Pirates Draft: The Best Of The Rest

7-30-22 By Craig W. Toth (aka @BucsBasement on Twitter)

Not that I need reminded, but every so often it hits me like a punch to jaw…Pittsburgh is predominately a football town; especially when it comes to their Steelers. Some may think this most recent reality check is due to the line of cars waiting to get into Training Camp at St. Vincent in Latrobe, except it’s not.

The discussions on social sites-even ones from certain members of the Pittsburgh Sports Media-surrounding MLB Draft is primarily why. As much as it’s said that the Rule 4 Draft is different from those in any other in professional sports, this fact never really seems to sink in.

If an 18 year-old shortstop is drafted in the 1st Round-and I don’t care if it’s 4th Overall-there is no need for conversations about what to do with Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales, Liover Pegeuro. This is not the same as a running back’s job being on the line a la Rasheed Mendenhall and “Fast” Willie Parker. Termarr Johnson is not taking anyone’s job; at least not for the next four years or so. And, even then it’s possible, he or any number of middle infielders have been moved off the position.

Yet, each year we hear these same types of meaningless chatter.

Which is very similar of the fruitless endeavor of making lineups-or 5 man rotations-for 2025 or 2026 with every single player that was selected in the top few rounds of the last 3 or 4 drafts.

Honestly at this point, go make your own Facebook group(s) or Twitter Space(s) to debate this mindless drizzle; and, leave the rest of us out of it.

Or more succinctly put:

Now back to the Pirates portion of the MLB Draft.

After making what were correctly assessed as slight money saving moves at #36-Thomas Harrington ($100,300 under slot)-and at #44-Hunter Barco ($251,100 under slot)-some thought the Pirates would make a big splash in the upcoming rounds; just like they did with Lonnie White, Jr. and Bubba Chandler last year. Unfortunately many overshot the mark by forgetting the near $7,005,800 slot value that would be due to the Pirates First Round Selection, Termarr Johnson.

Had the Pirates opted to go with say a Zach Neto or a Jace Jung they would have been able to negotiate to obtain the extra funds; much like the $1.9 million they saved by drafting Henry Davis #1 Overall in 2021. Then, they might have been able to go overboard.

With that being said Cherington and Company did create a ripple, as opposed to the wave some were expecting, with their 4th Round Pick (#100 Overall); and then went back to playing it safe again.

1) Michael Kennedy-LHP (Troy HS)

Graded out as the best high school left-handed pitcher-#3 overall-in the state of New York by Perfect Game, Kennedy mowed his way through the Flying Horses opponents to the tune of a .60 ERA with 65 strikeouts, 8 walks and just 15 hits across 35 innings.

Named the New York Gatorade Player of the Year, he had a verbal commitment to LSU, but ultimately signed with the Pirates for a cool $1 million ($445,000 over slot).

With a low-90’s (55 grade) fastball, paired with a high-70’s (55 grade) slider and a low-80’s changeup (50 grade), this 17 Year Old-he doesn’t turn 18 until the end of November-As Kennedy could have easily chosen to become a Tiger in the fall; yet, as you can see, he was more than happy with starting his professional career.

2) Jack Brannigan-TWP (Notre Dame)

Each time a Two-Way Player is drafted Shohei Ohtani-or for Pittsburgh Pirates Fans Bubba Chandler-automatically come(s) to mind. No offense to Brannigan, but he really isn’t in the same ballpark as Ohtani; and, I’m not sure it’s even a same church different pew when it comes to comparing Brannigan to Chandler. This is not to say that he isn’t a good player. He is!

In three years at Notre Dame-with the bat-Brannigan grew into a fairly solid contact hitter, with a little bit of pop; but, really didn’t see this transition into the Cape Cod League, using the wood bats. Across his Sophomore and Junior seasons with the Fighting Irish he slashed .292/.373/.516 with 18 homers and 48 total extra base hits. In the Cape during the summer of 2021 he .282 AVG, a .759 OPS and one homer in 352 less plate appearances.

Seen as having on of the best arms in Prairie States due to his 70 grade fastball that sits comfortably between 95-97 mph, a 60 grade mid-80’s wipeout slider and a rarely used 50 grade change up, he never really got much work in between high school in Chicago, his time in South Bend and The Cape.

During Brannigan’s last season with Notre Dame he posted a 7.36 ERA and a 1.636 WHIP, but struck out 28 batters in 14.2 innings. In the Cape he pitched just 3 innings, which makes it pretty much impossible to judge anything.

So truthfully, how likely is it that Brannigan ends up as an infielder, AND a relief pitcher? Not likely in the long term. Will they let him try both? I believe so for right now. Where will he end up? I will say he becomes a member of the bullpen; but, it’s possible he gets a run at the rotation as well.

Last week when I was on The Pirates Fan Forum with Gary and Jim, I failed to make the comparison between him and current Pirates Prospect J.C. Flowers; who pitched just 26 innings during his junior year at Florida State, and is now predominantly as a swing-man/long reliever out of the bullpen. This of course was after he started during the majority of his appearances last year.

Based on was scouts are reporting, Brannigan would prefer to stay as a position player; although know one really knows the conversations he had with the Pirates before signing his $770,700-right on slot-bonus.

3) Tres Gonzalez-OF (Georgia Tech)

Back in 2019 Gonzalez was lauded for having some of the best bat to ball skills among high schoolers in his area; resulting in him being selected by the Dodgers in the 37th round. Be that as it may, like many young men his age, he ultimately bet on himself, and went to Georgia Tech to prove that he could continue this level of play against more advanced competition.

As a result he was selected by Pittsburgh in the 5th Round, and signed to a bonus of $347,500 ($67,100 under slot); thanks mostly to a .314/.442/.461 slash line with 91 walks to 74 strikeouts in a Yellow Jackets uniform, and a .331 average in the Cape.

To his detriment, the one thing he has not been able to consistently add is power; a skill that scout’s believe he could develop. However, for now it’s all speed (60 Grade Run Grade) and Hit (55 Grade)

4) Miguel Fulgencio-LHP (Cowley County Community College)

First off, the dude’s 23. But, that’s what happen when you try your hand at football first-at Oklahoma State University-before turning your eyes back to baseball.

Secondly, he’s a JUCO Bandit-a brand of baseball player that I have become partial to. Attending Crowley Community College in Arkansas City, Kansas, Fulgencio pitched strictly out of the bullpen; logging 33 innings in 2021 and 46 in 2022. Across those 79 innings he struck out 106 and only walked 26; while making appearances in the newly formed Appalachian Collegiate Summer League last year, and the Cape Cod League this one.

Selected in the 13th Round, and given the status quo $125,000 signing bonus, the former Tiger could rise through the system based strictly on his age and make-up.

5) J.P. Massey-RHP (Minnesota)

Massey oozes pure athleticism, raw talent and charisma-or drip as the cool kids call it nowadays.

Set to transfer from Minnesota to Mizzou for the upcoming season, after making 12 starts for the Golden Gophers during his senior season. During this time he posted a 6.52 ERA, 1.736 WHIP and 63 strikeouts; but struggled with control by walking 39, hitting 6 batters and tossing 12 wild pitches.

A lanky 6’5” and 205 lbs, the Chicago Native has both a two-seam and four-seam fastball that reach 95 mph with ease; and, are accompanied by a slider, a changeup and a curve.

A project when he arrived at Minnesota, and still a project when he eventually arrives at Pirate City after signing for $150,000 ($93,000 under the #200 slot value), Massey guarantees to be exciting.

Now obviously these aren’t the only five players-along with the Pirates First Three Off The Board-that could potentially make an impact in Pittsburgh one day; however, they are the ones I found most interesting during my initial assessment(s).

Drafting future MLB talent is hard! Developing future MLB talent is hard! Baseball is hard!

Sellers for 4th Straight Year, Fan Frustration is Justified

7-30-22 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Pirates fans are frustrated.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

Nobody is shocked the team isn’t competing for the division in 2022, in fact not many are all that surprised that they aren’t threatening .500 again.

