If you love pitching and defense, with a hint of attention seeking umpiring, man, what a game this was for you.
More on the ump show as my good friend Craig put it in a moment, it really doesn’t deserve the headline today. No today JT Brubaker and J.A. Happ deserve the lion’s share of attention.
Out of sheer respect I’ll start with Happ. He was simply dominant. The ump absolutely stretched this no hit bid out a little, but it takes nothing away from the 7.1 innings of absolute dominance. At least the top of the Bucs order hasn’t exactly been dormant as you know either. Kudos on a beautifully pitched game.
Just the same, it was nice to see Jacob Stallings break out of his funk and break up the bid at the same time with a well struck double.
Back to JT, man, what can you say, he got beat, it happens.
Willians Astudillo took him deep on a very high fastball and Jake Cave tagged him too. Aside from that, dominant.
No walks, not even close often really. Five Strikeouts, two when he really needed them. Sprinkled 3 more hits and gave the Pirates 7 strong innings.
The young man is not a fluke and his demeanor and pitch mix are what led me to call for him to be the perceived best starter on the team.
Moral victories don’t count of course, but there was nothing in this start from Brubaker to dislike.
Well played and enjoyable ballgame all in all.
Back at it tomorrow 2:10, Trevor Cahill (0-2), 969 ERA vs Michael Pineda (1-0), 1.00 ERA,
News & Notes
Sam Howard struck out the side in the 8th inning to keep it close, he’s becoming a leverage pitcher in this pen.
Tough to find a ton of game notes when the club gets one hit. I can’t even say anyone had a horrific approach or was chasing. Happ was just really good, and nobody was able to step up and square anything he threw until Jake said no.
Earlier in the day it was reported, that Hayes was evaluated and treated and is feeling better. The team will get eyes on him when they’re back in Pittsburgh. Sounds like it’s not worse or leading to surgery. Jason Mackey seemed to allude to the idea he might have to “grind” through it. I hope that doesn’t mean he won’t be 100% because I’d rather him just get right first. Also could just be conjecture by a seasoned reporter.
Gregory Polanco was benched facing a lefty tonight and Wilmer Difo played RF, aside from a bugaboo on a popup that could have been either on Difo or Todd Frazier he seemed to handle the position well, but it’s also not like Brubaker was making it look like a shooting gallery out there.
Todd Frazier is 0-7, only one strikeout and he did drill a homerun in just about anywhere but Detroit. I don’t bring this up to point out one player’s shortcomings, I’m wondering how difficult it must be to jump from the Alternate site to facing MLB pitching. If anyone can do it you’d think it would be a seasoned vet. It’s interesting and I hope someone asks him about it at some point.
The easy answer would be, no. I’m not going to trust these 19 games any more than I trusted the 60 games last season.
But maybe that’s too hasty. Here we are 19 games in, 9-10, one game under .500. They’ve played the Reds, Cubs Twice, Padres, Brewers and Detroit. Two bad teams, three teams doing pretty well.
The thing I can say so far, they’ve done all this getting nothing from the center field position. They’ve done all this without their star third baseman. The team has gotten very little from their backup catcher. Kevin Newman looks like a different player than he did this Spring.
Up until yesterday, Mitch Keller has been pretty bad, Trevor Cahill has been good, bad, and downright ugly. Chad Kuhl hasn’t really gotten traction yet and now is on the IL.
Point is, when you read through all of that, this story should really be about explaining to all of you why the start we all expected was actually taking place. Instead, it’s a commentary on how they actually might be underachieving a bit.
The single most optimistic thing I can say about what we’re watching is that this club is one game under .500 and not everything has gone right. Not close actually.
The preseason predictions of 50 win doom many were spewing were always ridiculous, they were based on seeing the results of last season and assuming trading players would make them that much worse. Even that gives the benefit of doubt that folks predicting outcomes like that bothered to look beyond the payroll at all.
Colin Moran was, is and will continue to be an upgrade over Josh Bell, even if we only talk defense. The bullpen was a strength on paper going in, now it’s shown itself to be a strength in games. There is no reward for getting into the Pirates pen, well not if you want to keep piling on anyway.
Is this sustainable? Well, considering they will get Ke’Bryan Hayes back at some point and the bullpen is this good with a solid wave yet to even be used at the training site. Thinking about how underwhelming the rotation has been coupled with the options they still have to call on like Miguel Yahure and Wil Crowe or even a Chase DeJong type.
With Bryan Reynolds sliding over to Center while we wait for the next shot in the dark Ka’ai Tom to make his way here, the lineup just got stronger. The Pirates showed all of us, and the team that they’re happy to give guys a chance, but only to a point. What point? Well, if you run into Dustin Fowler or Anthony Alford, ask them.
When Todd Frazier didn’t make the club out of camp because Phillip Evans played well in Spring and has years of control on top of position flexibility. That very flexibility enabled the club to take advantage of the DFAs of both centerfielders to bring up Frazier to help fill in for the extended loss of Hayes.
