Pirates Walk Off Again To Stun Red Hot White Sox

The last time the Pirates faced off against the White Sox two weeks ago they were no-hit by Lucas Giolito in the first game and blown out in the second by a score of 10-3 as Trevor Williams allowed 8 runs on 9 hits, three of them being home runs, in 6 innings of work. Since that time the Pittsburgh has played near .500 ball, accumulating 6 wins and 7 losses. Chicago on the other hand has gone 7-3 and are currently riding a 4 game winning streak coming into tonight’s contest, which has propelled them to the top of the AL Central.

On the mound for the surging White Sox was former top prospect, Dylan Cease. After starting the year on a sour note in the team’s second series of the season against Cleveland, Cease had steadily improved up until his last outing versus the Royals this past Thursday. He did earn the win, but allowed three runs on four hits in five innings, while striking out a season low of one batter. Opposing him for the Pirates would be the big righty, Joe Musgrove. Since returning on September 2nd after having spent almost a full month on the the IL with right tricep inflammation, Musgrove has only had the opportunity to pitch in one shortened appearance. Clearly on a pitch count, Big Joe gave up two hits to lead off top of the fourth without recording an out and was promptly removed from the game, ultimately being charged with those runs when Nick Tropeano gave up a three run homer to Javier Baez. However, through the first three innings he looked to have all of his pitches working for him as he struck out four batters and walked none.

As the game began there was some level of concern as Musgrove started this outing the same way his last one ended when he gave up a lead off double to Tim Anderson. However, he was able to settle things down by striking out the next two batters and getting the third to hit a grounder to shortstop, Erik Gonzalez to end the inning. Over the next couple of innings Musgrove scattered out two more hits and struck out three in the top of the fourth, which is how his day would end. His final line was zero runs, three hits, five strikeouts and two walks on 64 pitches over four full innings of work.

For Chicago, Cease, who had struggled in his last outing was on cruise control for the first four innings; allowing only one Pirates batter, Colin Moran, to reach on a single in bottom of the second. Then in the bottom of the fourth the Pirates were finally able to get things going against Cease as a Josh Bell double, a Ke’Bryan Hayes triple and a Kevin Newman single plated two Pittsburgh base runners to bring them back within one, 3-2, as they headed to the sixth inning. Cease would end up pitching to one more batter, Adam Frazier who singled, before being lifted from the game; having given up the two runs during the previous frame on five total hits, while striking out two and walking none.

In the top of the fifth the White Sox almost immediately got to Pirates reliever, Dovydas Neverauskas. Luckily for Neverauskas, Bryan Reynolds tried to bail him out by nailing Nick Madrigal at home on a single to center from Anderson for the second out of the inning. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough as a Yoan Moncada single, followed by a Yasmani Grandal homer put Chicago up 3-0 before he was able to retire Jose Abreu swinging to end the onslaught.

After this disastrous appearance by Neverauskas, Kyle Crick and Chris Stratton were just one out away from three combined scoreless innings when a double by Eloy Jimenez, assisted by fielding error from Gregory Polanco, brought in Abreu to extend the White Sox lead to 4-2. However, the Pirates would quickly get it back as back to back doubles by Newman and Jacob Stallings would bring Pittsburgh back to within one. Following a ground out, Erik Gonzalez, the hero of Sunday’s come from behind win against the Reds, came through again; this time with an RBI single to knot the game up at 4 a piece.

Next. Richard Rodriguez would come in to pitch the top of the 9th and kept the White Sox off the board, thanks in part to a base running blunder by Madrigal as he was thrown out at third base trying to advance on a ground out to Gonzalez; setting up another potential walk off win for the Pirates. Polanco led off by singling to center, Josh Bell also singled back up the middle and Ke’Bryan Hayes was intentionally walked to load the bases with no one out. Kevin Newman walked up to the plate looking for his third hit of the night to end the game before extras. He didn’t get a hit, but did connect on a bouncer to the White Sox pitcher, Jimmy Cordero. Cordero came home with the throw, which couldn’t be handled by Grandal and the Pirates completed their second come from behind victory in as many games, this time by a score of 5-4.

Tomorrow the Pirates will look to sweep the two game set from the White Sox with rookie pitchers JT Brubaker and Dane Dunning facing off against each other at 7:05 EST from PNC Park.

News and Notes:

  • Musgrove keeps getting stronger in second game since coming off the IL; hopefully building back up and stretching himself out to around 90 to 100 pitches by the end of the season.
  • Dovydas Neverauskas should never pick up a baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates again. After giving up 3 runs on 4 hits in one inning of work, Neverauskas has returned to his old form after not giving up a single run three straight appearances.
  • Bryan Reynolds once again shows of the arm for his fifth outfield assist of the season.
  • Ke’Bryan Hayes keeps his hot streak going by hitting his second triple in 6 career games.
  • Kyle Crick continues to get outs in spite of the drop in his overall pitch velocity. Since returning from a injury he has allowed only one run in 5 innings of work. He has also struck out four and only walked one during this time.
  • Adam Frazier extends his current hitting streak to 11 games.
  • Pirates walk it off two games in a row and now sit at 14-26 on the season.

Prepare for the Off Season Whirlwind for the Pittsburgh Pirates or Lack Thereof

Hey, there’s no secret here really, the Pirates need to make changes and we’ve already spent time discussing a situation that will make some of those decisions difficult. So with that knowledge in the back of our heads let’s try to break down the options and see if we can sort out Ben Cherington’s possible path forward.

Before you argue against or for any of these, keep in mind you can fight all you like, but it won’t matter in the end. Once they identify a path, what’s most important is that they don’t approach it half way. So let’s do this, and don’t be shocked if your thought before reading this at least becomes a bit less of a hard stance.

