Official Game Thread - 9/13 - Bucs vs Nats

[Bobster]

We had 'em all the way!

[Doc]

Un-freaking-believable. I can’t believe he got out of that. I hope Shelton gives Bednar three days off. Bucs win, Bucs win.

[Wildwoodcoach]

It's never easy!!
RAISE IT!!

[Surgnbuck]

The defensive geniuses that are Williams and Rivas, combined with the elite closer were just toying with us

[Wildwoodcoach]

Win #68

[Doc]

The defensive geniuses that are Williams and Rivas, combined with the elite closer were just toying with us

Not only can either contribute offensively, but both aren’t so good defensively that they’re much help on that side of the ball, either. They’ve been given more than enough of a chance to prove they can’t play well enough at the big league level. We all see it. Neither will be here next year. There’s absolutely no reason either should ever see the field again in 2023.

[Surgnbuck]

I have seen nothing from Williams that tells me defensively he's anything more than "adequate" at short. Rivas is clearly just glove, and that's it. He doesn't have the game instincts that we enjoyed watching with Santana. The drop off is remarkable, and the fact neither of those guys hit, I agree, they have no business being here next year, and quite honestly, I think their auditions should end now.

Bring Gonzales back up, and let Triolo man first. I know Connor Joe ends up getting lost in the shuffle, but he can still play the OF, and there's always the DH to pass around to get guys some AB's.

Capra needs to go with Rivas and Williams too, btw. And I just know, I'm going to the game tomorrow, and I'm going to see Williams at SS, and wouldn't surprise me to see Capra starting. I'd like to see Gonzales brought back up, and bring up a couple other guys like Nunez, CSN, whoever. They have plenty of room on the 40 man, because Williams, Capra, and Rivas are easy calls to DFA.

Priester probably gets sent back down to bring up a bullpen arm I'm predicting.

[Doc]

It's odd the way BC has been managing the roster over the past month or so. I can't wrap my head around why some of these guys are not only here, but are playing way too much. Good organizations wouldn't be doing this. The whole second half of this season was about introducing the core of the future to big league baseball in preparation for the next several years. It's almost like there's been a change in plans to return to losing intentionally in order to get a higher draft pick. That's failed, too, as we're about eighth or ninth in line now. Are we ever going to do anything right?

[Wildwoodcoach]

Exactly doc. I keep hearing that Gonzales is doing quite well since he has been down.
Makes no sense

[Bobster]

Exactly doc. I keep hearing that Gonzales is doing quite well since he has been down.
Makes no sense

One constant in the Cherington regime has been an apparent lack of valuing playing time. IMHO, they are placing so much emphasis on analytics, that they undervalue gaining experience through repetition. Michael McKenry alluded to this in a podcast when he said the Pirates don't seem to consider the psyche of players when sitting them down because the analytics suggests they should have scheduled days off. Players want to play. They all say that regular playing time is the best way to improve. And the Pirates have a lot of young players who need to improve through repetition at the MLB level.

But the Pirates do the opposite. The lineup--both the order and positions--changes daily. Players like Rivas, Williams and Capra (and previously Mathias and Owings) who aren't part of the team's future play while Peguero or Bae sit or Gonzales languishes at AAA. As if it doesn't matter who plays and who doesn't. It's hard to imagine any player feeling confident about being in the lineup from one day to the next regardless of performance. And they aren't getting better by sitting on the bench.

This team will at most have 2 players with 500 ABs but it's not certain Hayes will get there. Suwinski will barely reach 400 as would have Cutch if he had not been injured. Bae should end up with 300+ along with Joe. It seems clear that Cherington's roster management suggests he puts little value on the benefits of playing regularly. But I guess he's the smartest guy in the room with a stack of charts and graphs from his computer geeks telling him how to run a team.