This front office provided depth.
The easiest way to digest what we’ve seen and how they’re playing is probably that they look professional. The bullpen shortens games, the lineup is pesky, the players hustle not just when it’s called for but equally for the second out in the third and the last in the 9th.
It’s a fun team to watch and yes, they can actually get better. In fact, based on their own stated intent, they SHOULD get better. For instance, if Mitch Keller’s outing yesterday becomes closer to the norm for him 3/5th of the rotation is on point.
Can they get better? Of course they can, they don’t even have a five man rotation as we speak.
This team is a collection of contradictions to conventional wisdom and I for one appreciate watching a team that clearly has no idea how bad they were supposed to be.
It’s 9 wins. It’s a 1 game under .500 record. But considering they started the season 1-6, its also a sign that they aren’t going to fall to pieces when things don’t go right, hell they’re actually thriving through it.
Long season, but they could easily have gone in the bag after that start, after all it’s what everyone seemingly expected of them, instead they rebounded and maybe they aren’t done improving.
I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little bit excited by the Pirates jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st, however, at that point my mind was pretty much fixated on how Mitch Keller would begin the game. Over his previous three outings he had fluctuated back and forth between bad start, good start and then another bad start; so this had to be a good one right? I wasn’t so sure.
Even so, I had to watch, and was pleasantly surprised as he hit his spots, got reassuring nods from Jacob Stallings and made it through in a quick 1-2-3 inning. In the second he gave up back to back hits, on a double from Niko Goodrum and a triple from the Rule 5 sensation Akil Baddo, to allow the Tigers to pull within one with two outs, but shut the door before they could do anymore damage.
Then in the fifth Keller served up a homer to JaCoby Jones to tie the game, and followed it up immediately with a base hit to Robbie Grossman. In the past these two scenarios were shining examples of when Keller would unravel and let the opposition break the game wide open. In this game he didn’t; by sticking to the plan, trusting his stuff and pounding the bottom of the zone.
Sure Keller, got lucky at times as pitchers often do on some of his hanging sliders and at least one curveball, but he didn’t serve up a bunch of meatballs as Alex Stumpf put it; hopefully with a lot of sarcasm on his part, which is alway hard to read on Twitter.
Not to be a party pooper with Keller, but…there's more than a handful of meatballs there pic.twitter.com/xKOr1F8I1m
In the end Keller existed the game, after 5 innings and 80 pitches, without the ability to earn the win. Nevertheless, he did so without allowing a walk and striking out five Detroit batters.
After his exit, the Pirates bullpen did what they have been doing for most of year; shutting down the opposition and giving their team a chance to win the game, or in some cases not allowing it to get out of hand. Over the final four innings Pittsburgh’s relievers didn’t walk a single batter, struck out three and received an unbelievable assist from Phillip Evans in the bottom of the 7th as he prevented Baddoo’s bomb to left from leaving the yard.
Phillip Evans robbed Akil Baddoo of a home run and held him to a double!
With the bats, a few of the Pirates hitters were pretty clutch, including Colin Moran who came through on the go ahead opposite field base knock; immediately followed by a second RBI single from Erik Gonzalez.
To close out the game, the Pirates called on the man without a heartbeat, Richard Rodriguez. He answered with his third save of the season, as Pittsburgh took the third, and final game of the series, 4-2 to pull within one game of .500 (9-10), yet again in this young season.
News and Notes:
Adam Frazier has reached base safely in 13 straight games, and has been collecting a lot of hits along the way. Including this contest where he was 3 for 5, Frazier has collected 23 hits on the season, good for a .329/.415/.471 slash line.
Another one of the Pirates who has pretty much done nothing but hit is Erik Gonzalez, as he added two RBIs, for a total of four in the series. Sure he is “just a guy”, but as with any other player he deserves to be in the lineup as long as he is “hot”.
Richard Rodriguez has a 0.00 ERA in 8 appearances over 8.1 innings; with 8 strikeouts, 1 walk and a .24 WHIP.
Prior to the game Todd “The Toddfather” Frazier got the call up, as Dustin Fowler was expectedly DFA’d after starting the year batting .171 with 20 strikeouts in 41 at bats. Frazier, in the DH spot, would end up going 0 for 4 on the day, but he did give one a ride to center, only to be robbed of a hit by JaCoby Jones.
In a twist of fate, or as many like to call it “The Pirates Curse”, Ke’Bryan Hayes will likely spend more time on the IL. While taking swings last night, Hayes re-aggravated his wrist injury, and is on his way to Pittsburgh to be re-evaluated.
Also Kuhl to the 10 Day IL and Oliva down for 4 weeks. The hits just keep on coming.
The Pirates will continue their road trip tomorrow as they travel to Minnesota to take on the Twins (6-11). For Pittsburgh, JT Brubaker (2-0, 1.76 ERA) will put his foot on the rubber against a familiar face, J.A. Happ (0-0, 3.12 ERA).