Stand Pat – This one is surely not going to be popular but it bears weight for two reasons. First, they may have little choice if they can’t find reasonable deals, and second they may like some of what they have if healthy. For instance, doing nothing could produce a starting rotation of Taillon, Musgrove, Kuhl, Keller, Williams/Brault/Brubaker, and honestly, if everything works out, which has been a HUGE if, that’s pretty attractive. They’ll also return some decent bullpen options discovered this year or finally healthy and add someone like Blake Cerderlind. My biggest problem with this is more about the offense, you’d have to believe some of the guys who have struggled so mightily in 2020 will fully rebound and make an impact.

This is more likely than most will want to believe, and it’s all about who is an attractive asset in the off season. Bell would get someone interested if only because there is time left to “fix” him before making a decision to sign him, but that comes with a price. People don’t pay top dollar for a car that needs transmission work, and they don’t pay for sluggers who can’t get out of their own way. Maybe you want to move one of the pitchers or all of them outside Keller, every single one of them have questions or shortcomings that have been proven out. I’m all for moving them, but don’t expect miracles. Think of what you would give up if your team needed a pitcher to take the next step and your GM went and got one of the options the Pirates have to offer. How much could your GM give up to facilitate it and have it make sense?

Another angle on this is simple, this roster is chalk full of developing prospects. Now, you can argue about where the ceiling is for most of them, but its fair to say most of them aren’t near it yet. That adds up to a whole bunch of giving up too early on some and getting far too little in return.

The biggest thing against this method, beside returning a team that clearly wasn’t getting it done is the fact they need to make room for change. Evolution doesn’t come until it’s biologically imperative, the same applies to roster construction. If you don’t create need, you’ll never stop having want.

Clean House – Extremely difficult to pull off but let’s not act like the Pirates are the only club to every find themselves in this position. It’s a roster trap, you have players with potential and nobody in AAA really pushing to make change. I like some players in the minors but there aren’t many ready to make an immediate impact.

Now, why is it so difficult? Well it usually comes down to two things, first the Pirates would need to be just as ready to move on as many of the fans. Next, they’d have to be ready to take what they can get rather than hold out for incredible packages for each and every player. And remember in the first section where I said they had a bunch of developing prospects? Well that comes into play here too. The scariest part of this scenario is that the Pirates will still have to field a team and that provides two paths.

The first is what the Marlins have done, they cleared their roster almost entirely then back filled it with relatively inexpensive free agents. Best case scenario, some of these retreads find their stride and lead to more trade capital, worst case they do little more than fill out the team colors as you wait for prospects to develop.

If you do this right, you can often have a near accidental competitive team, most plugged in fans will understand its built on sand but some will think you botched a rebuild.

Let’s be clear, this isn’t a Jarrod Dyson type free agent, this is more along the lines of a Hunter Pence or to be honest a Phillip Evans. Regardless it doesn’t come without risk, if the prospects you’ve acquired don’t pan out and your draft picks follow suit, you can easily get caught with your pants down. Choose the free agents poorly and you get stuck with a whole lot of players that walk for nothing. At some point the youth movement has to come.

Want to try it another way? OK, sell everything you feel is not part of the future and bring up kids ready or not. It honestly only matters if you believed you were moving a winning club. What I mean by that is if this club isn’t going to complete for the playoffs, no harm no foul. Lose 100 games or 120 and it doesn’t matter, if you think that group had a shot to grow together and compete, it’s a much bigger risk.

Augment – This is very not Pirates. I’m just being real with you, and while I leave room for Cherington to be different, it’s not his history. He’s augmented before but only after the team he built had actually won, he added to stay on or near the top, not to get there. I won’t even go into the fact what he added kinda sucked.

I could possibly see this playing out but I don’t get the impression anyone in or around the team is elated with where this group is headed together. The Joe Musgrove to the Blue Jays rumor means very little, but regardless of how close it came or how many other conversations like it occurred, the key fact to take away from that is that Joe Musgrove was very much so on the block, among others like him. That tells you this method is most likely off the table.

Gradual Improvement – This is probably the most likely outcome. There will be a percentage of players on the roster the Pirates want to see a little more of and there are legitimately some prospects that they’d like to see up here. This will lead to some players moving who actually could help this team be better right now. Yes that’s a Joe Musgrove, or an Erik Gonzalez, maybe even a Bell if he ever starts to hit.

Even if this isn’t the method they choose, it’ll be what they sell, both to the league and us. This keeps other GMs from believing they have a super motivated seller and keeps the fans believing they’re making moves to allow younger players an opportunity. Now that part is true, but it won’t show immediate improvement, in fact it won’t fool many, but it only needs to work until you’ve moved your biggest intended targets.

If you’ve managed to secure the wool over the eyes in the first place, it won’t last beyond moving 1 or 2 big pieces. Move Musgrove, no big deal the league can see that as not believing you could retain him long term. Move Musgrove and Bell, ruse over, everyone will know what you’re doing. To be blunt, most GMs already believe this is the case, but you never know until you KNOW, if you catch my drift.

Now, why do I think the Pirates will ultimately go in this direction? It’s a combination of reasons and it all starts with where they were in Huntington’s failed retool. The team is young and the next wave is VERY young. What they need to do is bridge the time and when I talk about the types of free agents they’d need to get in order to clean house, they might just be further ahead to just leave some of their controllable players in place and use them. If anything you’ll see added emphasis on keeping and acquiring more jack of all trades style players like Gonzalez or Tucker.

The only real mistake they could make would be believing this was all a short sample size issue in 2020 or that injury derailed the club so badly they suddenly became one of the worst rosters in baseball. If they believed this, Huntington would still be here. That is the best reason for optimism that Cherington gets it fully and understands this franchise’s place in the food chain.

Another factor in all this is the predicted Free Agent downturn in the market. This could afford teams like Pittsburgh swooping in and finding a deal with a player who typically wouldn’t have considered the Pirates or could have gotten much more in another season.

