Five Pirates Thoughts at Five

8-16-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Things haven’t been going well. To be blunt, everyone should have expected a weak performance down the stretch, but it’s all worth it if they come out of the rest of this season with answers. I think that’s why it gets so frustrating when they don’t give the appearance they’re looking for answers with every lineup they put together. Speaking of answers, as predicted the Pirates activated then immediately DFA’d Ka’ai Tom today.

1. Honesty is Key

There are a lot of you that want to dismiss every criticism of the team or how they’re approaching this rebuild as ‘haters’ or worse, ‘uneducated’.

Take an honest look at what they’re doing, and more importantly, what you really believe they will do.

Step one, trade anyone close to an expiring contract, not the same as ‘everyone as soon as they get good’.

Step two, build up the system through trades, drafts, signings and supposedly improve the talent that remains.

After that, It’ll be signing a few guys strategically and we’ve been led to believe spend some money. But trades aren’t going to stop.

People are never going to lose that argument, and it doesn’t make them dumb for suggesting it. You may not like the snark they use, or they might be put off by predicting someone the club will be moved, but this is reality. Truthfully, that doesn’t change much even with a different owner.

The Pirates can operate under this system better than they have, their baseline for low end of the payroll can be higher, for a couple seasons their top end could be much higher, but at some point trades will again happen. The hope is they have more coming when that arises.

Baseball itself created this, and teams like Tampa and Oakland have mastered working under it. Now, quick, name a Rays or A’s player who has spent a decade with the club.

Long way of saying, don’t fight with people that say the Pirates will trade guys because they most assuredly will, it just isn’t the mindless and uniform occurrence some tend to simplify it to.

2. Arm Fatigue

Bryse Wilson was placed on the 10-Day IL yesterday with arm fatigue. It makes sense, last season he threw all of 15.2 innings and this year between AAA, Atlanta and Pittsburgh, he’s sitting at 102 for 2021.

So, I’m not saying this is fake, but I am saying I don’t think this is what the IL was intended to handle.

It’s not like this just started, for as long as I can remember guys wound up on the IL with, um, shoulder discomfort, or back pain. We all knew what was going on, but I do think it’s being abused more flagrantly by every team in the last couple years.

There used to be one main reason to take all these things at face value, players want to play. You’d see some guys accept it after really struggling, knowing the alternative might very well be their roster spot being no more. But for the most part, guys wouldn’t just accept a trip to the IL and give someone else a chance to take their spot.

Hey, again maybe Bryse himself is totally on board with some down time here, I just have to wonder how the league feels about some of these fairly obvious designations. Nobody likes any rule being abused.

3. Why Are the Coaches Not Expected to Perform?

I was recording my podcast for DK Pittsburgh Sports Podcasting Network with my friends Graves and Jim Stamm last week and one of our big topics was who on this club has really improved? I ask the question because even if the players aren’t answers, the job of coaching is to help even lesser talents find something.

I don’t want to get derailed here, the point of this entry is how strange it is to me there is a large contingent who believe you can’t criticize coaching at all.

Why?

They’re part of the team too. Plenty of you are ready to say former number one pick Kevin Newman should be done getting playing time, why isn’t it ok to ask what the coaches have done to help him improve?

Why can’t I ask about Derek Shelton refusing to have anything close to a consistent lineup and what effect that might have on players trying to find their way? That isn’t exactly a picket sign on Federal Street calling for his head, it’s a question.

If you aren’t asking questions, you aren’t learning. If you don’t challenge, why would anyone feel the need to improve. This whole environment we’ve boxed ourselves into where you can’t question anyone without being a hater is just silly.

Listen, I’ve got no personal grudge against any of the coaches, but I’m not just going to sit here until 2024 acting like they’re untouchable then run around with my hair on fire pretending I didn’t think about it prior. That’s not how it works, that’s not how honest coverage works. You want that, I’m afraid you’ll have to check out some of my competitors.

4. Speaking of Kevin…

Newman has played solid defense all season, and nothing he does for the rest of this season is going to erase nearly 4 months of ineptitude. That said, he is starting to hit, and yes, I said it before his 4 for 4 with 4 doubles in game one of Saturday’s double header.

He may wind up being nothing more than a bench player, he may wind up being someone else’s problem before too long, but he also isn’t someone I’d recommend giving up on just yet.

I get it, you think you’ve watched baseball for 30, 40 years and you can identify a player long before these clowns. Not likely.