After beginning the season batting .083 with 16 strikeouts in only 24 at bats, the opening day starting centerfielder Anthony Alford was regularly discussed as a potential DFA candidate; and this morning, prior to the Pirates first game of a doubleheader in Detroit, the seemingly inevitable finally happened. However, this move did not take place in the manner many may have originally thought it would. With Ke’Bryan Hayes due to come off the IL, following the wrist strain he suffered in the second game of the year, it was assumed the DFA of Alford, Dustin Fowler or Wilmer Difo would soon follow; but Ben Cherington obviously didn’t want to wait that long, choosing instead to replace Alford’s spot on the roster with off-season Rule 5 eligible addition, utility infielder, Rodolfo Castro.
For those of you unfamiliar with Castro, he was previously the #26 Prospect on MLB Pipeline and as high as #12 on FanGraphs. Signed on October 30, 2015 from the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old shortstop, Castro smashed 14 homers and collected 29 total extra base hits in the first half of the season in Low A Greensboro in 2019. This resulted in a mid-season promotion to the High A Bradenton Marauders where he struggled at first; slashing 132/.192/.206 in the month of July with only a single home run. Luckily for Castro he quickly adjusted and things did get better, a lot better. For the month of August he hit .299/.346/.443, with 2 homers and 10 extra base hits in only 26 games.
Last season he was a somewhat surprising addition to the Alternate Site in Altoona, where he regularly caught the eye of the Curve Broadcaster, Garett Mansfield, both at the plate and in the field; where he continued to show versatility, which is a trait that Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton have shown that they look for in players. players. More comfortable at second base, he can slide to shortstop and even third base with ease; doing so at every level.
Given the opportunity to participate in Spring Training, Castro hit homers in back to back games from each side of the plate, but struggled at times to earn a meager .138 batting average. As the season began Castro became a regular on the Taxi Squad for away games, eventually getting the aforementioned promotion, and the ultimately the start at third base in the second game of the doubleheader. At first I believed that Castro’s time on the 26-man roster might consist of some pinch hit and late inning defensive substitution work, however, after some thought I realized how smart it was for Shelton and Cherington to get a first hand look at one of the two guys they chose to protect from the Rule 5 Draft. Sooner or later Cherington will be faced with faced with almost identical 40-man roster decisions as the Pirates have at least 13 players of note that will need similar treatment during the upcoming off-season, and he will need to be certain about these moves, as well as his previous ones.
But, there will be more pressing issues concerning the 40-man, and more importantly the 26-man active roster, as the Pirates made a second transaction on the day by picking up outfielder Ka’ai Tom off of waivers from the Oakland Athletics. Selected by the A’s in the first round of the Rule 5 Draft this past December from the Cleveland Indians, Tom had been drafted in the 5th Round of the 2015 MLB June Amateur Draft out of the University of Kentucky. Since this time he had performed fairly well at each level of the Minors; eventually earning All-Star Honors at both AA and AAA in 2019 as he slashed .290/.380/.532 with 23 homers and 60 extra base hits.
After such a successful season it is a little curious that the Indians wouldn’t choose to add him to their 40-man roster to protect him for the Rule 5 Draft. However, with not every team making a selection it is possible they thought he would slip through; which he almost did as the last player selected in the first round, and 16 of 18 in the Major League portion of the draft.
Nevertheless, following a strong Spring Training, where he batted .310 with a .963 OPS and a homer in 29 at bats, he made the opening day roster; only to be DFA’d after hitting .063 in 16 at bats; which brings us up to speed with the current situation, as the Pirates snatched Tom up off waivers before he could be offered back to the Indians. Although, they are now in the same boat that the A’s were as far as keeping him on the 26-man roster; along with fellow Rule 5 Pick Luis Oviedo, and eventually Jose Soriano when he returns from the IL.
So, who is the odd man out, beyond Alford, when Tom is officially added to the 26-man? Not to mention the corresponding move that will accompany Hayes’ reinstatement to the active roster, as both could be made into crucial decisions depending on how Cherington decides to play it. More than likely the easier of the decisions would involve Castro being optioned back to the AAA/Alternate Site to avoid the potential of losing upwards of three players in as many moves when Hayes returns; considering that Alford is already dangling out on the waiver wire, and could be joined by both Dustin Fowler and Wilmer Difo, as all three are out of Minor League Options. However, one of Fowler and Difo could still be be DFA’d without necessarily needing to make room on the 40-man for Tom. Of course there are other players with actual options available, but these would be extremely unlikely to be moved; including Phillip Evans and Kevin Newman, even in spite of Newman’s recent struggles at the plate.
In all actuality the most probable candidate would have to be Fowler as Tom plays in the outfield, same as Fowler; and obviously the .171 batting average with 20 strike outs in a little over 40 at bats. Also, if I am being honest, both Alford and Fowler are somewhat likely to clear waivers and be optioned to AAA if Cherington so chooses. Not that I think it would matter that much to him if they were lost either.
