The Pirates lost a tough one last night, falling 1-0 to the defending World Champion Chicago Cubs despite a brilliant game pitched by staff ace Gerrit Cole. Despite putting up a wonderful effort that included 8 strikeouts, no walks, and only 2 hits over 7 innings, Cole took the very hard luck loss due to a double and a throwing error that allowed the Cubs Addison Russell to score the game's lone run. The Pirate bats could offer no support at all for their starter, and the loss dropped Cole to 1-3 on the season and the Pirates to a last place record of 8-12, 4 games under .500 and 4 behind the division leading Cubs.
Weak hitting. Poor fielding. Wasted opportunities.
Ladies and Gentlemen- Your 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates!
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
The Ghost of K-dro
Just a quick hit here, the Pirates logic was they could not afford to bring back former 1st round pick Pedro Alvarez because they just could not find a position for him in the field, he lacked the range and arm to play 3rd base and the brains and positioning to play 1st. The errors in the field were just too costly to a (supposed) contending team, so they just had to cut bait and non-tendered him before last season, fielding integrity being just so important to this team. (Nothing at all with him being an upcoming free agent who could hit for power and therefore demand extra $$$, nope not that at all, it was all about his defense)
Fast forward to the 1st 19 games of the 2017 season. The Pirates lead Major League baseball with a 19 errors, 1 per game. How much worse could the fielding possibly be with Pedro manning 1st base (or an outfield spot now that Marte is serving out his suspension?)The answer is, it couldn't. You literally cannot do worse than last place in the league in a category and that is where the Pirates are at, rock bottom. Last place in their division. Last place in team errors. And how much better would this lineup look with Pedro's undeniable power in it?
This is not so much about Pedro, the admittedly flawed player. This is about him bringing something to the team that nobody else currently does, a legitimate pure power hitter. You know what he is from his time here: A liability in the field. Too many strikeouts. An average that is only going to be around .250. And, of course, around 25-30 homeruns per 160 games.
That line would most certainly look better from the plate than any combination of Josh Bell, John Jaso, and whatever other scrap heap replacement players they plug in at 1st this year. Look, Pedro wasn't going to be a savior, and there was a reason we dubbed him Kdro early on here. But when he did get hot, he was a legit scary weapon that Jaso never was and Bell likely never will be.
What is actually super frustrating as a fan is that he would have been relatively affordable to keep, but the organizational philosophy is what ended his career here with no return at all on a 1st round investment beyond his arbitrational eligible years. He is currently only making $2M and in AAA in the Orioles organization learning to play the outfield. They see the value in his bat and are trying to make it work out. The Pirates played up his flaws to the fanbase and showed him the door instead of paying to keep him around. They actually non-tendered him and let him go for nothing instead of working to fix him game, finding a spot for him, and reinvesting in him. They plug in cheap bad replacement guys and chug along. It is a formula for continued losing, and that is what we are seeing once again.
Fast forward to the 1st 19 games of the 2017 season. The Pirates lead Major League baseball with a 19 errors, 1 per game. How much worse could the fielding possibly be with Pedro manning 1st base (or an outfield spot now that Marte is serving out his suspension?)The answer is, it couldn't. You literally cannot do worse than last place in the league in a category and that is where the Pirates are at, rock bottom. Last place in their division. Last place in team errors. And how much better would this lineup look with Pedro's undeniable power in it?
This is not so much about Pedro, the admittedly flawed player. This is about him bringing something to the team that nobody else currently does, a legitimate pure power hitter. You know what he is from his time here: A liability in the field. Too many strikeouts. An average that is only going to be around .250. And, of course, around 25-30 homeruns per 160 games.
That line would most certainly look better from the plate than any combination of Josh Bell, John Jaso, and whatever other scrap heap replacement players they plug in at 1st this year. Look, Pedro wasn't going to be a savior, and there was a reason we dubbed him Kdro early on here. But when he did get hot, he was a legit scary weapon that Jaso never was and Bell likely never will be.
What is actually super frustrating as a fan is that he would have been relatively affordable to keep, but the organizational philosophy is what ended his career here with no return at all on a 1st round investment beyond his arbitrational eligible years. He is currently only making $2M and in AAA in the Orioles organization learning to play the outfield. They see the value in his bat and are trying to make it work out. The Pirates played up his flaws to the fanbase and showed him the door instead of paying to keep him around. They actually non-tendered him and let him go for nothing instead of working to fix him game, finding a spot for him, and reinvesting in him. They plug in cheap bad replacement guys and chug along. It is a formula for continued losing, and that is what we are seeing once again.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Marte Partay Suspended Indefinitely
Just a quick hit here with some updates on how badly things have gotten for our Battling Buccos since our last update last August (dedicated fans don’t always make for dedicated bloggers and I do have a family, a personal life, and an actual championship contending Hockey team to keep me busy most days).
The great (cost controlled) Center Fielder of the present and future Starling Marte was pinched for abusing the hardcore steroid nandrolone, a substance easily detectable by basic drug testing that stays in the system for months or even years and the head of infamous BALCO labs considered the “Kiss of Death” for tested athletes. Marte will be out 80 games (and more importantly if by chance this misfit squad gets that far, be ineligible for postseason play).