Lasting change is a whole other issue. You either run a tight ship with perpetual turnover like Tampa, or MLB changes the economic structure of the league. There are 30 teams in this league as we speak, and not a single one doesn’t envy what Tampa is doing, even the beloved Moneyball darling A’s, even the extremely well to do Dodgers would happily not require that payroll.

This off season is going to be one hell of a ride, but that doesn’t mean the Pirates will pick an extreme option.

Pirates News & Views 9-7-2020

News

  • The Trade Deadline passes with only the Jarrod Dyson move as a result.
  • Ke’Bryan Hayes had a very effective debut on Tuesday night at PNC. His first hit a double off the top of the wall and his second a homerun to center. He survived a rookie moment throwing home for an out rather than first base. You could assume it was purposeful but his smile shows he knew he made a mistake, one that worked out.
  • The Pirates needed to clear space on the roster for the return of Brian Reynolds and Joe Musgrove, they chose to DFA Carson Fulmer who had not even pitched once for the club and to Option Jose Osuna.
  • Bryan Reynolds returned to action Thursday afternoon against the Cubs and sent a ringing double to the wall and crushed a three run shot. There could be no one player more important to get going.
  • After Jarrod Dyson was traded to the White Sox prior to the deadline, Anthony Alford began to get what could have been an extended look in the outfield. Unfortunately his season was cut short by a collision with the outfield wall, much like how Philip Evans’ came to an abrupt end by running into Polanco’s elbow.
  • Mitch Keller is working towards a return. On Friday he threw 35 pitches with live batters in 2 innings.
  • Since August 8th the last day Del Pozo threw a pitch in a Pirates uniform, the Pirates bullpen has actually performed quite well, ranking 7th in the league with a 3.27 ERA.
  • Erik Gonzalez leads the club in average, hits, doubles, and OBP, Anyone have that before the season started?

Views

  • Big Joe apparently was close to becoming a Blue Jay. The return was probably a bit better than what they ultimately paid for Stripling, but not much. That was a PTBNL but they had to toss in one of their own to get it done. Would you take even a little better than that for Musgrove? Yeah me either, sometimes the best move is one you don’t make. -GM (@garymo2007)
  • Is it possible all of the service time discussion concerning Ke’Bryan Hayes is all for not? What if the goal is to bring him up for an audition that will be used to determine a longer term contract offer, avoiding arbitration? Remember, this idea was floated prior to the layoff. -CWT (aka Bucs In The Basement)
  • Quinn Priester was added to the player pool on Thursday. Honestly this move was made to get some eyes on him and see how he does against live batters, nothing more.-CWT (aka Bucs In The Basement)
  • People are exploring the Pirates to “let the young guys play”. What if I told you that for the most part they already are? Hard for one of the youngest rosters in MLB to get much younger!-CWT (aka Bucs In The Basement)
  • I have been proven wrong on Eric Gonzalez by this club, and I get the impression they badly want me to experience that again with Riddle, this time it’s not going to happen. He’ll eventually be non-tendered by the club this off season. -GM (@garymo2007)
  • For people saying Josh Bell should DH full time, I may have some surprising information for you. Prior to Sunday’s game, in 93 plate appearances at 1B Bell was batting .238/.301/.405 with 4 homers. As a DH he was slashing .091/.192/.091 with no extra base hits in 52 appearances at the plate. He went 1 for 3 on Sunday with a walk.-CWT (aka Bucs In The Basement)
  • Polanco went 6 for 11 in a three game stretch and immediately followed it by going 0 for 10 over the weekend with 7 strikeouts. Every time you think he might have turned a corner, you end up being let down. -CWT (aka Bucs In The Basement)
  • The Pirates have the luxury of having the DH this season. I personally believe it will return but there is a possibility it won’t. If that’s the case, the Bucs will be forced to choose between Moran and Bell, its becoming hard to argue Moran is outplaying Bell both on the field and at the plate. -GM (@garymo2007)

Walk It Off! Gonzalez Drives in Winning Run on Sac Fly. Pirates Win 3-2 Over Reds to Split Series

Very quietly for some time now, the bullpen has been, dare I say, good. How good? Well since Miguel Del Pozo through his last Pitch for the Pirates on August 8th, they are 7th in all MLB with a 3.81 ERA. I mean they’ve certainly gotten a hell of a lot of practice, but I’ll admit, I didn’t really realize what was happening until this weekend.

They’ve found some arms they wouldn’t have seen, and seen even more do things they never intended to see them do. Sam Howard, Geoff Hartlieb, Chris Stratton, and Nik Turley, who all happened to factor into today’s contest are arguably the four best examples. That’s almost a month of work there we’re talking about and Neverauskas is still in the mix so imagine the numbers if he was cut out of the figure.

When Chad Kuhl took the mound today the last thing I wanted to do was write a bullpen story, I expect big things from Kuhl. Today he was less than stellar, as he struggled with command from the first pitch. He only lasted 3 innings on 68 pitches and had walked four. Still his stuff is good enough that he can work around shaky control at times, so when he was pulled that early when he has clearly been built up raised some eyebrows.

Nothing was announced on this or anything, but for those of us who pay pretty close attention to stuff like this, decisions outside the norm tend to get your notice.

Offensively the Pirates were kept in check most of the game, scoring in the third via some two out magic from Frazier and Reynolds.

Fast forward to the bottom of the 8th and the Bucs got another shot at Lorenzen. Erik Gonzalez got the party started with a single, Frazier grounded into a FC and Reynolds walked to set the stage for Moran to potentially see some pitches for once. See he had spent the entire game being worked around having Polanco behind him it makes total sense to be careful with Colin. The Reds called on Raisel Iglesias to face the closest thing the Pirates have to a slugger. Hard to feel anything other than the ballgame hinged right here.