Again, he may turn out to be nothing, but he has something a ton of players don’t, he’s done it already. That means something. Especially for a team still in a position where they’re bringing in guys who have “done it” in AAA and failed to ever have it translate to MLB.

Oh, I know, his secondary numbers are bad. Yup, sure were. He doesn’t have enough range! Well, he sure didn’t. Guys improve sometimes, and guys with pedigree get that opportunity especially when nobody is pushing him. Hoy Park can play SS we’ve seen that and he’ll eat into Kevin’s playing time a bit, but Hoy can play all over the diamond so its not Kevin or Hoy,

People were ready to flush him after a terrible September call up in 2018. His numbers in 2019 were met with examinations of how bad he should have been based on analytics. 2020 was awful, for a bunch of guys, Kevin included. Finally 2021 has been terrible with the bat. Up and down.

Some see that as a culmination of what they discovered in 2019, some see it as proof he’ll always stink. I see it as a guy who has shown he has a MLB glove, and as of right now, a AAA bat. There was a time that was enough at short stop, today it’s maybe enough to keep you on a roster until something better comes along.

5. Yay, the Pirates System is Ranked 4th by Baseball America

Hey, it’s great. You don’t go get all these prospects and get upset when your farm system is recognized.

That said, spare me that it directly means a championship is all but assured. Baltimore and Detroit have been near the top for years.

The Pirates are continuing to tick boxes in the rebuild and getting to this point with the system was one very important step. Now the development needs to take over and make it count.

Lately most of the comments about prospects have touched on that, development is after all the final piece of the puzzle and until they show us they’re better at it than the previous crew all anyone serious can say is they’ve made a ton of changes and upgrades.

If you want to sell your house and decide to remodel your kitchen to improve the value but don’t do it well, all you’ve done is spent money on something that isn’t going to make you any.

I’m not trying to be pessimistic and I’m certainly not telling you this ranking means nothing, but it certainly doesn’t mean mission accomplished.

At this point I should just take any enthusiasm as a welcome sight, but I just can’t help but remind everyone just how these lists often don’t translate. Many of these are based on potential ceilings, but everyone reaching those projections is implausible. Don’t be shocked when they still pursue more.

Pirates Fall 2-1 in Well played and Pitched Ball Game Against Brewers

8-15-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Dillon Peters made his Pirates debut today. He’s not fully stretched out but today he threw 4.2 innings of 2 run ball, 1 earned.

He reminded me of Steven Brault in a way, fastball in the low 90’s, good changeup, all about the placement. He’s going to walk guys but not out of wildness as much as intentionally throwing borderline stuff. All in all, he was rather impressive today. Hey, 1 start doesn’t mean much when evaluating anyone, but it wasn’t a negative that’s for sure.

Now, the Pirates only scored one run today, but it was a manufactured run helped by Dillon Peters doing something I had begun to think was impossible, a sacrifice bunt. Ben Gamel would cash in the run to make it 2-1.

That’s how the game would end.

The Pirates ran into the buzz saw that reminds me a whole lot of the Nasty Boys bullpen of the 1990 Reds with Myers, Dibble and Charlton.

For the Brewers that combo is Boxberger, Williams and Hader.

People don’t like what Derek Shelton does with pulling starters early but what the Brewers are doing looks a bunch like what Tampa did last year (and this year) to win a bunch of games.

Starters go 4, 5, maybe 6 then turn it over to the buzz saw.

Have a guy that goes 4, fine, you have Brent Suter who can start in a pinch too. They’ve got a few guys like that.

The Brewers Pitching staff may not have an Ace that could take on a team like LA in the wild card, or even the Padres, but they can turn a game into a 6 inning affair real quick, so you better get your lead off that starter.

It’s a proven recipe, and while it won’t give you flashbacks to Nolan Ryan tossing 8 every time out, it just might get them a title.

For their part, the Pirates pen hung with them and put up zeros too. Not as automatic as the Brewers, honestly nobody is. Keller, Underwood, Stratton and Bednar combined for 4.1 scoreless. Again, this wasn’t a train wreck of a game, but the few miscues were large. (See Notes)

This was the last game against the Brewers this season for the Pirates, and thank god honestly.

They’ll start up in LA tomorrow night with Steven Brault taking the mound against nobody. The Dodgers are so confident they don’t even think they need a pitcher so they’ve left it at TBA.

Brewers defeat the Pirates 2-1.