This time it’s a bit different though.

See, this time the Pirates gave fans a taste of what could be, then pulled the rug out from under the fan base, and their seemingly inexhaustible well of belief that fans will accept everything they do in the name of “the plan” is running dry.

Years ago, coming out of a divorce, I was driving a complete piece of crap car. Thing was just not in good shape, but in an effort to sock away as much money as I could, I decided to keep driving it. Then one day on the way to work I was rear ended on the Liberty Bridge and insurance took over. Car in the shop, and a rental car later I was suddenly driving around in a brand new vehicle.

The shop had my old beater for almost two weeks, and when they called to tell me it was ready, I was in no hurry to switch back to what I was driving. Alas, I had to go get it done.

On my way home that night, I realized I had experienced something nice a bit too long to pretend what I was currently driving was ok any longer.

Folks, the Pirates put every one of us through something very similar this year. See, they swapped our old AM/FM-CD player combo named Jake Marisnick with an Apple Car Play equipped Jack Suwinski. They replaced our malfunctioning AC unit of Bryse Wilson with the arctic blast producing unit of Roansy Contreras.

On and on, Yoshi was gone, VanMeter was out Marcano was up, Peguero made an appearance.

Point is, once you show people that there is better out there, making them go back and sit in the stink of what was is nearly impossible.

Don’t get me wrong, even with all those shiny new parts, this team wasn’t going anywhere this year, but you can’t just expect people to forget the creature comforts you exposed them to either.

It’s also not the same as what fans are used to experiencing this time of year. You can trade players, and while they won’t like it, maybe they’re pleasantly surprised by the young guys getting a shot. This year, they’ve been forced to spend almost a month resenting the group of barely movable or completely impossible to believe they could get moved vets who the team allowed to force out some of the hopeful kids we’d started to buy into.

We’ve watched the franchise routinely put a more potent offense together in AAA Indianapolis than we get to experience at the MLB level.

Take ten minutes looking at the roster for Indianapolis and the Pirates, you’ll make about 5 or 6 swaps mentally and the team at least looks loaded with promise, as opposed to loaded with disposables.

If I look at the bigger picture, I still like the farm system. I still like where this is headed. But you all know me by now, my style is to force myself to see as much as possible both sides of everything.

Sure I land on one side or the other most of the time when I form my opinion, but I do so from a place where I at least can understand the why’s and what’s of a situation. The very fact that there simply is and was, never a trade market for Yoshi, or VanMeter, Marisnick or Chang, name who you want, was reason enough for me to just advise washing your hands of them.

The Pirates may have been forced into giving fans a preview of what the kids could do due to injury, but much like my accident on the Liberty Bridge, why or how it happened didn’t matter all that much. Fact is, fans saw that it could be better.

Fans saw a team they could honestly say had room to grow. They saw a team with potential to build on. They saw power from multiple places in the lineup, we watched pitching with ceilings minus the seemingly constant underachieving.

Once you’ve shown that, how do you expect them to take it when the GM, a guy they’re supposed to trust to make the team better, actively makes it worse with seemingly no benefit?

How can fans expect Mr. Cherington to make the right choices two years from now when they’re competing for something, when he’s showing you he can’t or won’t right now?

You can blame Bob Nutting for as many things as you like, but this my friends, this is on the GM. These moves don’t save them money, these moves do little more than placate egos and hold out hope that another GM is potentially even more braindead than our own and believes there is some benefit to acquiring someone that is going to get cut on August 2nd.

The really messed up part to me is that it doesn’t really change the plan, it doesn’t make it less or more likely to work. All this has done is make it a little harder for fans to believe that management knows what they’re doing at the MLB level.

Sometime next week, I believe they’ll make changes to the roster. We’ll see kids come back up, maybe even some new faces and eventually we might even get to that “fun” finish I predicted. That said, I won’t, and you shouldn’t, get past the fact they already had this team at that area and actively chose to take steps backward instead.

Maybe two years from now people will look back and mislabel this as a “collapse” in reality it has been a self inflicted bullet wound in the foot.

There is one line we heard uttered from everyone in this management group. Repeatedly too. Get Better.

We even saw them call their development camp “Get Better at Baseball Camp”. Yet when they actually saw the MLB team start to get better, they allowed it to be broken up in the name of stubbornness and misplaced hope.

I put a line in Five Pirates Thoughts at Five earlier this week, and I think it’s going to become a theme as we move forward. Trust is earned, time to start earning.

I’m aware some fans will swear off the Pirates now. Some will actually stay away too. Most will come back when and if they start winning and act like they never left. That’s why so few tend to understand how the team came to be once it does happen. They forget all those who were moved to bring in who they’re actively cheering for, and honestly it doesn’t matter, so long as they’re winning.

I’ll try to explain of course, but I’ll never be able to explain the month of July in the 2022 season, because no matter how I look at it, this was an unnecessary exercise with such a small crack of possibility it simply wasn’t worth doing.

For a team that always references getting better, I’d settle for hearing one of them say for once that they’re sick of losing. Not that they’d prefer to win. Not that they’d like to improve, but specifically, WE ARE SICK OF LOSING.

After all, their goals should align with the fans, and I can’t think of a better thing to come together on.

Pirates Draft: First Three Off The Board

7-29-22 By Craig W. Toth (aka @Bucs Basement on Twitter)

I already had a feeling that Pirates Fan Social Media was going to overreact to one degree or another, no matter who Pittsburgh took with the 4th Overall Pick. Still, I wasn’t prepared for the immediate calls to trade their #3 and/or #5 Prospects according to MLB Pipeline, Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero; or, the declarations that he would be in the Major’s at age 20.

Now, obviously Termarr Johnson is an extremely talented young ball player. You don’t just stumble into a 70 Grade Hit Tool, a label as the best pure prep hitter in decades or a comp of being a Wade Boggs/Vlad Guerrero combo as far as bat-to-ball skills are concerned. However, let’s get the kid some at bats before we make any totally irrational statements.

But enough about the hot take machine. It’s more about the how he ended up up in Pittsburgh; and who did the Pirates got in Termarr Johnson.

Well throughout the day, and in the minutes leading up to the Baltimore Orioles Pick at #1, it was rumored that the Birds were set to take Brooks Lee, Termarr Johnson or Druw Jones; in that order. In the end they called Jackson Holliday’s name, which was a slight surprise; although there wasn’t that much distance separating the #2 through about #7.

Then as predicted, Jones came off the board; followed by the the shocker in 2021 Vanderbilt Commodore, and current Tri-City ValleyCats Pitcher Kumar Rocker. Following Rocker’s selection, I honestly had the Pirates Pick narrowed down to three in my mind; in a pretty particular order: 1) Cam Collier 2) Brooks Lee 3) Termarr Johnson. So, when the Pirates went with Johnson there was no reason(s) for me to be disappointed.

For those who didn’t read my Draft Preview Blog Post, here is what I had to say about Johnson:

Johnson is a straight beast at the plate; wowing onlookers with with tape measure taters, and may be the best pure hitter in this year’s class. During his final season in a Raiders uniform he collected 23 hits in 59 at bats; with 15 of them going for extra bases.

Unfortunately his defense is not as polished; often causing many to project him as a second baseman rather than staying at shortstop. Nevertheless, this hasn’t been enough to stop the rumors from swirling surrounding him potentially landing in Baltimore at #1 Overall.

The only thing I would truthfully add to this brief assessment at this point is that, the only reason for the questions surrounding his defense is his 50 grade arm; which is average. His actual fielding ability is a 60; so above average.

Currently the Pirates are set to let him work his way off the position; if and/or when he ultimately does.

