OnlyBucs

Top 30 free agents, per Jon Heyman, with possible destinations:



https://nypost.com/2022/11/03/major-lea ... ee-agents/



The article doesn't connect the Pirates to any of them. Some familiar names:



Tyler Anderson 3/$50 million

Jameson Taillon 4/$60 million

Jose Quintana 2/$25 million

Josh Bell 3/$51 million

Looking at the teams that are in contention for these players, one would think there are only 16 teams comprising Major League Baseball again.  The fact that only about half of the franchises will contend to sign these players indicates the inequalities that exist.



Yeah, Nutting’s a problem.  A big problem.  But he’s not going away.  The Pirates can certainly afford some of those players, like Taillon, for example.  But we’re all fairly certain they’ll be non participants in the free agent market.  If Baseball doesn’t change in order to put all of the franchises on equal footing, and force someone like Nutting to be a real owner, the Pirates will remain as they are:  schedule fillers.

6335233738223239342311363C30383D7F32510 wrote: Looking at the teams that are in contention for these players, one would think there are only 16 teams comprising Major League Baseball again.  The fact that only about half of the franchises will contend to sign these players indicates the inequalities that exist.



Yeah, Nutting’s a problem.  A big problem.  But he’s not going away.  The Pirates can certainly afford some of those players, like Taillon, for example.  But we’re all fairly certain they’ll be non participants in the free agent market.  If Baseball doesn’t change in order to put all of the franchises on equal footing, and force someone like Nutting to be a real owner, the Pirates will remain as they are:  schedule fillers.
Unfortunately doc, you are right

Let the market reign.



The market will tell BOB what to do and not do.  For every person who's complained to me about BOB's unwillingness to land big fish, I have three more who complain about over-paid baseball players and tell me that the Pirates should "play the kids."



The list of teams that generally don't sign many veteran FAs:



Tampa until recently

Cleveland

Kansas City

Pittsburgh



And, Oakland fluctuates.



The problem's with these clubs, not the other 25.



Most have made it their business models to focus mostly on internally-developed talent.  Like it or not, the 25 competitors aren't going to dictate to the five how to run their operations. 



The large market Milwaukee Brewers club goes about things their way.  BOB and the Pirates have chosen to take another route, and that's his prerogative.

1025323239003232393E32570 wrote: Let the market reign.



The market will tell BOB what to do and not do.  For every person who's complained to me about BOB's unwillingness to land big fish, I have three more who complain about over-paid baseball players and tell me that the Pirates should "play the kids."



The list of teams that generally don't sign many veteran FAs:



Tampa until recently

Cleveland

Kansas City

Pittsburgh



And, Oakland fluctuates.



The problem's with these clubs, not the other 25.



Most have made it their business models to focus mostly on internally-developed talent.  Like it or not, the 25 competitors aren't going to dictate to the five how to run their operations. 



The large market Milwaukee Brewers club goes about things their way.  BOB and the Pirates have chosen to take another route, and that's his prerogative.


You are right with those four and Oakland. But lets look at this another way, Tampa and Cleveland do a hell of a job developing players. They always have internal candidates and if they need someone they get a decent role player. Oakland was that same franchise as the other two until recently. They have unloaded basically every good player on their roster absent Brown and Murphy.



Pittsburgh and KC are the outliers really.

I'll go along with that.



The bulk of these teams' payroll usually goes toward keeping their talent rather than acquiring guys after they've left other teams. We saw Cleveland open the vault for Jose Ramirez.



Oakland has gone back to being frugal because of never-ending stadium issues.



Teams of all cities have plenty of money. No one expects a team to go out and sign 25 players for huge amounts. All can afford a couple. It's just that some clubs are more conservative than others. Our owner prefers internal development over other sources, and I don't see how competitors should be expected to force him to change.

131 guys became free agents yesterday:



https://www.mlbplayers.com/post/131-pla ... gents-2022

Chad Kuhl, Trevor Williams, Jameson Taillon from long in the Bucs system along with Jose Quintana and Tyler Anderson from recent dumpster dives.



Would that be a better starting rotation then Contreras, Keller, Brubaker, Oviedo, and Ortiz?

123433262F2334222A410 wrote: Chad Kuhl, Trevor Williams, Jameson Taillon from long in the Bucs system along with Jose Quintana and Tyler Anderson from recent dumpster dives.



Would that be a better starting rotation then Contreras, Keller, Brubaker, Oviedo, and Ortiz?


It would at least make for a good discussion. I’d take Anderson for sure. Quintana would be a big chance not knowing if he can duplicate what he did in ‘22. Taillon has been such a hard luck pitcher his whole career but I think he’d be a nice addition to the current Pirates rotation. I’d not be willing to bring back either Williams or Kuhl.



I really like Contreras, Keller’s improvement was a nice surprise, and I was encouraged by what Oviedo and Ortiz showed in their few starts. I think Brubaker has earned more starts. The guys in the rotation showed promise and growth, now they need to show they can keep the team in games consistently over 162 games.

Chris Archer is available once again, as is Miguel Sano. Remember when he was an amateur youth and was thought to be the next great player, and how the Pirates somehow screwed-up in signing him when it was thought they had him all locked up? Other than a couple of good HR seasons, he was mostly pedestrian.