Five Pirates Thoughts at Five – This Rotation Looks Deadly

5-20-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X

The Pirates rotation is the engine that is driving this thing now, but that don’t mean they have no need for oil or gas. The hitters need to contribute more often then they do, they have changes they can and should make, but more than anything, they need to improve in one big area, even if only 4 or 5 of them are capable.

Let’s go.

1. Oh My, That Chicago Series Was Different

This Pirates rotation has the ability to almost function like the old Steelers offenses of the early 90’s. You know what we’re going to do, and like Paul Skenes said, “Go Ahead and Adjust. Good Luck.”

Game plan all you like against this Pirates team, but you will run into an arm during a series that is pretty damn good at shutting you down.

You’ve felt what this does all along, but usually from the perspective of a fan of a team heading into that sort of series. You know what I mean? Like you can look at a matchup that’s almost a month away against certain teams and figure OK, there’s really no set of three of their starters I actually want to face.

Well, welcome to what teams with the Pirates on their schedule are thinking.

Look, the Cubs just tossed Justin Steele, Imanaga, Hendricks and Taillon against the Pirates and on paper, that is a set of four that has potential to win a series, and it’s countered by Jared Jones, Paul Skenes, Bailey Falter and Mitch Keller.

Good luck.

Especially if this team is hitting even a little. Which they actually have been for about 2 weeks now.

I honestly can’t wait to see what 3-4 more times working through this rotation could bring record wise.

This isn’t a team that can look at their schedule and think they see weak spots, they don’t hit like a team that can do that, but they are a team no other team is going to see on theirs and look forward to.

2. Ji Hwan Bae Forcing the Issue

I have questions about whether Ji Hwan Bae and his skill set will translate to MLB, but it’s also pretty clear, there isn’t anything left to learn for him in AAA.

Here’s what he’s done in his 26 games this year both in his rehab assignment and in AAA.

First things first, he played a bunch of Center field, and looks at least a little cleaner on his jumps. Range has always been good, arm is still average at best, but he can handle it, and looks solid. Second base, he can still play, and I still worry about most of the same concerns I had about turning double plays and his baseball mentality to be where he needs to be. The Pirates use a lot more in play positioning for relays than other teams to try to set Cruz up for chances to use his arm for something special. Being in the right place doesn’t come naturally.

Offensively, man, 4 home runs, 5 doubles, 15 RBI, 7 Steals, hitting .375, OPS of 1.056, honestly, I’m not sure how you don’t call him up.

Remember, he started the season on the shelf so he didn’t really get a shot to compete this Spring, in fact, his injury may well have lead the team to decide to bring in Michael A. Taylor at the end of Spring Training, just to sure up the CF picture a bit.

Now, where he plays or what he does up here, hard to say.

They could send him for Jack Suwinski and he pops right in as the platoon for Michael Taylor. They could send Triolo out for him and then he’d have to assume 2B duties while Nick Gonzales starts at 3rd until Hayes returns. Or Alika would and man I’m not sure that really helps the defense.

They could move someone like Edward Olivares, but the only way you could do that is if you really just need to balance the lefty-righty lay of the land on this club. And I’m not sure it’s a good message, Eddie has hit at least a little, at least more than some of his competitors for OF time.

Could even be Rowdy, and in that case you’d be deciding Joe is the starter, and Grandal is going to have to cover off days for Joe over there.

They also aren’t playing Alika much, so that’s a pretty easy swap too, but I still have to ask, where does the playing time come from? Point is, it’s time to bring him up, there are plenty of candidates underperforming with options, pick one, I’ll probably find a way to get behind it.

3. Take Care in Decisions

I’m not gonna lie here, the Pirates and their system have all the trappings of becoming a pitching factory. They’ve selected pitching well, and early on here, they’ve developed pitching well. The Pirates will absolutely have to deal some of that pitching for hitting, it’s quite literally unavoidable.

I’d just like to toss out a couple things to think about here for all of you to think about. This isn’t about prospect hugging, or being afraid to “go all in”, it’s about how quickly a strength can become depleted in MLB.

Remember that Ben Cherington has not sold you or Travis Williams, or Bob Nutting that he was going to open a competitive window.

I see fans on the regular talk about a 1-3 year window and while that might very well be what they achieve from all this, Ben Cherington is very much so trying to stay competitive once they are. Loosen your interpretation of competitive, because he means it like he means it this year. Sure he wants to have a peak where the Series is really a real thought, but he plans to not have to bottom out again.

He wouldn’t be the first to say this, fail and renege, but it matters because the seeming conveyer belt of pitching prospects probably shouldn’t be seen as superfluous.

There will be injuries, there will be guys who look like they are 100% part of the picture could succumb to something that must makes no sense at all. It was just over a year ago you’d be hard pressed to find someone who thought Roansy Contreras would be anything short of a member of the rotation for the next 5 years.

Think about how many times Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole pitched together in Pittsburgh.

The talent is real, and yes, it’s their most valuable asset. They will have to spend some of it on hitting. They need to be judicious with how they spend this asset.