In a conversation that General Manager Manager Ben Cherington had with the Pittsburgh Sports Media-including the Post Gazette’s Jason Mackey he had this to say:

“We believe in him as a defender. We think he has instincts to defend. He works hard at it. He cares about it. And he can make plays. He can make plays on the run. He has pretty good body control. Can make throws from different angles. We think he does a lot of good things defensively. He’s a well-rounded player. So we’ll get his career started as a shortstop. We’re excited to see how he progresses.”

As soon as this pick was made, all I could think was go get some arms; which is exactly what Cherington did, starting with Thomas Harington from Campbell University. Go Fighting Camels-Gaylord and Gladys!

In his 2 years years wearing the black and orange, Harrington posted a 2.94 ERA, while striking out 186 batters across 168.1 innings. During his draft eligible sophomore season he set a program record for wins (12) and strikeouts (111). He also second-lowest ERA (2.53) and third lowest WHIP in the nation among pitchers with at least 90 innings of work.

Possessing a high floor-one of the highest in the class according to scout-and a likely ceiling as a #3 starter, Harrington often relies on his mid-80’s changeup (60 grade) for swings and misses; pairing it with a low to mid-90’s (55 grade) fastball, that runs away from hitters.

He does have two other off-speed offerings in the form of a curve and slider; however, these pitches are less consistent. Still, when they are on, they are on.

Ultimately the Pirates signed “Steady Eddie” to $2,050,000 bonus ($100,300 under slot).

Chances are Harrington eventually finishes the season with the Low-A Bradenton Marauders; but, there is also an outside chance he gets an appearance or two in Greensboro as pitchers across the system begin to reach their innings limits.

It’s also not out of the realm of possibilities that 90+ innings of work on the year is plenty good for the Pirates.

Following the selection of Harrington, Cherington returned to the mound 8 picks later. Once again taking a college arm. Only this time, there is no chance we will see this pitcher during the 2022; and, most likely not until at least halfway through 2023.

After dominating, and intimidating opposing SEC-and other conferences-batters for the first few months in a Gators uniform to the tune of a 2.58 ERA and .89 WHIP with 69 strikeouts in 50.1 innings, Jacksonville Native Hunter Barco’s season ended in Tommy John Surgery.

Seen as the top high school left-handed starter in the 2019 class, most teams were scared away by his near unwavering commitment to the University Of Florida. Nevertheless, scouts see his prospective profile and eventual ceiling to be almost exactly what it was back then; when he is healthy of course. Which is something he is currently working on by planking his own body weight, and hopefully beginning to throw in a few months. This is slow process that extremely important, especially now that the Pirates have inked him to a $1,525,000 signing bonus ($251,100 under slot).

Overall these three selections may not be as exciting as the ones-Henry Davis, Anthony Solometo and Lonnie White, Jr-from the previous draft; particularly when you add in the fact that the Pirates acquired Bubba Chandler at the top of the 4th Round. Nevertheless, it not like any of us know exactly who these players will turn out to be until the true development starts, and we actually start to see them make their way(s) from Bradenton to PNC…hopefully.

Two Guys Talkin’ Trades – Rerack it!

7-28-22 – By Justin Verno & Joe Boyd – @JV_PITT & Joe_Boyd11 on Twitter

Justin Verno- OK Joe, here we are. It’s just a few short days before The Trade Deadline. We’ve talked about which Buccos could be traded away. We’ve gone over what types of packages we could get in return. We’ve even suggested that the Pirates could actually add and gave some examples. The only thing left is to chat about some of the specific rumors we’ve heard about these Bucs!

Before we get going there we do have a trade to go over. Since our last piece a few different insiders, Andy Martino and a blog called Metsmerized (they actually had it first) reported that the Mets were in on Vogelbach. A few days later the deal was done. Let’s start by briefly touching on that deal and how Ben Cherington did. 

Joe Boyd – A few weeks ago, we touched on Vogelbach’s value, noting that it was a bit inflated for a bat-only player.  I suggested a 45-FV pitcher in the $4-6M range and JV suggested (to the Mets!) for a position player 45-FV which is a $6M valuation.  So what’d the Buccos get with Reliever Colin Holderman? For starters, he’s 6’7 with a huge fastball, so that’s intimidating.  He actually changed his delivery and spiked from 92-mph up to 98-mph and is somewhat of a late bloomer making his debut at 26 years old.  Longenhagen believes him to be the “third banana on a contending team” and has the ability to pitch high leverage innings.  He’s a 40+ FV, and that’s a $3M surplus value.  Oddly enough, no ZiPS for him as of yet.. So we’ll stick with that valuation. 

JV – And it’s easy to say the Bucs got less than we predicted,  there is however an asterisk that does need to be mentioned, in his very brief stint in the MLB he has looked the part for sure. In his 17.2 innings pitched the results have been terrific.

ERA 2.04   xERA 2.89  FIP2.27  xFIP 3.53   K-26.9% BB-10.4%  

Even though this is less than the suggested SV I still like the return. 

Moving on Joe, as of writing this the rumor mill had been pretty hush. Not that we haven’t heard any, but most had not been pointing in the Bucs direction until Tuesday evening when things started to open up a bit. Here’s what we’ve heard so far-

Quintana interest

Reynolds interest

Joe, there are few more out there but most seem to say the same thing.- A lot of interest in Quintana. 

-A lot of interest in Reynolds.

-Unlikely to move Bednar or Reynolds.

Am I missing anything there? Or has this been a market dominated by Soto news? 

JB – No, I think you’re right.  Soto will probably be creating the logjam. So until that domino falls, we might be stuck in purgatory.

Top 20 Prospect Update

As I sat to write this week’s Top 15 Prospects update I had to ask myself, “is updating stats after just two games really worth it?” And the answer I came up with is, no. So instead of wasting your time I decided to look over the 1st half and some things were glaring to me. Let’s take a look.

-What’s up Doc?

Henry Davis has punished MiLB pitching since the Pirates put a number on his jersey and set him loose on the competition. His punishment, and I’m not saying this was by design, was getting plunked. A lot. 18 times in 150 trips to the plate. Hank, please learn how to duck. So while his AA numbers aren’t eye popping I certainly wouldn’t lose sleep over it. One of the pitches that hit Davis was in the wrist. He had tried to play thru a hairline fracture, I believe, but they later placed him on the IL to help that wrist get right.

One thing I’ll add, opposing starters are likely hoping he takes his time getting back.

Nick Gonzales, Want to talk about a tale of Jekyll and Hyde? This is it. In 2 seasons in the Bucs MiLB system Gonzo has started slow, seemingly made an adjustment and proceeded to remind everyone of why he was a top 7 prospect in the 2020 draft. The difference in the 2022 start of the season is notable-

April 8th -May 16th

.188/.337/.306 .642 OPS 15.4% BB 35.6K% .118 ISO 87 wRC+

May 10th-May 31st

.319/.402/.464 .866 OP 11% BB 29.3% K .145 ISO 139 wRC+

Doesn’t even look like the same player, but it is. One thing I’d note: the OBP and walk rates are solid. Perhaps a sign that his control of the zone was intact. I’d love to hear from the man himself what adjustment was made here, shame he got hurt.

Upon further review-

A quick look at Jared Jones numbers might have a fan a tad disappointed. His stuff is just electric. The fastball motors, capable of hitting 99 and Jones has said his goal is to hit 100 MPH. His spin rates are insane and his pitches dance. So when we see an ERA of 4.98 a FIP 4.64 and xFIP of 4.11 it’s easy to think this kid just isn’t getting better. But if we dig just a bit more we do see some solid growth. In his last 11 outings before the break Jones stat line looks solid-

ERA 3.95 FIP 3.96 WHIP 1.32 9.9% BB 27.3%

While 11 of his 18 starts would be considered quality starts, he’s had 5 starts where he just didn’t have it. Jared has been working on a delivery with a more repeatable motion and though his first start in the 2nd half was one of his misses, he’s a prospect to keep an eye moving forward.