News & Notes

  • The Pirates placed Bryse Wilson on the IL with arm fatigue today. Mike Persak reported that it sounded to him like it was just to get him some rest and there was no indication he would be out long term. Derek Shelton echoed that sentiment in the post game along with saying Dillon Peters would in fact get a second start.
  • Anthony Alford was placed on the IL with back tightness. A total coincidence that Ben Gamel returned from the IL today. Crazy right?
  • The Pirates signed Yoshitomo Tsutsugo today, they have yet to announce where he’ll be assigned but in AAA this year he’s slashed .257/.361/.507 and hit 10 homeruns in only 43 games. He’s played corner outfield, first base and third. The 29 year old former Japanese League star has not managed to catch on with the Rays or Dodgers in limited opportunity. Versatility, power potential, poor contact numbers and OBP, doesn’t hit arbitration until 2023 so plausibly a worthy reward if he turns out. I’d also say, in my eyes, he’s a long shot.
  • In the entire league, no reliever has thrown more innings than Duane Underwood Jr. So there’s that.
  • Rodolfo Castro had a couple poor plays today at second base. One he should have let go to Kevin Newman, instead fielding and throwing wildly to first base, aided by Moran slipping, and another a very wild relay throw. At bats are starting to look a bit sloppy too. As you all know well I love Castro, from way back, but it’s possible the adrenaline has run out and the need for some fine tuning has started to show itself.
  • The second run given up was aided by Polanco misreading a ball that sailed over his head for a double. Bad read, that simple. Looked catchable to me, but here I am on a couch. Wasn’t an error, but we might still be playing if it didn’t happen.
  • The Pirates have faced a ton of lefties lately and the club is loaded with left handed bats. Not a good combo.
  • Brent Suter has 12 Wins out of the Brewers bullpen this season. He’s a huge part of the formula.

Jacob Stallings Remains Your Catcher For The Immediate Future

8-15-2021 By Craig W. Toth (aka @bucsbasement on Twitter)

By now, I am pretty sure that most Pittsburgh Pirates Fans have become intimately familiar with journey of Jacob Stallings; from Designated For Assignment Castoff in May of 2019 to Gold Glove Finalist and Full Time Starter in 2020, and finally Gold Glove Favorite and Walk Off Artist in 2021.

Since he became the personal catcher for the majority of the Pirates starting rotation in 2019 until now, Stallings is number one in all of MLB in Defensive Runs Saved (39), top 10 ten in framing (13.8) and fifth in overall defense (29.4) all according Fangraphs.

With the bat Stallings is not as much a formidable foe, but still sits at 23rd in wRC+ (91) for catchers with at least 500 plate appearances during this time. Over the past three seasons he has posted a batting average .247 and an OPS of .710, while hitting 17 homers. Also his fWAR of 4.3 is 11th among regular starters at the position. This season he is 9th (2.0 fWAR).

For many his defensive stats stand alone, and are more than enough to justify him maintaining his role as the Pirates primary catcher, or at the very least the veteran back-up and mentor, for as long as he is under team control; which would be through 2024 as he has three more years of arbitration. Meanwhile, there are others who seem to be pushing Stallings out the door because the advanced analytics are clearly overrated, or due to the fact that recently acquired Carter Bins and Henry Davis will be ready sooner rather than later to take the helm.

Yes, the same Carter Bins who has 22 games at Double-A under his belt, is batting .154 during that time and has only thrown out 19.2% on the season with 8 errors and 12 passed balls. Or Henry Davis, who has been the designated hitter in exactly one ball game outside of the Florida Complex League.

This is not meant to be a slight on these two young men, or the potential they possess, although it could be interpreted that way. In my estimation it is more about not needing to rush development in any way. Now, if they force the issue, it’s a completely different ballgame. At that point Stalling could be seen as expendable, especially as part of potential trade package if he continues to excel behind the plate, while providing competent at bats in the box.

Nevertheless, until this happens it’s hard to imagine a tandem of Michael Perez (.155/.228/.351 with 7 homers) and Joe Hudson (.196/.276/.308 with 3 homers in AAA) behind the dish for any period longer than a stretch of August and September games, much like the ones the Pirates are in the midst of right now.

So, unless Ben Cherington is completely blown away by an offer in the off-season, Stallings will be back behind the plate in 2022, and 2023 if I am being totally honest.

And for those who say bringing in a veteran back stop would be an easy solution if Stallings were to be traded, you obviously haven’t had to learn the ins and outs of an entire pitching staff in a matter of weeks. It’s not an easy task.

