OnlyBucs

Bucs



1. Oneil Cruz (L) SS

2. Bryan Reynolds (S) CF

3. Andrew McCutchen (R) RF

4. Carlos Santana (S) 1B

5. Ji-Man Choi (L) DH

6. Ke'Bryan Hayes (R) 3B

7. Connor Joe (R) LF

8. Ji Hwan Bae (L) 2B

9. Austin Hedges (R) C

Vince Velasquez (R) SP



Reds



1. Jonathan India (R) 2B

2. TJ Friedl (L) CF

3. Jake Fraley (L) LF

4. Tyler Stephenson (R) C

5. Jason Vosler (L) 1B

6. Wil Myers (R) DH

7. Spencer Steer (R) 3B

8. Will Benson (L) RF

9. Kevin Newman (R) SS

Graham Ashcraft (R) SP

Why is Joe starting against a righty? Suwinski is already tired and needs a rest?

HR for Reynolds!

Can't win very many games when only scoring 1 run!! :-/

0B3530382B333338183D2A396E5C0 wrote: Can't win very many games when only scoring 1 run!! :-/
3-21 RISP for the series. Same old same old, can't deliver big hit.

Holy mackarel.

3 of 21 hitting with RISP.



It's the story of the Pirates for the last 8 years.



Well, and no starting pitching.



And no power.



And no fundamentals.

“We faced some pretty good pitching,” Shelton said. “The top of the rotation for the Reds is pretty good, with (Hunter) Greene, (Nick) Lodolo and Ashcraft. They have good stuff."



This is my point and it drives me crazy.



1. Every season we hear this over and over, again and again, about how "the other pitcher" was great, fantastic, just too good, etc. Even if the pitcher entered the game with a 5.29 ERA. They always are "too good" for the Pirates.



2. But my bigger point is this ... the Reds apparently have 3 decent arms at the top of their rotation. And the Reds are terrible. No manager is going to say anything similar about the Pirates ... because our rotation is so dreadful. Out of 162 games this year, how many times will be other team have the clear advantage in starting pitching for that particular game? I'd guess 100+ times. And how many times will the Pirates have the clear starting pitcher advantage? I'd guess maybe 20 times? That is NOT a good business model entering a long season.

7153405D5E5B5C53704751515D320 wrote: “We faced some pretty good pitching,” Shelton said. “The top of the rotation for the Reds is pretty good, with (Hunter) Greene, (Nick) Lodolo and Ashcraft. They have good stuff."



This is my point and it drives me crazy.



1. Every season we hear this over and over, again and again, about how "the other pitcher" was great, fantastic, just too good, etc. Even if the pitcher entered the game with a 5.29 ERA. They always are "too good" for the Pirates.



2. But my bigger point is this ... [highlight]the Reds apparently have 3 decent arms at the top of their rotation.[/highlight] And the Reds are terrible. No manager is going to say anything similar about the Pirates ... because our rotation is so dreadful. Out of 162 games this year, how many times will be other team have the clear advantage in starting pitching for that particular game? I'd guess 100+ times. And how many times will the Pirates have the clear starting pitcher advantage? I'd guess maybe 20 times? That is NOT a good business model entering a long season.


do you think Mitch Keller would be the number 4 starter on the Reds?

1B392A37343136391A2D3B3B37580 wrote: “We faced some pretty good pitching,” Shelton said. “The top of the rotation for the Reds is pretty good, with (Hunter) Greene, (Nick) Lodolo and Ashcraft. They have good stuff."



This is my point and it drives me crazy.



1. Every season we hear this over and over, again and again, about how "the other pitcher" was great, fantastic, just too good, etc. Even if the pitcher entered the game with a 5.29 ERA. They always are "too good" for the Pirates.



2. But my bigger point is this ... the Reds apparently have 3 decent arms at the top of their rotation. And the Reds are terrible. No manager is going to say anything similar about the Pirates ... because our rotation is so dreadful. Out of 162 games this year, how many times will be other team have the clear advantage in starting pitching for that particular game? I'd guess 100+ times. And how many times will the Pirates have the clear starting pitcher advantage? I'd guess maybe 20 times? That is NOT a good business model entering a long season.
I think it was due more to the fact that those Reds pitchers were facing a team that is unlikely to hit well against any pitching. Acquisitions Cutch (over the hill), Santana (way, WAY over the hill), Hedges (never able to hit), Choi & Joe (marginal hitters at best) are all below average hitters at this point. As were Suwinski (.202) and Castro (.233) last year. After his incredible 24-game hot streak to begin his career in 2020, Hayes has hit .247 since. That's more consistent with his career AAA BA of .264. There is hope for Cruz and Reynolds but little else.



What we see is what we get. It seems legitimate to hope for big things from Cruz and Reynolds. But for the rest, I don't know that we can hope for anything more than a rise to mediocrity. And for most of them, that's probably asking too much. Are aging, declining players supposed to have bounce back years? Are below average hitters supposed to become average or above? Are players who never showed much ability to hit supposed to suddenly develop into productive hitters? I just can't look at this roster and see where the hitting is supposed to come from?