5-8-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter
The Pirates have decided the time is now for their prolific top prospect Paul Skenes.
It’s always welcome to add a potentially special talent and here’s hoping it jumpstarts the offense, because largely, the pitching has been way above board.
Tell you what, let’s circle back to that stuff, you know, all the who goes for him and where the 40-man spot comes from info, and how it’s not addressing what is holding this team back and instead let’s celebrate this for what it is.
A truly remarkable talent. Unique in his size, his background, his makeup and demeanor. This is truly a full grown man, military trained and ingrained to the point of being incredibly self disciplined.
A 1:1 selection that really required almost no development whatsoever. (Haha, perfect for the Pirates, I get it and never ever saw it coming I promise.)
All that and he’s dating just about everyone under the age of 25’s dream girl, social media star and a damn fine athlete in her own right Olivia Dunne.
Yeah, this is kind of a big deal.
He’s 6 foot 6 inches, 235 pounds of come and get it, and more than that, he wants the fight. If you’re a Pirates fan who is afraid to let yourself get excited for anything, listen, I’m 47 and he’s the most sure to be a MLB player draft pick I’ve ever seen in this city.
There’s a lot you could pile on this kid, I’ll try not to. You can never predict how a career will turn out. And this sport certainly isn’t set up to see a team like the Pirates retain him into his golden years, but talent wise, this is Crosby or Lemieux level. It’s Bryce Harper, it’s Strasberg, it’s guys like that. Not to expect him to live up to what they’ve done, but he’s easily the most anticipated prospect in quite some time in these parts. In a word, generational.
That’s the talent, that’s the makeup of this kid, and now all he has to do is take his first step toward living up to it, staying healthy long enough to be the truly all time great he wants to be, win a championship or two, somehow navigate the media and attention and be the face of a team currently treading water with one arm.
Be excited, the moment deserves it, the player deserves it and honestly, as unlikely as it seems, get ready for the baseball world to be gawking at Skenes and Jared Jones all season long.
Now, About that One Armed Doggie Paddle
The offense is sputtering, and this probably won’t help. You can hope it gives the room a jump and the buzz of getting this guy up here puts a burr in the saddle of some of these hitters, but they’ve had a pitching phenom setting records up here all season long and they refuse to score runs for him, so I don’t expect that to organically change.
They can make changes, there are some on the table.
Elephant in the room first though, Rowdy Tellez won’t be going anywhere yet. First, he’s hit pretty well in his last 7 games or so, and second, they honestly don’t have a better bet, at least not without giving him another month to show them they were wrong.
Because you can’t just say something like that today without it being read as a ringing endorsement, no, I’m not saying he’s good, no I’m not saying he’ll get good, I’m saying he’s shown some recent signs of life, and regardless was going to get into June.
Take a moment and sulk, I get it, but do come to grips with the fact that he’s not even in the top 5 of this team’s problems offensively.
The “Big” 3
Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz are the first guys that need change. They need to be closer to what they’re supposed to be. Cruz is starting to show he’s coming around, in fact he’s starting to carve a niche in the middle of the order and that is a big development.
Reynolds has been locked in from the right side of the plate all season long, and he just made an adjustment left handed, introducing a bit of a timing mechanism that showed some results the other night but has to improve. He’s overperforming right handed and underperforming left handed.
Ke’Bryan Hayes has been hit or miss, but I’d lay money that after two days off he’ll look much better on Friday. I think they need to insist he sit once a week, a fresh Ke’Bryan Hayes is a much more productive Hayes.
If the “big” three perform, this offense will do enough. That was the case before the season started, it’s what most of us who thought they’d score runs banked on and more than any other reason, they don’t have a replacement for what they were supposed to get from any of these guys.
The Secondary Attack
This is your Connor Joe, Jack Suwinski, Jared Triolo, Rowdy Tellez, Michael Taylor type guys.
Connor Joe has completely outperformed his role, so much so he’s been pulling off the production of one of the Big 3 for the entirety of the season. I love the player he’s become, but if there is more there than what he’s showing, I’d be shocked, in fact it’s very likely he’ll eventually hit the skids himself. By then our first group better be pulling their own weight.