Dariel Lopez might have been a late addition to this year’s Prospect updates but he is proving he belongs. He had a slow start (a common theme throughout the system this year)

.228/.285/.409 .694 OPS .181 ISO 85 wRC+ 7.2% BB 29% K

Then this happened-

.311/.333/.497 .830 OPS .186 ISO 120 wRC+ 2.3% BB 26.4% K

Bring his line up to a respectable-

.276/.312/.459 .771 OPS .184 ISO 105 wRC+ 4.5% BB 27.6% K

Not being on this list to start with is a clear oversight by me, I should be mocked accordingly. You can do so on Twitter: @JV_PITT

If you don’t want me at my worst…

Quinn Priester, is his star back on the raise? Not that he took a massive tumble or anything but he did lose some of that shiny new car smell over the off-season. Not that last year was bad as he finished with solid enough numbers, but he needed to miss more bats and he’s done that in the early going. Bringing last year’s 24.1% to a nice 27.1% in his first 8 starts of the year. I’ve seen a lot of people calling for a promotion to AAA for the young righty, and why not? His slash line could certainly support a call the next rung on the ladder-

ERA-1.65 FIP-2.41 xFIP 3.60 WHIP 1.02 BB%-6.5 k%-27.1

One of the things Quinn worked on in the off-season was deception and having a similar release point. Let’s hope what we are seeing is a direct result of the work he’s put in. However, let’s hold off on that promotion and see how he responds to any adjustment the league throws at him. I have to wonder if we see a similar path for Priester that we saw with Roansy Contreras last year? A late call to the show and a turn or two to end the year with. Cross your fingers!

MY MAN!

By now I probably sound like a broken record with Endy Rodriguez and a recent surge has his name on the tongues of many a Bucco fan. And it’s about damn time. Those that have been reading these updates dating back to last year know of my infiniti with the young catcher. Let’s take a look at why.

I’ve touched on the slow starts that have been a theme in the system, right? And I suppose we can say the same has happened with Endy. Are you sensing a “but” here? I hope so,

April 8th-May 31st

.267/.340/.466 .806 OPS .199 ISO 116 wRC+ 7.2%-BB 27.8%-K

A .340 OBP while “struggling”? an 806 OPS while in a “slow start”? And since?

June 1st-July 24th

.304/.400/.572 .972 OPS .268 ISO 155 wRC+ 13.3%-BB 17%-K

What’s more impressive? He’s learning/playing C, LF, 1B and 2B while doing this. And I don’t mean to pile it on here, but did I mention he’s a switch hitter.

If you haven’t gotten on the Endy bandwagon already there’s still time to get a ticket. And don’t worry, I’ll save you a seat.

Pirates Ready To Deal

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-xyi6q-12838c7

The trade deadline approaches, and the Pirates are already busy after sending Daniel Vogelbach to the Mets for pitcher Colin Holderman. A look at the new acquisition reveals a sneaky-good move for a potential starting rotation guy disguised as a relief pitcher. Who else will be moved? We discuss the likely names that could have new homes in the next week, and what they could bring back to Pittsburgh.

Craig Toth covers the Pirates for Inside The Bucs Basement, and joins his buddy Chris at a 9-foot homemade oak bar to talk Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball. Listen. Subscribe. Share. We are “For Fans, By Fans & all Pirates Talk.” THE Pirates Fan Podcast found EVERYWHERE podcasts can be found and always at BucsInTheBasement.com!

Top 5 Pirates Prospect Performers: We’re All Told

7-19-22 By Craig W. Toth (aka @BucsBasement on Twitter)

A quote that I know I have mentioned on more than one occasion-in the blog and on the podcast-comes from one of my favorite baseball movies.

The reason I love this quote so much is because it can be applied to the sport, as well as life itself.

During this past week, my family was told that My Dad would no longer be in our lives. Obviously this realization rocked everyone to their core; and is not something I would wish on my worst enemy. However, I know that at some point I will be able to find peace in each moment I got to spend with him. Just like many baseball players will be able to look on their careers fondly; even if they never made it to The Show.

Clearly I am not talking about any specific prospect-including the ones listed below. It is more of generalization concerning the overall process; and, how baseball often mirrors our own existence.

Week of 7/12-7/17

1) Wilber Dotel-RHP (FCL)

Inked to a deal near the end of the extended 2020 International Signing Period, Bladimir Wilber Dotel started to show up on teams’ radars after seeing a jump in velocity-upwards of 95 mph on his fastball-and increased command of his two off-speed pitches-a 74 to 78 mph curve and a at the Marmolejos Baseball Academy in the Dominican Republic.

Given an advanced assignment of playing in the Florida Complex League at only 18 years old, this 6’3” 178 pound righty pitched fair well during his 11 appearances; five of which were starts. Over 29.2 innings he posted a 3.34 ERA and a 1.281 WHIP with 34 strikeouts.

Believed to have starter potential, Dotel has been stretched out as so for this year’s FCL season; striking out 4, walking 2 and not allowing an earned run in 4 innings of work.

On the season he has .41 ERA and a .727 WHIP with 27 strikeouts. Additionally batters are struggling to the tune of a matching .149 AVG and SLG.

2) Rodolfo Nolasco–OF (Bradenton)

Originally signed by Pittsburgh back in July of 2018 for $235K, Nolasco was a major player in the success of the Dominican Summer League Pirates2 team in 2019; slashing .302/.373/.472 with 5 homers and 21 total extra base hits.

Based on his own achievements, the then 19 year-old Dominican was aggressively promoted to the FCL, where his abilities were once again put on display. In 164 plate appearances he batted .278, posted an extremely strong .409 OBP-thanks in part to a 15.9 BB%-and hit 8 homers. Because of this, he was once again promoted to begin 2022; landing in Bradenton, with the Marauders.

Unfortunately, in the beginning this assignment did not go as well as the others for the Pirates Top 20 prospect according to Fangraphs and #22 on MLB Pipeline. Through the first 59 games of the season, Nolasco was batting only .216 with an excessive 35.5% strike out rate. Luckily he did continue to hit for power, as he crushed 6 homers.

Then the month of July-or more specifically the third game of July-rolled around; beginning what is now a 10 game hit streak. During his current streak, Nolasco has blasted 5 additional home runs, is batting .368, has a 20.4% rate of both walks and strikeouts and was unsurprisingly named the Florida State League Player of The Week.

3) Sergio Umana-RHP (Bradenton)

When he signed with the Pirates on December 3, 2018, Umana was the number one pitching prospect from Nicaragua; although, even back then there were questions about his ability to add velocity. His answer to that has been throwing the off-speed stuff-especially his changeup-almost exclusively, with a sinker mixed in; which has started to produce pretty consistent results.

In his first 12 appearances-two starts-he has posted a .96 ERA and a .82 WHIP with 26 strikeouts and only 5 walks across 28 innings of work; including 4.1 scoreless innings this past week, with 5 strikeouts and zero walks.

Also of note, Umana has yet to give up a homer yet this year.

4) Anthony Solometo–LHP (Bradenton)

The first time Solometo made this list it was more about my own excitement of finally being able to see him pitch in his first professional game(s). This time I feel like he truly earned a spot in the Top 5.

After two rough outings in a row, he bounced back with a hit-less 4 inning relief appearance; during which he fanned 6, and didn’t allow a single free pass.

On the year he has 3.26 ERA and a 1.034 WHIP and 23 strike outs in only 19.1 innings; all while being a full 3 years younger than his average competitors.

5) Quinn Priester-RHP (Altoona)

The main explanation for Priester not making the list up until now is a simple one. He was on the IL for the first two month of the season with a left oblique injury that sprouted up at the end of Spring Training.

Then it was off to Bradenton for a rehab assignment; where he was the first leg of a combined no-hitter. Followed by a somewhat disappointing 2.2 inning performance-6 H/5ER/1BB/3K/1HR-with the Grasshoppers. And finally, his return to his original assignment with the Altoona Curve; eventually being built back up to starter he is envisioned to be.