Moran came in .667 against him 4 for 6 but Iglesias got the strikeout on only 3 pitches. Polanco represented the last chance in the 8th and he flew out to center. Polanco had a sloppy approach all day, getting away from the 3 game stretch of success he had recently.

In the ninth the Bucs went to their 3rd or 4th choice to close games, Richard Rodriguez who completed a very nice day for the Pirates bullpen, tossing 6 shutout innings and keeping this game close for the unit really failing this club, the offense.

If I told you the bullpen was going to perform like that for a month at any point in this bastardized season before it started, you’d bet this team was outperforming their price tag. Problem is, everything good and exciting about this club in 2019 is failing them in 2020. Bryan Reynolds is looking better, and taking better swings, Colin Moran has been at least someone who looked threatening most of the campaign. Erik Gonzalez has been a revelation, he’s gone from a player people were angry received a tender to one you can’t allow to walk. Credit where due, Neal might have been right on this one.

Back to the bottom of the ninth where Iglesias was trying to complete a 5-out save. Josh Bell singled, Hayes singled, and the Reds got Archie Bradley up in the pen. Tucker would face Iglesias and he singled driving Bell home to tie the game, on the throw Tucker and Hayes would advance to 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Who comes to the plate to pinch hit, that’s right, Mr. Walk off, Kevin Newman, needing only a fly ball to win it. He would ground out to the pitcher but Hayes stayed in the rundown long enough to only lose an out, not position. 1 out.

Then Erik Gonzalez drove in the run on a walk off Sac Fly to win the game 3-2.

The offense will capture your memory in this one because of the late game heroics, but the bullpen put them in position to do it, and they have been doing exactly that for a little while now.

News & Notes:

  • Colin Moran may never see a pitch again the rest of the season. If they keep batting Polanco behind him there is no reason to tempt fate. He finished the day with one official at bat.
  • Erik Gonzalez is arguably the best hitter on this club in 2020. I know, me too. Stayed hot and collected another couple hits today.
  • Adam Frazier has himself a 10 game hit streak and added a couple today to his total.
  • Pirates were 1 for 7 today with runners in scoring position. Yesterday 1 for 9.

The Pirates Bullpen Stands Tall In Walk Off Win

In this afternoon’s matinee against the Brewers Chad Kuhl looked to get back on track after one his most disappointing appearances of the season against the Cubs this past Tuesday. Only lasting four innings Kuhl gave up three earned runs on six hits, while striking out three and walking two; throwing a total of 86 pitches. Opposing him for Cincinnati was rookie right hander Tejay Antone, who would be making only his third career start. The first two for Antone were a bit of a mixed bag, however one things for sure, he strikes out a lot of batters. In the first 20.1 innings of his career the Reds 24th ranked prospect has set down 27 batters thanks in part to a 96 mph fastball/sinker that he often pairs with a 84 mph slider and a complementary 80 mph curveball; the latter two having above average movement and spin, which makes them hard for batters to track.

Through his first two innings of work Kuhl struck out more batters (3) than he had in his two previous two outings combined, but found himself in a little trouble because he gave free passes to the same amount. Luckily for him these were the two most likely outcomes for the Reds hitters as they were unable reach base any other way. However, this luck would run out in the top of the third as a leadoff walk to Joey Votto was immediately follow by Nick Castellanos’ 12th home run of the season. This ended up being Kuhl’s last inning as he did not come out to take the mound in the bottom of the 4th. His final line in his shortest start of the season was two runs on 2 hits, with five strikeouts and four walks all on 64 pitches.

For Cincinnati, Antone gave up a leadoff double to Erik Gonzalez, but eventually settled down; striking out three before allowing a run in the bottom of the 3rd on a Bryan Reynolds single, which was proceeded by a wild pitch that gave Adam Frazier the opportunity to race to second base. With the Pirates trailing 2-1 to start the 4th inning Geoff Hartlieb struck out the final two batters, while Antone induced a double play to end his half of the inning. In the 5th inning both hurlers matched zeros again. This would be it for Antone as he pitched his longest outing of the year, striking out six Pirates along the way.

Over the next two innings the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati bullpens would duel as only one batter would reach base between the two teams via a Chris Stratton walk in the 7th. Pirates reliever Nik Turley would the walk the leadoff hitter to begin the 8th before striking out the next two and getting a fly out from the third. In the bottom frame a Pirates threat would be squashed and it was up to Richard Rodriguez to keep the Reds within striking distance, which is what he did on only 13 pitches.

As the Pirates last chance began, Josh Bell led off with a single, which was immediately followed Ke’Bryan Hayes second hit of the game; another base knock. Cole Tucker then hit a ball through the left side of the infield and Bell hustled around to tie the game. After a fielders choice by pinch hitter, Kevin Newman, Erik Gonzalez took the opportunity and hit a hard line drive to right field, which was just enough to score the speedy Tucker from third; giving the Pirates a 3-2 comeback victory and a split of the four game set with the Reds.

Pittsburgh has a much needed day off tomorrow after playing 15 games in 13 days. They will take on the Chicago White Sox at PNC Park on Tuesday at 7:05 EST, with Joe Mugrove (0-4, 6.62 ERA) schedule to take the mound against the young righty, Dylan Cease (5-2, 3.29 ERA).

News and Notes:

  • Chad Kuhl has now allowed at least one homer run in his last 6 appearances, he raised his BB/9 to 4.03 and is sporting a FIP of 5.59, which contrasts his 3.10 ERA.
  • Adam Frazier extends his hit streak to 10 game and yes, I was just as surprised as Gary.
  • Geoff Hartlieb has only allowed 1 run in his last 11 innings of work.
  • With 6 scores innings the Pirates Bullpen kept them in the game and allowed for the last inning rally.
  • The Pirates are 13-26 on the season and remain 4 games back of the Reds for the last spot in the NL Central.

