What Will NH do first this offseason?

IABucFan · Post by **IABucFan** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 4:44 pm

0F322C212E242F0D2532232524400 wrote: The team has been continually making contract commitment to it's players to ensure they stay in Pittsburgh. (McCutchen, Marte, Polanco, Cervelli & Harrison). There are never going to be significant additions from FA, especially now with the massive cash infusion. It's going to be a slow process at times and the primary goal to maintain competitive is to keep bad contracts off the books. That basically means no large FA contracts because those have the highest likliehood of bad years tacked on to the end of the deals.

But their plan requires them to build and maintain a top farm system. I think the trades this past trade deadline also had a bit to do with an upcoming 40 man roster crunch (dealing Tarpley, Polo, McGuire and Ramirez). I'm pretty sure that the new CBA fixed the broken Intl system which had a built in incentive for teams with money to spend as much as possible in a given year, that probably explains why the Pirates were on the sideline (outrageous prospect prices, teams were spending massive amounts on the same prospect pools), but are now in a strong position to compete for top Intl talent in the upcoming years.

tldnr; I have no problem with their tact, there's no window for this team that they need to sell out to win in. They had a down year, but spending money wouldn't have changed that much. Last I checked the Dodgers haven't done **** with the billions they spent. And Cubs won despite that Heyward contract.

This is true...no amount of cash influx would have changed the down years from Cutch, Cole, Liriano, and Watson.

OrlandoMerced · Post by **OrlandoMerced** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:29 pm

It's interesting to me that both Pedro Alvarez and Matt Wieters are floating around the FA market and could be had for nothing (in baseball terms)

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 1:39 pm

Pedro I can understand, because he takes a special situation to fit right. But Weiters is supposed to be a decent catcher, and catchers are usually in demand. I'm guessing he's got salary demands that exceed what owners feel he's worth.

dogknot17@yahoo.co · Post by **dogknot17@yahoo.co** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 2:47 pm

I think it sucks having Jaso on the team right now. There are so many other guys available who can be bench and first base help. I prefer a power bat on the bench. I can't see Jaso starting many games with Bell and Freese. The other positions he is trying (3B and OF) the Pirates still have Freese for 3B and Frazier for the Outfield.

I think there is a better use for a $4 million bench player. There are guys out there that might take $5 - $6 million to back up and provide some pop in their bats.

UtahPirate · Post by **UtahPirate** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 2:50 pm

2E130D000F050E2C0413020405610 wrote: The team has been continually making contract commitment to it's players to ensure they stay in Pittsburgh. (McCutchen, Marte, Polanco, Cervelli & Harrison). There are never going to be significant additions from FA, especially now with the massive cash infusion. It's going to be a slow process at times and the primary goal to maintain competitive is to keep bad contracts off the books. That basically means no large FA contracts because those have the highest likliehood of bad years tacked on to the end of the deals.

But their plan requires them to build and maintain a top farm system. I think the trades this past trade deadline also had a bit to do with an upcoming 40 man roster crunch (dealing Tarpley, Polo, McGuire and Ramirez). I'm pretty sure that the new CBA fixed the broken Intl system which had a built in incentive for teams with money to spend as much as possible in a given year, that probably explains why the Pirates were on the sideline (outrageous prospect prices, teams were spending massive amounts on the same prospect pools), but are now in a strong position to compete for top Intl talent in the upcoming years.

tldnr; I have no problem with their tact, there's no window for this team that they need to sell out to win in. They had a down year, but spending money wouldn't have changed that much. Last I checked the Dodgers haven't done **** with the billions they spent. And Cubs won despite that Heyward contract.

This didn't get mentioned much in the discussions on this board. But I think this was probably a real consideration for especially McGuire and Rameriz.

Ecbucs · Post by **Ecbucs** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:09 pm

0726333A023B20332637520 wrote: The team has been continually making contract commitment to it's players to ensure they stay in Pittsburgh. (McCutchen, Marte, Polanco, Cervelli & Harrison). There are never going to be significant additions from FA, especially now with the massive cash infusion. It's going to be a slow process at times and the primary goal to maintain competitive is to keep bad contracts off the books. That basically means no large FA contracts because those have the highest likliehood of bad years tacked on to the end of the deals.

But their plan requires them to build and maintain a top farm system. I think the trades this past trade deadline also had a bit to do with an upcoming 40 man roster crunch (dealing Tarpley, Polo, McGuire and Ramirez). I'm pretty sure that the new CBA fixed the broken Intl system which had a built in incentive for teams with money to spend as much as possible in a given year, that probably explains why the Pirates were on the sideline (outrageous prospect prices, teams were spending massive amounts on the same prospect pools), but are now in a strong position to compete for top Intl talent in the upcoming years.

tldnr; I have no problem with their tact, there's no window for this team that they need to sell out to win in. They had a down year, but spending money wouldn't have changed that much. Last I checked the Dodgers haven't done **** with the billions they spent. And Cubs won despite that Heyward contract.

This didn't get mentioned much in the discussions on this board. But I think this was probably a real consideration for especially McGuire and Rameriz.

was there really a roster crunch? The Pirates have filled all 40 spots but several of them are marginal. (Josh Lindblom for example).

mouse · Post by **mouse** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:17 pm

The minor league reports are showing a lot of pitchers arriving at the AA and AAA level. There are questions of how they get playing time for them all, and how they fit the ones they need onto the 40-man roster.

OrlandoMerced · Post by **OrlandoMerced** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:50 pm

System depth has grown a lot recently. Indy was basically an all prospects team last season, when that happens, you start to have to keep more prospect type guys on the 40 man that you can't add and drop when you want to.

Leyland1948 · Post by **Leyland1948** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 5:37 pm

MLB Trade Rumors stating the Pirates are pushing the hardest for Quintata. If so that will meant a loss of some of the prospects.

dogknot17@yahoo.co · Post by **dogknot17@yahoo.co** » Tue Dec 27, 2016 5:45 pm

624B57424F404A1F171A162E0 wrote: MLB Trade Rumors stating the Pirates are pushing the hardest for Quintata. If so that will meant a loss of some of the prospects.

Or McCutchen in a three way deal.

Nervous about this one. Of the players being rumored, I don't want to lose McCutchen or Meadows. I am on the fence with Glasnow, due to depth.