The Pirates Wasted All Their Hits In The First Game

8-15-2021 By Craig W. Toth (aka @bucsbasement on Twitter)

Obviously, I am totally joking, however, the two games on Saturday couldn’t have been any more different for the Pittsburgh Pirates hitters. Sure, they did a lot of damage in the beginning of the first contest with infield hits and force outs, but eventually the bats really got going in their 14-4 pounding of the Brew Crew. It was something that was really nice to see for a bunch of guys that only managed three hits in their first two games against the Cardinals earlier in the week. Unfortunately, for Pittsburgh it was much of the same on Saturday night as Brad Boxberger and company spread out four hits, struck out eight and walk only one Pirates hitter in the shortened seven inning game.

On the mound for the Pirates, Mitch Keller lasted just north of four innings; allowing two runs on nine hits. It wasn’t a great outing, but it sure wasn’t the reason the Pirates lost to the Brewers 4-0.

News and Notes

  • Last season, in spite of his offense struggles, Bryan Reynolds was near the top of the leaderboard in outfield assists with five; which was extremely nice to see because up to that point his defense, and especially his arm was not something that was talked about very much. On Saturday night he reminded Willy Adames why it isn’t the best idea to run on him.

  • After his quadruple double, Honus Wagner like performance in the first game of the split doubleheader, Kevin Newman collected another hit in the nightcap. Over his last 30 games, and 109 at bats, Newman is batting .275. This won’t do much to improve upon the abysmal start he had to the season as his slash line now sits at .227/.264/.303. However, if this continues, he will surely make the decision a little bit more difficult for the Pirates Chris upcoming off-season.
  • Chris Stratton, who was a potential trade deadline candidate for Pittsburgh, has a 15.63 ERA in his last seven appearances and a 7.80 in his last 15. For as good as he was in April and June, he has been equally as bad since the middle of July to now.
  • Shea Spitzbarth was called up to be the 27th man on the roster for yesterday’s doubleheader. His one bad pitch of the evening was deposited into the left field bleachers by Avisail Garcia.
  • Recently Acquired Dillion Peters (aka Dillypicklez) is set to make his Pirates debut today. In his career Peters has a 5.83 ERA and a 1.613 WHIP across 31 appearances, 24 of them in the starting role. In his lone outing for the Angels this year he lasted 1.2 innings, while 3 runs on 3 hits-two homers.

The Buccos and the Brew Crew’s rubber match is set 1:05 PM EST at PNC Park. This will be the last matchup between these two ball clubs on the season.

Pirates Finally Break Losing Streak 14-4 in Game One of Double Header

8-14-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

What can I say? The bats came to play, like all of them.

It feels like every time a team breaks out of a long losing streak they wind up having a game like this.

Before I get into it too far, Bryse Wilson didn’t have his best outing. 4 innings, 4 ER, and the Pirates found themselves in need of another comeback.

Boy did they ever.

Bryan Reynolds went 2 for 5 with a homerun and a single, 4 RBI.

Kevin Newman 4 for 4 with all 4 being doubles and 2 RBI.

Ke’Bryan Hayes 2 for 4, Hoy Park 3 for 5.

I mean they just laid the wood.

The Pirates Still Have a Communication Breakdown

8-13-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Way back in 2019 before Bob Nutting did the Pirates franchise bare minimum for accountability in disposing of his front office, I wrote about how much the communication from the Pirates needed to improve.

When they made the hire, first of Travis Williams, I hoped his time with the Penguins would afford him the experience to bring some of the genius he witnessed first hand to this organization.

I’ve seen spurts, they’ve done well on some things, less so in others. I’m not here to tell you it’s the same train wreck it was, but I think I can say there is absolutely room for improvement.

Here’s an example of the kind of stuff I’m talking about. Jason Mackey reported after Ben Cherington press session.

Now, first of all, credit to the media for asking the question, it’s a long time coming and Polanco’s play following the All Star Break probably kept it from being front and center.

But what is being said here? This isn’t a topic that requires GM double talk. Like I get it for trade stuff, or promotions, you want to keep that in house but what’s the purpose of being indirect here?

Just about every fan of this team or even baseball in general are pretty confident that Gregory is going to be bought out. Maybe contractually they aren’t allowed to publicly state their intensions but there is a happy medium.