Obviously the Pirates are not in charge of what Marte puts into his body and cannot be blamed for their guy getting nicked by the piss police. However, the loss of one of their best young players for such a significant chunk of time puts yet another dark cloud onto the already stormy horizon of this season and beyond. Jung Ho Kang, the once promising Korean infielder is also still missing as he battles legal troubles surrounding a 3rd drunk driving arrest in his homeland after last season’s comeback campaign was marred by other legal troubles here stateside involving sexual misconduct investigations. Between Kang and Marte this year’s version of the Pirates has not only become a lot worse as far as on field expectations, but also a whole lot less fun to cheer for, as they obviously are housing at least a few bad apples under their fold.
Other than Marte himself, the player who is most directly affected by his unforeseen (and unpaid to Nutting’s delight) half season vacation will be erstwhile superstar and mildly discontented trade chip Andrew McCutchen. Cutch was immediately reinserted into his long held familiar territory of Center Field last night in St. Louis.
Although McCutchen was the much beloved leader of the club during their glorious but brief 3 years of playoff existence after 2 decades of futility, he was unceremoniously shopped around last winter and told when he did return that he would be moved over from Center field to Right to make way for the emergent Marte. To anyone who has followed this team under the reign of Nutting, it was obvious last year that the worm had turned on Cutch, conveniently as he went from affordable to expensive at the back end of his large contract, and even the slightest downgrade in his on field performance was enough for the regime to begin the propaganda campaign of throwing him under the bus and getting ready to trade his salary to a team actually attempting to win a championship. Mark my words, he is certainly on his way out the door still soon, and as Sean Gentille of the Post-Gazette has noted, Marte’s ill-begotten attempt at pumping up his physique to late 90s McGwire/Bonds levels just sunk any remaining hope of a happy goodbye campaign for his fellow outfielder.
So welcome back to the bad old days of Pirates baseball, I hope you fellow fans really enjoyed the brief respite of good fortune our team had for a few seasons, but fortune is a fickle mistress, and she appears to once again have abandoned the North Shore of our fair city to losing baseball and nefarious characters whom are hard to root much for. Who knows when the next shoe will drop and the next update will come, but perhaps by then John Jaso will actually have obtained a singular basehit in this cursed 2017 season. Cheers!
The great (cost controlled) Center Fielder of the present and future Starling Marte was pinched for abusing the hardcore steroid nandrolone, a substance easily detectable by basic drug testing that stays in the system for months or even years and the head of infamous BALCO labs considered the “Kiss of Death” for tested athletes. Marte will be out 80 games (and more importantly if by chance this misfit squad gets that far, be ineligible for postseason play).
Obviously the Pirates are not in charge of what Marte puts into his body and cannot be blamed for their guy getting nicked by the piss police. However, the loss of one of their best young players for such a significant chunk of time puts yet another dark cloud onto the already stormy horizon of this season and beyond. Jung Ho Kang, the once promising Korean infielder is also still missing as he battles legal troubles surrounding a 3rd drunk driving arrest in his homeland after last season’s comeback campaign was marred by other legal troubles here stateside involving sexual misconduct investigations. Between Kang and Marte this year’s version of the Pirates has not only become a lot worse as far as on field expectations, but also a whole lot less fun to cheer for, as they obviously are housing at least a few bad apples under their fold.
Other than Marte himself, the player who is most directly affected by his unforeseen (and unpaid to Nutting’s delight) half season vacation will be erstwhile superstar and mildly discontented trade chip Andrew McCutchen. Cutch was immediately reinserted into his long held familiar territory of Center Field last night in St. Louis.
Although McCutchen was the much beloved leader of the club during their glorious but brief 3 years of playoff existence after 2 decades of futility, he was unceremoniously shopped around last winter and told when he did return that he would be moved over from Center field to Right to make way for the emergent Marte. To anyone who has followed this team under the reign of Nutting, it was obvious last year that the worm had turned on Cutch, conveniently as he went from affordable to expensive at the back end of his large contract, and even the slightest downgrade in his on field performance was enough for the regime to begin the propaganda campaign of throwing him under the bus and getting ready to trade his salary to a team actually attempting to win a championship. Mark my words, he is certainly on his way out the door still soon, and as Sean Gentille of the Post-Gazette has noted, Marte’s ill-begotten attempt at pumping up his physique to late 90s McGwire/Bonds levels just sunk any remaining hope of a happy goodbye campaign for his fellow outfielder.
So welcome back to the bad old days of Pirates baseball, I hope you fellow fans really enjoyed the brief respite of good fortune our team had for a few seasons, but fortune is a fickle mistress, and she appears to once again have abandoned the North Shore of our fair city to losing baseball and nefarious characters whom are hard to root much for. Who knows when the next shoe will drop and the next update will come, but perhaps by then John Jaso will actually have obtained a singular basehit in this cursed 2017 season. Cheers!
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