Connor should immediately start playing a lot more first base but this team isn’t just going to keep Rowdy around, they’re going to force the issue and force him into the lineup. Again, brace yourselves, it’s gonna happen.
I know how some of you feel about Jack Suwinski, but this team can’t afford to go without the power they’re counting on. They aren’t built to win without it, and playing him a lot is the only way to get him going. He too is starting to make better contact, my fear is they’ve asked him to avoid striking out. Hear me out, it’s almost entirely eroded his power. He’s doing a great job of cutting down on K’s, but he’s done it by attacking earlier in counts. Something a good hitter should always have in their quiver, but to make the most of his power he needs to hunt his pitch to a degree. This is going to be a bit of a dance, but he should get going and when he does, this team would be wise to not disrupt him. Don’t sit him until it cools.
Taylor has always been a pretty poor hitter. One who showed power last year that even proponents of his signing didn’t expect to see again. He’s here for the glove and on occasion he’ll pitch in. Early in the season you saw a glimpse of what he can do, he will get on a heater here and there.
I know I mentioned Triolo here, but know what, he deserves his own.
Jared Triolo
Hell of a defender, love having the glove and feeling the need to rest Hayes more, man I hate to lose it. He isn’t much at the plate. The swing change to generate more power, well, isn’t. He almost looks like he’s all arms up there. Nick Gonzales has been hard to ignore.
I have questions about how sustainable it is at this level, but I do think he’s going to get the call soon, and I think Triolo will have to be the move for him. If Nick gets called, he’s not going to play just a little.
Fans are always ready for a call before the team, that’s normal, but a number one pick who’s been sent down, well, you want to be as sure as you can be that this is the last call up he experiences. So I can see the patience here.
Ji Hwan Bae has hit well too, less power of course, he too has struggled to make it translate to MLB, but this would be his 3rd time, so the pressure to use him a ton isn’t a as paramount. He gives them a couple things they need, speed and another lefty bat. This lineup’s splits are so one sided I almost fell over typing this.
I’m not commanding either here, but I do believe they need to call on one of them very soon. If it’s Bae, you can’t see the move being Triolo, you’d have to go with Olivares. If it’s Nick, you could see Triolo, and Nick would have to cover 3rd for Hayes, or, it could be Olivares as an extra IF alignment instead of the OF setup they have.
Who Goes for Skenes?
They could wind up moving Ryan Borucki or Marco Gonzales to the 60-day IL or they could simply cut someone loose.
The only pitcher I could see being a casualty is Roansy Contreras. This would clear a spot for Paul on the 26-man and clear the 40-man spot in one swipe. They’d have to DFA him, and yes, they’d lose him. There isn’t even another pitcher I’d consider this with and even this one is because bringing up Paul can’t weaken the staff, any other bullpen arm taken away aside from Contreras, would be that for me. Another reason this makes sense, Bailey Falter also has no options and has easily pitched into getting a shot in the pen, even as a long man.
Quinn Priester could go back, but I’d like to see him get another start or two, they can always cycle back to Falter if it doesn’t take, but Quinn is worth showing a little confidence in. Even if they just use him to skip a Jones start later in the week.
That’s what I got.
to me it’s Roansy or Quinn. If it’s Quinn, Falter stays in the rotation, if it’s Roansy, Falter goes to the pen.
If it’s Quinn, they’ll need to either pop one of those guys I mentioned on the 60-day or Joshua Palacios.
After that, Rowdy is the only other DFA-able player, and like I said, ain’t happening. Resume Mourning.
That’s what I got. This is going to instantly be one of the most formidable rotations in baseball. Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Martin Perez and Bailey Falter or Quinn Priester.
Backed by Mike Burrows when healthy, maybe Marco Gonzales at some point, maybe, Josh Fleming could jump in, in a pinch, and some other kids that realistically a playoff team wouldn’t want to on board.
Let’s have fun with it.
The hitting that helps this team win is either largely in that room or it isn’t. They’re going to pitch their asses off.
Steel City Pirates 