Tucker’s Time Is Running Out

It has been over two years, as far as the calendar is concerned, since the Pirates #5 Prospect at the time, Cole Tucker, stepped into the batters box during his first Major League start and proceeded to walk off the game versus the Giants with a 2-run blast into the PIRATES bushes. Since that time Tucker has accumulated an additional 269 at bats for Pittsburgh; slashing .213/.259/.320 with only two more homers in what has been an up and down, but mostly down, career to this point.

Always appearing like he is having the time of his life, with a giant smile on his face, a bounce in his step and consistent hustle every time he takes the field, Tucker is the guy you root for to succeed. However, at some point it has to turn into more for General Manager Ben Cherington to justify his spot on the 40-Man. Sooner or later the kid, and yes he is still a kid having recently turned 25 years old, has to hit; and let’s not pretend like he hasn’t been given the opportunities to do so.

Prior to official start of the season, after being optioned to AAA-Indianapolis and assigned to AA-Altoona, it was determined that Tucker-along with Jared Olivia-would not travel north to the Alternate Site, but instead stay behind in Florida for “skill development” (aka hitting instruction) from AAA Hitting Coach Jon Nunnally; who has been given at least partial credit for helping Ke’Bryan Hayes unlock his swing at PNG Field last season.

For almost an entire month Tucker received personalized one-on-two guidance from Nunnally before being assigned to AAA, where his hitting coach would continue to be none other than Jon Nunnally; at least for the most part as he did have a short stint with the Pirates at the end of May and into early June.

Now, he’s back up to once again to “provide depth”, and not really get too many at bats as he received just 15 the last time. However, in talks with Tucker, it seems like he is is just happy to be here. Also, he was quoted as saying, “I’m having good at bats. Our Triple A hitting coach is awesome, Jon Nunnally, he said ‘you look sexy, keep doing it’. Trying to hold onto that and keep that rolling here.”, which you couldn’t really tell by looking at the stats. On the season, Tucker has posted a .214 AVG, a .690 OPS with 2 homers and 10 total extra base hits.

Of course. I already know that some will point to his defensive ability as a way for him to have a better chance of sticking in the majors, and for a while I was of this belief as well; setting guidelines as to how high his average would need to be, because the glove would definitely play. However, after digging into the numbers, it seems like myself and many others may have misconstrued athleticism with defensive ability; at least to a certain degree.

In 347 innings at shortstop, in a Pirates Uniform, Tucker has earned a -1 DRS and -4 OAA; and although Minor League Baseball doesn’t go into this great of detail with defensive statistics, there is definitely enough information there to draw some reasonable conclusions. Over his last two seasons in AAA, Tucker has a combined .953 Field Percentage, which would qualify him for the 3rd worst fielding percentage among qualified shortstops; right in between Bo Bichette and Javier Baez. Also his RF/9 (3.885) would put him at least a half a point behind the same Javy Baez, and a full point behind the last Pirates player to lead the league in that category; Jack Wilson in 2004. And, even he as glove first player was able to maintain a .269 AVG in Pittsburgh.

So, if we are being honest, and not just hopeful, how much time does Cole Tucker realistically have to right the ship? Well, the good news for Tucker is that he has at least another year of team control before he would reach his first year of arbitration in 2023; making him a very cheap option. On the other side of the coin is the impending 40-Man Roster Crunch that could be upcoming in the off-season, depending on trades, options, free agency, arbitration tenders and players that need to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft; albeit. if I had to guess, there should still be some space for him. Which would leave him with this year, and possibly the next to prove himself.

However, anyway you look at it, this isn’t a lot of time. And for all any of us know, it could end up being a lot shorter.

Frequently Asked Questions – Answered

7-9-21 – By Gary Morgan

You’ve all spoken pretty loudly that these types of pieces are very useful to you and because I keep getting questions, if I ever intend to get the majority answered I need to keep hammering these. Let’s dig in folks!

How Does Slotting in the Draft Work?

Big question.

I guess we should start with a bit of a history lesson. MLB and the MLBPA signed a new CBA way back in 2012, a five year pact that along with plenty of other things brought on the age of a slotted draft.

See, Bud Selig, the Commissioner at the time had already been sending lists out to all MLB clubs offering “slot guidance” which largely were ignored. Teams like the Pirates and Tigers especially ignored these guidelines. There aren’t many ways that the small market clubs had to swim in the deep end with the big boys and the draft was one.

in 2011 for instance the Pirates took Josh Bell in the second round, a player committed to go to college and reportedly in search of a signing bonus far beyond what a second rounder would get. Well, the Pirates selected him anyway, and he took a bloated bonus offer to sign with the Buccos.

You’ll sometimes see people say that the new slotting system was created in part to stop the Pirates and other teams like them from doing things like this. I’ve even seen it referred to as the Josh Bell rule. This is slightly disingenuous because the Tigers were just as involved having done the same with Nick Castellanos and Rich Porcello.

This is also why people rightly say that nobody has spent more in the draft than the Pirates, if you predate this system, it’s very true. After the system it’s more of an argument for how bad your team has been if we’re honest.

So every slot is assigned a value, and post 2012 it became real rather than suggested. Stiff penalties are in place for violating the slot values and the worse the overage the worse the penalty.

For instance if you go over slot by 5% the tax on the overages clock in at 75%. Go over by 10% and pay the tax plus lose your draft pick in the following season. It get’s worse from there but it’s also largely irrelevant since almost nobody does it.

Now, say you take a guy in the first round and the slot value is at 8.4 million like it is this season for the Pirates. If he doesn’t sign, you don’t get to just kick that money down the board, you lose the entire amount from the total you can spend. Should you manage to sign the player for say 7.9 million, you can take that 500K unused and push it toward other slots in the draft.

That last part is what people are referring to when they talk about the benefit of signing guys “under slot” and the benefit is really felt most in the supplemental rounds or the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Cal Mitchell and Steven Jennings the Pirates AA outfielder and young Starting Pitcher respectively are perfect examples of this as the Pirates picked and signed Shane Baz in the first round and under slot, affording them the ability to convince Cal and Steven to pass on college and join the Pirates.

Now, you’re asking about this because many people have told you this was a possibility this year, and it is, but not because the Pirates are being cheap, because there is no clear cut player who is nailed on 1.1 in this draft. The fact is so many of the top of the board could feasibly be chosen, and deserve it, signing the pick under the proposed slot won’t even take Chuck Norris in the room to stare at the player until he submits.