My Plan for the Pirates Starting Rotation, Right Now

Things have changed this season. Injury, ineffectiveness and lack of depth have been on full display and in some cases, I’ve seen enough. 2020 has been called a season of evaluation by many but at times it looked more like they don’t know what they’re doing instead. That’s probably unfair as it’s most likely been more about adjusting a plan to fit circumstances but if I take off my plugged in writer hat and put on my fan who just wants to see my baseball team play reasonable baseball cap, it feels just about right.

So, no illusions here, this is my plan, not theirs, I don’t think they’ll do it entirely, but it’s what I’d do, and I’ll explain why after we discuss my idea.

Now, obviously Keller at the moment isn’t healthy, and there is no guarantee he will. If so, bump everyone up one.

This shouldn’t be confused with a ranking of who I think is best at the moment, or even who has the brightest future necessarily, it’s more about the Pirates future. As a bonus the Pirates actually showed shortly after this tweet that they are doing exactly this with Derek Holland.

This won’t take starting off the table for any of those three, there will be double headers, there will be stretches of games, and with this team, there will undoubtedly be more injury.

Now, why do I want to do this?

2020 isn’t going anywhere, and I’d rather find out about the options that might be ready in 2021.

Let’s talk about the for sure pieces of the rotation next season, Mitch Keller. OK, that about covers it.

Jameson Taillon is recovering from his second Tommy John procedure, that’s a very low percentage recovery. I don’t say that to sound pessimistic as much as honest. Because the Pirates have little choice but to count on him returning. Even if he does, take a look at how they’ve handled Chad Kuhl returning from his first and hopefully only surgery. At the very least Taillon is not going to be a workhorse, I think that’s safe to assume and infer.

For the sake of argument let’s pencil him in anyhow shall we?

So that makes two. Two pieces who we can assure will be here in 2021. You have to figure Musgrove, Kuhl, and Williams will all be potential trade pieces in the off season. Now I don’t think all of them will be moved, in fact I can’t even say definitively any of them will be dealt. I find Kuhl to be the least likely followed by Musgrove and Williams. But we must face the reality any of them could go, you could even toss Brault in that group if you like.

If they don’t move any of them I’m fairly certain I know the Rotation next season. Taillon, Kuhl, Musgrove, Keller, and Williams. What I’m suggesting is perhaps it’s time to see if Brubaker or Ponce are a better option than Williams or Brault.

I don’t think Brubaker will get a real shot next season if all these players remain, so I’d like to see the club give him a real shot right now. See what he can give the team, he’s looked more put together than Williams much of the season. I toss Ponce in for the same reason, he’s provided one of the very few six inning outings by a starter this season and looks very in control of his stuff. He’s got more to give and again, I don’t see him getting a shot next year, so the opportunity is now.

Again, I think its fair to assume the team will at least shop those three or four pitchers I referenced, wouldn’t it be nice to know those two can handle themselves? Make Cody Bolton the only untested entirely rookie that potentially factors in next season.

Want more? Ok, I think Williams, Brault and Holland are better suited to the bullpen and it’s not like that’s a unit that doesn’t need help too. Williams is a perfect candidate in my eyes, he has good pitches but just can’t get deep into games because he doesn’t have enough swing and miss stuff. A move to the pen and a focus away from providing length could add some much needed velocity. Ever see Williams get really mad and hit 95-96 on the gun? Imagine that regularly with his other stuff for an inning or two.

Brault is much the same. Neither should be facing lineups three times, that’s evident by the fact it tends to come up by the fifth.

Hey, I’m not nuts, I know they won’t do this but the most important part of player development is quite possibly admitting you may have slotted a guy in the wrong place. Williams, even if he returns to the fabled form of his second half in 2018 is still topping out at 5 or 6 innings. That is fine if he’s a number five starter, but he may have more impact in the pen.

Holland is an easy call, there’s a reason he was relegated to the bullpen on his past two clubs, it’s what he is at this point.

The Pirates would lose nothing but perhaps perceived loyalty here, and there is hardly room for that when building a roster.

So for right now,
Musgrove, Kuhl, Brubaker, Ponce, Brault for me until Keller is healthy then use Brault to back him. I want to see this club start to diagnose and cure problems rather than perpetuate them.

Unless I miss my guess, they aren’t signing Trevor Bauer in the off season, so we might as well figure out what is already here.

That said, I’m just a guy, what do I know?

A Tale of Two Trevors – Pirates lose 6-2 as Suarez Belts 3 Home Runs

It was the best of Trevor,it was the worst of Trevor. Or something like that anyway. The Pirates are working on changing some things for Trevor Williams, he worked from the stretch from the get go, and threw more fastballs than he had all season.

He had good control tonight but made some mistake pitches, being bitten by the long ball three times tonight, add 3 walks, and an error behind him, and he might have been lucky to last 6 innings having only given up five runs.

This morning I wrote a column about the Pirates pitching not going deep in to games. Much of what was called out in that piece played out tonight. And that goes for both good and bad points.

You can’t ever accuse Williams of giving you less than everything he has, I just think it’s fair to ask if that is enough to continue thinking of him as a lock for the rotation in 2021.

When Williams gave up one of his dingers, the Pirates would lose yet another to injury as Anthony Alford tried to bring back a homerun to center and crashed into the wall, fracturing his elbow and no doubt ending his season/audition. What a shame, the kid really looked like he was going to make the most out of this opportunity.

The Reds countered with Anthony DeSclafani who kept the Bucs in check for the most part, save Eric Gonzalez who went 3 for 3 against him and Jacob Stallings. who hit a homerun in the fourth.

Michael Lorenzen would relieve DeSclafani and load the bases in the 6th with two outs, but the Reds would bring Amir Garrett in to face Adam Frazier who struck out. The Pirates futility with runners in scoring position continues.

