OnlyBucs

Everyone but Polanco and Bell is lost at the plate.

the starters are terrible and I have no faith in Hurdle to manage the bullpen in the state it’s in.



We’re going 3-8 at best.

Does the organization get a pass with all the injuries?



BTW - watching Big Joe Musgrove implode for a second straight game has totally destroyed any faith I had left. 3-8 may be generous.  I predict the Reds will pass the Pirates during this  stretch. 

4E495F57594E09057C5B515D5550125F53513C0 wrote: Does the organization get a pass with all the injuries?



BTW - watching Big Joe Musgrove implode forcs second straight game has totally destroyed any faith I had left. 3-8 may be generous.  I predict the Reds will pass the Pirates during this  stretch. 


I don't see how they can get a pass because of injuries. Melky has done well as one replacement as has Reynolds. Tucker has not done much worse than Gonzo.



Bell has performed better than ever before.



Pitching was thin, you had to be a little concerned about Burdi and Kela coming into the season just based upon previous history (Kela shutdown in September). Rich R. is disappointing, as are Kang and Cervelli. Chisenhall has not played a lot the past couple of years. Dickerson's injury was not predictable. So far Lyles even goes in the good column.



I don't look at the start of this season as everything going wrong. Some players are performing well and others aren't. Unfortunately, the Bucs need almost everyone to perform well to win consistently.



The injuries to Taillon and Archer really haven't had that long of time to make an impact. I could see those being a prime cause for the season to go down the toilet over the next few weeks.

4E495F57594E09057C5B515D5550125F53513C0 wrote: Does the organization get a pass with all the injuries?



BTW - watching Big Joe Musgrove implode for a second straight game has totally destroyed any faith I had left. 3-8 may be generous.  I predict the Reds will pass the Pirates during this  stretch. 


Not a pass, now injuries have played a role but we knew before the season that they had zero starting pitching depth and that was before they traded Nova. 



Position players-wise I think they made an honest attempt to cover their bases (or rather the outfield).  Bullpens come and go as we all know, but I think it's reasonable to think they had a good number of options there even if one or two went down. 



The fault is lack of numbers in the Starting Pitching department.  It's not like this is hindsight--many of us were saying this all offseason.

7A4844445062414845404F48290 wrote: Does the organization get a pass with all the injuries?



BTW - watching Big Joe Musgrove implode for a second straight game has totally destroyed any faith I had left. 3-8 may be generous.  I predict the Reds will pass the Pirates during this  stretch. 


Not a pass, now injuries have played a role but we knew before the season that they had zero starting pitching depth and that was before they traded Nova. 



Position players-wise I think they made an honest attempt to cover their bases (or rather the outfield).  Bullpens come and go as we all know, but I think it's reasonable to think they had a good number of options there even if one or two went down. 



The fault is lack of numbers in the Starting Pitching department.  It's not like this is hindsight--many of us were saying this all offseason.
I agree. But I would add that they also went into the season very thin in the infield. They realized last year that Moran was not adequate defensively and lacked the power they hoped for. So they gave the 3B job to Kang, who hadn't played in nearly 2 years and struck out a ton in ST. So now Kang is hitting .135 while striking out once for every 3 ABs. And Moran, hitting .230, now looks like the better option by default. And when Kang starts, Moran, known for his lack of range, is the new super utility player. At SS, they let Mercer go after apparently deciding via a SSS last year that Newman wasn't the answer. So they traded for a marginal utility infielder to start at SS. So after injuries, Tucker, with only 13 AAA games under his belt, is the starting SS even when Newman is healthy. And Gonzalez was barely adequate, if that, when healthy. The Pirates did well to add OF depth but didn't seem to have much interest in adding to INF or SP depth.

614C41505746511112230 wrote: Does the organization get a pass with all the injuries?



BTW - watching Big Joe Musgrove implode for a second straight game has totally destroyed any faith I had left. 3-8 may be generous.  I predict the Reds will pass the Pirates during this  stretch. 


Not a pass, now injuries have played a role but we knew before the season that they had zero starting pitching depth and that was before they traded Nova. 



Position players-wise I think they made an honest attempt to cover their bases (or rather the outfield).  Bullpens come and go as we all know, but I think it's reasonable to think they had a good number of options there even if one or two went down. 



The fault is lack of numbers in the Starting Pitching department.  It's not like this is hindsight--many of us were saying this all offseason.
I agree. But I would add that they also went into the season very thin in the infield. They realized last year that Moran was not adequate defensively and lacked the power they hoped for. So they gave the 3B job to Kang, who hadn't played in nearly 2 years and struck out a ton in ST. So now Kang is hitting .135 while striking out once for every 3 ABs. And Moran, hitting .230, now looks like the better option by default. And when Kang starts, Moran, known for his lack of range, is the new super utility player. At SS, they let Mercer go after apparently deciding via a SSS last year that Newman wasn't the answer. So they traded for a marginal utility infielder to start at SS. So after injuries, Tucker, with only 13 AAA games under his belt, is the starting SS even when Newman is healthy. And Gonzalez was barely adequate, if that, when healthy. The Pirates did well to add OF depth but didn't seem to have much interest in adding to INF or SP depth. 


I agree that I would have liked another infielder like Asdrubal or someone, but that isn't fatal like the rotation issue is.

The Pirates run differential after last nights massacre is now -41. It’s a miracle this team is 17-17 after 34 games with a run differential that big. If that doesn’t change and change soon the losses are really gonna start to pile up. You can’t have that huge of a gap in your run differential and expect to be a winning team and compete it’s just not gonna happen.

What's weird is that entire run differential can be accounted for *almost* by just three games. The 10-0 Cubs game with Newman's multiple errors in one inning, the 14-run drubbing in the first A's game, and last night's 17-run beatdown vs. the Cardinals.

The game tonight is big because you don’t want to go down 0-2 in a four game series on the road. You could win one of the final two games, but still you lost 3 out of 4. Not good!

707C7D262F262E23243B21160 wrote: The game tonight is big because you don’t want to go down 0-2 in a four game series on the road. You could win one of the final two games, but still you lost 3 out of 4. Not good!


Most most importantly, we need innings.