The Bucs could use this extra money in the comp pick round or even the second, but for the most part they’ll spend just about every dollar they have allotted, just like most teams do if we’re honest.

Long I know, but it’s not a simple subject. Hope this helps as you watch it unfold starting this weekend.

Handling Pitchers Has Changed, Will it Stay This Way?

7-8-21 – By Gary Morgan

Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s I remember a much different look to how pitchers were deployed from what we see today. Those of you who are a touch older probably think those guys were soft too, but the way pitching is used in today’s game is undeniably less familiar than many of us ever saw coming.

We like to blame COVID, and yes, I think that’s exacerbated the situation, but if we’re honest, we’ve been on this track for quite some time.

That doesn’t mean all teams are doing things the same way.

Derek Shelton has taken heat for his handling of the pitching staff and of course many have jumped to his defense by making sure everyone knows he doesn’t have the horses to run this race, but I wonder if his handling in and of itself creates an environment that will never open the door for players to turn into what we see as traditional pitchers.

What we’ve seen has been painted as an organizational ethos, one designed to maintain healthy arms and I can buy that, but what I fear is that this is a little more than that. Part of what I think I’m seeing is that Derek Shelton may have picked up more from his time in Tampa than his time in Minnesota.

Hey what does it matter right? We certainly could do worse than handling a pitching staff like Tampa does, it’s economical after all. Tampa has ridden their bullpen hard and while you watch Sports Center (I mean some of you probably do right), and see Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, and whoever else they classify as starters racking up strikeouts you might miss how rarely they let those pitchers get deep into games.

This is an American League team so of course the DH eliminates needed to bat for the pitcher, and that makes is all about philosophy. A philosophy the arguably cost them the World Series last year as they pulled Blake Snell who was shutting down the Dodgers lineup throughout his start to get back to what got them there, the bullpen.

Their bullpen was and is spectacular, I’m not going to sit here and tell you they aren’t maximizing their talent. I will say the starters are rendered little more than long relievers though, and looking at what the Pirates are building in the minors, I truly wonder what we can expect moving forward.

As we watch them develop top end starters like Quinn Priester, Roansy Contreras, and Miguel Yajure, I can’t help but wonder if we as fans need to give a little thought to changing our definition of a top end starter.

Let’s look at Roansy, because he has gotten most of the press, and rightfully so he’s been incredible right?

He’s had 9 starts this season for Altoona, and that’s added up to 46 innings pitched. In those innings he’s recorded an incredible 65 strike outs and 11 walks for a WHIP of 0.91. Amazing!

Now, look a little deeper. His longest start of the season was 7 innings, and all the others save the last game he left with soreness in his arm which thankfully turned out to be non ligament, have been between 4 and 6.

He’s only allowed 20 total hits and 11 runs all season so he certainly wasn’t getting knocked around. Why such short outings? I mean if Derek Shelton sets the organizational direction as we’ve been led to believe, one has to imagine this is part of his overall philosophy right?

Oh, I know, it’s COVID again. Well, maybe, it just seems like based on so much being invested in cultivating starting pitching, you might want to, you know, have them pitch. They’ve organizationally decided to go with a 6-man rotation and recently decided during a stretch of games to do the same at the MLB level too. Add in the light usage during their starts and you wind up with starting pitchers used to throwing 5 or 6 innings once per week.

Does that ever add up to a worthy usage of such an investment?

Again, some of this can be attributed to dealing with missing a year of baseball for many of these guys and next season we could see the real Derek Shelton along with his real method for utilizing his talent on the mound.

But what if this is laying the foundation for how they want to use them? Think about this from every angle. If the Pirates are going to be the smartest guy in the room and handle pitching differently than everyone else, train their guys to pitch once a week and short outings at that, how do other teams see them when it comes time to move one of them?

I realize this is much more about asking questions than answering them but sometimes thinking things like this through can actually start to make sense of things. For me, if I’m building an arsenal of arms that can find themselves at the top of a rotation in the majors, I want to use them as such, but I also can see a future where starting pitching isn’t seen as “we need that 250 million dollar guy”, because if you’re role is minimized it stands to reason so is your paycheck right?

I’d also say when you build your team around top end starters you naturally defocus on the bullpen a bit. Maybe you have 3 or 4 guys who can really handle impact innings but if you aren’t relying on length from starters you probably have more like 5 or 6.

Look at the powerhouse Dodgers who’ve run into health and well mental health issues with their starting rotation. Now they find themselves scrambling to find replacements where a team like Tampa can lose Tyler Glasnow to Tommy John and barely miss a beat.

There are so many aspects of handling a pitching staff to think about and while we watch the team be constructed, this area fascinates me as we head into 2022. When we see how this evolves, we’ll have a better picture of what this team is really trying to do. Are they developing Starters and Relievers or are they simply developing arms who can give multiple innings and not worrying about naming them?

Interesting, yes, more importantly it could shed light on what exactly this team is working toward.

Will Craig Shouldn’t Be Judged By One Play, But It Seems Like This May Be Happening

Over the past week the Pirates have lost their starting first baseman Colin Moran, once again; this time to a broken Pisiform bone in his left wrist/hand, as well as his immediate replacements Erik Gonzalez-right oblique strain-and Phillip Evans-concussion. Currently Moran and Gonzalez are on the 10-Day IL, while Evans is on the 7-Day; although we know these assignments are just a guideline to the minimum amount of that must be spent on the injured list, and could last slightly longer or eventually result in a transfer to the 60-Day IL.

Due to this unfortunate string of incidents, an obvious issue with first base depth was created; causing the need for an immediate transaction by General Manager Ben Cherington, which actually took place before the third man-Evan-found himself headed to IL. Of course, by now we all know that the exact move that Cherington chose to make was the acquisition of John Nogowski from the St. Louis Cardinals for cash considerations. At the time this seemed like a little bit of perplexing decision on Cherington’s part because of Nogowski’s .195/.304/.297 slash line in 36 games in AAA this year, and it still could be in spite of the inflated-.583/.643/.583-numbers in only 12 at bats with the Pirates; nonetheless, it clearly brings up some questions about a particular former top prospect, and in turn a current one that both play the same position, just at different levels in the Farm System-at least for now.

