OnlyBucs

For whatever reason it seemed the Pirates had a really difficult time getting a timely hit. If they got the bases loaded and no one out, it got to where I figured the inning was over. If you don't have the home run guy, you need the timely hit.

282A303620450 wrote: For whatever reason it seemed the Pirates had a really difficult time getting a timely hit. If they got the bases loaded and no one out, it got to where I figured the inning was over. If you don't have the home run guy, you need the timely hit.
Exactly. Without HRs, timely hits are the primary requirement. But in the case of the Pirates, that's particularly difficult. Since no team will get timely hits whenever they need them, they need to increase the opportunities. The more runners you get on base, the more chances for a timely hit. But only the Padres had fewer total hits in 2017 than the Pirates. Only 3 NL teams had a worse team OBP. The Pirates not only struggled to get timely hits, they struggled to get any hits at all. Cutch had the Pirates' best BA at a meager .279. If you lack power, you have to compensate by having players who hit and get on base. The Pirates had neither.

It's no secret that our hitting was bad, for sure.  Almost everyone was worse than we were hoping/expecting/whatever you want to say, except for maybe Bell.



Not to go all "Bull Durham" and pretty different topic, but yesterday I started thinking about the difference between good and bad teams.  It's not very large at all.  There are about 26 weeks in a baseball season.  For all the Pirates' faults, had they managed just one more win every two weeks (almost an unnoticable increase when you're in the heat of the season) we would have been 83-74 and sniffing the race.  One game the other day and you're looking at a historically bad season. 



This isn't to defend the Pirates--in an 162 game season true talent level comes out.  Just a little thought about the super narrow the difference between good and bad is in baseball.  "Timely hitting" probably one of them. 

I certainly want more power because that should result in more runs. That list shows the teams that have power but also shows which stadiums are launching pads. There were a number of reasons for reduced power last year that are mentioned above. However, the real difference isn't power but pitching. In 2015 the team ERA was 3.21 with a total of 596 runs given up as compared to 4.22 with 731 total runs given up in 2017. Granted increased power of other teams may have contributed to the ERA increase but I think it is more that the pitching has declined.

Im no expert in sabremetrics or whatever they use these days, but what would measure the benefits of having a player like Chris Carter? Does he do more damage striking out 200+ times or hitting 50 bombs?

6E79747070747E762E1D0 wrote: Im no expert in sabremetrics or whatever they use these days, but what would measure the benefits of having a player like Chris Carter?  Does he do more damage striking out 200+ times or hitting 50 bombs?


Aaron Judge led the league in HRs, Strike Outs and getting on base the most.



An out is an out to me. I know more can happen when the ball is put in play, but you can be a very productive player while striking out a lot.

7D767E7277766D282E596078717676377A76190 wrote: There was a shift for some reason to on base guys vs the long ball hitters.  Guys like Pedro Alvarez and Chris Carter had a hard time finding a team and playing time.



Losing Alvarez, Walker, and Kang was a big blow to the HR stat for the Pirates over the years.  Their replacements didn't produce the power.



I always thought you either hit HRs and drive in runs or you get on base and score runs as a player.  You have to do one or the other. 
I think Alvarez and Carter are bad examples. In their cases it wasn't merely an issue of preferring "on base guys" to power hitters. Carter's HRs came with a steep price. He is a career .217 hitter who's never hit better than .239 and twice topped 200 Ks. He's far from a normal power hitter. He's a dead spot in the batting order when he's not homering. Dave Kingman was a similar type and got moved from team to team 8 times because his lack of anything but HRs was problematic. And Kingman at least hit .236 for his career (which is bad), hit over .265 5 times and never K'd more than 156 times. Carter is way worse than Kingman. Pedro had power but not nearly as much as Kingman. His career BA of .238 is about the same as Kingman without the great fluctuations, generally staying in that .230-.245 range. His K's are a problem but that improved the last couple years. But his extreme inability to play acceptable defense represents a steep price unless he's a DH. And AL teams now seem to prefer DHs who are versatile enough to play the field at times without hoping nothing is hit or thrown to them. There are a lot of power hitters but few with the problems that come with Carter and Alvarez.

242F272B2E2F347177003921282F2F6E232F400 wrote: Im no expert in sabremetrics or whatever they use these days, but what would measure the benefits of having a player like Chris Carter?  Does he do more damage striking out 200+ times or hitting 50 bombs?


Aaron Judge led the league in HRs, Strike Outs and getting on base the most. 



An out is an out to me.  I know more can happen when the ball is put in play, but you can be a very productive player while striking out a lot. 


Walks are the missing part of the equation. You can deal with the Ks if they get on base other ways. Adam Dunn struck out all the time but he got a ton of walks, so it was NBD he was always hitting .200

497B77776351727B76737C7B1A0 wrote: Im no expert in sabremetrics or whatever they use these days, but what would measure the benefits of having a player like Chris Carter?  Does he do more damage striking out 200+ times or hitting 50 bombs?


Aaron Judge led the league in HRs, Strike Outs and getting on base the most. 



An out is an out to me.  I know more can happen when the ball is put in play, but you can be a very productive player while striking out a lot. 


Walks are the missing part of the equation.  You can deal with the Ks if they get on base other ways.  Adam Dunn struck out all the time but he got a ton of walks, so it was NBD he was always hitting .200


It's not just the walks. Aaron Judge batted .284 this year. Cutch led the Pirates at .279. It's a lot easier to live with Judge's 208 Ks when he's also one of your best overall hitters as well as your best power hitter. Willie Stargell was like that. Willie had 475 career HRs and a .282 BA.