3-27-25 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X

We made it.

We fought through the entire offseason and here we are, ready for the first pitch.

I don’t know what to make of the team this year. I mean, they could be worse than last year, .500 on the nose or better.

The Pirates have in the year of our Lord 2025 assembled a team full of question marks and placeholders. I can tell you anyone predicting this team to tread water in the upcoming year probably have a lot of dancing partners. Frankly, that’s what I see too.

That’s what I see because the hardest thing in the world to envision, is something you haven’t seen yet in MLB.

Get what I mean? Like, for instance, back in 2021 before the season began, it was considered silly to believe Bryan Reynolds could ever be more than a 20 Homerun guy, and he’s never hit fewer than 24 since.

Point is, no projection is going to give you credit for what you haven’t done. In fact, some of them are reluctant to even extrapolate, meaning you played 100 games, they aren’t going to pretend they know you’re getting 150 this year, feel me?

Fans aren’t projection sites of course, but we think a lot like them.

We give credit to two things as baseball fans.

1. Guys we’ve seen do something. Bonus points if he’s done it more than once.
2. Guys we haven’t seen do anything yet, but they have boundless potential. This lasts for maybe 60 at bats or 20 innings.

Me too man, it’s not like I’m pointing at you here, I’m just saying we all struggle to see or accept something until it happens. If we disagree its really about how long you give things to work before you’ve seen enough. That’s all.

We’re at a place in this whole thing, meaning the Cherington Era, where they really should have some urgency to succeed. There’s no escaping it really, it just hasn’t felt like a very inspired effort this offseason to really hype up the team, beef up the team, sell a move, push a narrative, speak to a burning question, whatever.

Just quiet. Accepting almost of their fate. I don’t know, it just felt like they went dormant. They started rumors themselves telling reporters they still wanted to get another outfielder as camp began, and directly claiming another move would be coming siting the end of Spring Training as when they see the end of the offseason.

What happened to that? Did they try? As hungry as these media are for rumors you’d think you’d have heard something. Did you? I mean come out and tell us we saw what Jack and Bae did and we were like, F it, we don’t need one now. Sure, some people will be mad or challenge you that it wasn’t enough, but at least it would feel purposeful. After all You changed Your plan, not the plan we gave you. I’d just like to know why that changed.

The players are saying all the right things and they seem confident but hey, that’s Spring to a degree. That’s like asking your mom if you look good before you leave for prom. Of course you look handsome as hell to her you ugly bastard.

I want to like the bullpen. 4 lefty’s is a bit weird, but then again, the NL Central has a decent amount of big lefties or guys you’d like to have hitting righty instead, so maybe there is some hidden logic there. Generally the biggest concern is Bednar, at least to me. Man, if you’re telling the dugout reporter you need to remember you’re a good pitcher, it doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzies. His season could go any number of ways. If it does, who do they go to, how many games to they wreck on the way to the decision?

Is Cruz gonna finally show all the way up? I mean are we done with reasons why we can’t expect that yet? Does he have to be 30 first? Here’s where I really have to say, let’s see it now. Run the bases like a deer. Pay attention all the time. Hustle all the time. Embrace centerfield like you could dominate the position. And just hit baseballs. We need to see this guy arrive if they’ve got any shot.

We need to see Ke’Bryan Hayes fully accept what he is and take those line drives to right and right-center, and walks. Steal some bases here and there. Pop the odd homer. Play 120 games. That’s a fair challenge right? Do that, I completely get it, and that’s a nice part of a lineup, a solid 6-7 hole guy.

Endy, just stay within yourself, see, how can you predict what he’s gonna do this year?

The team is full of stories like this, from cast offs like Jack to guys you thought were tossed out last year like Bae. This year’s opening day roster is completely loaded with question marks.

So predict all you like. I host 6 or 7 shows a week and write a crap ton too, it’s kinda hard to avoid it once or twice. Just have the humility to accept, you might think….but you don’t know.

There are reasons to believe, there are probably more to be skeptical, but a lot of this roster is the exact opposite of consistent.

I lead off with Reynolds, well, he’s about it. Mr. Consistent. Skenes too, even if that’s not fair to him.

Until we see it, you’re foolish to believe it. Right?

I’m all for miracles, I’d just like my chances better if I were only praying for one.

I think the Pirates will get to the .500 mark this year, I have them around 83 wins, which I don’t think will get it done this year. That said, I made this pick before Jared Jones was injured, so I’m bitter about keeping continuity there. LOL If I had to do it over, I dunno, maybe I’d still go 81 and 81, I never thought until right now.

This division is like this actually. Look at the Reds Outfield….. gross. Cubs probably don’t have enough pitching. Brewers have the Cardinals devil magic, but on paper they took a real hit. The Cards are going to be accidentally right there because they couldn’t sell off.

Hey, listen, we’re all gonna watch it right? I mean you read this far, yeah, you will.

I’ll be here to talk about it. We’ll see what happens.

I’d love to call them geniuses in September and laugh at all my freezing cold takes.

And honestly, I’d rather talk about baseball, good or bad over offseason BS any day, so let’s go.

3-25-25 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X

If you’re here, and didn’t just leave me something stupid to laugh at in comment section, let’s lay out some ground rules for this discussion.

What I want to do today is simply and clearly compare the 2024 Opening Day Roster to the one it sure looks like they’ll trot out there to open 2025.

Sounds simple right? Well, as soon as I get started, I, You, Your Aunt Margie, all of us are immediately going to want to start blaming so and so for this or that, or excusing things because they can’t control them or pretending injuries didn’t happen….