Here’s what that statement ultimately says to me minus all the misdirection. It says, hey, we know the guy has been bad, but we wanted to give him a shot to prove us wrong. We get that it’s after the All Star Break and oh yeah, let me say Shelton and I talk but it’s ultimately his call.

Now, maybe this isn’t what he wanted me to take from his statement but that’s how it sounded to me.

This also sets up perfectly for the inevitable follow up question to Shelton. The onus has been tossed back to him. Cherington has now essentially said he’d be ok with Greg not playing because “Shelty makes out the lineups” so if he continues to play guess who has to explain why.

Pushed further on the matter he talked about needing to earn playing time.

Here’s another quote from Jason Mackey’s report.

“It’s a balance. … We need to give players the opportunity to improve, develop and make adjustments at the major league level, particularly those guys who have a chance of being part of what we’re doing.”

So, yeah, that’s what we want, and that’s why we’re asking about Polanco. I’m not sure if there has been a bigger fail from this club when it comes to communication than the whole meritocracy thing. I say that because quite honestly, they haven’t done it much.

There is a period of time that you have to give a player to truly evaluate him. I get that. I even supported it for Ka’ai Tom despite what my eyes were telling me. I did that out of respect for the process more than the player. My threshold isn’t as long as the Pirates.

Another factor in these decisions is, even if you get them to show you something, does it matter. For instance, If Ka’ai Tom eventually shows you something, he could be a piece for 5 years. Now, he isn’t of course but his control was reason enough to try.

As we discussed already, Greg, he gone. So what’s the point? I’m not like most, he doesn’t have to be DFA’d, just bench him. If you aren’t using Nogowski, option him and get me one of the kids. Try Chavis, Marcano, Madris, whatever, just someone who actually could be, as you so eloquently put it Mr. Cherington, ” those guys who have a chance of being part of what we’re doing.”

Yup.

I think my Dad could sum this up quite well. Just say what you’re doing and do what you’re saying.

How about the foodservice situation at PNC?

We’ve heard nothing from the team, hell it even made the news. Not enough employees to work the stands, and while that in no way is the Pirates fault since they use a third party, it’s been complained about enough that you need to address it at some point.

Some have suggested changing the bag policy, or at least warning people, which bluntly they’re late in the game to bother with, as I mentioned, it’s out there.

This has no effect on the product on the field, it’s just a missed opportunity.

This team has a PR problem named Bob that isn’t going anywhere. It’s not like Lemieux who people are more than happy to find excuses to praise, and does most things right on top of it.

Point is they have a bigger hurdle than other teams and it’s something I expected to improve. I understand the plan, well, most of the time, but let’s be honest, I work for it. I don’t understand it because they’re terrific at explaining things.

Add this to the list of things like “we’ll spend when the time is right” but stopping short of telling you what right looks like. It’s not enough that most journos and bloggers and podcasters were willing to fill in the blanks and hazard guesses. All it would take is a few more words.

You’re allowed to trust the process, even like it, and still have questions. When you do, it just doesn’t feel like a direct answer is going to come back.

Matthew Fraizer Continues To Mash In Altoona

Baker Bowl (aka National League Park, Philadelphia Park or Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds/Park) was home to the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League from April 30, 1887 until it closed its gates on June 30, 1938. Unofficially though, many used the term “Bandbox”-a compact cardboard box designed to hold a hat-to describe the stadium, where it was seen as much easier for players to hit homers due to its outfield dimensions.

In recent years this moniker has been bestowed upon present day Major League Baseball Stadiums, such as Toronto’s Rogers Centre (the Skydome) and Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park.

For reference, the dimensions of each of these stadiums are as as follows:

Credit to Andrew G. Clem for his amazing illustrations of these, and many other stadiums. Please visit his site http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/index.html to see his collection. As a side note, I have gotten lost looking at ballparks past and present on this great site.

Now, Mr. Clem has also completed diagrams of several Minor League Ballparks, but unfortunately the Greensboro Grasshoppers’ First National Bank Field; however if he did, it would fit everyone, with the exception of the original “Bandbox” of the Baker Bowl-the true rectangular shaped hat holder, with its 281 foot right field line. But with a 60 foot fence I might add.

First National Ball Park is 315 ft to left, 365ft to the left-center power alley, 400 ft to straight away center, 362 ft to left-center and 312 ft down the right field line; a true power hitter’s dream. And actually a dream stadium for any ball player, who can get a little bit of lift on their swing.