In the 7th the Pirates sent lefty Derek Holland to the mound, clearly signalling he is transitioning to a reliever role. He last relieved for Kuhl and finished the ball game, tonight he was asked to do the same. He would strike out the side in order to start his evening.

The Reds stuck with Garrett in the 7th and first up was Bryan Reynolds, he was already 0 for 2 with a walk and struck out, then Moran went down followed by Polanco. The Seventh inning was exactly what MLB has become, 6 batters, 6 Ks.

In the top of the 8th Suarez would hit his third homerun of the evening off Holland to make it 6-2 Reds.

In the ninth the Pirates sent Kyle Crick to the mound, another purposeful non-leverage situation. His fastball velocity is still down in the low 90s, but now his slider is coming in at 77-79, that’s almost 6 MPH less than we’re accustomed to. He’s either not healthy (doubtful) or they have him intentionally ramped back.

In the bottom of the 9th we got a look at Archie Bradley just traded from the Arizona Danger Noodles. And that’s what it took to finally retire Erik Gonzalez tonight. Frazier would reach on a one out error and Bryan Reynolds would too. Unfortunately a double play would end the festivities. 6-2 Bucs fall to the Reds. Finale tomorrow afternoon.

This game may have been played at PNC Park, but it was one of the most Great American Ballpark games I’ve seen. 5 homeruns tonight, unfortunately not evenly distributed between the clubs.

News & Notes:

  • Trevor Williams threw 111 pitches to get through 6 full innings.
  • Anthony Alford was removed from the game after crashing into the Center Field wall, it was announced later he had fractured his elbow.
  • Tonight Derek Holland made a second appearance out of the pen. It would appear they are transitioning him to that role and that’s probably a good move.
  • Bryan Reynolds went 0 for 3 with a walk. After his welcome back game he’s right back to struggling.
  • Gregory Polanco is 1 for 21 against left handed pitching.
  • Eugenio Suarez hit 3 homeruns tonight. Two off Williams, and one off Holland. There are only 4 Pirates who have hit more this entire season.
  • Suarez has 12 homeruns this season, he also has 11 singles. Yup, not a typo.
  • Erik Gonzalez went 3 for 4 with a walk. He’s really been a very good lead off hitter in this lineup.
  • Adam Frazier has a 9 game hitting streak, and yeah I didn’t notice it either.

Why Don’t Pirates Starters Go Deeper into Games?

Almost every day, I get asked this question and most of the time I brush it aside. It’s obvious right? They aren’t good enough. Well, that’s certainly part of the equation but as with almost every aspect of this beautiful game, it’s not that simple. Today, let’s dive in and really try to answer the question.

I want to avoid generalizations, because I don’t believe this to be an organizational choice. So the best way to handle this is to go through the starters and talk about why each has struggled to go deep into games.

Joe Musgrove – For one thing Joe hasn’t been healthy most of the season. In his first couple starts he as every starter wasn’t stretched out and on top of that Joe has a tendency to experience a bad inning. This leads to short starts. In his first game back, he pitched 3 innings and was sent back out for the fourth before running into issues. There are no minor leagues for pitchers to rehab, so it makes sense he wouldn’t be ready to go deep.

Mitch Keller – Everything I said for Joe, but even less actual pitching. the plan is said to still be for Keller to pitch again this season, but if he can only go 3 or 4, I’d just hold him until Spring at this point, why bother.

Trevor Williams–Trevor is stretched out. He could give you 100+ pitches and he’ll battle every inning. Problem is, more often than not, it only gives him 4 or 5 innings. Williams is the type of pitcher who needs to nibble, he doesn’t have swing and miss stuff in the zone and when he intentionally misses the zone, it starts too close to out to begin with to induce many chases. Williams is not going to go deep for any team he pitches for, it’s just not him.

Derek Holland– If you’re looking for one who could go deep into any game he starts; Holland is your guy. That doesn’t mean he’ll exit with a 4-3 lead, but he chases contact, sometimes that leads to 5 homeruns in the first inning, sometimes that leads to 6 innings of serviceable work. He’s stayed healthy and built up his pitch count but at the end of the day he is what he is, a journeyman bullpen arm with the ability to spot start.

JT Brubaker – JT himself is coming off a season of injury and wasn’t stretched out to start in the early going. Now that he’s had three starts the leash should be a bit longer but in his last game, he battled through a really tough inning that crushed his pitch count. He’ll get there.

Cody Ponce – I mean, he’s had two starts and one of them was a 6-inning masterpiece for a rookie. Last night he went only 4 but it’s in there. Much like JT he wasn’t stretched out to start, but he can give you length if his pitch count is kept under control. He too will get there.

Steven Brault – Came out this Spring looking to build on his strong second half to 2019 and wound up getting injured. This entire season he has been on strict innings restrictions. I’m not a doctor, but they seem to be handling him with kid gloves. Sure, he’s had some stinker outings, but for the most part, when he’s been pulled, I felt he had more in the tank. I guess this boils down to trust the doctors.

Chad Kuhl – Recovering from TJ is no joke. Pushing too hard too fast can spell disaster. That said, I think the restrictions are just about gone at this point. Now he just needs to put it together and get deeper, but the journey has been more responsible than he has.

I’m not breaking news here, these guys have all had one reason or another, but as a staff, they don’t have anyone who is going to go 7 consistently. It’s easy to watch other teams have guys going 7 or 8 every game and wonder why we can’t have nice things too, but keep in mind, those guys are facing the Pirates lineup.

This has been a weird year, and if you want to think of this as organizational failure, that might just be fair. This club sent every pitcher home with a plan, and according to them, each and every one came back for Spring 2.0 having fulfilled said plan. We watched the Indians come right at us with pitchers hitting 100 pitches in the exhibitions, so clearly their plan involved starting pitchers, you know, pitching.

At the end of the day, add it to the list of things that need to improve big time in 2021.