Look, all that stuff is real, and it has a place. Just not right now, not until I’ve done the comp first completely unfiltered by how it happened.

So let’s get started and the question is simple, Which one is better?

Let’s start with the obvious, the overlaps.

Keller and Falter. Probably feel a bit better about Falter, probably flatline on Keller, meaning you know his baseline, and you expect it even if you hope for better.

Jones is out, Skenes is in. There’s an unfortunate thing to write, but for this little project, head to head, there’s no denying that’s an upgrade.

Heaney vs Perez, they’re probably relatively close actually, Heaney might be a touch more consistent. Carmen vs Marco, we never thought one would last and the other we never expected to see.

All in all, slight uptick from opening day last year.

Yeah, yeah, there’s more depth behind it this year, but that’s not what this is about. This is about a team that added Paul Skenes from one Opening Day to the next and only netted a slight upgrade in their rotation, on paper.

Let’s keep moving….

Now, I don’t know 100% this is the 2025 mix. Let’s get that from the start. They want to take their time, but I want to write about happy stuff on Opening Day, so I’m not waiting around.

There are 3 holdovers, Stratton, Bednar and Borucki. Hard to see Bednar as a change from last year, maybe the way we felt about him at the time. Borucki we liked and we still like right? Stratton was pretty good, still looks pretty good.

The big difference is no Chapman, now you get to add in Holderman and Santana, but you don’t have a power lefty, nor do you have someone who has successfully worn the closer role who isn’t named Bednar.

Still, it’s not much different, maybe it’s impossible to do this with a bullpen since you know it’ll change like 30+ times throughout the season.

I’ll call it a wash leaning toward a bit of a downturn, if only because losing Chapman cost them some proven “special” and security.

Ok, the pitching is down, so between my slight up on starters and slight down on relievers, let’s call it a draw.

Now the real fun….

OK, well for starters, we have two returning guys, Reynolds and Suwinski. Reynolds is old faithful at this point, and Jack, well, who the hell knows, but I said the same thing last year, so net even on those two.

I think Pham will hit more than Taylor, there, I said it. I think he’ll also play nowhere near as well in the field, so I said that too. Connor Joe it could be argued was more of a first baseman, but, we’ll leave him here and compare him to Bae. Completely different players, but I bet they contribute almost the same value. And of course Cruz, his defense is a question, but one we’ve seen some peeks at the answer for already, and his bat vs Olivares, please.

I know it’s not the popular narrative, but how can I see that as anything but decidedly better than last year? Yeah, it’s mostly based on a position change vs acquisition, but before you lose faith in my project here, we’ll pay for it in our next segment.

Ok, Rowdy vs Endy, we sure hope is an upgrade, but it has to be hope. So for now, we lean a bit that way and you’ll notice an extra slot here, that’s because our likely starting 1B is also our backup catcher, that’ll be fun, and tiring, and I bet it doesn’t last lo…….Hey, no fair, I’m cheating at my own game.

Triolo could also be the starter at 1B, but it would make sense for Endy to get the lion’s share and Jared will be needed elsewhere a lot too. Hard to not see Gonzales as an upgrade, at least with the stick at 2B.

Cruz for IKF? Yeah, that’s a no brainer downgrade, even if the defense improves with a downturn in errors.

Hayes is Hayes and he has all the same problems, just more evidence they won’t go away.

Frazier vs Williams, the fact I have to think about it should tell you how I feel about him on the roster.

Overall, I’d say downturn. A little up here and there, but can’t overcome the Cruz swap, nor did they try, but I digress.

Last but not least….

Every year Cutch plays could be the year he hits the wall entirely, but for now, it’s a wash. Bart over either Davis or Delay is an easy one. Endy beats out the previous backup easy, but how thin can they stretch him.

Bart makes this an upgrade, for now.

So for the offense, we have 2 slight upticks and one downturn. Probably pretty close to a wash.

So what does all this mean?

Well let’s tick the findings off…

• First, moving Oneil Cruz kinda had no impact. They plucked him from one hurting unit and moved him to another.

• The Vaunted pitching, well, it’s just about what it was last year to start.
• There are two personnel changes that had impact, Joey Bart coming in, Aroldis Chapman leaving.
• Not only did they not build around Paul Skenes, they just about stayed right where they were, barely any upward movement at all, even with his addition.

The truth is, if there is any optimism about this club, it’s the kids that could be coming. It’s the Bubba Chandler’s and Thomas Harrington’s. It’s the guys who could be coming off the Il like Jones and Oviedo, Moreta. It’s the offensive reinforcements we hope force their way into the dance like Yorke, and Cook and Henry. Nicolas, Burrows, Ashcraft…. you know, the group they decided to keep in MiLB for now.

Now if you want to reintroduce all the reasons things happened the way they did and give them grace for injuries or performances less than expected, have at it.

I’m just saying, when you want to understand why the fan base at large isn’t excited, well, here it is in unfiltered black and white. It looks like the same thing. Following two seasons of the same thing.

And there were so many ways to have it feel differently, from spending a bit, to spending more on one piece as opposed to 5 little ones, to just letting a kid people haven’t already given up on get an opportunity instead of a never was who probably still isn’t.

Take from this what you will. I don’t always write this stuff out, but this is something I make myself do every year.

I mean think about it, did this team, meaning just about everyone involved, not sound more positive they were headed to a winning season last year vs this year? No grand proclamations this year. Those have been replaced by the mantra that they simply have to do everything right.

Maybe management should try that out next offseason…