Related to me by several Minor League Players over the years, in the old-timey label of “Bandbox, or simply as a fly ball pitchers nightmare-where almost any routine pop-up could find its way out of the park-I have been extremely cautious not to overvalue the potentially inflated numbers of the Pirates Minor Leaguers, who have passed through Greensboro over the past couple of seasons. This doesn’t mean that everyone’s power is consistently painted with a rose colored brush inside the friendly home confines of the Grasshoppers, I just want see it continue as the move on up to Altoona, or Bradenton in 2019, before I get too excited about the potential.

This cautious optimism was no different with the latest Pirates power hitter to have Guilford on his hat, Matthew Fraizer.

Fraizer had been selected by the Pirates in the 3rd Round (95th Overall) of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft out of the University of Arizona. Prior to this Fraizer’s draft stock had taken a little bit of hit, as his Junior Season came to an end due to a broken hamate bone, suffered from simply swinging the bat in the Wild Cats’ 19th game that year. At the time Fraizer was by far Arizona’s most dominate player by slashing .412/.452/.565, although he was not known for his power; hitting only one homer that year and two the previous season.

In his first season of professional ball, Frazier found himself in Morgantown with the West Virginia Black Bears, where he struggled mightily to the tune of a .221 AVG, with a little over a handful of doubles (6) in 43 games and 171 plate appearances.

Given the benefit of the doubt due to his hamate injury, there was a lot for Fraizer to prove to himself and the new Pirates regime in 2020; which once again, as it was with so many Minor Leaguers-including the subject of my most recent prospect article, Blake Sabol-the year came and went with no place for him to put his hard work on display.

Then came 2021, with a placement with the new High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers; and in honesty for me it was make it or break it for the young man, who had since turned 22 and then 23 years old during the layoff.

So, what did Matthew Fraizer do? He broke out. In 75 games and 350 plate appearances, Fraizer slashed .314/.401/.578 with a ridiculous 20 homers; but more importantly for me his K rate hung around 21%, while his BB rose to 12.3%. He was seeing the ball like he had back in Tucson; with a patient approach he always possessed to hopefully go along with some new found power. At the same time, as I said before, I am being cautious with this optimism.

In comparison to Fraizer, 2019’s breakout power hitter, Mason Martin-also in Greensboro-hit 23 homers in only 5 more plate appearances, with 12 more coming in his 201 in Bradenton. This season he has hit 19 absolute bombs in 340, as his pace has slowed tremendously. Over his last 74 plate appearances, since July 24th, Martin does not have a single home run. He has also struck out 25 times and walked only 9 (12.1%); which is technically an improvement over his season average of 8.5%, but I digress.

These concerns I have about Martin are obviously not exactly parallel to those I potentially have about Fraizer because the plate discipline isn’t even necessarily comparable. With Fraizer is all about maintaining the power. However, if he doesn’t it isn’t the end of the world either. It would simply modify the projection the newly promoted member of the Altoona Curve; who in the smallest of small sample sizes (7 games), has hit .423 with a 1.231 OPS and 6 extra base hits; including this oppo-taco, so there is still some hope that the power surge is real.

Friday Focus: The Field of Dreams Game

8-13-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Baseball has always been there, linking the generations through a common bond. The game, the players, and the cathedral like feel of where it’s played.

For me, my grandparents told me stories about the greats, and specifically the greats of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They told me about Kiner and Maz, Clemente and Stargell. My great-great grandfather who I was lucky enough to meet way back in the 80’s was 99 and he told me about Honus and Ted Williams. Gehrig and Ruth, Pie Traynor and Nellie Fox.

I showed him my stuffed turtle that I carried everywhere, and my meager baseball card collection. He had a personal story about every one of the old cards I had, a collection of names I’d studied ever since my uncle passed me them, but he brought them to life. He made me see them for the war heroes some of them were. He helped me understand that most of them didn’t make enough money to only play the game. More than anything, he taught me it was ok to get choked up talking about a special moment, even if it was “just a dagumm game”.

My father never really got into sports much, but even he knew what baseball meant to me and made sure we went to games. And he still proudly tells me about meeting Roberto Clemente.

That’s what baseball does, it connects us. All of us.

While we spend plenty of time talking about what’s wrong with the game, last night, baseball, and specifically MLB did something very right.

The game itself was incredible as the Yankees and White Sox exchanged dramatic late inning comebacks resulting in a 9-8 White Sox win.