In the end the addition of Tom is another low risk, potential high reward move by Cherington; which has become a pattern for him in these types of acquisitions. Potentially nothing gained, but absolutely nothing lost.
The Pirates won the first game of this twin bill and were debuting a couple players. Miguel Yajure got the call up from the taxi squad as the 27th man for the start, and Rodolfo Castro who was called up to replace the DFA’d Anthony Alford got the call at third base.
Through four innings tonight, Miguel was as efficient as any pitcher we’ve seen probably since Steven Brault’s complete game last season. His curveball was excellent but the wheels started coming off in the 5th, where he gave up a solo shot followed by a couple hits and another run.
All in all, the kid looked great. He kept his composure and had excellent command of his off speed stuff, but the fastball command failed him on a couple occasions and that my friends is what they want to work on.
The Pirates bats went quiet in the nightcap as they had only mustered 2 hits in the first five innings.
Then they got to face the anemic Tiger’s pen. First batter Phillip Evans hits a solo shot to make it 4-2.
On to the bottom of the 6th where the Bucs called on Clay Holmes to keep it close, a lead off double to Ramos, then he bounced a pitch maybe 3 feet short of the plate moving the runner up to third. One out later he gave back the run Evans had just put on the board to make it 5-2 Tigers.
They couldn’t get anything to materialize in the top of the 7th and fall 5-2.
Back at it tomorrow for the rubber match at 1:05 Mitch Keller against Jose Urena.
News & Notes
Through four innings Miguel showed exactly what there is to be excited about, but he will be sent back immediately. The fastball command is the only thing that needs work, maybe a little bit of a velo drop from the changeup. And yes, he’d be better than Cahill right this second. Patience is a virtue when cultivating a talent like this. He showed no signs of mental stress while fighting through the one out he got in the fifth, all in all, a very positive outing. Kid is really going to be something.
Reynolds made a really nice diving catch in the 5th to save a run at and keep a run off the books for Yajure. I often hear he isn’t spectacular in the outfield, but whatever label you want to put on him, I’ll take 3.
David Bednar allowed a run scoring single in the 5th inning, it was his first inherited runner to score this season.
Phillip Evans hit his fourth homerun tonight. This kid (if you still want to call him that) has been quite a story.
Erik Gonzalez had a clutch single in the first game and he came up in the first with a clutch double and RBI. He may not be the future, but he sure is a worthy piece now.
Remember what Dustin Fowler did in the first game? Yeah, that again. I have no doubt this kid and for that matter Alford have good baseball in them, but you can’t take yourself seriously as a baseball club and continue to play them. Soon I believe Mr. Fowler will be shown the door as well.
I found it interesting how many regulars played both sides of this day-night twin bill. The only Newman played one, Moran and Evans flip flopped DH and 1B, only Castro and Perez were introduced. I’ve seen this type of thing before but you’d hope to actually get the sweep when you do it.
In my piece on the first game I mentioned the Pirates new pick up had to be offered back to Cleveland before hitting waivers, it’s actually the opposite. Thanks to Craig Toth for pointing this out to me.
Seven inning games are super weird. I mean you’re sitting here watching the Pirates starter in the bottom of the 5th protecting a slim one run lead and it’s not like you’d ever want him to give up the tying run but it’s also pretty easy to forget it would be like surrendering the lead in the 7th.
I understood things like this last season, I guess I can generously accept it this year as an aftershock, but man I really hate this. It changes the dynamic entirely of the context within each situation throughout the contest, and I’m just not here for it.
Regardless, Anderson was really the story today giving the Pirates 5 innings of 2 run ball and honestly it felt more dominant that that sounds. Notching 7 strikeouts and keeping an admittedly light hitting, especially against lefties, Tigers lineup completely off balance all day. The way he messes with hitter’s timing caused 17 whiffs on his 91 MPH fastball today. That’s just insane, and there were head shakes beyond that. He’s deceptive, and honestly he’s fun to watch.
Frazier, Evans, Reynolds and Moran have been leading the charge and that continued in this game, but don’t sleep on Erik Gonzalez, he’s had some moments lately and if clutch is a thing, how about this?
He’s done well defensively, just as you’d expect, his performance probably doesn’t matter too much to the overall picture, but what people saw in him is starting to emerge. He’ll lose some playing time when Hayes returns I’d imagine but when the club inevitably decides to work with Newman, I won’t lose sleep knowing Gonzalez is here.
In the 6th (really the 8th guys, man did I say I hate this?) the Bucs called on Kyle Crick to be the bridge to Rodriguez. He would deliver his seventh consecutive scoreless outing in impressive fashion. Look, you guys who read my stuff often know I’ve been tough on Kyle, but he’s got it working. Never be afraid in life to admit you were wrong, he’s simply been dominant.
Rich Rod came in for the 7th, I’m done complaining, 9th, whatever you want to call it and as has become quite the norm, ho hum another zero and save.
How good has he been this year?