First in line-for the moment at least-is the man who is currently infamous for one of the biggest defensive blunders in Pittsburgh Pirates History, and throughout the annals of MLB according to some; which unfortunately will stick with him to some degree no matter what he does in the rest of his baseball career. However, for what it’s worth, I am not of the opinion that this one play should define Will Craig. There are plenty of other statistics to judge the former Top 10 Pirates Prospect; and it’s also not like this is the only mind boggling decision I have seen a fielder, or at times a runner make during the current season.

In his Minor League Career, ever since he was drafted in the First Round-22nd Overall-in the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft, Craig has been seen by many as underperforming; based mostly on the power potential that he had displayed during his time at Wake Forest. Even so, if you look at even some of the most advanced analytics the only below average year-one where he had a 92 wRC+-was in AAA-Indianapolis in 2019 when he belted a career high 23 homers, while remaining fairly steady with his walk rate (7.9%) and only slightly increasing his strike out rate (26.3%) by 3 points from the previous year.

Then came 2020, when he received a total of four Major League at bats during the shorted season and was DFA’d at the end of November. After making it through waivers, not being selected in the Rule 5 Draft and being invited to Spring Training, Craig would once again find himself back in AAA; but only for a short time as he was called up after hitting three homers in two games at the beginning of May. In his time with the Pirates, outside of when he he didn’t just tag first base, Craig slashed .217/.277/.300, before being DFA’d again at the beginning of June.

So what has he done since he was DFA’d for the second time in seven month? Well, he has done nothing but hit; putting up a .295/.392/.523 slash line with 5 homers, on the way to his best wRC+ (137) since Short Season A Ball in 2016. Alas, this wasn’t enough for him to even sniff the Majors again, and now some Pirates Fans are ready to show him the door.

The primary reasoning for this decision, to send Craig packing for good, currently stands at first base in Altoona-or wherever they are traveling to-most nights in the form of current 14th ranked Pirates Prospect, Mason Martin. Now, Martin isn’t new to the scene by any means, and neither is his power; especially following his 35 homer and MiLB Leading 129 RBI season back in 2019, along with the legends of him attacking the coaster during his time at the Alternate Site in Altoona during 2020. Hell, I even wrote about the kid for my first article at the now defunct SI/Maven InsideThePirates site back in November of 2019, and traveled to see him the summer prior when I was on vacation the summer prior to this.

The young man has power for days. That is something that has never been in doubt, especially with him on his most recent tear of 6 home runs in four games; bringing his total to 15 on the season-49 games. Yet, not surprisingly, the focus of this year’s development, laid out prior to his assignment in AA-Altoona, had nothing to do with what happened to the ball when connected with it-he has a 70 raw power grade. Instead his consistency in making contact, along with showing a more patient approach at the plate-as evident by an increased walk rate-was where Martin, and the Pirates, wanted to see improvement.

So far in this season, with 60+ games remaining, Martin has a career worst 6.7% walk rate and a strike out rate of 32.4%; nearly equal to that of his time in High A, two years ago. There is certainly room, and a need, for improvement. There is also plenty of time because Martin just turned 22 years old a month ago, and is still a full two years younger than the average AA player.

Now, as a amateur prospect junkie, I am pretty convinced that Martin could make the jump to AAA without too much trouble, and could potentially succeed right away. Still, there is no guarantee that this would happen. Just like there is no guarantee Nojowski won’t end up as a part of Pirates Popular Folklore, as a player we remember, years from now, as a random guy that played for the team when they possibly lost 100 games in 2021; along with players like Ka’ai Tom, Anthony Alford, Dustin Fowler and maybe Phillip Evans.

Remember when some Pirates Fans were over the moon about a few of these guys? And remember when Will Craig made that ridiculous play?

Yeah we’ll remember.

Pirates (32-54) Drop Series Finale to Atlanta, Missed Opportunity & Location Tell the Story

7-7-21 – By Gary Morgan

After a 1 run top of the first for the Braves, the Pirates broke out the bats.

They scored 3 runs but it could have been so much more, missed opportunities were the storyline until the 6th inning where the story took a decisive turn to pitchers not throwing strikes.

Kyle Crick and Chasen Shreve combined to allow 4 walks, 3 hits and 5 runs. The slim 3-2 lead was turned on its head 7-3 Braves. After a couple outs in the top of the 7th, and a couple baserunners were on, the heavens opened.

Rain delay theatre is never fun when you aren’t in a good spot.

Kyle Keller remained in the game after the brief delay down 2-0 to Freddie Freeman and induce a fly ball to center.

The Pirates had left runners on base each of the first 6 innings and the 7th would start with another Nogowski base hit facing Shane Greene who had an ERA north of 11.00 coming in.

He walked Wilmer Difo and worked through Kevin Newman and Jared Oliva and the Pirates went to Ben Gamel which prompted the Braves to change to AJ Minter who struck him out in last night’s contest. Gamel came through, but for some reason they held Nogowski at third to bring up a bases loaded situation for Adam Frazier. Huge strikeout to strand 3 more Pirates on the base paths.

Duane Underwood Jr. who hadn’t pitched since Saturday was asked to pitch the 8th and he got hammered. 7 more runs to make it 14-3. I don’t used the term hammered lightly, he was giving up absolute lasers.

As most joke games do, we got a position player pitching. John Nogowski on the mound for the 9th and Cole Tucker came in to play first base. Yup you guessed it, a scoreless inning and guess who led off the bottom half and had his fourth hit of the game.

Final Braves 14, Pirates 3.

Back at it tomorrow against the Mets. The Pirates send JT Brubaker to the mound to face Taijuan Walker and the NL East leading Mets. This is the start of 7 straight against the Mets spanning the All Star Break.

News & Notes

  • Some seem to think Kyle Crick is a trade piece, but regardless, I’ve seen enough of him in a Pirates uniform. That slider is pretty, but he just isn’t an effective pitcher. Take the good part of the McCutchen trade and smile, time to sort out the husks and hulls.
  • The Pirates reached agreement with Dee Strange-Gordon (formerly Dee Gordon in case you weren’t aware) He will report to AAA Indianapolis. Yeah, again, this probably has something to do with the impending move of Adam Frazier but I’d really rather they just use internal options. He recently opted out of his contract with the Cubs.
  • John Nogowski had four more hits on the day. He’s really had a good start with the Pirates.
  • Some might say, why call out Crick and not Underwood? Well, coming into the game Underwood had an ERA under 4. This hasn’t been the norm for him. When I watch it for an entire year or so like Crick, maybe I’ll call for that.
  • I’m completely fine with Acuna doing whatever after he hits homeruns. Why does he take exception to pitchers being animated when they strike him out? Of all people shouldn’t he think that’s fun? Good for the goose is good for the gander.