Pirates and Reds Split Doubleheader

Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any stranger the Pirates welcomed the Reds to PNC Park for a home and away seven inning double header due to the series in Cincinnati back on August 15th being postponed after only having completed two games of the four game set. This is the second of four double headers that Pittsburgh is scheduled to play after only playing three games in an day stretch back in mid-August. In their first experience using the new, just for this season format the Pirates performed well; taking both games from the Cardinals a little over a week ago. However, since that time the Pirates have only won two more games in seven tries to drop to 11-24. On the season the Reds have not executed much better; currently sitting only 4 games ahead of the Pirates in the standings, which comes as somewhat of a surprise considering the positive projections many made prior to the start of the year.

In the first of two, the home game for the Pirates, they sent lefty Steven Brault to face off against Luis Castillo for Cincinnati. It has been an up and down year for Brault to say the least, however he was able to put on a strong performance his last time out; not allowing an earned run in three innings of work, while striking out five. Also it should be noted that he is 4-0 lifetime versus the Reds with a 1.99 ERA, so it makes complete sense for him to get the start against them. On the other hand Castillo has had a disappointing year all around. Coming off a stellar 2019 campaign, where he posted a 15-8 record, a 3.40 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP expectations were elevated for the young hurler. In 7 starts this season he has yet to record a victory, seen his ERA (4.10) and his WHIP (1.47) climb and allowed batters to hit .267 against him; most of which are well above his previous career highs.

In spite of the strong career numbers that Brault had against Cincinnati, this afternoon turned out to be a mix of an up and a down performance as he gave up 3 earned runs on 6 hits, including a Nick Castellanos homer, in 4.2 innings on 96 pitches. He did strikeout 6 batters and was the victim of some blunders by the defense behind him, so this inconsistent performance was not completely on him by any stretch of the imagination.

Brault’s counterpart, Castillo, continued to pitch how he has for the most of year as the Pirates threatened to score against him on multiple occasions, getting to him in the bottom of the third thanks to Colin Moran’s second single and Gregory Polanco’s second double on the day; bringing the Pirates within one at the time, 3-2. He would eventually settle down retiring all but one Pirates batter in the fifth and sixth innings; allowing a free pass to Ke’Bryan Hayes before being lifted from the game. His final line was 2 earned runs, 7 hits, 8 strike outs and 2 walks on 93 pitches in 6 full innings.

With both starters out of the game it was time for both bullpens to go work. The Pirates got a little of a head start as Dovydas Neverauskas and Tyler Bashlor combined for 2.1 scoreless innings. Raisel Iglesias came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and quickly shutdown the Pirates for his 5th save of the year as the first game ended 4-2.

In second game, Cincinnati was listed as the home team, not that there should be much of an advantage or disadvantage without fans in the stands. However, being away from the friendly confines of Great American Smallpark has not been kind to the Reds batters this year as the have hit 18 less homers, posted a .198 versus a .230 batting average and had their OPS drop from .788 to .650. Luckily in this contest they had one of their best pitchers on the year, Trevor Bauer set to take the hill, hoping that would even things out. In 6 starts on the year Bauer has earned career lows in WHIP (.74) and ERA (2.13), while striking out 54 batters in 38 innings of work. For the Pirates, Cody Ponce would be making only his second career start; looking to build upon his last performance against the Cardinals, during which he did not allow a single run in 5.2 innings.

Bauer allowed a single to Bryan Reynolds in the first and triple to Ke’Bryan Hayes in the second, but the Pirates weren’t able to capitalize on either. Hayes would single off Bauer in the top of the fourth for his second hit of the game, advancing Colin Moran to third base. This time the Pirates wouldn’t waste the opportunity as Anthony Alford brought in both runners with a sharply hit triple to center; scoring himself one batter later on a wild pitch from the obviously rattled Bauer to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead.

Ponce found himself in trouble in the bottom of the first after a leadoff walk, but almost worked out of it before giving up a 2 run homer to Eugenio Suarez. For the next two innings he found a groove, striking out the side in the bottom of the 3rd. A solo home run by Mike Moustakas in the 4th would break this rhythm to tie it up at 3 a piece.

As the teams moved into the 5th it was a brand new ballgame as both teams would battle to gain the lead before forcing extras following the seventh inning. The Pirates would strike first as Cincinnati sacrificed a run on a double play after back to back singles from Kevin Newman and Adam Frazier . In the bottom half of the inning, Sam Howard came on to replace Ponce who finished the game with 4 strikeouts, 1 walk and 3 earned runs on 71 pitches; promptly retiring the Reds in order. The 6th was a wash as Bauer, Chris Stratton and Nik Turley put up zeros on the scoreboard.

Moving into the 7th Trevor Bauer was lifted in favor of Lucas Sims, who proceeded to retire the side on only 10 pitches; setting up the possibility of a walk of win on the road. However, Richard Rodriguez had other ideas as he also retired the Red in order to earn his 3rd save of the season in a Pirates 4-3 victory.

After a double header split, the Pirates will look to get an edge in the four games series on Saturday at 7:05 EST as Trevor Williams (1-5, 5.50 ERA) faces off against Anthony DeSclafani.

The 2020 Pirates Have One Message – Get Better

After the hire of Travis Williams, he first uttered something we would hear repeatedly, get better. Do a better job, hire better people, instruct the players better, everything comes back to those two words, get better.

Ben Cherington upon being hired took up the mantle, get better he said as he was asked about how he felt about the talent on his roster. Derek Shelton was asked what his goal was this season and his very simply said to get better every day.

There’s nothing wrong with that friends, we should all want to get better every single day, but at some point, don’t you have to, you know, get better? This isn’t about being impatient, thinking the team could flip overnight into a contender, this is about the things you can control right now.

