22-9 in this series and at least showed a little pride. I say good for us. Something was at stake when this series started for the Cubs, and we denied them. It felt pretty good to me.

I like good defense. I think it makes pitchers a lot better, and so have been really impressed with Gonzales at third. I do agree that a lot will depend on what they decide with Frazier going forward.

Since the Bucs will only be pretenders for any kind of championship (other than the worst team in MLB) for the next several years and we have some kids who have not proven themselves like Tucker and Hayes perhaps my misgivings about keeping Gonzalez around might be short-sighted. Trading Frazer? What will he bring? Will he be a pot sweetener in a trade of some major talent? All of this will depend though on who is leading Bucs FO. Heaven forbid it is HN and FC. Is there anyway some one could inject Bottom Line Bob with some oil to make him losen up his wallet and eat the contracts of the current FO an also be a player in some decent FA this off season.

I've been assuming Gonzalez will be gone rather than offer him arbitration since they will have cheaper options as bench players. But Frazier is also eligible for arbitration next year. They are currently making about the same salary ($584,000 for Frazier and $577,000 for Gonzalez). But Frazier will get the larger salary in arb because he has been a starter and his fewest ABs in a season (146 in 2016) is more than Gonzalez' career high in ABs (136 in 2018). Which means Frazier has played much more and has a much better case in arb. So while I can't see Gonzalez getting a nice pay hike to be a sub, I can certainly see him getting less of a raise than Frazier to take over 2B.



There are 9 Pirates due for arbitration next season: Frazier, Gonzalez, Bell, Taillon, Musgrove, Kuhl, Williams, Kela and Diaz. So Nutting will surely be looking to cut costs wherever possible.



Subtracting Cervelli, Chisenhall, Vazquez, Dickerson, Kang, Cabrrera and Lyles shaves off about 33.5 million from the 2020 payroll (based on what they would have paid all of those players for a full season this year). Raises due Marte and Archer take up a combined 2.6 million. So if they don't want to increase payroll next year they will have 31 million or less to pay the players due arbitration as well as any additions to the roster. I expect Diaz to be replaced by a veteran catcher (but at this point I don't know who would be available). Bell, Taillon, Musgrove, Kuhl, Williams and Kela all figure to return as well as probably one of Frazier or Gonzalez. In Cole's first year of arb he got a raise of over 3 million. So having that many players eligible for arb will significantly cut into what they will save from the players who won't return. So I suspect we will see only one of Frazier or Gonzalez.

557875646372652526170 wrote: I've been assuming Gonzalez will be gone rather than offer him arbitration since they will have cheaper options as bench players. But Frazier is also eligible for arbitration next year. They are currently making about the same salary ($584,000 for Frazier and $577,000 for Gonzalez). But Frazier will get the larger salary in arb because he has been a starter and his fewest ABs in a season (146 in 2016) is more than Gonzalez' career high in ABs (136 in 2018). Which means Frazier has played much more and has a much better case in arb. So while I can't see Gonzalez getting a nice pay hike to be a sub, I can certainly see him getting less of a raise than Frazier to take over 2B.



There are 9 Pirates due for arbitration next season: Frazier, Gonzalez, Bell, Taillon, Musgrove, Kuhl, Williams, Kela and Diaz. So Nutting will surely be looking to cut costs wherever possible.



Subtracting Cervelli, Chisenhall, Vazquez, Dickerson, Kang, Cabrrera and Lyles shaves off about 33.5 million from the 2020 payroll (based on what they would have paid all of those players for a full season this year). Raises due Marte and Archer take up a combined 2.6 million. So if they don't want to increase payroll next year they will have 31 million or less to pay the players due arbitration as well as any additions to the roster. I expect Diaz to be replaced by a veteran catcher (but at this point I don't know who would be available). Bell, Taillon, Musgrove, Kuhl, Williams and Kela all figure to return as well as probably one of Frazier or Gonzalez. In Cole's first year of arb he got a raise of over 3 million. So having that many players eligible for arb will significantly cut into what they will save from the players who won't return. So I suspect we will see only one of Frazier or Gonzalez.      


So if Arb 1 players are turning into a problem for the Pirates....

Looks like Pirates are headed toward a ~$13,750,000 payroll (~$550,000x25).



I’d say we should be there about 2022.