Over his past two starts, Priester has tossed 10.1 scoreless, while striking 9 and walking only two.

Week of 7/22-7/24

1) Quinn Priester-RHP (Altoona)

For the second straight week Priester was one of the best pitchers in the entire organization; striking out 8, walking 1 and allowing just 1 run on 3 hits across 6 full innings of work.

Almost immediately I saw calls for him to be promoted to Triple-A and possibly the Big League Club by the end of the season; almost completely ignoring the fairly recent promotion of fellow Top Prospect Michael Burrows.

This is getting ahead of ourselves.

As previously mentioned Priester missed the entire first months of the season with an oblique injury. On top of that there are only 8 series left on Altoona’s season and 10 for the Indians. That’s an additional 50 or so innings at the most, if he stayed around his current production, and was promoted to Indianapolis.

Plus you have Burrows, Roansy, Bolton, etc. a head of him. In all likelihood those 50 innings-I am not ruling out promotion to the Indians-and a few appearances in the Arizona Fall League are in Priester’s future; if I had to predict anything.

2) Endy Rodriguez-C/2B/OF (Greensboro)

Hot doesn’t even begin to describe the tear Rodriguez has been on in Greensboro. In the month of July, the Pirates #7 Prospect on Fangraphs and #6 according to MLB Pipeline is slashing .351/.433/.772 with 6 homers, 6 doubles and an insane 206 wRC+.

A true Swiss Army Knife player, due to incredible athleticism, he can truly excel at multiple positions; while letting his bat guide the way through the Pirates Farm System.

3) Dariel Lopez-3B/SS/2B (Greensboro)

Lopez has hit(s) in 27 of his last 29 games; including his current 8 game hitting streak.

During this most recent series he batted .429 with 2 homers. On the year he is slashing .276/.312/.459 with 14 homers and 26 total extra base hits; however strikeouts-and not walking-have continued to plague his game, as he has struck out 24.1% time and only walked 1.5% of the time during this current hot streak.

4) Enmanuel Terrero-OF/DH (FCL)

There have been, and will be many more exciting prospects that make there way onto the FCL backfields this year because of the recent MLB Draft; causing it to be pretty difficult to keep up with all of them. Due to this, one name you may have missed is Enmanuel Terrero; the 19 year-old outfielder from Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic.

Originally signed for $600K-one of the top bonuses in that International Class for the Pirates-in July of 2019, Terrero did get to make his professional debut until 2021, with the DSL Pirates Black. On the season he batted only .237 with one homer and 8 extra base hits, but did show some discipline at the plate; taking 33 free passes, while striking out 24 times.

Potentially because of this, or maybe due to the lost season, Cherington and Company moved him stateside to begin the 2022 season in the FCL.

On the year his command of the zone has continued, as evidenced by his 17 walks to 10 strike outs. Terrero has also improved on his bat to ball skills, which have resulted in a .357 AVG and .500 SLG.

5) Luis Faringthon-RHP (DSL)

Just like Terrero, Faringthon was signed by the Pirates on July 2, 2019. His bonus was less, but not insignificant; landing at $160K. Also from the Dominican Republic, this slightly small in stature-5’11 187 pound-righty cut his teeth in 2021 with the DSL Pirates Gold; pitching 24.1 innings out of the bullpen. And although his numbers weren’t extremely impressive-5.18 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP-Faringthon was able to whiff 29 batters with a somewhat underrated fastball.

This season he has stuck in the bullpen-and remained in the DSL-to hone his command. In 20 innings of work, Faringthon has struck out 21, walked 7 and has not allowed a single home run; on his way to .45 ERA and .90 WHIP.

There you have it! My Top 5 Pirates Prospect Performers for the last two-15th and 16th-weeks of 2022.

Now remember, let me know I missed, who your Top 5 is and be sure check back each and every Tuesday (or Wednesday Night/Thursday Morning)-hopefully-during the Minor League Baseball Season!

My Dad was always one of my biggest supporters in life. It’s hard to imagine my life and my family’s lives without him. Thank you to everyone that has reached out and offered us comfort during this unfathomably difficulty time.

Five Pirates Thoughts at Five

7-25-22 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

You know, when watching a rebuilding team, one thing you should expect is to see things improve year over year. Well, until it doesn’t of course.

The Pirates were an improving team, this season. They had youngsters come up here, inject energy, enthusiasm and skill into a team that started the season struggling to string two hits together.

We collectively saw the list of returning veterans from the IL and everyone from fans to bloggers to beat reporters couldn’t fathom seeing all of them return. The kids were just playing too well right?

We logically saw that most of them had no trade value, even less value on the team, and yet, here we are, the clock has been turned all the way back to April. The team that looked awful back then, has somehow transplanted itself to the end of July.

Hard to trust a GM’s plan when it involves an intentional and fruitless step back from what was starting to bear fruit. Even if you support and like the larger picture, there is simply no excuse for seeing a step back at this juncture.

1. August 2nd Better be a Switch

There is no excuse for what this GM has done in the past few weeks. This team has some nice young players and playing them instead of this graveyard of failed signings, tired vets and never were’s, is really not asking for much.

That’s why this is so frustrating, it has nothing to do with money.

Look, nobody is going to deal for Yoshi, or VanMeter. If someone were to call about Jake Marisnick, I mean, it’s not like they’re getting someone’s top 20 prospect. Ben Gamel will get some attention, and he’s a good player, but even he isn’t going to net some massive return.

Daniel Vogelbach had all told 2.5 years of control and some pretty impressive numbers, he returned a potentially very good reliever for the next 5 or 6 years. That’s a move that makes sense, but not one that’s very repeatable given what else they have available.

Quintana has been good, not great. In fact, there’s a good chance whomever acquires him sticks him in the pen. He still should return something worthwhile, but not earth shattering.

So what the hell are we doing here?

We, and by we I mean you, me, most reporters, content creators, everyone really, can easily look at this team and make it better without spending one extra dollar.

Get Madris up here to replace Yoshi. Get Bae up here to replace VanMeter. Get Suwinski up here to replace Marisnick.

Even if you don’t do anything like that, lord knows I could go on with player moves, maybe stop putting VanMeter in the 2 hole. Here’s a coaching staff constantly talking about analytics, playing debatably their worst hitter in the spot where analytics would have you hit your best.

So, do you believe in analytics or don’t you?

Let’s take a first baseman who can’t play first base. A man with a .500 OPS. A man with a negative 1,7 WAR. A “power” hitter, with 2 homeruns. Know what, lets plop him at clean up. Yup lets do that for like 2 weeks too just to prove we aren’t watching him pinwheel himself into the dirt striking out. A .177 batting average people. Listen, this is low hanging fruit, but this guy isn’t going to come close to getting traded. So again, what the hell are we doing here? Why is he here?

You want to tell me he was hitting in AAA on his rehab assignment? Swell, I see nothing any different. I still see a “power” hitter who again takes pitches right down the pipe and swings at garbage out of the zone. I still see a guy who slaps at pitches instead of controlling the zone and the at bat. More than anything, and you read my stuff, I don’t say this lightly, I see a player with absolutely zero value either to this club or in a trade.

At some point, if fans are to trust what this GM is doing, he’s going to need to at least much more often, do the right thing. Make the simple, logical choice. Stop out thinking yourself and start making good decisions that directly improve the team.

Here’s what 2022 feels like to me.

Years ago my housing complex started a recycling program. We had to rinse all glass and plastic out and recycle. They even had a separate containers for batteries and light bulbs. When bringing my separated bags of trash up to the collection area I see one truck, dumping each and every one of the individual and specialized dumpsters into the same truck.

I asked what was going on and was informed they had no processor for the recyclables and so there was no reason to keep them separated.

So I was sorting trash, for nothing.

The Pirates basically held on to the sorted trash and tried to build shelves in their garage out of it. When you sort players out, leave them sorted.

Enough steps backward, because all they’ve done is waste time.

