Hump Day Pirates Q&A

8-2-23 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Trade deadline is over, Pirates suffered minimal damage. Even if you didn’t want someone moved who was, all I can really say is they helped get to this record, so it stands to reason change needed to come. When you shoot for that change, you aren’t likely going to believe it’ll matter as much if it comes from someone you don’t consider having room left to reach their ceiling.

Question 1

How would you describe the state of our bullpen compared to the group coming out of Spring Training? – @JGor492 on Twitter

I mean there are 4 members who remain, and 2 of those have been on the IL for stretches. We entered the season with what really amounted to 1 Rule 5 selection lefty, and I think at this point, it’s safe to feel like they might have found something with Perdomo and Borucki. Back end with Bednar and Holderman, well, it’s been ok. Bednar has for the second straight season not looked the same in the second half. It’s early, but you watch the games, he’s getting the job done, but let’s just say he’s got a bag full of IKEA parts left over when he’s done. Holderman has had his struggles, but also shown what there is to like.

Bluntly, I don’t get the impression they know what to do with Moreta. Is he a long inning, low pressure guy, or is he a fireman who can give you the 7th or 8th when he needs to?

Yerry looks sincerely good, in fact, it’s feeling like they might be holding him back a bit at this point.

All in all, it’s a better mix than it started with but I’m not sure it feels like a complete unit until some more players make it hard for this manager to overthink things, I think it will always feel that way. Meaning if a guy has some kind of strange split number, or whatever, he’s always going to manage in that fashion, right or wrong…probably wrong.

It’s also been nice to see Cherington have a much quicker hook with poor performance.

Question 2

How will they divide the infield reps for the last two months? – @412pghcommenter on Twitter

Feels like we’re watching it, well, at least until and if Oneil Cruz returns.

They’ll use this 3 man rotation of Gonzales, Peguero and Williams seemingly with no real defined parameters. Now, one would think getting hot at the plate would create a bit more playing time for anyone who did so, but that hasn’t been the case for Peguero has it?

They could even add Bae back into this mix, although I’m hearing they see him more in the CF mix but if you’ve been paying attention to the makeup of the roster (and I know you do) it’s become very right handed, so you could see them mix Bae back in at 2B to change that a tad.

Ongoing story is the truth. I can’t account for a guy I’m not even sure will play the field when he returns like Cruz, not yet anyway.

Question 3

What do think is keeping Miguel Andujar from being in Pittsburgh? Can he play any first base? Seems like he doesn’t have anything to prove at AAA. – Don Jacobsen on FaceBook

Well Don, he “can” play 1B, 3B, OF and of course, DH. At the MLB level though, he probably shouldn’t play any of them regularly.

What’s prevented him is how many shots he’s gotten since his 2018 ROY finalist breakout. There’ve been injuries, and blocking, and probably a little unfairness, but above all, every time he’s been given a shot for an extended period of time, he doesn’t’ just fail, he collapses.

Someone else will give him a chance next year, and if there were to be a significant injury to someone like Conner Joe, or Rivas, or Cutch, I could see them giving him another look.

All I can say here is if you lend your kid your car and 3 straight times she brings it home with a smashed fender, you might not hand her the keys that 4th time.

Question 4

Should the rotation the rest of the year look like this: Keller, Oviedo, Priester, Fail and Wolf? – @MZylinski on Twitter

I’d like to know how you see the starting rotation the remainder of the year. – Wilbert Matthews on FaceBook

LOL, I’m pretty sure you mean Falter, not Fail, same meaning, different name. Wolf will start in AA. I think you’re going to see Keller, Oviedo, Priester, Falter, Bido and at some point they’ll probably squeak in Jared Jones, maybe Kyle Nicolas, maybe Ortiz or Contreras make a return trip.

Reality, it’s not going to feel super settled.

Falter should step right in though, he’s got more experience than most of the Pirates other options. Wolf got a spot start, but he has no AAA experience and being as they started him in AA, chances are they don’t see him as an option right away.

Question 5

I can’t shake the feeling that the Pirates are going to regret trading Castro. Did the Pirates give up on him too soon? Or should we view moving on from guys we thought possibly had a future here the next step in this rebuild? – @npc210 on Twitter

Nick, I think you know I had very high hopes for Castro. The power is very real and if anyone is able to reach him and harness what he does I think you’ll see him go ham. Philly is a great place for him, offensively they preach and execute an all or nothing hitting style so I’m not even sure Philly will feel they have to tweak much just to get eyes on their utility replacement.