But minus all the bells and whistles of a modern baseball game, somehow the game never looked brighter. No giant graphics boards, only 8,000 people in attendance, even the players refrained from the typically flashy protective gear for the most part.

Players had reverence for what they were doing, where they were standing and what it meant to them to be a part of it.

Maybe more than the players, this game was about what was going on in households across the country. Many of you know from my stories that my wife isn’t really into this whole sports thing I do, yesterday she came home from work and made sure I planned to watch the Field of Dreams game. She recorded the pregame. She cried when the players poured out of the corn, I might have too.

Because whether you knew it in the moment or not, everyone has someone they can think back on that shared a connection through baseball. I thought of my wife’s Uncle Pav who we just lost a couple years back, and how very much he would have loved this game. In the beginning stages of meeting the family, baseball was what we bonded over. When we saw each other he’d always greet me with “Hey Gar, how about those Buccos!”. How I wish I’d taken those passing hellos with more gravity, or saw them less as an opportunity to talk about the team’s shortcomings than just an opening to talk. You think you’ll have them forever, until you don’t.

I thought of my grandparents who all would have loved this game, especially that the Yankees lost.

More than anything I thought about how being so deep into the coverage of a baseball team, and swatting away hateful comments, constantly looking to the future has made me forget, at times, just how much I love this game.

It’s beautiful in its simplicity, yet somehow something we’ve never seen before happens almost daily. What we witnessed last night was truly one of them.

We spend so much time worrying about what’s wrong, we forget that a whole lot is right. The emotion, the passion, the electricity all came together in one perfect baseball cocktail last night.

So many players on the field represented races and nationalities that weren’t even allowed to play the game in the era they were thrown back to, a subtle reminder that baseball always evolves, maybe even before society does.

And not just any actor could have pulled off what Kevin Costner did on Thursday night. Sure he was in the movie, but his love of the game comes through in his quiet. Seeing young players like Luis Robert and Aaron Judge awestruck by the sights and sounds while Aaron Boone felt the generations of MLB players his family has produced converge on that field.

For one night, everything in baseball was right. There were no payrolls last night. No imminent trades. No cheap owners. Nobody making political statements or showboating. Just the purity of baseball.

I loved it. Every damn minute.

I’m sure what was done in that cornfield in Iowa last night won’t have lasting effect on most of us, me included. I’ll have to go right back to writing about bad baseball and how broken the economic system is. But for one night, everything was perfect, everyone was perfect, everyone was united, if all this accomplished was one night of unity, at least MLB proved it’s still possible.

There is more we share in common than divides us.

Baseball has for longer than any other major professional sport been one of those commonalities. Kudos to MLB and everyone involved for a flawless night. It awakened something in me that the day to day grind of covering a team has stolen, and I’ll try like hell to hold it close and not let go.

Pirates Offense Outburst Falls Short

8-12-2021 By Craig W. Toth (aka @bucsbasement on Twitter)

Over the past two games against St. Louis, the Pirates batters were only able to amass three hits and one run thanks Jun Hoy Park’s first Major League homer, while striking out 16 times and only working three free passes. For some, these results could be chalked up to simply trading away players for prospects at the deadline, however this would we extremely short sighted. Sure, Adam Frazier-tied for the National League batting title with a .320 average-was traded almost three weeks ago at this point; but it’s not like the offense was humming when he was here.

In the short time that Adam Frazier has been gone Pittsburgh has dropped from the 25th ranked offense according to Fangraphs, to dead last at 30th, which may sound like completely bottoming out; yet all it really consisted of was shuffling the deck of the Pirates, Royals, Tigers, Diamondbacks and Rangers for the basement.

They were a bad team before, and they still are a bad team now. A bad team that still has All-Star Bryan Reynold in their lineup, along with Ke’Bryan Hayes and fresh of the IL Colin Moran. Plus contributors in the form of Park and Ben Gamel pre-injury.

And as far as the pitching is concerned, they’ve gotten some solid performances from newly acquired Bryse Wilson and Steven Brault in his first two starts of the season; pretty much replacing the any of the positives Tyler Anderson was able to provide as he took the mound every five days. Also, you can’t really pretend that Rich Rod, Clay Holmes and Austin Davis were setting the world on fire before they left.

So, there is realistically little excuse to not have more games that are similar to the one that took place today, where the Pirates were at the very least a functioning baseball team, rather than one that looks like they are rolling over as was saw at the beginning of the series.