We’re 3 years into this build. Most fans (despite what you read on social media) was willing to give this GM time. We allowed 4 months of Ka’ai Tom because we knew they didn’t have better choices. That’s not the case anymore. Now there are better options almost everywhere. Use them.

Make decisions that make the team better. For the love of god these aren’t even hard yet, someday you’re going to have to look at a productive player and realize you have an even better option. How the hell am I to expect you’ll do the right thing then if you can’t now?

Trust is earned. Time to start earning.

2. The Kevin Newman Question

The first thing to say about Kevin Newman is, he’s nowhere near as bad as fans tend to think. In fact on this team, batting .257 currently, he’s almost Rod Carew. I’m kidding of course, but most of you probably recall prior to the season I predicted this would be Kevin’s last as a Pirate. I’m starting to wonder if that’s wise.

He has 2 years left of arbitration, and as we just finished saying taking a step back is not something we as fans should accept anymore.

The main reason to move on from Kevin is they have a bunch of options coming, and Kevin having a couple years left probably doesn’t fit into this team’s future plans. Part of me thinks, keep him around let him start at 2nd base, if he gets beat out by a rookie, hey, he’s still a nice bench piece, and you can always look to deal him at the next deadline.

That part of me is primarily saying this to myself, this team can’t afford to just give away MLB talent, and folks, unlike Yoshi and VanMeter, Kevin is a MLB player. A career 2.3 WAR player. Not great, but good. That’s so much better than I fear they’d get to add veteran competition in to the mix next season, and honestly, I’m not sure I trust them to move on.

The down side is, I don’t trust them to allow him to just slip into bench when and if he does get beaten out. Let’s say Liover Peguero comes up here and just rakes, do they have the sense to allow it to happen? Will they constantly want to just let the veteran play instead? In other words is this a team that needs to be left without water wings to ever learn to swim?

Maybe I’d feel differently if Diego Castillo had grabbed the position and run. Maybe if Tucapita Marcano was able to take his opportunity and not let go I’d feel more secure. Hell, even if Nick Gonzales had stayed healthy and looked to be on track I might not consider this.

If purely looking at every decision through a lens of “let’s not take backward steps” I have a hard time moving on from one of this teams nailed on MLB talents, at least right now.

Keeping Newman isn’t some hill I’m going to die on, and I entirely get that many of you have simply seen enough, but if they choose to move him either at this deadline or this offseason they better be right.

3. Trades Have to Make Sense

Specifically, I’m seeing wild predictions that Keller or Brubaker should be tradable pieces. Folks, there are far too many people just starting to pay attention who literally don’t understand this stuff.

This is the makeup of the Pirates starting rotation. I’ll even do extra to account for trades and whatnot.

Mitch Keller – $725K – Entering Arb 1 next season (Controlled through 2025)
JT Brubaker – $725K – Entering Arb 1 next season (Controlled through 2025)
Zach Thompson – $705K – Entering Arb 1 in 2025 (Controlled through 2027)
Roansy Contreras – $700K – Entering Arb 1 likely in 2026 (Controlled through 2028)
Bryse Wilson – 715K – Entering Arb 1 in 2024 (Controlled through 2026)
Jose Quintana – 2M – Pending Free Agent

it’s of course 2022.

Here’s the thing folks, this is what you call a young controlled rotation. Is this the rotation that leads them to the promised land? Oh I doubt it, but it is a rotation that’s good enough to head into 2023 with, obviously subtracting Quintana, adding another veteran, infusing some younger options like Mike Burrows, Cody Bolton, Miguel Yajure, and add your favorite names to the list.

As we get into next season, you’ll see guys like Quinn Priester start to push their way up and maybe then, one of these starters becomes expendable. Maybe one of them just flat out stinks next season. Perhaps Thompson or Wilson become bullpen arms. Regardless, trading these guys isn’t something you’ll see this year for one simple reason. This is exactly what they want at this stage. Cheap, talented, with upside.

The payroll will go up on this team, we’ve already seen it happen this year although not much. Part of that increase in payroll will be from these players getting extended, or even just getting raises via arbitration.

Over time if the Pirates do nothing. Let’s say they keep that starting 5 I listed there for the next 3 years (they won’t but play with me here) depending on how each of them do of course, you could expect their combined salary to go from 3.57Million to probably closer to 16 -20Million.

Ignoring the rest of the roster, that takes this payroll up to around 80Million.

That’s 3 years from now, and they have a ton of position players that will move in the same direction. When I tell you they’ll spend more and increase payroll, this type of stuff is the part I don’t have to trust Nutting to achieve.

If you want a false equivalency I see all the time, it’s pretending the Pirates trading players like Jameson Taillon, Joe Musgrove, even Garret Cole is the same thing. Not one of those deals was made to avoid paying arbitration. Not one of those players was traded from a team trying to come out of a rebuild. And I’m not even touching that Cole wasn’t about to pretend signing here was an option. Those trades were all made because they were talented pitchers who could bring a nice return. Cole was Neal Huntington trying to mask his lack of AAA talent by acquiring MLB ready or close to ready talent. The other two were Ben Cherington tearing down his roster of everything with any value that expired before 2025.

All of that is true, every damn word of it.

Trading any of those pitchers doesn’t make sense for where they are. In fact, it’s time to start talking extension with guys like Keller and Brubaker, both of whom have shown improvement this year, both of whom regardless of where you think they land in a good starting 5 are easily good enough to be in just about everyone outside of LA’s rotation.

Mitch Keller is a perfect example of what you should expect more often than not. He’s a guy who took his lumps, finally started to turn into what the team hoped he would during 2022. He’s a cautionary tale of why you can’t expect a highly touted prospect to arrive as the finished product he could be. He’s also a guy that you need to think about keeping around beyond his arbitration window. Here’s why, you can’t remake this rotation every year or every couple years. At worst it needs to be no more than 2 spots where you count on youngsters, especially if your team is trying to compete.

Bottom line, if they start shipping guys like this, everything is up for question, including the timeline to compete.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you a normal fan who just wants to watch a baseball team should even be thinking about stuff like this, that’s my job I 100% get that, but this is also why I can’t stop arguing with the charlatans who constantly equate everything down to “not wanting to pay arbitration” or “selling them as soon as they get good”. There are always circumstances, and as long as they make sense from a strategic position, I’ll be here to explain it. When they don’t, I’ll drop the hammer.

4. The Right Man for the Job?

It’s harder and harder to pretend Derek Shelton is the man for this job. I mean part of what has helped him remain the manager for 3 seasons is the relative vacuum of talent he’s had to work with.

Far too often, I’m watching this man be taken to school by reporters. Almost seemingly caught off guard by some of the simplest questions there are in the game.

This one happened yesterday.

C’mon. He didn’t even try to answer the question.

Just in case you didn’t click, essentially Dejan asked him why his players failed to alter their approach with runners at 2nd and 3rd you know, to secure those runs, rather than just swing for the fences.

As usual, the very pedestrian baseball question, which isn’t a shot at DK, he’s been doing this a long time, he knows what he’s doing. Even knows how to give a guy an opportunity to explain the thinking on something that common fans (and I’d suppose he himself) don’t understand. As usual, Derek Shelton completely caught off guard.

It’ s one thing to not have an answer, or even a wrong one. It’s another thing all together to continuously show you haven’t even considered something that 90% of your fans were screaming at the TV or in the stands.

This has happened multiple times since he’s been here. DK got him once asking why he’d rest Hayes and Reynolds his only recognizable players on the same day during a home stand instead of on the road, if even then it made sense to sit both at the same time. Again, dumbfounded. Didn’t even consider it.

Why does Jack Suwinski need to be sent down but VanMeter keeps playing? Yada yada, nothing nothing, “funny” anecdote, nothing nothing, frustrated reporter gives up.

There is double talk we’re all used to, and then there’s a guy who is so disconnected from what anyone with a modicum of baseball knowledge would know it’s almost unbelievable he’s been involved in the game for 30+ years.