Richard Rodriguez threw 14 pitches. All four-seam fastballs. He's allowed one hit and a walk in eight innings this year.
On to Game 2! And I’ll have that game coverage as well, at 6:40.
Who will be the starter, AKA 27th man? We’ll soon find out but my money is on Yajure.
News & Notes
Prior to the game Anthony Alford was designated for assignment. This means he’ll be placed on waivers should nobody offer to trade for him in the next few days and if he gets through that he’ll be assigned to the training site or AAA. And no, if you can keep him in the fold, it isn’t a good idea to just all together cut him loose. Every waiver exposure chips into the depth.
The Pirates picked up another Rule 5 pick this time in the form of Ka’ai Tom off waivers from Oakland. Funny thing here is he had to be offered back to Cleveland first and they passed. More on him from Craig after we do our due diligence. I hope he’s good because I desperately want to call a player the Fyin’ Hawaiian.
Rodolfo Castro was called up to replace Alford on the roster but it might be short lived as two players will need to be removed when Hayes returns and Tom arrives. Top candidates are Fowler which would make the most sense, Difo or as I mentioned, Castro. Difo would require waivers, Castro just an option.
Tyler Anderson is starting to look less and less like a fluke. He doesn’t mess around with hitters instead just attacking the zone painting the bottom edge repeatedly. He uses that hesitation move in his delivery to mess with timing all game long. Even during at bats, you’ll see him just eliminate the stutter start and go to a slide step just to mess with them further. Sure he gets hit, but he’s just crafty to a really impressive level. Most guys can’t do this stuff without sacrificing control.
Brian Reynolds, Adam Frazier and Colin Moran continue to power the offense. It’s a 3-4 punch that honestly we were a bit to tentative to fully predict. If they’re still hitting like this when Hayes returns we could be in for some really fun Summer days.
You have to hear the clock ticking in Dustin Fowler’s ear like Captain Hook’s Crocodile. After watching Anthony Alford catch a DFA just before the game he was inserted as the starter just as news broke the Pirates picked up yet another castaway outfield option. He responded by striking out in all three plate appearances he had today, and not one looked competitive.
The longer Frazier continues to collect hits and force action in the lineup, coupled with the continued struggles to develop anyone in the middle infield despite the glut of high picks and prospect rankings, the harder he gets to extend. Make no mistake, he’s in a decision year, he’s either extended or moved by this deadline, there can be no grey area here really or the plan simply isn’t being followed.
The common narrative this season early on has been that Colin Moran has a brand new approach at the plate and while he himself deserves the credit for implementing it, the Pirates too for identifying the holes and helping him improve.
Well, after really digging into the numbers, I’m not sure I can say much has changed.
I don’t mean this as a slap at Pirates Management, I mean if that’s the case, they still had to let him go with it right?
We keep hearing Colin is now taking an opposite field approach, just going with the pitch and taking what is right in front of him. Not trying to do too much. Insert your own baseball clichés as you’d like here.
Well, let’s look at how Colin hits the baseball.
In 2021, you know the year Colin became an acceptable if not indispensable part of the club. Small sample size I know.
Hey, it’s exactly what you and we’ve all been saying, look at that approach, spraying the ball all over the field.
Now let’s take a look at 2019 where he clearly stunk right?
Now wait a minute, I was under the impression this hitting the ball the other way thing was a brand new technique? Something he introduced just this year to become a more complete player.
Boy those charts paint a different picture don’t they?
Well, maybe this isn’t fair. Maybe he was being pitched differently.
Here’s where pitchers have attacked him in 2021.
OK, so he gets pitched mostly down in the zone on both sides of the plate. That must explain what’s going on, he’s just taking what’s given to him now more often.
Yeah, strike two folks. Take a look at 2019.
OK, so we’ve seen that he’s largely getting pitched the same, he’s largely hitting the ball the same, but the perception is that he has made a major leap. What am I missing?
The answer, he’s doing damage in a different zone.
Let’s take a look this time at 2019 first, specifically his exit velocity broken down by zone.
So what we can take here is back in 2019 he was getting pitched down in the zone predominantly but most of his best exit velocity contact came from middle or outside and up.
Looking to the admittedly small sample we have from 2021 you’ll see finally a change.
What this tells me is combined with Colin’s swing change he actually implemented in the offseason from 2019 to 2020, he’s staying back on the ball a bit more and getting a nice increase in exit velocity on some of those pitches he used to hit, but not hard.
In the early going, that’s led to some opposite field power, and I don’t just mean the couple homeruns he popped. We’re talking ringing doubles to the left-center gap, balls down the third base line and of course those few homeruns we’ve watched him pop.
We’ll have to check back in on this later in the year to see how this maintains or falls off but maybe Colin was already on his way to figuring things out and untapping more of his first round pedigree.
Colin had some things working against him here in Pittsburgh from the jump. He was acquired as part of a very unpopular trade, one that looks better through the prism of history at least as far as results go.
He played third base, and didn’t have the range to do so and up until this very season was blocked at first base by Josh Bell.