The other thing to think about, nobody wants to think about. To be a sustainable winner without spending 200 million, they’re going to have to think of at least some of their starting pitchers the way the Rays thought of Blake Snell. The hope is when you do, you’re not saying goodbye to a star and crying because you have Hunter Barco entering year 2 and starting to look like one himself.

Dreams, but dreams cheap teams fall asleep to every night.

Lastly, when you see huge trades around the league, you rarely see teams moving guys in their top 4 prospects, so maybe chill on offering ours in all your silly packages you come up with on that crappy trade calculation site or MLB the Show.

It is an asset, but it’s more of a fossil fuel than nuclear energy. It will run out, especially if you squander it.

4. Runners in Scoring Position

Gross.

The Pirates have any number of things you could look at offensively but runners in scoring position is really where the rubber hits the road.

Runners in Scoring Position
OPS .634 Rank 27th
AVG .203 Rank 29th
Ks 113 Rank 2nd
BBs 61 Rank 5th
ABs 385 Rank 15th
Hits 78 Rank 26th
RBI 122 Rank 25th

They’re getting guys into scoring position at exactly the middle of the pack for the league. That’s enough to score runs, they just simply are not performing when they get them in scoring position. Refer to the first word of this post.

They actually get BETTER at scoring runs with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.

Runners in Scoring Position 2 Outs
OPS .658 Rank 20th
AVG .210 Rank 22th
Ks 60 Rank 1st
BBs 34 Rank 2nd
ABs 186 Rank 8th
Hits 39 Rank 18th
RBI 56 Rank 16

Plenty of guys on base and in scoring position. They walk or strikeout 50% of the time in these situations. That leaves you 50% of the opportunities to, I don’t know, make contact?

46% of their RBI in RISP situations come in 2 out situations.

The point being, they leave a ton on the table.

And secondary to that, the overall willingness to accept a walk or strike out in these situations always trumps putting the ball in play and forcing the defense to make a play. It hurts this offense in every situation, but none more so than with runners in scoring position.

Situationally speaking, this makes total sense based on their coaching. With a base open, there’s a good chance you’re not going to see something ideal, and they are trained to not bother with less than ideal until they have to. An experienced pitcher will work that to 0-2, 1-2 in short order and eventually, you’ll either swing at something worse than you’ve seen and passed on or take borderline, either way they win.

Take at bats in these situations with the intention of being productive, not the intention of taking “a good at bat”.

Last night Rowdy Tellez had runners on the corners with nobody out. He could have rolled into his third double play of the afternoon and it would have scored a run, instead, he struck out after taking two pitches in the zone and chasing another well off the plate. Poor example I’m sur for most of you, but you don’t always need a hit to get the job done, you just can’t act like it’s the same as leading off the 6th up 2 runs.

5. It’s Manny’s Time

The Pirates are set to announce this year’s class of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Honor.

And to me, they can’t miss the boat on selecting Manuel de Jesus “Manny” Sanguillen.

I’m sure he’s not the only one worth arguing for, I’m quite sure he’s not even the best player or most deserving name out there.

He is someone that has given 12 professional seasons to this franchise, won 2 World Series and put together 4 seasons he was either an All Star or received MVP votes.

On the field, incredible, off the field, he’s been one of the very most visible team ambassadors. A fixture at Spring Training, a fixture at every team reunion, a fixture at signings and season ticket holder events, a fixture on Pirates Caravan events 15 years after retiring mind you, and an accessible fixture in the outfield near his iconic BBQ in the outfield.

If you call yourself a Pirates fan and have managed to go to even 5 games a season over the past 40 years, it’s hard to imagine you weren’t greeted by his wide grin, and his big mitt extended toward you to shake your hand and his soulful appreciation that you took the time to appreciate him.

I’ve had countless interactions with him over the years, so have a ton of you.

Here is my favorite and I think it illustrates perfectly why of all the players who deserve to get in, Manny deserves to see and experience this.

I met him at Spring Training years ago, and I mean YEARS ago. He was walking the fence line shaking hands and signing autographs and I watched him after each and every interaction look whoever it was right in the eye and thank them. Thank them I always thought to myself, how weird, he’s the one doing a favor for them right? Then he got to me, without even asking he took the hat I was holding and signed it and thanked me. I expressed some regret I was too young to have enjoyed watching the team win it all and he smiled and said, “we won it for the whole city, forever and ever, it’s still yours”.

He and Steve Blass are as close as I come to a connection to those championship teams. They were around, they were “still Pirates” to me, and I can’t bear the thought of waiting too long to give Manny his due here, just steps from where he’s posted up greeting thousands of fans, most of whom were born after he retired.

I remember when my sons were 10 and 8 years old respectively walking through the gates on our way to an afternoon game and my youngest points and starts hopping and pointing, look Dad it’s Manny!

This is 30 years after he last played the game. They remembered him from a YMCA camp he showed up to in Cranberry and he had worked with him on his swing.

He didn’t remember him because he won championships, he didn’t remember him because I told him all about him, no, he remembered him because he couldn’t forget his smile or how proud he was when after some light instruction the kid hit the ball.

He remembered Manny for being Manny.

Please make this happen Pirates, he’s already there for most of us anyway.