Look, I think he’s a nice guy, and I’m quite sure, so are my sources, that he’ll return as the coach in 2023.

It’s time to stop leaving the conversation there, and time to start questioning how long this is ok enough. Or more accurately, doesn’t matter enough.

Say what you will about Hurdle, lord knows I didn’t always agree with him, but he always could explain his position. Sometimes I left that sound bite bitterly angry, but I never left it wondering if he knew what the hell he was talking about. I do that weekly with “Sheltie”.

5. Yes, I Still Feel This Season Will be Fun

I still think things are lined up for a very young team to give us something fun to watch as the season rolls on.

It’s easy to forget how much we enjoyed watching this club just a month ago when youth was around every corner. Player good and bad flooded the team with potential, and expectation. Some of them showed some of what they have, some of them showed a fatal flaw, all of them showed more than most of the vets they’ve decided to carry on with recently.

To be clear, this isn’t how I saw this season unfolding. I thought they’d struggle early, infuse a player or two, get past the deadline and go full on youth. What we saw was much of that youth come up early save the biggest chip of them all, and instead of being happy they got to Wally World somehow someway, they decided we had to go back and sit through the drive with their dead aunt in the back seat even though we happily skipped it.

I still expect them to eventually land where they should have just stayed.

Thing is, this stuff is already enough of a crap shoot, when it comes to decisions, they can’t afford to miss as often as they do, and to expect them to suddenly go from making routine errors as a management group to flawlessly executing something that was only done once in the last two decades, yeah, it’s that kind of scary.

We all rightly put much of this on Nutting when it comes to expectation, but before we get there, I need to see that this GM is capable of delivering so little as a tough decision to Nutting’s door.

It’s been a long time since his success in Boston, and I’ll not even touch on how much was his or his predecessor, the payroll luxury he enjoyed, all I’m saying is just because he wants to succeed and wanted to have the challenge of building his own system doesn’t mean he’ll succeed.

I like the talent amassed in the minors and I’m happy to see some of it arrive ready to contribute, that in and of itself is a step forward, but the devil is in the details, and on that front, I’m far less enthused.

Five Things I’d Do Since This Year Clearly is About Development

7-24-22 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Fans get tired of hearing that winning doesn’t matter. Writers and bloggers who actually support what the team is doing cringe every time they say or write it too believe it or not.

That’s because nobody really means it.

Winning always matters, even when the team trades players. Even when they play guys who have no business being in MLB or on this team. Winning matters to the players putting everything they have on the field, even if their collective skills don’t rise to the level of what achieves it very often.

Winning matters to the coaching staff if only because we shouldn’t forget almost all of them have at one point or another been athletes themselves, which should tell you something about their competitiveness.

So maybe saying winning doesn’t matter is a bit disingenuous to say the least.

It’s probably more accurate to say, of course they’d like to win, but development should be the most important aspect of every decision they make the rest of the way.

So when I make these suggestions, that’s the lens to view them through. These are things that might not help the team win, but could accelerate the development of the talent they do have, the talent that will likely return in 2023, because next year believe it or not, winning will start to matter in a much less subjective way, whether they’re ready for it to or not.

1. Avoid Creating Platoon Players

The Pirates have seemingly decided a few players are platoon guys only. Michael Chavis, and Diego Castillo come to mind. Some fans have suggested they do the same with Oneil Cruz. If you wind up with platoon players, that’s fine, but let’s not actively develop them.

Folks, if you’re developing talent, it seems to me a bit short sighted to set off deciding they simply shouldn’t play half the time. It may very well end up there of course, but let’s take Michael Chavis in particular. He’s clearly better against left handed pitching, probably always will be. His defense is limited only by his size, and he’s done well to even mask that. The lefties that he’s been sitting for like Yoshi and Josh VanMeter aren’t either part of the future here, nor are they mashing right handed pitching.

So, wouldn’t they get more from just letting Michael try to be an every day player? At the very least he provides superior defense right?

Maybe I change my mind if they bring up a Bligh Madris, but even then, all things being equal, in the early going, I’d really prefer not to create players with handicaps. Bligh can hit pitching from both sides, so why penalize him because Michael can only hit one?

All of this to say, if winning is at least in competition with development for what matters most, let’s see development. Let’s push guys to do what’s not easy, or uncomfortable. In 2023, I don’t want to guess about the abilities of guys like Chavis. Use this year to prove it out. If he’s just a platoon guy, fine, but lets see.

2. Speaking of Cruz

Oneil Cruz has struggled since his promotion at the plate, especially against left handed pitching.

I’ll not repeat myself from the first section but I’m glad to see them allowing him to keep trying against them regardless of result. He’s always hit them in the minors, so learning to hit them in the majors is simply the next step.

Nothing is more important than at bats when it comes to Cruz and his development. So why not put him in the leadoff spot? He’ll get more at bats there. His speed more than plays, maybe it’ll help him be a bit more selective, patient. If you’re someone who believes he has to be in a run producing spot, ok, but batting 7th or 8th sure isn’t that.

Since the National League adopted the DH, this stuff matters much less than it used to regardless of the winning question, so to me this is all about math. I simply want him having more at bats than he would batting anywhere else in the lineup.

Every day, the rest of the way. Against lefties, and righties. He’s shown an ability to improve his approach as he faces a pitcher multiple times, but batting where he is currently, he isn’t getting that opportunity all that much. 2 at bats against a starter when you hit in the 7 hole is about the top end and I’d rather see him get 3 a bit more often.

3. If They Won’t be Here, Don’t be Here

After the deadline passes, I’d imagine almost everyone thinks so will the hourglass sands run out on guys like Yoshi, and VanMeter.

I hope so, but just in case, it’s one of my points.

There is nothing to gain by playing players who simply won’t be part of this thing moving forward, so to me there has to at least be a chance of that in order to make sense of playing them.

Even if inferior.

For instance, let’s say Yoshi hits 4 bombs tomorrow. I’ll give you a minute to clear the tears from your eyes from laughing, ok, all clear?

I’d still rather see someone else. Madris, Mitchell, Chavis every day, really anyone who might actually be here. If they use Josh VanMeter, I might be even more frustrated because he actually has team control, and I simply WANT them to not see him as having a future here, but at least I can say it’s plausible even if it makes me puke in my mouth.

I’m picking on VanMeter, but routinely this team has given too much playing time to guys who most fans and unless I’m to consider the coaching staff braindead, knew and know aren’t going to be here.

This one could simply boil down to use your time wisely and for the record, I’d have started this kind of thing much earlier.

4. Allow Roles to Develop in the Bullpen

The Bucs have gotten more out of their pitching staff this year than most thought they would, me included. I thought the rotation was going to be worse, I thought the bullpen was frightening. Wil Crowe came out of nowhere, Tyler Beede was a pickup I was disinterested in from the moment he was picked up, but now is the time to start letting them settle in a bit.

If newly acquired Colin Holderman is to be a back end guy, lets see it, and yes, I know he’s been assigned to AAA, don’t worry, they’re just doing what’s easy until the deadline passes, he’ll be up.

If Wil Crowe is your 8th inning guy, lets see it regularly. We’ve seen it sporadically and I’d like it to become his role. I’d like even better if they could find a lefty to fit back there but I digress.

What I don’t like is one day Crowe is the 8th inning guy, next time out he’s coming in for the 6th and the team wants 2+ innings. Versatility is great, but for arms, sometimes that leads to inconsistency.

We forget that most of these guys have been starters, even guys who we never see play up here as starters probably were in college and the minors to a certain degree. Well, the mentality of delivering more than one inning comes with old habits. For Crowe it comes with ramping back on velocity, it comes with being worrisome about using his entire repertoire. The best of him is diminished, and I’d like to see decisions made to either allow him to fully transition to one or the other. I believe he can be effective either way, but training is key for both.