What Can We Really Expect at the Deadline?

7-7-21 – By Gary Morgan

We at Inside the Bucs Basement have covered the trade deadline deeper than ever this season as Joe Boyd and Justin Verno have built out the value for just about every player another team might want.

That’s an important distinction, players other teams might want, because without that aspect first and foremost there is not likely to be a trade. It’s why we never wrote about Gregory Polanco for instance. I mean of course the Pirates would trade him if someone wanted him, we just don’t see that as feasible and that was before the injury.

Because I think people are as usual losing their minds a bit or assuming every rumor will be exercised I believe we need to go through player by player and identify their likelihood of being moved.

Tyler Anderson – Almost for Sure

Tyler is a classic rental. Let’s face it, when you sign a free agent to a one year deal at this stage of a build, this is the dream. Bring in a guy on a reasonable deal, have him perform and flip him for prospects.

Now, let’s be honest, it doesn’t work nearly as often as you’d hope, so when it does come together, be happy.

A contender doesn’t bring a guy like Tyler in at the beginning of the season. See, he’s not expected to carry a staff on one of those clubs he’s expected to sign somewhere like Pittsburgh where they have more room to allow him time to figure things out in the hopes he can be moved. Every once in a while that player will show he figured things out on his own and it becomes a perfect storm.

Someone will want Anderson, and the Pirates will find a partner, it’s just a matter of how much and who.

Adam Frazier – Almost for Sure

I should be clear here because we write about him all the time, nobody wants to see Adam go. As we speak the bidding war is ongoing, and Ben Cherington is asking for the moon. Top prospects are on the menu and more importantly his control extends through the end of 2022 which makes him firstly more valuable, and secondly gives the Pirates the ability to play chicken a bit here.

Should they want to make teams sweat and juice the pot a bit, they have wiggle room to do so. Adam is having a career year so not getting it done before this deadline could feasibly cost the Pirates real currency, prospect currency.

He almost has to move at this deadline. Almost being the key word.

Richard Rodriguez – Almost for Sure

I keep seeing people say “why would the Pirates need an elite closer?”.

My first thought would be, is that really how you see him? Is that how you think the league sees him? I say this for tempering expectations rather than diminishing the player. He’s our closer, but I can’t sit here and say that’s the role he’d be used by a contender. Not unlike when the Pirates got players like Keone Kela or Octavio Dotel.

Point is, you’re right, they don’t need a quality back end pitcher in a season where they rarely get to him.

Someone will want him, and the Pirates have other options to fill the role moving forward like David Bednar (speaking of whom isn’t getting traded, period.)

Chris Stratton, Chasen Shreve, & Kyle Crick – Eh, Maybe

Arms are a hot commodity. Even when you watch and hold your breath as Kyle Crick walks the bases loaded before striking out the side realize that beyond the numbers just about every team in the league has seen that slider, and probably think they can fix him. Chris Stratton has been near the top of the league in spin rate for two seasons now and now that the league has cracked down on sticky stuff, the fact he hasn’t fallen off the face of the earth makes him even more impressive. Shreve is a lefty rental, and really I’m not sure what more you need to know.

Any or all of these players could go and I’d list their order of probability exactly as I have in the headline. Ordinarily I’d tell you Crick is the most attractive because of control but his control on the mound is precisely why I don’t see it. What contender wants that kind of unpredictability anywhere near the back of their bullpen?

Jacob Stallings – Very Unlikely

Oh, teams would want him and he’d bring back something worthwhile I’m sure. Maybe I’m putting too much faith in the Pirates here but being as they have nobody in the pipeline for the position, I think they’ll find his value to the pitching staff more important than bringing in a few prospects.

I’ve heard that defensive catchers are a dime a dozen, and here’s what’s funny about that, the very reason you think he’s valuable to other teams disputes that doesn’t it?

He’s controlled for so long (trough 2024) that returning the type of value he’d command won’t be palatable to many teams, and it’s hard to argue unless the Pirates get a catcher at least in AAA in return who has a real future in trades they could be doing more damage than good.

Again, I could be giving them too much credit here.

Bryan Reynolds & Ke’Bryan Hayes – Flat No

Oh, the Pirates will listen.

Want to know why? Because a GM will always listen. It gives them intel, opens conversation doors and even can be useful way down the road when a player actually could be up for something like this.

People envision these calls all wrong by in large. Most people think a team exec calls Ben Cherington and someone says “Hey Ben, what would it take to get Reynolds or Hayes from you?” and if Cherington does anything other than hang up the phone after telling off the greedy SOB who’d dare to ask he must be thinking about it right?

First of all, we don’t know he’s done anything aside from that honestly. The answer here is really more about the king’s ransom it would require, one that I can only identify 2 contending teams could afford.

Fact is, these rumors are typically pulled together by teams that have zero experience in rebuilding an organization. For instance, you’ll see things like this from the Yankees bloggers, and even some actual outlets who employ people who used to be in touch and no longer understand the game they’re covering.

Bryan Reynolds isn’t a free agent until 2026, so when you see proposals, and I use that term loosely, that offer things in return like Clint Frazier and two minor leaguers, you should laugh that off really easily. I know Ben would. Point being, because they don’t engage in rebuilds themselves they see it as indiscriminate selling of everything of value, and it’s just not that simple. At this stage, it’s little more than a compliment that they have good young players.

Again, teams wanting a player shouldn’t surprise you, but think of it this way. Let’s say the Giants want the Pirates top chip, Adam Frazier, he’d fit right in and the Pirates would rightly want a nice return. Think they’d give up their long cultivated top prospect catcher Joey Bart? No, of course not, Posey isn’t going to be around forever. But don’t you want your GM to ask? Let’s try another, the Nationals media seem to think Victor Robles would be a carrot that would have the Pirates salivating but if they called on Reynolds why would they want an inferior player with less control in exchange for him? I hesitate to flatly call this stupid, but if the shoe fits…

Reynolds and Hayes aren’t going anywhere.

In Closing…

I’m not going to go through every single player on the roster, but I think this gives you a real picture of what you can expect. The Pirates could move any number of players but three are likely.

They have to find landing spots for everyone they draft and will bring in more prospects of course via trades. So moving out players who are potentially already answers and have the control to do so probably isn’t in the cards.

