7-8-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X
Every week it feels like you see something in baseball you’ve never seen before. Literally in some cases.
Those moments can be fun like the other night where the bats had a rare night at center stage hitting 7 homeruns and 2 grand slams.
Other times, they’re an inexplicable play that just make your jaw drop on the bar top.
Sadly, for many fans, the overall picture looks like something we’ve seen plenty of times. Instead of charging into the All Star Break, the Pirates ship is taking on water, even as they never really had a chance to patch the existing holes. They’re listing a bit, and if they don’t wake up soon, the All Star Game won’t feel like the stretch unless of course you mean their chances to overcome the grave they’re digging.
Let’s go! Live from San Francisco.
1. All Stars! Not Mercy Selections
Let’s not bury the lede. Bryan Reynolds and Paul Skenes have been selected to represent the Pirates in the All Star Game in Arlington Texas.
Both of these guys are deserving of course, but Paul Skenes has done this in only 10 MLB starts. Some are going to probably feel this was a bit early, but MLB knows what they have here peeps, they’ve got a legitimate young star and they want to bring, well, him, to the biggest stage they can force the Pittsburgh Pirates into anyway. I mean, they get Livvy on the red carpet, all her social media eyes focused on something they usually don’t look at and then the freak comes out and throws 3-4 100 MPH fastballs to strikeout 3 obligatory American League Stars and boom, ready made social media orgy. I honestly wouldn’t rule out that he starts the game either. The League could set up essentially the 3 guys they have to see him face, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and William Contreras anyone, that’s probably the NL murderers row right now, who might the AL put forward? Judge?
I’m sure some will have an issue with his selection to the game, but when you watch him pitch, its hard to pretend there are a roster full of better choices out there.
Reynolds had a tremendous first half when you really sit back and look at the body of work, but he was white hot in June and it’s carried over into July. Don’t short change Blair’s red carpet game, but Bryan’s selection feels like an acknowledgement that he’s always on the short list for this game until he isn’t. Have to imagine Texas is a bit more his style than Colorado was, but maybe I picture him identifying with Walker Texas Ranger more than Tad the Ski Instructor who’s cousin owns a weed dispensary.
Congrats to both these guys, again, well deserved.
Before I end this segment though, I’d like to mention, I could absolutely see Mitch Keller and Colin Holderman getting invites to account for injuries or even just pitchers who don’t want to throw because it doesn’t fit into their schedule for being prepared. In fact, I could and probably would argue, these two guys should have been the locks.
No sour grapes here, a team that isn’t even .500 probably shouldn’t be getting 4 nods to the Mid Summer Classic anyway.
2. Will the Pirates Have to Consider Adding Starting Pitching?
When two members of your starting rotation head to the IL, you consider yourself fortunate if you have 2 real options ready to step in. We watch even good teams struggle to keep 5 viable MLB arms through 162, and as it comes to pitching, the Pirates are undeniably in a good position, even now.
Mitch Keller, Paul Skenes, and Martin Perez will each retain their spot, and before you raise the alarm bells about Skenes and his innings, keep your pants on, I’ll bring it up in the next point today. Luis Ortiz in my mind has cemented himself a member of the rotation until such a time as he stops kinda just being one. He’s been humming and even after they stopped using an opener.
It’d be foolish to take him out of it now with Jared Jones and Bailey Falter on the shelf.
So they need a fifth and remember, a bullpen game just became less attractive because we done promoted the dude that made them work.
Quinn Priester and Marco Gonzales are both close to being cleared to return from Rehab. Marco is the obvious choice there and while another injury could be right around the corner, they really just need him to be a bridge to getting more guys healthy.
Quinn is still a project, a worthy project in my mind, but he’s not a guy I’d expect to jump right in and own a spot as much as I’d expect to see him teeter there but earn valuable experience. Both might wind up happening this year, neither is a tragedy if they have to turn to them. That’s what depth looks like just about everywhere but, well, teams like the Pirates of the last 4 seasons, or teams like the Dodgers that quite literally might have 2 full rotations of MLB arms somehow stocked away or timed to return from the IL at some point.