They have an offense that can put up some runs, and a few pitchers that can prevent them. Like I stated in previous articles, I am not expecting wins, I just expect the better players on the Pirates to perform up to or very close their abilities. They did that today.

News and Notes

  • Colin Moran came back from the IL pretty well locked in. In last nights contest he had the only two hits, and today he put the first 4 runs on the board for Pittsburgh with a 3-run homer in the 1st and a solo blast in the 4th.

  • #ExtendReynolds

  • Anthony Alford struggled with strikeouts in the beginning of the season (55.2%). Anthony Alford hit in AAA, but still struggled with strikeouts (34.5%). Anthony Alford is still struggling with strikeouts (46.2%) and today he got a Golden Sombrero (0 for 4, 4 Ks)
  • David Bednar powered through two innings, striking out the side in 10 pitches in the 8th. He would allow what ended up being the deciding run in the 9th, but you really can’t get mad at a guy who has only given up two earned runs since the beginning of July.

On Friday, tomorrow, the first place Brew Crew comes to town as the Pirates try to put an end to their eight game losing streak as Mitch Keller (3-9, 7.06 ERA) takes the mound against Brett Anderson (4-5, 3.54 ERA).

I know what everyone is thinking, how can the Pirates hope to compete against the Brewers? Well, their last win was against them, and they had a legit shot of taking two out of three if it wasn’t for a rough seventh inning from the bullpen.

Also Happy Birthday to my Dad (aka Wild Bill Toth)!

The Pittsburgh Air is Thick With Impatience

8-12-21 – By Gary Morgan – @Garymo2007 on Twitter

It’s earned.

Let’s start there, because at some point it doesn’t matter if you believe in what this team is doing or not, nobody likes watching losing baseball.

Look, I expected it, almost everyone did, but that doesn’t make it fun. Not fun, but part of the process. A painful process, one that this club has stopped short before.

It certainly doesn’t need to be this bad, at least not moving forward, 2021 has been what I hope represents the basement of the rebuild.

Every piece I write about this club is an opportunity to read your comments. Not the comments from folks who don’t bother to read looking for a place to tell everyone how much they hate the team, or my personal favorite, I’ve been a Pirates fan since…. insert date here that always wraps in a World Series win…. and I won’t see another before I die.

Your comments tell me where fans that are actually following the club are. They show me if you are still dealing with the down time with the promise of better baseball on the way or if you’re just about out of patience.

Since the trade deadline, I’ve seen a shift much more toward sentiments like this team better come out of this next year.

Good, you should feel that way.

If you didn’t think it was time to start seeing something trend toward good, I’m not sure what that would say about you.

From the beginning of this, I’ve told you I saw this year being bad, next year starting to be more fun, and 2023 starting to at least have us thinking about plugging holes rather than burning the ship to the ground.

By fun, I mean I hope they’ll hit better. And I have a hard time believing that will happen with this hitting coach.

The approach at the plate has been a season long problem and the only guys who managed to rise above it have been around long enough to do things their way. Now, that’s my assumption, you could see it another way too, maybe those guys have been around this hitting coach long enough that his lessons finally started paying dividends.

If that’s the case, boy I can’t say that’s a good fit for a constant flow of youngsters that are going to head this way over the next couple years, so I still land on this not being a good fit anymore.

I’m not here to tell you you shouldn’t be skeptical, watching these guys hit has been very difficult, and imagining any of them will improve has been even harder.

You can see there is something there with Hoy Park, Reynolds, Castro, Hayes (ok we’ve seen it anyway), Stallings has been pretty good, Moran can hit, maybe not like a star but he can hit. Bottom line, there are enough players here to not be going stretches of 5-6 games scoring a run or two.

Again, not enough to win most nights, but surely better than this.

I wish I could give you more to restore faith. Help tide you over, but honestly, that’s not my job, that’s on the Pirates.

The best I can say is this wasn’t the same old rebuild we’ve seen, and it takes longer than just getting some prospects and flipping a switch a year or two later. But when the stated goal is to “improve the players that are here” in addition to bringing in more talent, my question is when do we get to see that part?

Unless we’re to believe everyone in the organization from Altoona on up to MLB in 2019 was absolute trash, at what point do you get permission to question the staff?

Time for former hitting coach Derek Shelton to make sure Ben Cherington knows he’s seen enough of the method being employed by Mr. Eckstein. Even if his methods work, these guys aren’t listening anymore.

The reasons to make a change have piled up, and it’s time for action.