It took some time, but finally this former number 6 overall pick looks like a real middle of the order bat, but he didn’t have to reinvent himself to get there, he just needed time and at bats to allow his tweaks to show fruit.
No matter what Colin does next, extend his contract, get moved, whatever, if this trend continues he will help the Pittsburgh Pirates, and for right now, I just want to enjoy watching someone start to crack the code that taps into more of that potential.
During the beginning of this most recent off-season I said that I would be fine with, not that I wanted, the Pirates to look at trading homegrown, face of the franchise and starting first baseman Josh Bell. At the time, the reasons behind this thought were due to the DH possibly not finding its way into the National League for 2021 which would leave the Pirates with two players for one position, that this other player, Colin Moran, was more than capable of not only holding down the position but also having the potential to be more effective in the role overall and because Pittsburgh would likely receive more value in return for Bell’s ceiling at the plate.
So far the validity of this last presumption has yet to be determined since Wil Crowe only has one Major League appearance this season for the Pirates and four overall, while Eddy Yean last pitched for the Nationals in the Gulf Coast League back in 2019. And in all actuality, the only statement that has come to fruition completely is the DH not being utilized in both leagues this year. Sure, Moran currently leads the Pirates in numerous categories, including home runs (4), SLG (.579) and OPS (.946), but no one know what these numbers will look like in June or July.
However now, in a significant change of heart, even considering the small sample size, Moran has become good enough to bring back a haul; with some of the same people who said Moran was terrible, could in no way take Bell’s place and that the Pirates were idiots for getting rid of Bell, leading the charge. All the while others are merely pleasantly surprised with his performance, which almost confuses more than the Moran stinks crowd; seeing as how he got off to similar pace at the beginning of last season, as he hit five homers in the first eight games and ended the year with a 113 wRC+.
So, should Moran be traded, extended or simply be allowed to play out the rest of team contract? Well, first of all, if the Pirates choose door number three, without some extenuating circumstances like a significant injury, it wouldn’t make any sense; leaving a trade or an extension as the most likely courses of action. However, even then I am not more firmly in one camp over the other. Just like I am not all for trading Adam Frazier because who realistically replaces each of theses players on a daily basis for the year or so, when the supposed replacement arrives from the Minors ready to take their place. Obviously, there are more options at the middle infield positions, but even then, none of these guys fans are pining over have played a meaningful baseball game in at least a year; and in some cases almost two or more, depending on injuries.
Also you have to take into account these are only two of the (position) players who have reached arbitration, without a contract extension, that hold similar questions concerning their future with the ball club. Thus far, the plan seems to be trade anyone of value with diminishing team control, but there has to be a point where this slows a little bit, or at the very least comes to a near stop-a slow and consistent drip if you will. Nevertheless, these are in the future; by a couple of months to start, so the focus should be more on the present and how it progresses.
With that in mind I look back to before start the season, or even prior to Spring Training, when I repeatedly said there are three guys to keep a close eye on; with a few more than exist on the fringes. The original trifecta consisted of Hayes, Keller and Reynolds, as crucial parts of the potential future core. On the outside, hopefully moving in, were Kevin Newman and JT Brubaker. This is not to say that no one else really matters or will matter, they simply had more question marks in considering the future plans; kind of like Colin Moran, Adam Frazier and others to a higher or lesser degree.
I understand this discussion is all over the place and contains little to no certainty, which is much like opinions on Pirates players and the weather in Pittsburgh; wait five minutes, or in this case a weeks worth of games, it’ll change.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are 7-9 on the young season and it has provided a boost of confidence to a team that probably felt they were the only ones who believed they could do better than keep the seat warm for developing prospects.
As I wrote earlier today, this isn’t about undue optimism as much as it’s about allowing yourself to enjoy what currently is. The beauty of baseball is that teams are better than the sum of their parts at times, and others the individual pieces will just never add up.
Sure it works out more often for the teams loaded with players who should be great, but when a team plays like a team, overachieving is fun for fans and good for the soul of the club.
Let’s dig in to my thoughts this week and talk about baseball, you know, on the field stuff.
1. Tiptoe Through the Raindrops
The Pirates have lost more than they’ve won this year, so the fact optimism is even broached for a club with a losing record tells you something about the expectations this club had prior to one pitch being thrown. They’ve done this despite 3 starters being less than acceptable. Losing their star third baseman after game one. A rule five pick with a ton of promise giving up 7 runs.
They’ve done it with Kevin Newman providing very little to the cause. They’ve done it with two centerfielders with less offensive prowess than JT Brubaker has shown. They’ve done it with a backup catcher who hasn’t shown much.
The point is, they’ve done all this and it wasn’t because the entire team overperformed. They haven’t had everything fall right. If you really want to feel optimistic about what you’re watching, think of it like this, they really and truly with just a few improvements could actually be better.
That’s a hell of a thing. And I’m sure near impossible to digest for some, but it’s fact nonetheless.