Braxton Ashcraft has innings challenges as well, but the Pirates absolutely could take full advantage of his 40-man status and give him a look. Might as well do it now, or consider him out of the pen. More on that too….
Truth be told, their fortunate, they look poised to be able to absorb these injuries, at least more than they would have been in any previous GMBC era team.
3. Restrict This…
It’s my own fault I’m so tired of hearing about this, I started talking about the Pirates having to be careful with innings on a bunch of guys back in February, when it was boring to be thinking about. Now that it’s becoming more real for people, it’s the hotness and I’m sick to death of it, to the point I’ve kinda forgotten, I haven’t really addressed it recently and I absolutely should.
OK.
First off, I 100% believe both Jared Jones and Bailey Falter are legitimately injured.
Also, yes, these injuries do serve two masters. They’ll get two guys who were going to run smack dab into career highs for innings by early August if not sooner off the field for a bit.
It’s never good to have injuries, but so long as they aren’t major, this could very well ensure both these guys are available late in the year, and even the playoffs without doing quite as much dancing and skipping starts as I’m sure they had mapped out.
Falter has been visibly fatigued in recent outings and Jared has continued to have a fine rookie season but he felt a twinge, and that’s zero risk territory for everyone involved.
If this goes say a month, there’s a good chance the team and trainers expand the overall number they’re comfortable with after a little reset too.
Paul Skenes is different. Always was. His number was going to be more than Jones already and they did a great job (even if it annoyed some) of limiting him so drastically early on so that he barely wasted a pitch in the minors. I don’t believe Paul will be all that hindered, but I could see them skipping a turn here and there, maybe 6 is ok and 7 starts being a bit less frequent. Or, maybe they just kinda let him go to a degree. They have trainers monitor everything he does (well most things, they aren’t spying on he and Livvy) so maybe they simply think he can add more. We’ll see, I think they’d have to be playing some pretty serious games in September for this to be an issue, let’s get there first. If it means anything, before the season I had sourced some pretty strong number caps for Skenes and Jones in particular, and I can no longer get even loose estimates, only that they’ve gone up appropriately.
The other thing I keep hearing when I ask, they plan on getting again specifically Jones and Skenes to run through the tape this year, the last thing they want to do is shut either of them down.
It’s a reality we need to understand, but it’s also not as vanilla as many dolts are making it. It’s certainly not, “They gonna shut ’em both dahn ‘nat by August”.
Listen, if that happens, all I can tell you is it wasn’t what they planned on. They’ve preached all season, and even before that they wanted them both to finish the season. They aren’t looking to do the stretch me out game again in 2025.
4. Additions with Term Might Be the Sweet Spot
A bubble team, and let’s face facts, 4.5 games back of the 3rd and final Wild Card Spot as I write this, in danger of losing their second straight series against teams ahead of them in the standings and falling even more, bubble team would take some doing. Anyway, a bubble team can either do nothing, sell rentals or, if they’re smart, they can go be players for guys who will help both now and next year.
Feels to me like many of the deals you’ll be hoping to swing in the offseason, probably will be on the table at the deadline. These could even be deals with other Bubble teams that decide to sell off a bit. Let me lay out a couple guys I’m looking at, to see if I can make it make sense.
Joey Meneses – RF/DH/1B – RH – Pre-Arbitration – Currently Joey is in AAA for Washington, he’s not had a great season, but has had some success in the league. This is a contact guy with a little pop. Honestly, think Connor Joe, it’s even a good match if you look at their ages. In fact, Connor Joe might be the best reason not to go after a guy like this, but I think he has an MLB bat, just not an MLB power bat. To me, there’s value in that, but not the way he’s been. You can take strikeouts, but not when the homers don’t come to force you to.
Again, the point here is to talk about the types of guys you might find out there in this mold. Multiple years of control, and they help for more than a possibly bad bet at one shot. An acquisition like this gives you two chances to win, picture Gus the Pennsylvania Lottery’s Forest Gump like scratch off huckster.
OK, how about someone a team might be growing out of while his control is becoming late term and more costly?
