Nova to Start Today vs Cubs

fjk090852-7 · Post by **fjk090852-7** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:06 pm

Hurdle announced after the Saturday loss that Nova will start today against the Cubs. Even though Kingham has a losing record he has pitched better than his record indicates. I would not send him back to Indy, but my guess is he will draw the short straw and get sent back to AAA.

CarolinaBucco · Post by **CarolinaBucco** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:26 pm

Kingham has certainly been more effective than Nova has recently, and it's not particularly close.

Of course it doesn't really matter who's pitching when your offense is scoring about 1 run per game ... on a good day.

DemDog · Post by **DemDog** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:40 pm

4F4342191019111C1B041E290 wrote: Hurdle announced after the Saturday loss that Nova will start today against the Cubs. Even though Kingham has a losing record he has pitched better than his record indicates. I would not send him back to Indy, but my guess is he will draw the short straw and get sent back to AAA.

My guess is that Kingham goes back to Indy so he can stay on schedule incase he is needed for a spot start or after Nova blows up again today Nova is put on the DL and then Kingham comes back up to the Burgh.

dmetz · Post by **dmetz** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:42 pm

Kingham should not be sent to AAA for Nova. That's ridiculous (but I understand, this is the Pirates). He must continue to get ML innings.

In his very small sample of outings, he is THE ACE of the staff. JT included. (3.35 FIP 5.00 SO/W, 8.9 SO/9)

I doubt they send Kingham down, I mean come on ::)

SCBucco · Post by **SCBucco** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:05 pm

Kingham is one of our five top most competent starters we have. Nova isn't.

SteadyFreddy · Post by **SteadyFreddy** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 3:10 pm

The Pirates really need to start winning games very very soon or this season is gong to be irrelevant pretty much come the end of June maybe even before then as far as the standings and any kind of playoff talk are concerned. They are already 8 games out in the division which I think is pretty much done, and starting to slip more and more in the wildcard standings as they are now 6 games out there as well.

Plus, you aren’t going to contend for anything with a record under .500 and the Pirates are right there now and if they don’t get that turned around soon and get back over .500 when there is still a chance then they are going to be done. I didn’t expect t them to keep the 26-17 pace they were on back in mid May but I didn’t expect a complete free fall like this either going 5-16 in their last 21 games. It’s been a complete disaster these last 3 weeks and it better turn around soon or this season is basically over.

DemDog · Post by **DemDog** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 3:34 pm

If we can't send down Kingham because of his performance who do we send down? Nova stays because of his contract. Kuhl stays because he has not been really bad, Brault going down would take a lefty out of the pen, Glasnow, I just don't know about him. He is on and off and is showing signs of being more of a setup guy or closer in the future. So maybe they send him down there to work on what it takes to be the setup guy or closer. Anyone else will shorten the BP and I would rather do that for a good bench player who can hit than another arm.

Looks like the TBMTIB is between a rock and a hard place here. Of course they could just release Nova and eat the money but that will not be done due to the money and the fact that the team is not re-building.

NJBucsFan · Post by **NJBucsFan** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 3:43 pm

The team just tweeted that Kingham has indeed been optioned.

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 5:06 pm

And they optioned Frazier and brought up Stallings - that certainly is suggestive. Apparently that foul ball yesterday was more serious than I was hoping.

dmetz · Post by **dmetz** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 5:49 pm

0A2B230A21294E0 wrote: If we can't send down Kingham because of his performance who do we send down? Nova stays because of his contract. Kuhl stays because he has not been really bad, Brault going down would take a lefty out of the pen, Glasnow, I just don't know about him. He is on and off and is showing signs of being more of a setup guy or closer in the future. So maybe they send him down there to work on what it takes to be the setup guy or closer. Anyone else will shorten the BP and I would rather do that for a good bench player who can hit than another arm.

Looks like the TBMTIB is between a rock and a hard place here. Of course they could just release Nova and eat the money but that will not be done due to the money and the fact that the team is not re-building.

How about Mike Feliz and his 7 ERA? He's turned back into a pumpkin again and again doesn't look like a major league reliever. Very disappointing to me. I though he was going to end up back in the minors when we acquired him based on his numbers, but then he fooled me for 20 innings and looked really quite good. Back to a pumpkin big time. Send him down.

It is a sad, embarrassing move to demote Kingham yet again while sporting the best performance metrics of ALL starters on this baseball team. He deserves to stay, and WE deserve him to stay.

This organization, it's ownership, and its leadership are an embarrassment to professional sports. The only positive is that it's very likely not the WORST and MOST EMBARRASSING, but it's d@mned frusterating being trapped into Pirate fandom These guys are flat out LOSERS and they operate like it. Losers, losers, losers. losers losers.