OnlyBucs

I'm starting to get a gut feeling that this team is going to be not just bad, but really bad. Maybe not historically bad ... but last-place and non-competitive bad.



And management/ownership is going to get what they deserve ... since they have CHOSEN not to even attempt to improve the team, and to just sit there and DO NOTHING without a No. 5 starter (since they gave one of our starters away) and without a major league SS, even though multiple, veteran options were available.



So is this team going to have any actual strengths?



Hitting ... no



Power ... ZERO



Baserunning ... hahaha that's funny.



Defense ... Ah, no.



Starting Pitching ... Maybe a decent core of 3, four if we're lucky. But NO ONE beyond that. Literally no one. You need at least 6-7 legit starting arms going into a season. The Pirates have 3 or 4. Like I said ... a disaster-in-waiting.



Bullpen ... A chance to be very good. A chance. I'll believe it when I see it.



So that's it. A decent rotation (maybe) and an plus bullpen (maybe).



Nothing else.



Sounds like 66-96 to me ... which is exactly what ownership/management deserves.

IMHO I think last place is almost all but assured even if they win 10-12 more games than you predict. The division is tough and the Reds have certainly made moves to improve--something the Pirates had no interest in doing.



As far as being competitive, I think the 2 WC format gives teams and their fans false hope. There are fans who look at the Pirates last year as being competitive. Everyday they checked the WC standings to see where the Bucs were placed. But in a 161-game season, they spent 54 days below .500 and another 10 just at .500. They were 66-71 on September 2 and still a game under .500 as late as September 15. On Sept 15 the "competitive" Pirates were 73-74 and only 5 NL teams had a worse record. They closed strong in a clear case of too little, too late going 10-5 to finish with 82 wins. But even that surge left them 8.5 games out of the 2nd WC spot and 5.5 games behind the next best non-qualifier (St.L). And only not making up a rainout put them a half game ahead of AZ and Wash who finished at 82-80. Not only were the Pirates never a threat to replace the Cubs or Rockies as a WC team but they weren't even a threat to unseat St.L as the next runner up. Yet NH and CH will remind us that the Pirates were "in the hunt" and fans will gear up for another daily watch of the WC standings as if the Pirates just narrowly missed out last year and could get over the hump this year despite the FO's apparent disinterest in improving the team in the off season. IMHO, just being mentioned in the WC discussion as a team that could possibly get there if they could somehow start winning consistently while all the teams ahead of them started losing consistently does not make them a legitimate contender.

I love baseball. But, more particularly, I love the Pirates and have followed them since the mid-60's.



Usually, by this time of year, I become increasingly excited about the beginning of the season.



This year, I find myself having to try to manufacture the enthusiasm. When the Bucs traded for both Archer and Kela last year at the trade deadline and appeared to change course by being willing to deal top prospects, I thought that this off-season may see them continuing to try and strengthen the team. But, that clearly has not been the case, and the Bucs are entering the upcoming season with a boatload of question marks.



Sadly, I believe the initial comments in this thread are spot-on.

The team has more weaknesses than strengths, and the other teams in the Division and many others in the NL are stronger than they were last year. The Pirates need everything to go right this year to even be competitive and the odds of that happening appear really limited. Further, in looking to the minors, only Keller and maybe Tucker appear to have any chance of helping the ML team this year. And, looking for Polanco to return as a beast rather than the league average player that he has been to date appears to be really wishful thinking.



I sure hope that I am wrong, but I am preparing to brace myself for a long uneventful year of Pirate baseball.

I too am beginning to take a negative view towards this season. I was just listening to the Morning guys on 93.7 The Fan who spent last week at Bradenton and they commented on the Pirates lack of infield defense, and their concern about the lack of offensive punch. It is so upsetting that the FO did not upgrade their defense and hitting this offseason after making those two big trades at the deadline last July. If the Pirates do have a poor season I wonder if they would dismiss Hurdle, and replace him with Prince or Bannister.

4844451E171E161B1C03192E0 wrote: I too am beginning to take a negative view towards this season. I was just listening to the Morning guys on 93.7 The Fan who spent last week at Bradenton and they commented on the Pirates lack of infield defense, and their concern about the lack of offensive punch.


These are all things that were the case last year as well, though.  I do not see much reason to believe there will be great improvement, but people saying they are going to lose so many more games are being just as unrealistic IMO.



All of the the negatives mentioned here were already built into our season from last year.  These are not things that are drop-offs that should make us lose that many more games.  Of course it could happen, but lots of things could happen.  They could win 95.  I could find a big pile of money out in the woods tonight. 

The pisser is that the major holes were SS and a 5th starter (a hole they created by trading Nova) and they did nothing to address them.



Hopefully Gonzales can hit .250 with good defense. If not, let's call up Cole Tucker in July. I have no hope for Newman.



What they're doing with the 5th starter is criminal. Gio is out there and can be had for not much. Or sign Keuchel for whatever he's asking and your payroll is still under $100M for the year.

They had a SS who was dependable, maybe with not extra range, but made all the necessary plays. He signed with the Tigers for 5.25 million. Not that much in baseball salary terms. I liked Mercer while he was here, and I think they are going to miss his .250 average and his steady infield play.

We have the same roster, essentially.



Mercer's 2018 production on both sides of the ball was bad. We really going to be worse there with Gonzalez? Comparable, worst case.



JHay's 2018 production at 2b was abysmal. Frazier going to be worse there overall? Doubt it.



Polanco was decent overall but streaky, can Chisenhall cover up some of that? Pretty likely.



marte still here

Dickerson still here

Kang back (lets assume he does nothing)

Moran still here

Cervelli still here

Bell still here. he going to be worse than 2018? Doubt it.



Hard to think a team with the same players is going to be significantly worse or significantly better

3834356E676E666B6C73695E0 wrote: They had a SS who was dependable, maybe with not extra range, but made all the necessary plays. He signed with the Tigers for 5.25 million. Not that much in baseball salary terms. I liked Mercer while he was here, and I think they are going to miss his .250 average and his steady infield play.


Interesting. I think Mercer was one of the worst starting shortstops in baseball last year. a backup playing as a starter.



Why would we miss a .250 batting average? Gonzalez has a .263 Career average and that's playing irregularly.

4E474F5E502A0 wrote: We have the same roster, essentially. 



Mercer's 2018 production on both sides of the ball was bad.   We really going to be worse there with Gonzalez?   Comparable, worst case.



JHay's 2018 production at 2b was abysmal.    Frazier going to be worse there overall?  Doubt it. 



Polanco was decent overall but streaky, can Chisenhall cover up some of that?   Pretty likely.



marte still here

Dickerson still here

Kang back (lets assume he does nothing)

Moran still here

Cervelli still here

Bell still here.  he going to be worse than 2018?  Doubt it.   



Hard to think a team with the same players is going to be significantly worse or significantly better


I view the team as having a high floor, but a low ceiling. The carryover from last year provides them with the strong floor. Strong starting rotation (not sure where this idea that teams' have 6-7 solid starters is coming from). Deep bullpen, and some competent lineup pieces. Marte, Dickerson and Cervelli are all professional hitters. Frazier looks like an upgrade over Harrison and Chisenhall will be productive when healthy. Between Moran, Kang and Hayes, someone will emerge at 3B this year, and Tucker could potentially win the SS job, that just leaves Bell, who's uncertainty risk is going to have an outsized impact on this team's competitiveness. The bat has to makeup for the bad defense.