Unfortunately, Castro won’t be the last we wind up feeling this way about. There are simply too many kids still coming to expect this mix is just going to grow together unbroken. I’m even sure they’ll be wrong about more than a few. Bae is another guy who right now it appears getting at bats could be tough once he’s healthy. Couldn’t you see him flying around opponent’s outfield gobbling up would be doubles and stealing 45 bases?

It’s all part of it I suppose.

That said, not making a decision is as bad as making a wrong one. Might as well choose something and hope for being right. They certainly did try with him, probably don’t value him as highly if he isn’t’ a switch hitter.

Question 6

When looking at Rivas, I feel like we could be a place holder for Nunez, martin or another potential prospect, or they could put endy, trilio, joe at 1st depending on matchups, which makes sense. My question is what is your opinion on Rivas? In his small sample size, he looks like a 4a / bench guy, but I hope he proves me wrong. – Billy Tissue on FaceBook

I know all the names in our minor league system that are supposed to help, but I’m sorry, I don’t see anyone here or brought in next Spring as a placeholder for any of them.

Mason Martin’s power is awe inspiring, but he simply can’t hit the baseball enough. Nunez hasn’t been healthy and when he is, hasn’t been all that exciting.

Defensively, Rivas is very good over there, so as he plays this season out, I think he’ll show that part is up to snuff, but he just hasn’t been good enough at the plate to believe he’s going to turn a bunch of heads in 2 months of part time ball.

Reality is this is a free agent position next year again.

The other path, could be moving someone, but it’d have to be someone who’s going to hit for some power. And at some point, we’re also going to have to stop calling the position a waste of an arm. We tend to come up with excuses why people can’t play certain places, and at this stage, they don’t need to be so rigid.

Question 7

Is Oviedo a starter long term ? The cardinals didn’t think so. He seems like a great swing guy on a good team or did we put smart the cardinals and get a legit starter for the next several years – Ryan Antonucci on Facebook

Quite frankly, what the Cardinals thought doesn’t matter anymore. He’s been a starter all year and regularly taken them through 6 innings. That my friend is a starter. If he remains one, well, that depends on how well the Pirates build out the rotation doesn’t it?

For instance, next Spring Keller, and Oviedo are probably the only 2 who can walk in feeling like they know they have a rotation spot.

They’ll have to sign free agents, I’d grab 2, who knows what they’ll do. Priester, and Jones, Ortiz and Contreras all have some claim, probably Falter too. When all that dust settles, who knows, maybe he does migrate back to the pen.

For the foreseeable future, yes, he’s a starter.

Question 8

I’ve always been a fan of Peguero. He’s just always been fun to watch even in the minors and I must say I love the way he’s been playing in the field and what he’s been doing with the bat lately if he keeps this up do you see the pirates maybe trying to flip a guy like Gonzales this off-season who’s struggled with the strikeouts even in his minor league career? – Tyler Riggs on FaceBook

They certainly could. I’d put forward though, you don’t want to sell low on a number one pick.

There is definitely some scrap on this team, I’m just not sure I’m ready to decide whom that is. Gonzales, Bae, heck, maybe it takes Termarr to get a pitcher with control back from someone. Any of those names though could wind up being moved to make room, it’s one of the many many questions they have to toil with this offseason.

Question 9

I guess I wish they would’ve kept Santana for another year, as that seems more valuable than an 18 year old wildcard – especially if you’re trying to win in 2024. The rest of the trades I don’t mind, although I still think Castro is a 20 homer guy.

So we can replace Hill with Hill minus two decades, and replace 1B with a young guy who can approximate the production of Choi/Santana. I hope that isn’t the long term answer.

All in all, I think the moves are a net positive, but probably not a huge upgrade. Does that feel about right? – Ed Fleming on FaceBook

There is no reason they can’t just sign Santana next year if they want to, he’s a free agent, which is also why he was moved.

It’s an upgrade, it’s just impossible to tell how much, or when it’ll help. Lucky thing that’s not really what they were trying for. I think you can continue to bring in quality youngsters no matter what stage you are in a build and the Pirates didn’t alter their timeline with anything they did at the deadline.

The only moves they made that really effect next year are Wolf and Falter. 2 lefties that could absolutely get a shot to be in the rotation even if just parts of it heading forward.

Question 10

What is your opinion on left handed starters that don’t throw that hard? – James Littleton on FaceBook

It always feels like there are 4 or 5 of these floating around the league every season and every season I drive myself nuts wondering why we can’t hit them. So I personally had a blast watching guys strikeout on Rich Hill’s Bugs Bunny ball.

There isn’t much to say here aside from the fact you have a better shot to stick as a soft tossing lefty than a righty ever would, there simply must be a reason for that.