Lane Thomas – OF – RH – 1 Year Arbitration Remaining (EST 6-7 million) – Lane really locked on as a regular with the Nationals after being dealt from St. Louis where he got very little opportunity. In 2022 he hit 17 homeruns and in 2023 he knocked 28 out, both years he struck out a lot more than he walked. This year, he has that ratio more in check, but it’s come at a cost to his power numbers. Lane is a legitimate starting outfielder in this league, a clear need for this club in 2025 as well as 2024, the Nationals have the recently promoted James Wood, Dylan Crews will get there before too long and they won’t consider their window open until he does. To me that makes Thomas potentially expendable for the Nats, and I think a sneaky good pickup opportunity for the Pirates. If you like him, great, extend him.
Now, you get a guy like Thomas, even if you don’t make it this year, you get all the getting to know you out of the way and have him all Spring like a quality offseason FA acquisition. This is how I’d be thinking as I approached the deadline. Stop playing the what if/where are we game and take the power, go get some of these guys that can help you no matter where you fall on the fence. Hell, if you were wrong and some of your kids pop off, turn around and flip them yourself for just about what ya paid.
One more then I quit ok, if you don’t kinda get what I’m looking for here, I suck at explaining things.
LaMonte Wade Jr. – 1B/OF – LH – 1 Year Arbitration Remaining (EST 4.5-6 million) – Maybe having a career year as it comes to average, and he has a very every other year track record with hitting some homeruns, but I love having an in house answer for first base next season from the left side. Quite frankly, the free agent market for first base is going to suck again and as good as he’s been lately I’m not sure I think Rowdy sticking around is in the cards. He can field both positions well, is a for sure upgrade over a Joshua Palacios or Edward Olivares or Michael Taylor. As it comes to his arm, he makes a better 1B, but he’s a consistent, veteran left handed bat, and man, that just sounds like something we’ve been missing on a lot of nights. You want one of those hitters who isn’t all or nothing, that’s Wade. I love the fit, even if it isn’t the best upgrade for the rest of this season. To me this is an opportunity to grab a deal before you’re down to one roll doing the duck walk around Costco.
Get it? Hope so. I’d support moves like this if they were 15 games in or out for what it’s worth. I would have frankly supported them from 2020-2023, bringing in better players even if they don’t fit the long term vision provide you more tradeable MLB assets to stockpile the system further, alas, that’s now how they went. They also might not have Skenes or Davis, so, do with that as you will.
5. Joshua Palacios will Always Have an Uphill Fight
No matter what you think of him as a player, you have to admit, there’s something about Joshua Palacios man. He just makes things happen, brings an energy few players can and since his recall to MLB, he simply can’t be kept off the basepaths.
Joshua was a Pirates Minor League Rule 5 selection last year. Barely a footnote in anyone’s offseason discussions, hell, most people probably didn’t even know there was a minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft.
I’m not telling you this is some great baseball player people, I swear I’m not. His numbers aren’t all that impressive. He hit 10 homeruns in 264 at bats, and that’s certainly not nothing, but somehow it produced a sub .700 OPS.
That said, I’ll be damned if I don’t feel pretty good with him at the plate in a big situation. It defies all logic for me.
I’ve had about a billion people prove to me that there is no such thing as “clutch” at least not as something you can measure, but whatever it is that says “Joshua, you’re 0-3, but it’s time to hit a 3 run shot against a lefty who’s give up like 1 in his last 4 seasons of work”.
Look, I’m not a snob, I mean, I am about beer, but about players, hell no, the Angels just came one player short of starting 9 first round picks the other night and they stink, so if this MiLB Rule 5 selection wants to carve out an R.J. Reynolds, or G.I. Jones type space in my brain for this era of Buccos, ok, I could use some Brooklyn in my head space.
Enjoy the game half as much as Joshua does and you’re doing pretty well, as a fan, player or coach, he’s everything you’d want a player to display about his love of the game of baseball.
At some point we should stop making him pay a penalty for slipping through the cracks and just be grateful he did, he’s already earned his place in our lore with some unforgettable moments.
Steel City Pirates 