Nick Martini Designated By Oakland

fjk090852-7 · Post by **fjk090852-7** » Tue Aug 27, 2019 3:08 am

Martini has had success in the minors, and hit well for Oakland last year, so he could be a possibility as a fourth outfielder next year. He does not have much power, but has had success against right handed pitchers. He also has two options remaining.

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Tue Aug 27, 2019 9:52 am

I would like to see them focus first on pitching and see if they can work something out there. Then catching. Diaz (subjective guessing only) will be better next year than this. He’s a good back-up catcher, but he’s never (in my mind) been good enough to be a regular catcher. Fourth outfielders I would put further down the line of priority. Given management’s urge to be one of the lowest payroll teams, they really have to prioritize how they spend money to get the most out of it.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:31 pm

With the Pirates now opting for 13 pitchers, that leaves a catcher and 3 others on the bench. So they prefer versatile players. Osuna can play OF, 1B and 3B. Reyes can play infield and OF. Next year Frazier could return to an inf-of if Kramer takes over 2B or Newman moves to 2B with Tucker at SS. And Will Craig is playing some RF in AAA. Martini has played a little 1B in AAA but is mainly an outfielder. I suspect they will stay with their internal, more versatile options for the bench.

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Tue Aug 27, 2019 2:56 pm

I would think so as well. If nothing else, those options would be cheaper than signing someone from the outside (who likely isn't much better than someone internally).

DemDog · Post by **DemDog** » Tue Aug 27, 2019 3:06 pm

You know we the fans seem to have a disease. It's called BMTIBB Disease. What are we saying is that we want to go out and sign a guy who will be nothing more than a bench player. What has happened to the need to address our player problems with good young prospects rather than bench prospects?

NJBucsFan · Post by **NJBucsFan** » Wed Aug 28, 2019 1:37 pm

04252D042F27400 wrote: You know we the fans seem to have a disease. It's called BMTIBB Disease. What are we saying is that we want to go out and sign a guy who will be nothing more than a bench player. What has happened to the need to address our player problems with good young prospects rather than bench prospects?

I think another aspect of this disease, is that the moment a young player starts doing well (Bell, Vasquez, etc), we start thinking about their return in trade rather than how much fun it could be to watch them for years to come.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:55 pm

1F1B1324322217303F510 wrote: You know we the fans seem to have a disease. It's called BMTIBB Disease. What are we saying is that we want to go out and sign a guy who will be nothing more than a bench player. What has happened to the need to address our player problems with good young prospects rather than bench prospects?

I think another aspect of this disease, is that the moment a young player starts doing well (Bell, Vasquez, etc), we start thinking about their return in trade rather than how much fun it could be to watch them for years to come.
The "disease" is with the owner. The fans are merely reacting to that. We know all too well from following the team for years that we will not be witnessing the acquisition of star players (because they cost more than he will pay) and that the best players they manage to acquire will be moved before they become free agents (because they cost more than he will pay). The spin to the fans from TBMTIB is always to look forward to a future year, never the current year. So we can enjoy watching players like Bell and Vazquez but we are all too aware that they will never be part of a great team because the owner will never surround them with enough other talented players (because that costs more than he will pay) before he moves them to avoid paying them (to maximize profits). This leaves the fan base with little more to look forward to than what cheap players they can presently acquire and what can they get fore their best players when it's time to dump their salaries. It's a sad state of affairs for the fans but it's the unavoidable reality of being a Pirate fan.

skinnyhorse · Post by **skinnyhorse** » Wed Aug 28, 2019 6:36 pm

17363E173C34530 wrote: You know we the fans seem to have a disease. It's called BMTIBB Disease. What are we saying is that we want to go out and sign a guy who will be nothing more than a bench player. What has happened to the need to address our player problems with good young prospects rather than bench prospects?
Problem is NH is such a poor evaluator of talent he wouldn't know it if he had one take for instance Bryan Reynolds. He wasn't even on NH's radar, if it hadn't been for the injury rash all at once he would still be rotting in the minors. Such a disaster we have running baseball operations in the Burg. He is almost 25 should have been up 2 years ago. How many more are down there and he just doesn't know it.

fjk090852-7 · Post by **fjk090852-7** » Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:23 pm

Padres must think Martini can help them because he was claimed by them today. They even have a bunch of outfielders, but they must see something which intrigues them.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:34 pm

5A56570C050C04090E110B3C0 wrote: Padres must think Martini can help them because he was claimed by them today. They even have a bunch of outfielders, but they must see something which intrigues them.
The Pirates were intrigued by Jake Elmore at one time this year. Teams take flyers on guys all the time but it doesn't necessarily mean it was a mistake for other teams not to.