We of course must leave room for desperate teams to offer desperate returns, but there is a wide stretch of road between desperate and foolish. If you want to argue, that’s fine, I could certainly be wrong, but I don’t see the Pirates making more than 3-4 deals especially with MLB not allowing the transfer of International Pool space this season.

Since the off season of 2019 we fans have believed rebuild should look a whole lot more like a house cleaning than a piece by piece selling based on logic. Ben Cherington thus far has disagreed. He moved one player, Starling Marte that off season. Last season at the deadline the biggest chips simply didn’t move. In the off season Jameson Taillon, Joe Musgrove and Josh Bell were all moved.

He’s remained fairly conservative actually, and I don’t see it changing just because. So, while 24 of the 26 man roster could be traded, I think 3 or 4 is much more realistic. And more importantly than anything, chill on the Reynolds stuff folks, it would actually be strange if you didn’t hear his name.

Patience At The Plate Pays Off For The Pirates

7-6-21 By Craig W. Toth @BucsBasement on Twitter

Coming into last night’s game Chad Kuhl was looking to bounce back from a poor start, in which his reoccurring blisters had caused a lack of command; resulting in a walk, a wild pitch and a hit batsmen all in the same inning, after pretty much cruising through the Colorado lineup through the first four.

From the beginning it was clear that Kuhl was not fazed by this momentary blip, as he meticulously made his way six innings; allowing a solo home run, while striking out seven and walking none. For Kuhl it has battle, one that he is currently winning, to get his ERA down from 6.41 pre-injury, to where it currently stands at 4.73; obviously not idea, but there has been a lot of progress.

With the bats, it ended up become more of a waiting game, as well as some missed opportunities, for the Pirates, as the majority of time was filled by dinks and dunks, walks and a long fly ball by newly acquired John Nogowski that sailed just left of the fouls pole, and in to the rotunda.

Eventually, this persistence and patience worked out for Pittsburgh as they worked their way to three free passes in the final frame to walk it off against the Braves by a score of 2 to 1.

News and Notes

  • Not only was Kuhl in control, but so was the Pirates bullpen (Chris Stratton, David Bednar and Richard Rodriguez), as they allowed only one hit over the final three innings.
  • Ke’Bryan Hayes seems to be breaking out of his slump, hopefully, as he slapped two doubles on the night; to go with his late inning homer and 6th inning single from Hayes on the previous night. Maybe giving him the day “off” on Sunday was just what he needed to reset and recharge.
  • The Pirates have won three straight after dropping the previous six. This type of up and down play is to be expected from a young, rebuilding team. My only real hope for the remainder of the season is that the lows don’t last as long, and don’t bottom out as much as they have over the past week.
  • Ben Gamel is currently on a hot streak; slashing .346/.414/.885 with 4 homers in his last 7 games, which simply means he needs to be in the lineup everyday. What it doesn’t mean, is that he needs to be extended. Gamel has one more year of arbitration left, and could be had for a small price, to bridge the gap between the current state of the Pirates outfield and the prospects that should be on their way from Altoona, and the IL in Travis Swaggerty’s case. I also don’t see much of a trade market for a guy who has accumulated 1.9 WAR in his career, unless he continues to explode over the next 17 games or so; but even then I still don’t see it happening, and if it does the return would more than likely be extremely minimal.
  • Bryan Reynold’s manufactured both RBIs on the night, without recording a hit. Not that this is important, I just found it interesting.
  • Prior to the start of the game Gregory Polanco was placed on the 10-IL with a bilateral adductor strain and Phillip Evans went to the 7-Day while in the concussion protocol. This resulted in Cole Tucker and Rodolfo Castro being elevated to the Big League Club, as what Derek Shelton described as “depth pieces”.

The Pirates look to sweep the Braves-not something I honestly saw happening, but I’m here for it-in just a few hours at 12:35 PM EST from PNC Park.

For Pittsburgh, Wil Crowe (1-5, 6.26 ERA) is set to take the mound against Drew Smyly (6-3, 4.42 ERA) for Atlanta.

Bucs (31-53) Beat the Braves 11-1, Ben Gamel Brings the Wood

7-5-21 – By Gary Morgan

An outburst.

That’s what the club really needed and that’s what was delivered.

The game started looking anything opposite from what we wound up with as Chase De Jong struggled mightily in the first. 36 pitches, 1 run, 2 hits, a walk and a hit batsman. He escaped, but it certainly didn’t look like we were headed for a good night.

He would fight through 5 innings, and never surrender another run. It was honestly a very gutsy performance because the Braves don’t exactly swing for singles.

Encouraging that he fought through, but the story was the bats tonight.

Led by Ben Gamel.

I’ll pause here for a moment as you check the box score to make sure I’m not full of it.

Yeah, Ben Gamel tonight hit two bombs a double and had 6 RBI.

I busted the Pirates balls for bringing John Nogowski in so of course he went 2 for 3 with a walk and was on base for both Gamel bombs.

Ke’Bryan Hayes went 2 for 5 tonight, you can see the adjustments being made. He’s fighting the bat plane a bit, but it’s coming around and that opposite field blast really showcased it. His glove sure isn’t suffering, but against a lefty tonight it would have been good to see him take charge a bit more.

A blowout, in every sense of the word and tonight you’re buccos did damage.

Cathartic redemption against this ballclub in every way.

Back at it tomorrow as Ian Anderson takes on Chad Kuhl.

News & Notes

  • Chase De Jong won his first game as a Pirate and 2nd in MLB tonight.
  • The Pirates had almost no interest in pitching to Austin Riley tonight, not surprised after the last time they saw him.
  • Adam Frazier was on base 4 times
  • Bryan Reynolds had 2 more hits.
  • Jacob Stallings had two knocks
  • Kyle Keller closed out the game and looked good doing it. 10 run lead he was of course just cutting it loose at 98 but still, encouraging, after this team moves some players, guys like Keller will be needed.
  • This was Gamel’s first 6 RBI game and 2nd 2 HR game.
  • Pirates have won 12 of their last 18 against the Braves at home

Five Pirates Thoughts at Five

7-5-21 – By Gary Morgan

The team itself is now beyond the half way point of the 2021 season, and every step along the way has given us things to talk and think about. Today we’re going to continue to show that no matter how the team performs there are always topics and things to keep an eye on.