2. Speaking of Kevin…
When I tell you Kevin Newman hasn’t provided much, it’s not just because he ground out once when I was watching last week.
He has been abysmal. No need to sugar coat this, Kevin would agree I’m sure. We just jumped out of a Spring Training effort that had Newman getting attention for hitting nearly .700 and while that average was incredible, the actual hits were more so. See it wasn’t about the average as much as the approach. He was taking balls to the opposite field with authority and his new batting stance allowed him to reach outside pitches with more contact and velocity.
Once the season started, seemingly everything he was doing this spring changed. His stance reverted to previous iterations. His contact numbers reverted and we jumped right back to hoping for what some of us refer to as “Kevin Newman Specials”, AKA slow grounders he can beat out with his 100th percentile sprint speed.
I mean, it’s pretty clear the league knows how to handle Kevin…
The vast majority of pitches to Kevin are down and away. This Spring, Kevin either laid off that ball or if it was in the zone hit it to the opposite field with authority. Now he just pulls off of it and pounds it into the ground at an alarming rate.
How alarming?
Yeah, that alarming. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player with a negative launch angle number in the top zone before. If you were trying to do that, it might actually be impressive.
This is a mechanical issue, one that should lead to a couple days off and some cage work. A productive Kevin Newman takes this offense to a level where they could actually survive more of those stinker starts we talked about. If he doesn’t, he’s going to learn first hand what a meritocracy looks and feels like.
3. Why Can’t Yajure Just Jump In?
First of all, can’t is a strong word. He could, but a prospect like Yajure isn’t someone you want to rush. His breaking stuff is electric, quite possibly the most advanced in the entire system, but his fastball command will bite him in the bigs if left unchanged.
This is a guy who actually needs AAA, and with the start of the AAA season being delayed until May 1st, it also isn’t underway.
There are several options I personally believe would be better than Trevor Cahill but if I’m the Pirates, I’m not going to try to make Miguel Yajure one of them, at least not yet.
He did well in his cup of coffee with the Yankees, but the Pirates aren’t looking for him to be a bullpen arm, they want him every fifth day, and make no mistake, he is one prospect the Pirates acquired who legitimately could do exactly that, and do it fairly soon, but there is nothing to be gained by trying to force it.
I’m not here to tell you Wil Crowe is less important or not as good, but I will say he has many of the things the Pirates want to see already there, he just needs to be more consistent with it. I say this to illustrate the difference in the two and why one is an immediate option while the other isn’t, at least not now.
4. Tough Love and Learning Together
Last week Derek Shelton used Luis Oviedo to preserve a tie game and to be kind it didn’t go well. To Oviedo’s credit, he didn’t change his demeanor or approach, just kept throwing pitches and fought through it.
After the game Derek Shelton plainly stated Oviedo just didn’t have it that day and he stood by his decision that he was the best guy for the job.
The next day Shelton owned his decision but backtracked just a bit. Saying perhaps pitching Oviedo in that situation after not using the youngster for 6 games was a bit much to ask of him and that he needed to find more situations to use him in so he didn’t just sit.
This might seem like excuse making to some but to me it’s an example of a coach learning about the limitations of a rule five pick and admitting he could have handled him a bit better. That’s not to say he won’t be used in leverage situations again, but I presume we won’t see stretches of 5 or 6 games where he doesn’t see the mound.
We talk an awful lot about development, but developing a rule five pick who has never pitched beyond Single A is not something most MLB managers have directly touched when they’re on their second year on the job. Development within the staff itself is almost just as important as the players. Being open to it is step one, and I’m encouraged to hear Shelton recognize it and move forward.
5. How Will the Pirates Use the DH This Week?
Nobody really jumps off the page as someone you’d want in your lineup just for their bat who isn’t already playing on the daily do they?
I think we’re starting to see some fatigue with Phillip Evans set in and Moran has only had one day off this season and that’s if you count pinch hitting as a day off.
I could see both of these players alternating playing first base and being the DH for the next six games which could give both a bit of a blow. Another option would be to see Ke’Bryan Hayes return sometime this week and maybe letting him focus on just hitting the ball could be a nice way to introduce him back into the lineup.
Some combination of those three players makes the most sense to me but I could just as easily see them using Wilmer Difo and throwing their hands in the air.
I’ve thought for some time interleague play is the downfall of having the rule on the DH not be universal. AL teams aren’t prepared to lose a player who is sometimes their very best hitter and NL teams aren’t prepared to suddenly decide someone who typically rides the pine is now a hitting assassin.
It’s the last season we’ll likely have these discussions but how NL teams handle filling a position they’ve literally never thought twice about is going to make things very interesting this offseason.
Thanks for reading everyone, and don’t forget to listen to my, well, newish podcast Gary Morgan’s Fan Forum over at DK Sports Radio and DK Pittsburgh Sports. Anyone that knows me recognizes how much I love talking baseball and this podcast is exactly that, great conversations with all of you. If you engage me in real, honest baseball talk, good or bad, don’t be shocked if I invite you on.
