OnlyBucs

I was hoping the Pirates would be .500 after April and that was assuming Kang played some and Marte was playing too. They are two games under .500 at 11-13.



I know some think the season is over, but not according to the standings. The Pirates are two games back of the first place Cubs. Of course, the Pirates are in the toughest division with all the teams within two games of each other.



This is a big week. The Reds are faltering and just went 2-8 in their last ten games. The Brewers are 5-5 in their last ten games and are still hanging around. The Pirates can pull away a little bit and at least distance themselves from the Reds. The Brewers have the Cardinals for four games.



Let's Go Bucs.

On the surface 11-13 is not good.



But considering the circumstances I have to say I'm actually surprised -- pleasantly surprised -- with 11-13.



I also have no idea how this team has managed to win 11 games.



No Kang. No Marte. Lately no Freese. Glasnow has been a mess. Cutch average. Polanco below average. The bullpen is nothing special. The defense is HORRENDOUS. The baserunning is bad. The schedule has been difficult.



How in the world is this team 11-13?



Anyway, I'll take it. If this team can just somehow continue to hang around, maybe things will eventually click and they can get on a roll.

pretty tough sched they played as well



Yanks

Red Sox

Cards

Cubs for 6 games

Yep, that's why I thought a .500 April would be a bonus. The Reds were in first place when the Pirates played them too.



The Pirates were 9-16 in April in 2014.



I am more concerned with the all of these injuries. Freese, Frazier and now Cervelli (Diaz is with the team today). I hope Kuhl is ok, but he did have some swelling.

6C4E5D404346414E6D5A4C4C402F0 wrote: On the surface 11-13 is not good.



But considering the circumstances I have to say I'm actually surprised -- pleasantly surprised -- with 11-13.



I also have no idea how this team has managed to win 11 games.



No Kang. No Marte. Lately no Freese. Glasnow has been a mess.  Cutch average. Polanco below average. The bullpen is nothing special. The defense is HORRENDOUS. The baserunning is bad. The schedule has been difficult.



How in the world is this team 11-13?




It's a very good question.



I give a lot of the credit to Clint Hurdle. He has consistently gotten more wins out of his rosters (at least during his time with the Pirates) than I expected in just about every season.



When a team wins more games than expected in a single season, sometimes that can be chalked up to a fluke. When a team seems to win more games than they should every year and it's the same manager? Then I think that manager is doing a very good job.

Cubs lost. Cardinals lost. Pirates lost. Brewers won. Reds won.



Cubs 13-12

Brewers 14-13

Reds 12-13

Cardinals 12-13

Pirates 11-14

Depth was going to be an issue for this team, and all the things that have happened in the first month have been tests to that. There were several conditions for this team, one was Cole, Taillon and Nova, that's the only one that's held. The offense was supposed to be led by McCutchen, Marte, Kang and Polanco. That's obviously fallen apart. Bullpen has been erratic and the bottom of the rotation has been a minus.



I wouldn't mind if they just decided to sell, the only concern is, if you do sell and try to rebuild for 2018, do they have any idea what they will have in Kang and Marte?

7A4759545B515A785047565051350 wrote: Depth was going to be an issue for this team, and all the things that have happened in the first month have been tests to that.  There were several conditions for this team, one was Cole, Taillon and Nova, that's the only one that's held.  The offense was supposed to be led by McCutchen, Marte, Kang and Polanco.  That's obviously fallen apart.  Bullpen has been erratic and the bottom of the rotation has been a minus. 



I wouldn't mind if they just decided to sell, the only concern is, if you do sell and try to rebuild for 2018, do they have any idea what they will have in Kang and Marte?


I'm starting to think it is hard to anticipate who is going to play well. Outfield is now all disappointing from what I expected it to be in 2015 for example

These first few weeks of the season have been so frustrating. The loss of Marte and the Kang situation has depleted the offense dramatically. Even if we had one of them the Bucs would have had at least three more wins. Teams like the Mets and Giants who were preseason favorites to play in the postseason have encountered injuries and a team like the Bucs which were on the bubble for postseason play could have possibly gained a little ground on them if they had Marte and Kang available. The Bucs are 0-4 vs the Reds and will probably lose again tonight since Glasnow cannot control the running game.

It's very hard to imagine that this team will get on a hot streak at any point. Too little power, too few runs scored, too many errors, to many below average players being shuttled in and out of the lineup.