5. Get Kids Up Here, but Chill on the Constant Shuffle

I’m not going to pretend I know everyone who will be here, even if I know who I want. Point is, if you bring Tucapita Marcano back up here, leave him here. If they bring up Jack Suwinski, leave him here. It’s time to get eyes on kids and let them feel part of something without constantly wondering.

For instance, Bligh Madris had hit better up here than 90% of the players they called up in 2022, so sending him down for any reason really didn’t make much sense, it’ll make even less after the deadline.

Some of these moves aren’t going to help the record, but they might just help you enter 2023 with less questions.

If Marcano isn’t good enough to be one of this team’s bench bats next year, find out now. Scratch him off the list. Rodolfo Castro is just never going to turn out? Well, lets be sure and avoid wasting a valuable 40-man spot.

Answer questions. That’s what I want done the rest of the way, and in the process I don’t expect all of the answers to be eliminating someone from contention, sometimes I think it’ll be more about confirming room needs to be provided for the player next year.

Answering some of these questions is going to be counter to “putting your best players on the field” but it could help you do exactly that in 2023, and earlier than if you just continue to try to slow walk everyone.

Without dealing with the complete fish out of water looking statistics of players like Jack Suwinski or Diego Castillo, there is no double digit homerun totals, no knowledge that Diego is legitimately capable in the outfield, and infield. No understanding that Jack has a sense of the moment and ability to turn an at bat into an all out battle to get a pitch and deliver. No knowledge that the very ability Jack showed to do so is the very reason he was sent down, because if he can do that in a high leverage situation, there is little reason to accept him going 0-29 with 20+ strikeouts.

It’s time to see what we have in some of these guys, and again, I could and have argued this should have started much earlier for some other spots.

All I’m asking is follow the model you afforded these players and get answers for others. The less questions we enter 2023 with, the better.

And the First Domino Falls – Daniel Vogelbach Sent to the Mets for Reliever with Upside and Control

7-23-22 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Yesterday, right before the game started the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Mets swung an even up deal of Major League players. The Pirates sent Daniel Vogelbach and the Mets sent Colin Holderman, a right handed reliever with really good stuff, a short sample of success and 6 years of contol.

Let’s start with what the Pirates got first, and then we’ll really dig in on what they lost to pull it off.

Colin Holderman RHP

I’ll tell you what’s known, what’s expected and folks, that’s not much.

The 26 year old was drafted by the Mets in the 9th round of the 2016 MLB Entry Draft. He was originally seen as a Starting prospect and last did so in 2019. His numbers were fine but his pitch mix primarily focusing on his Slider and Sinker are well suited to the bullpen. The Sinker is his main pitch, using it just about 50% of the time, and it’s really good at getting ground balls. He also has an ability to throw it up to 97 MPH which is not always effective for a sinker but this one holds it’s shape.

He’s only amassed 17.2 innings in the bigs so there’s no way to avoid the small sample size argument and I’m sorry, fans being upset in New York means nothing, after all, Pirates fans are upset about losing a guy most of them laughed at being signed and actively hated for half of this young season.

Point is, this is a pitcher with really nice upside and 6 years of team control. His 6’7″ frame makes the shape of the sinker and slider that much more powerful as his natural plane is downhill.

If you want to be worried, and honestly, who doesn’t, before the lost 2020 season he really struggled to gain traction, after the lost 2020 season he found his way, and really hasn’t looked back.

This has potential to be a solid bullpen option, even back end for half a decade, and folks, the Pirates need that sorely.

His AAA assignment won’t last long. With more trades to come, they’ll wait for the rest of the dominoes to fall before deciding who goes where. I’ll get into this later a bit more.

Daniel Vogelbach DH

Here’s what I wrote about this signing back in March.

They’ll list him as an infielder probably but realistically he’s only going to play first base and DH for the club. He’s a very nice compliment to Michael Chavis and Yoshi Tsutsugo with the same skill set even if a bit more tested.

The lefty started his career in Seattle and even made an All Star appearance in 2019 a season that saw him get significant playing time, participating in 144 games and getting 558 at bats he swatted 30 homeruns and his .208 average was mitigated a bit by his 92 walks.

He’d never see that kind of action again topping out with 93 games in Milwaukee last year where he looked to have gotten back to what makes him tick. Hitting the ball hard and racking up walks.

This makes finding a winner for these two spots more likely. Three guys who could all legitimately step in and put one over the fence to fill two spots means extended slumps might be provided some cover.

Vogelbach has signed a one year deal and no, I don’t think it’s a nailed on given that he’s the first baseman. His glove isn’t much better than Yoshi if at all.

Now, I put this in here because I think it’s important to remember what was signed and what was thought of it at the time.

Daniel outplayed my expectations. He hit right handed pitching, hit for power, got on base. Played far less first base than I thought he might and all in all was a plus addition.

He was signed for one year at 800K with a 200K buyout in 2023 or a team option for next season worth 1.5 million. This had most fans assuming the Pirates were trading a guy with a year and a half of control left, but that’s because most ignored that after the option year he still had a year of arbitration, so actually they moved a guy with 2.5 years remaining. Even so, he outhit his contract so if he wasn’t on the hook for the option he probably gets more money than he’s going to.

This guy is universally popular in the clubhouse, and fans after a slow start really grew to like him. Homeruns will do that.

That said, it’s hard to ignore the team has a glut of options for DH despite the first game post trade putting Yoshi back in the spot.

Moving Forward

There’s no denying it, an offensively starved team just moved one of their best hitters, at least facing right handers. I was shocked to see them acquire MLB help, but pleasantly so. The bullpen has been a source of highs and lows this year and to add someone with potential to impact it from the jump will at least lighten the blow from the likely move of Stratton and anyone else they might choose to part ways with.

As to how the DH spot is handled, I don’t think last night’s context is a road map. It may be Yoshi until the team finally does the right thing, but after that I think we’ll see a model I personally prefer for the time being, a spot to just get rest for players, and rotate in hot bats without having to bench another position player. For a team in this stage I much prefer having the spot remain a revolving spot.

All in all, I really liked what Vogelbach provided here, and he blew my expectations out of the water, that said, he didn’t do anything in my eyes that made him untouchable or even someone they should have held onto especially at the expense of passing on a talent like Holderman. He certainly didn’t present a picture of someone the Pirates should believe needs to be here into the middle of the decade.

Say something like “the Pirates traded their second best hitter” and even if I could get to the point where that is a true statement (I can’t), it’s more of a reason to go ahead and make a move than it is to hold on tight. If Danny boy is truly your second best hitter, well, move on.

I’m really interested to see if the Pirates continue to bring in MLB talent in these moves. I could see it especially in the pen but I could also see some strategic AAA moves. It would be great to get a 1B, even someone simply blocked by a stud in MLB, or a catcher. An upgrade to Carter Bins could really be nice to have, the team will have to sign a starter for 2023 already, and while I like what Jason Delay and Tyler Heineman have done here, I can’t deny there is need there.

All in all, good trade, probably for both teams honestly.

Much more to come I’m sure and I’m sure we won’t be sweating some of these out on the 1st. The Pirates don’t have a list of players who are going to get more valuable by waiting, save maybe Jose Quintana. He’ll be a hot name but there are better options that in my mind will have to drop first. He could be a last minute move, brought about by missing on some other options, but I don’t think he’s sparking some bidding war.

Don’t expect a bunch of promotions/demotions either before the deadline. Ben Cherington mentioned acquiring more MLB players in return isn’t something they will be avoiding or seeking per se, so burning options or even 40-man spots isn’t something you’ll see them do until the deadline is passed.

Unfortunately that will mean a team that spends the next week in limbo, and if last night’s game is any indication it’s going to be disjointed badly too. A poor mix of sulking, wondering, worrying, losing friends, losing talent, gaining talent, just a time of transition that most teams go through at this time of year when they’re designated sellers, but as I said yesterday, thinking a 65-70 win team is to be held together is just foolish.