1. Who’s the Pick?

I’m admittedly not a draft expert. I let the experts do the evaluation and when we get closer, I start paying more attention. For over a year the narrative was that Kumar Rocker was the nailed on number one pick, and now it’s not a lock he goes top 5.

So let’s not mess around, I’ve done all the studying I’m going to do, and talked to all the people I’m going to talk to. For me the number one pick will be Marcelo Mayer, SS from Eastlake High School.

This isn’t a stretch, or a manipulation of the slot money thing. He’s largely the consensus number one pick and I still think they’ll get him under slot a bit. The slot for number one overall is set around 8.4 million and I think they’ll get this done for around 8.

As I’ve said throughout this process, if I’m wrong, I’m wrong.

There isn’t a great separation from 1-6 in this draft, that’s just fact and the Pirates flatly aren’t making this pick based on timelines. I have to admit, I did believe that would be a factor, but the Pirates are simply looking for the, or at least who they believe to be, the best player available in the draft.

Right or wrong on my part, after this pick there will be a chorus of voices praising it, bashing it, loving it, hating it, and all of them will be about as reliable as the scouting that was used to come to a decision in the first place.

The position Mayer, or for that matter Lawler, Watson, or even Davis play really don’t add up to a hill of beans. When drafting there are three real positions. Arms, hitters, and catchers. Where they play matters the day they hit MLB. If you draft a catcher high based on position, you better be at least 80% sure he’s going to stick there or that his bat plays if he has to move. Arms, you want to make sure they aren’t destined to be a reliever, and this one explains Rocker’s fall down the board.

2. What’s Up With Ke’Bryan Hayes?

I mean, the short answer is he’s a rookie.

As talented as he is, the league always pushes back. When he first came up, there was of course video on him and pitchers did what they do, but to Hayes’ credit, he took what pitchers gave him. They tried pitching him away and he hit the ball in that direction, with authority. They tried pitching him in and he brought the hands in and belted it with authority to the pull side.

Now that he’s had a couple months of work at this level to get eyes on, pitchers have learned his penchant for finding a way to get his barrel to balls all over the zone and have adjusted to a mix of pitches that start in the zone and finish off the plate, both inside and out, up and down.

This happens all the time to young hitters, and he’ll need to get back to the patience that makes him annoying to face. Taking walks and forcing them back into the zone.

Now, most of the time, that’s a tough ask for a guy who looks at his own lineup and sees he is one of two guys counted on to drive in runs, but he simply must. And I believe will.

What was considered rest was probably not more than a reset day, with some lab work.

He’s still a good player, he’s even still making decent contact, but he’s hitting the ball into the ground when he does, and that my friends is reminiscent of how he hit much of the time in his AAA days.

In other words, he’s fought through this before. It’s actually a positive thing to see him struggle a bit at this level. Learning to fight through the change of approach from the opposition is all part of becoming a total package.

Point being, I’m not awfully worried, yet.

3. The Trade Deadline

The Pirates have a ton of interesting storylines to follow as we approach the trade deadline. For teams like the Pirates, selling isn’t really in question. For others who have players running low on team control these discussions will be much more difficult.

Since before the season I’ve been keenly interested in the Chicago Cubs. Players like Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Zach Davies and yes, even Anthony Rizzo will all be free agents next season if the Cubs don’t step up and do something about it. Even Wilson Contreras only has one more year of team control.

They sit at .500, 8.5 games back from the Milwaukee Brewers as we find ourselves at the halfway point.

The Cubs are at a cross roads. They either add and go for one more ride with this mix or move some of these guys to retool. Now, the Cubbies have money, so just because the season ends and these guys aren’t under team control is in no way a guarantee they don’t resign with the club, but it’s hard to believe Kris Bryant for instance goes from feeling hard done by to willing to stay for the next 7 years or so. Rizzo has back issues, so it might be the wrong move to retain him but it still remains an easy extension I’d guess. Baez has already been offered an extension reportedly and turned it down.

They have some decisions to make to say the least, but the Cubs have one major advantage, the types of contracts we’re looking at here at least for Bryant and Baez are probably only in the sights of about 8-10 teams in the game.

Obviously we’ll watch the Pirates closer than any other squad, but this situation stands to be interesting and I’ll have at least one eye on them as we approach the end of the month.

4. Clearing Out AAA

The Pirates moved Kevin Kramer to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday and moving players like this is important for making room to promote others from AA. There are some really pushing the pace on this. Cal Mitchell, Smith-Njigba, Mason Martin, Rodolfo Castro, Roansy Contreras and of course Oneil Cruz.

Now, there is a concern with Contreras and Cruz, forearm tightness and they’ll both be in Pittsburgh soon for evaluation. I’d certainly hope neither of these are serious but they of course will want to be careful with both.

More room will need to be made as well, and it’s in that spirit that I question the acquisition of John Nogowski from the Cardinals to play first base. Believe it or not, his AAA numbers are actually less impressive than Will Craig, and I’d rather see them continue the job of scratching guys off the list and moving them out of the way than bringing in more.

5. Re-Opening Weekend A Comedy of Errors

I understand the reason for trying to relaunch. It sounds like a good idea on the surface but the magic of Opening Day is that even the most jaded of fan can get behind the optimism of a fresh slate and believe at least for that day the team hasn’t shown it’s realistic landing spot yet.

Trying to do this when the team is 20+ Games under .500, was never going to have desired results.

The band choice left much to be desired, and while I understand to many this is a political thing, to me it’s really more about just not being a draw. Let’s face it, fireworks weren’t even enough so picking someone that makes anyone feel like you haven’t been paying attention to things like that was never going to help the situation.

If I’m the Pirates, I would have avoided all of it and instead just done something for the fans. Take a day and make the tickets 5 dollars, something that says, we get it, we just want you to come back and be with us. Bringing in a band who haven’t had a hit since the 9th grade picnic isn’t the kind of draw people want, and since you can’t give what people want, you know, winning, at least do something to make fans understand it really is about them.

I won’t talk politics, so I ask that you don’t bother me with them, and to be quite clear, having an entertainer involved in any way it would probably come up.

Bottom line, this should have been about making the fans feel understood, and filling the seats. Instead it became about a poor choice and a poor performing club.

The fans I’m speaking to most are the fans that willingly allowed the club to sit on their money while the world shut down, only to emerge and find out the club didn’t see them as special. Fans looking to use points or upgrades told they couldn’t yet as though there were a real threat of selling out.