You know me, I’ve got questions when I see certain moves being made and I simply have to understand how they fit into the mantra of get better. Let’s attack this like a fake lawyer who watched too much Law & Order.

When they say get better, I take that in a few ways, because it’s not fair to expect this current roster to suddenly achieve what anyone would call good, in fact better would be a stretch, but let’s call it current day improvement.

First Question, why retain Joey Cora? This is so much more than a 3rd base coach who makes bad calls, honestly, I’m not sure how you judge that entirely, but he coaches the fielders, and did so last season too, a season that added up to 121 errors and ranked 15th in the NL. Here we are 34 games in, and they’ve committed 33 errors, good for, wait for it, 15th in the NL. Now, Joey isn’t playing, I can’t totally blame him, but the defense hasn’t improved, said to be a focus of the Shelton administration. So, why keep someone who so completely failed at his job, to allow him to preside over it again? I mean that’s on pace to at least be worse if not very much so worse.

If defense is important and part of getting better, so much so that your only real free agent acquisitions are Jarrod Dyson to patrol center and Luke Maile to be your backup catcher. It’s not their fault that Luke got hurt and Murphy has been ok, but they almost immediately decided to use Tucker rather than Dyson. They use Riddle instead of the eminently slicker Erik Gonzalez or Ke’Bryan Hayes. Why? Tucker ok I get it, Dyson isn’t the future, they think Tucker is, fine. But shouldn’t we maybe spend some time letting him learn the position? It just confuses me and more, it doesn’t help the team get better.

Being a good defender doesn’t come to all young players, in fact a player like Hayes who comes up ready to rock in any position is rather rare. Cole Tucker in fact was one at short stop, but he’s now a center fielder so I guess I should just move on.

If you have a pitching staff full of questions that then goes on to put at one point 9 players on IL to make matters far worse, putting a good defense behind them would seem imperative. At some point, being rewarded for getting that ground ball in a key spot needs to feel good. If I’m at home holding my breath every time a ball gets hit to the left side, imagine being a pitcher who doesn’t have strikeout stuff.

At what point does the defense actually improve? Is there a plan there beyond replacing people? It’s one thing to play an inferior fielder if they’re hitting 25 homeruns, it’s another entirely to get next to no offensive output and still play people in positions they won’t succeed.

That’s enough on the defense for now, lets’ move on to another way to get better, recognizing strengths and weaknesses.

Sure, that topic could touch on defense too but let’s call that subject covered and keep this centered on controllable issues. Baserunning is bad all across MLB, and this shouldn’t be confused with being aggressive trying to make something happen. In other words, if a player tries to stretch a single into a double and get’s thrown out by an eyelash, that’s a play of aggression not bad baserunning.

I’m talking about breaking for third on a ground ball to short. Breaking for third on a single to left with two outs and a runner headed for the plate representing a run you could very well get erased by being thrown out. Taking a risk to get to third on a middle-distance fly ball with 2 outs, AKA getting into sac fly position when the sac fly has been taken off the table.

You or I could name a hundred scenarios, the point is, this stuff can be improved regardless of skill level. Baserunning on a club that doesn’t get nearly enough of them in the first place is important, if we’re going to watch a team lose more often then not, there is little reason we need to watch them run into outs with such regularity. Obviously, this will never entirely be eliminated, anyone asking for that doesn’t understand baseball, but it shouldn’t be nearly as frequent.

How about hitters seemingly swinging for the fences regardless of skill set. I know that’s baseball today, but this club should understand some of these guys aren’t going to hit 50 homeruns in batting practice this year, let alone in games. That being the case, why are players like Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman not hitting the ball to the opposite field? Want evidence that its happening, look no further than Bryan Reynolds, if you watched him last season you know he got played straight up from both sides of the plate because shifts don’t work on a guy who will use the entire field. It’s hard right now to observe because we can’t be in the park but next time, they show the defense when he’s up, watch how the shifts have come, and watch how his approach never changes to beat it. That’s not Bryan Reynolds game, at least it isn’t his strength. It certainly doesn’t help him get better.

Josh Bell has had more swing changes this season than the Shondelles changed outfits. Does that feel like get better is being served? I don’t claim to be a baseball expert, certainly not as in the know as a coach, but how is allowing him to constantly tickle with his swing helping him? He’s quieted down recently but maybe Shelton and Eckstein both being involved in the hitting instruction is not good for a player who already overthinks things. It would seem whether you plan to trade or extend Bell, helping him get better would be a priority.

Maybe they don’t mean get better the way I’ve taken it. Again, I take that as improving what is here or at the very least seeing if you can chip off some rough edges to discover something. I’m starting to feel they really want the players to get better, but not the way I’d approach it. Rather than looking at what’s here and asking them to improve on things they have shown penchant for, they have certain outcomes they want to see regardless of skill set.

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe they’re just that bad, but boy 2019 sure was a lucky year at the plate wasn’t it.

I get it, winning isn’t the goal this year, but at some point, young players want rewarded for following the process and taking instruction. It may not lead to major record improvement, ok, I definitely won’t, but if you want to get better as you say, start with what can be improved. Like maybe don’t reward a young pitcher who fought his way through 5 tough innings with being relieved by Neverauskas, because I guarantee part of the message to that young pitcher is something like “don’t try to do too much” but wouldn’t you feel like you need to control your own destiny if Dovydas is going to come in and turn what you did into little more than innings eating?

Finally, for the fans, at the very least, don’t we deserve to see a team strong in the fundamentals of baseball? Good player doesn’t equal playing the game the right way. It makes it easier to watch a losing team knowing they’re doing the little things and not beating themselves. You should be able to understand talent above all causes the losing, not mistakes and bad approach. It’s alarming watching a new coaching staff lead some of these players to regress, especially soaked in the knowledge of how many of them will return for 2021.

Get Better needs to be more than a T-Shirt slogan. Time to actually affect change Mr. Shelton.