These were some comments after the Pirates won their second game of the season against the Cubs. It made them 2-6 on the young campaign and four of those losses weren’t exactly close.
I’m sure you already have yourself convinced I’m going to launch into an I told you so type article, but I’m really just trying to show how quickly it changes. Currently sitting at a still losing record 7-9 the Pirates have looked like, well, a young building baseball team.
They’re still missing power, they still have position holes, the starting rotation has some potential that hasn’t really ripened.
They still have players who haven’t performed well who we reasonably should expect will.
Point is, through 16 MLB games this team is two games under .500 and the thing is, they really and truly could be better than this.
Now, I’m in no way predicting this club finishes the season over that mark, but if I told you pre-season the Pirates would, come 16 games in, have 3 struggling starting pitchers, Newman would be invisible and oh yeah, Ke’Bryan Hayes would have only played one full game, and still have a 7-9 record you’d have laughed in my face. Hell, I predicted 90 losses and had some of you laughed in my face.
It’s baseball, two weeks from now we could be talking about a 13 game losing streak and pretending we know the 2022 number one pick overall.
Point is, for what Ben Cherington is doing, being god awful isn’t a requirement. I know some of you believe the team would be best suited to fall off the face of the earth for two or three seasons and get the top pick in the draft for all of those seasons but we often forget, the players don’t agree or think that way. Possibly more importantly, you wouldn’t want them to, you’d beat the hell out of them if they looked like dead men walking. A team full of Derek Bell’s.
Should we adjust our preseason predictions? Well you go ahead if you want, but I’ll just let the season play out. Remember I said they’d be better at the end than the beginning and that prediction was completely based on my belief that the rotation would improve as players are swapped out with younger pitchers with more upside.
They’ve played a Reds team that was absolutely on fire. A Cubs team in utter disarray on the cusp of an honest to god teardown, twice. A nicked up Padres team that probably looked past them to their series with the Dodgers. And finally a decimated Brewers club missing Wong, Cain and Yelich riding excellent starting pitching.
I can look at their record and be happy they got here while still realizing they’ve had some nice breaks. Now, as mentioned, you have to balance that with acknowledgement that the Pirates are missing Hayes too.
The bullpen is really good and that masks a whole lot of problems. In fact it’s so good it might force teams to approach the starters differently. Right now the biggest problem for the Starting rotation is that they aren’t providing length and are walking far to many people. Well, as the league starts to realize that getting to the Pirates pen isn’t exactly a bonus, I think we’ll see more early swings against the starters which could really help them out with walks and pitch count. Never underestimate the importance of a solid bullpen.
Phillip Evans even while coming back to earth a bit filled in admirably for Hayes, hell he maybe even earned himself a more consistent role as we move forward.
Now they head off to Detroit (6-10) and Minnesota (6-8) to continue the road trip staring down the barrel at getting Ke’ back in the mix. Those records are not much different than what the Pirates have put on paper but they have an opportunity to make some hay here.
Enjoy it.
Give yourself a chance to really watch and evaluate what you see. You know, actual baseball players doing actual baseball stuff.
Allow yourself to forget about your way too firm stance that Colin Moran was nothing more than part of a terrible trade and would never amount to anything.
Give yourself a chance to step back from your firm belief that the Pirates somehow ruined Bryan Reynolds.
Be honest about what you’ve seen Kevin Newman do at the plate.
I mean, actually look at the team and who’s doing what.
This team was brutal in 2019, in just about every way a team could be. So when they traded off some of the perceived best players they had and payroll went down even further of course it led to predictions of doom. Of course to those not actually watching what was being built it was going to be an even worse version of your Pittsburgh Pirates.
Well, for the believers, the realists, the doomsayers, I think we can all come together and say, this is better than what we expected so far, and at the end of the day, no matter what stage of a build you’re in, the players don’t need to perform as such.
I’m not blind, they have problems, problems that will catch up with them at some point but the players on the roster have real careers. They’re hunting real paydays. They really have room to get better or worse. And the major difference this year hasn’t really even cropped up much, there is real depth should they need it.
If significant injuries crop up, this team has an answer currently at the training site, and eventually AAA. That’s good. That means an injury to a reliever doesn’t send Ben to the waiver wire praying someone who’s thrown an MLB inning or two is out there.
I’m not saying you should walk around peacocking for this club, I mean it’s not a championship team, it probably isn’t even a .500 team, but it also isn’t a historically bad team.
The only time being wrong really matters is when you can’t allow new information to alter your stance. I’m not saying we’re there yet, but I am saying, maybe bother watching a game or two before you come back to me with more Nutting nonsense.
Maybe watch what’s happening on the field before you tell me this team made mistakes moving assets. Hey, here’s a thought, check back in at the end of the season and tell me you still don’t like those moves.
After all, this game isn’t played on Fangraphs, it’s played in ballparks and EVERY player wants to win. Even Pirates players.
Steel City Pirates 