This is the stuff that Travis Williams was brought in here to address and while I can’t blame him for a global pandemic, I will say the one thing this team needs more than anything are the few proud souls that didn’t give up on them and instead trusted their patience might be at the very least acknowledged when the darkness ended.

They have no greater ambassador to offer than winning, but since we can be reasonably assured that’s not coming quickly, I suggest they surround the diehards like they’re defending Fort Knox.

Two Guys Talkin’ Trades – The Reaches

7-5-21 – By Justin Verno @JV_PITT & Joe Boyd @Joe_Boyd11

Joe Boyd – Justin, we’ve hit just about every possible tradeable asset on the roster, from the likely (Frazier/RichRod) to the Godfather offers (Reynolds and Stallings).  And we have touched on the rentals and some bullpen pieces along the way.  We have yet to talk about the bullpen arms that might be a bit more difficult to pry loose?  I feel like today is a good opportunity to look at the values for Clay Holmes, Chad Kuhl, and David Bednar.  I probably should not say “pry loose” for Kuhl, he could have potentially been lumped with the arms that were more likely to move, but hey, this is fine! 

Justin Verno – Kuhl is interesting. There’s risk there, but he’s been pitching well lately and that includes Wednesday’s meh outing. There’s been a lot of injuries to starters, so Ben Cherington might be able to take advantage of that with Kuhl. He also has experience out of the pen so lumping him in there makes sense. Holmes has 3+ years of control and Bednar is locked down through 2026. That’s a lot to unpack, so let’s see if we can make sense of it? 

I think Kuhl is most likely of the three to get dealt, followed by Holmes and Bednar. I vote we start with Bednar, then Holmes and finish with Kuhl. Does that sound like a plan?

JB – That’ll work for me.  Bednar is projected to earn 0.3 WAR for the rest of this season according to Fangraphs.   And ZiPS puts him at 0.4 WAR for 2022 and 2023 respectively.  Bednar’s value is in that he is under team control through 2026, so I had to estimate his final 3 years of control via a projection that incorporates the ZiPS projection and adds an age factor to get WAR of 0.4, 0.3, and 0.2 for 2024-2026.  These numbers are fairly modest for Bednar, but the benefit of having a player like him is that he has opportunities to unlock further potential.  We’ll leave these projections and just hope that that happens for now.  Utilizing TPOP’s arbitration estimates for salary, Bednar’s value looks to be about:

That might seem enticing for a team that is on the cusp and building a winner (Chicago White Sox or Toronto Blue Jays), but that also sounds pretty enticing for Pittsburgh to hold on to, as well.  For Cherington to even listen, my guess is that that price would have to double.

Clay Holmes is another controlled reliever for the Pirates. After being non-tendered this offseason, he has had a solid start to the 2021 campaign.  However, Fangraphs only projects another 0.1 WAR added the rest of the season, and ZiPS projects 0.6 WAR in 2022 and 2023.  Again, accounting for age, I have a projection of 0.5 and 0.4 WAR in 2024 and 2025. Factoring in Holmes’ salary, we get a surplus of:

Lastly, we get to Chad Kuhl.  There has always been hope that Kuhl would develop into a star. He has the stuff, but injury and development have made it so that moniker has eluded him. He has some positional versatility and could potentially be added to a team as a bullpen arm, but with the dearth of starters available, he may be enticing. Fangraphs has Kuhl as more of a hindrance to team success thus far, but projects 0.3 WAR for the remainder of the season. ZiPS chips in another 1.0 WAR for 2022.  He makes $2.13M this year, and he has one year of arbitration remaining:

I am still of the belief that Kuhl is not that valuable of an asset to other teams and think he could provide solid innings for the team, because “someone has to pitch those innings.”  My guess is that most internal projection tools are updated constantly and have a much more bearish view on Kuhl.  

JV – Now that we have the surplus for these guys set, I want to take a quick moment to discuss Bednar and Holmes. Bednar is going to be hard to justify trading, because that much control? That’s hard to move and get proper value for, though Joe and I will try. 

But Holmes? I think that’s a little different. A while back we took a crack at suggesting a trade value for Jacob Stallings and believe me, we are still catching heat over that one. Holmes is in a similar situation, as he seems to have learned to just throw that sinker for his out pitch. That coupled with an upper 90’s FB and a strong curve have him looking like a future part of the bullpen, and I imagine we will be told that in no uncertain terms by the fan base. So let me try laying out the some reasons listening on him COULD make sense. 

1-Relievers are typically volatile.

2-The Bucs have a good deal of BP arms on the way in Austin Davis, Nick Mears, Branden Ogle, Blake Weiman, Wil Crowe, Blake Cederlind and more. Deal from your strength.

3-Moving Holmes could add some viable talent.

Is this to say the Bucs should move him? Well, only if the return is too good to pass up. Joe and I hope to show what that might look like, if a team will give it another dicsussion.  

JB – I think we’re in complete agreement here.  Before we started this piece, I would’ve said that Kuhl would be the most likely to move, but Holmes seems to make more sense to me.  He was non-tendered and resigned this offseason, so if you can turn around and get something of value for a player in that position, I think you do it.  And to pile on, Justin makes a good point that there are plenty of bullpen options behind Holmes.  Like I did with Cahill/Anderson, I think I’m going to go with one team as my hypothetical suitor for all three players, but I want to yield the floor to Justin first. 

JV – Thank you sir! 

Trade partner for Bednar- Atlanta Braves

The Braves BP has not been good and while I don’t see Bednar going anywhere, if there is a team that could decide to long here I can see it being the Braves. Bednar for-

Shane Langiliers–C–ETA:2022–50 FV ($28M)

If you follow any of these articles you know I’ve used, not just Atlanta, I’ve actually used Langilers. I’ve used him for a second time for a few reasons. 1, he’s a superb prospect. 2, it’s a big need. 3, and this is the main reason, when I used him a few weeks ago he was a 45+ but since has been bumped to  50 FV. This is how quickly perceived value on a return can change. The defense for Langiliers was MLB ready two years ago. The bat is finally catching up. This would be a huge overpay, but with Langiliers blocked by William Contreras perhaps the Braves decide this is a worthy overpay for that control?

Trade partner for Holmes-Phillies

Holmes is an interesting trade piece. His sinker has really come along and is just a tremendous out pitch. Though his control makes him tough to let go, it’s realistic to think a team could come up with a package strong enough to do it and the Phillies need help in that pen. 

Johan Rojas–CF–ETA:2023 FV 45+ $8M)

Johan has a good speed/power combination. He rates out as 70 on the scale for speed, but still packs wallop with a FV 60 on raw power.  He isn’t perfect as his walk rate is just 6% over his young career, so I’d like to see that rat go up. His swing is, shall we say, wild? But his tools are there, adding a 60 FV arm and fielding. Clean up that walk rate and approach up and the upside is there.

Trade partner for Kuhl-San Fransisco Giants

Ricardo Genoves–C–ETA:2021- FV 40+($4M)

Tired of seeing C in these series? Apparently we aren’t. It’s a major need and in this case an easy fit. The Giants have a few nice prospects in their system and the value here works. Fangraphs has my favorite ever write up on a prospect for Genoves, saying, “He’s built like one of the Moai sculptures on Easter Island and lacks lateral agility.”  Ricardo has some nice power potential for a C, but the hit tool needs work. And while he really isn’t a big time athlete,  he can handle a staff with his glove having an FV of 60 and a good arm coming in with an FV of 50.

JB – Trade Partner:  Houston Astros

Over at FiveThirtyEight, Neil Payne put out an excellent piece on which teams should be making mid-season trades.  A team that has been cruising as of late, but needs to add to their bullpen, is the Houston Astros. Houston is ranked as the 29th bullpen, and 7 of the 9 pitchers are below replacement level. The catch, however, is that they have a rather baron farm, so they cannot really go after higher profile pitchers and might have to settle for some bargains. Well, the Pirates may be a nice traide partner in that regard. 

Bednar for Hunter Brown — SP — ETA: 2023 — 50 FV ($21.0M)

Remember that I mentioned that Bednar has so much control and so much potential to bud into a high-leverage piece for the Pirates that a deal would have to be a massive overpay. Well, this is what I mean. Brown is the top pitching prospect in Houston and a value that is nearly double that of Bednar.  Should Houston do something like this? No, of course not. But if they think that their window may close after, say, the 2022 season, then it is a shrewd business decision. 

Longenhagen mentions that Brown had a significant uptick in stuff during 2020 Fall instructs. He filled out from having a professional strength/conditioning program and added velocity and two good breaking balls in his time away due to the pandemic. I love the idea of a hometown kid being a major role player once Pittsburgh becomes competitive, but if he can be flipped for a mid-rotation starter that has two plus breaking pitches and hits 99 mph, you kind of have to do it.

Holmes for 

Bryan Abreu — RP — ETA: 2021 — 45 FV ($4M) & 

Freudis Nova — SS — ETA: 2022 — 40+ FV ($4M) 

As a non-tender, I still think that getting this type of value out of Holmes could be seen as a big win. Both Abreu and Nova have been prospects that I have been interested in for quite some time.  I think of Nova as a Rodolfo Castro-type player that could be depth or insurance for many of the heavy hitters that’re making their way through the system.  Abreu has an absolute hammer of a curveball and elite spin rates.  I think his time as a starter has passed, but another threatening arm out of the bullpen would be advantageous.  I’ll leave my Abreu comments with a quote from Longenhagen, “both of his breaking balls are nasty benders from hell.”

Kuhl for Forrest Whitley — SP — ETA: 2022 — 40+ FV ($3M)

Whitley was the #4 prospect in all of baseball as recently as 2019. He has dealt with injury and wavering velocity and conditioning throughout his career. He’s currently rehabbing after Tommy John. Not much good news there. But nonetheless, Whitley was a former 65-grade prospect and the tools and talent are there. He needs to recommit to his craft and a change of scenery may be the impetus.  Wouldn’t it be fun to be the benefactor of unlocking a former top prospect’s true ceiling for a change? Let’s give it a shot with Whitley. 

Parting Shots:

JB – The deals for these players need to be deals that move the needle.  Cherington is in an excellent position in that all three of these players are controllable.  There is no desperation or necessity to move on from any of these players.  The Pirates can wait and allow the market to decide that the need for Kuhl or Holmes to a contender is worth parting with actual valuable pieces from the contender’s farm system.  And if that market does not develop, then you can expect all three of these players to have a role in Pittsburgh in 2022.  We have basically talked about the value for each of the moveable pieces on the Pirates roster.  Now I think would be good time to pivot this series in a different direction.  Do you agree, Justin?

JV – I absolutely agree. Could there be other names that we hear as trade possibilities that we didn’t cover? Sure there can, but I think we’ve touched on the most obvious candidates and with rumors now coming in, it’s time to start addressing rumors and making adjustments! In fact, I think we can make a quick one right now. 

Recently, the local sports radio mentioned that the White Sox are looking into Adam Frazier. This was widely believed since Nick Madigral was lost to the season, but they go on to add that, “MLB insider Jon Heyman says on @93.7theFan” that the Bucs could get “1B Andrew Vaughn” back as part of the return for Frazier. Vaughn is an FV 60 prospect and the White Sox top prospect. He is also MLB ready or close.  I have to wonder if Heyman was misquoted or misinterpreted here? Could the White Sox decide, “hey, what the hell? We’re all in,” and pull the trigger on this? I can’t get there. Joe?

JB – Look, Heyman is an extremely respected member of the baseball community and especially this time of year.  I try not to get too invested into trade rumors unless someone like Heyman reports on it.  But Vaughn is a 60-FV player, and that comes with a valuation of $55M.  That just shows you how rare/valuable a prospect like Vaughn actually is.  I think the key takeaway from these articles, or at least my hope, is that fan bases on both sides can discuss, intelligently, a realistic package for a player.  So if you follow along with us, you could spot this deal as unrealistic right from the start.  

JV – My thoughts exactly. My last thoughts here-anyone notice that Joe and I did not do one “package deal” here?  The idea of this series was to get the conversation going and to give a realistic and consistent  way to look at how to evaluate a player’s trade value. Building packages for a single player is hard enough, nevermind a package for a package type deal. And every trade deadline is different. Some years it’s high, others low. A lot of factors go into a trade deadline. From how many buys and sellers there are, how many injuries there are, and so on. Keep this in mind as the rumors and deals are complete, that’s part of the fun! 

That’s all I got for now Joe. 

JB – We will absolutely break down a package for package deal if it does happen, but Justin’s exactly right.  We wanted to make it as clean as possible to understand the value of individual players.  Moving forward we will look at credible rumors, maybe do some valuation updates, and break down trades as they happen.  Looking forward to it!