Month: March 2025

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Pirate Morning Report: Walk Off Loss Number 3

Final Score: Pirates 2 Marlins 3

Why The Pirates Lost: Wash Rinse Repeat. Bad bullpen, bad offense, and bad baseball all added up to loss number 3. I was right about the weird Sunday starting lineup. I can see giving Bart a rest, but the rest of the team. This lineup had practically no chance of scoring runs. McCutchen had a home run, and another gift run by the Marlins accounted for the Pirates’ 2 runs. They only had 5 hits and few scoring opportunities. They did get 5 walks but did not take advantage, as usual. Andrew Heaney pitched better than I expected. He pitched 5 innings, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits. He threw only 79 pitches but was removed after 5 innings. A strange move considering how terrible the bullpen has been. The bullpen for all three losses couldn’t protect a lead after the 6th inning. The bottom of the 9th summed up the series. The Marlins walked off the win by not hitting a ball more than 40 feet. The Pirates got no one out in the inning. After the swinging bunt single, the runner stole second and went to third on an errant throw by Endy Rodriguez. Three pitches later, Bednar uncorks a wild pitch and the game is over. What the hell did these guys do during spring training? They sure didn’t practice baseball.

Key Moment Of The Game: When Derek Shelton took out the lineup card. No Cruz, no Hayes. How are these guys going to get better if they don’t play? He had Red Sox reject Emmanuel Valdez at 1st base. This was a game the Pirates really needed to win. I guess Shelton did not think so. If there was ever a team that did not want to play for their manager, this is it. The Pirates looked lackadaisical for the entire 4-game series. Bae pinch-ran in the top of the 8th and looked totally lost. The Pirates were playing a team that is projected to be one of the worst in baseball. The Pirates looked worse.

Next Game: Tonight, the Rays in Tampa Bay. Carmen Mlodzinski is going to start for the Pirates. Who knows how long he will go, probably 3 innings at the most. The Rays are a much better ballclub than the Marlins. The Pirates won’t be given as many gifts. It is very possible the Pirates could finish this trip 1-6. There are 4 Pirates who have yet to get a hit this season. There are 5 Pirates who have gotten two hits. Where will the offense come from? Maybe they can sign a free agent. No, wait a minute. There are none left to sign. Can they possibly turn this thing around? Only the Shadow Shelton knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: Another Walk Off Loss

Final Score: Pirates 4 Marlins 5 in 12 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: There were coaching blunders, fielding mistakes, bad luck, but oh what an offense. The Pirates got 9 hits to go along with 8 walks but could only muster 4 runs in 12 innings. They were 3 for 18 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base. Ji Hwan Bae looked completely lost at the plate. He should have been pinch-hit for when they brought in the left-hander in the 5th. Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jared Triolo went 0 for 9. The Pirates have scored 4 runs in every game. At least one run per game was gifted to them by the Marlins. They only scored one run in the 3 extra innings with the ghost runner on second. The Pirates got a nice start from Bailey (It’s Not My) Falter. He went 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits. He struck out 4 and walked none. The bullpen could not protect the one-run lead in the last 3 innings. Jack Suwinski looked better at the plate. He was robbed of an opposite-field home run in the top of the 8th. Neither team played very well. Finally, the Marlins accepted the Pirates’ gifts to win the game.

Key Moment Of The Game: Bryan Reynolds led off the top of the 12th with a sharp ground ball single to right field. The Pirates’ 3rd base coach made a bewildering decision. He sent Tommy Pham, the ghost runner on second home. He was thrown out by a mile, dashing the Pirates’ chances to score and leaving the team and its supporters in disbelief. This miscalculation proved costly. The Pirates could not survive that blunder. It was a trend that seemed to haunt them throughout the game. In stark contrast, the Marlins seized the moment. They scored the winning run in the bottom of the 12th. This was a game of ineptitude by both clubs, showcasing a series of missed opportunities and questionable decisions. Ultimately, it was the Pirates who were just more adept at making crucial mistakes.

Next Game: This afternoon, Marlins in Miami. Andrew Heaney, the free-agent signing to keep Bubba Chandler from making the team, will make his Pirate debut. He did not look great this spring, but we all know that means nothing. If he pitches as well as Falter today, it does not guarantee a win. It would be nice to see the Pirates at least get a split in the series. I am sure we will see the odd Sunday lineup the Pirates are famous for. Shelton is already in midseason form, taking naps during the game and making very strange pitching moves. After all, you don’t want to try and win every game; just about 40% of them.

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Pirates Moring Report: Nice Bounce Back For Cruz And Bullpen

Final Score: Pirates 4 Marlins 3

Why The Pirates Won: Oneil Cruz had a disastrous opening day game. However, he bounced back and led the Pirates to victory. He walked, singled, and hit a 2-run homer. It gave him 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. The overall offense was not great. They did get 7 hits and were aided by 4 Marlins’ errors. Mitch Keller pitched an outstanding 6 innings, giving up only 1 run on 5 hits. He struck out 4 and walked 1. He did have his “at ’em” ball working. After yesterday, it was okay to have a little luck. The bullpen shut the Marlins down in the 7th. They did the same in the 8th. They gave up 0 runs on 1 hit and a walk. Then David Bednar came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th. The score was 4-1 Pirates. In 7 pitches, the score changed to 4-3. Bednar walked the 1st batter. Otto Lopez then parked it in the seats on the first pitch. It looked like we were going to see a repeat of game 1. In the next 5 pitches, Bednar got 2 ground ball outs. He struck out Derek Hill on 6 pitches. This ended the game. The Pirates had their first win of the season. Whew!

The Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of the 4th, Oneil Cruz led off with a walk. He stole 2nd and went to 3rd on a bad throw. Joey Bart walked. Andrew McCutchen doubled to left centerfield. The play at second would have been close. Otto Lopez turned his head to tag McCutchen way before the ball got there. The ball hit him right in the ear sending him to the ground. The look on McCutchen’s face was priceless. It was like, what the hell happened to him? Ke’Bryan Hayes then got an infield hit off the pitcher’s throwing hand. The bases were now loaded with no outs. This was where the Pirates reverted back to their incompetent selves. Endy Rodriguez hit a short fly to left field, scoring no one. Adam Frazier did the same thing to the right fielder. The Pirates sent Joey Bart anyway. They probably figured that no one was going to get a hit. Bart would have been out at the plate, but for some unknown reason, the ball was cut off. This enabled Bart to score. It was a gift run to make it 2-0. Cruz’s home run in the next inning made it 4-0. You could say the gift run turned out to be the margin of victory.

Next Game: Late afternoon, the Marlins in Miami. Bailey No Falter Insurance goes for the Pirates. So far, the Marlins have not done well against the left-handers the Pirates have put out there. The Pirates did improve somewhat last night. The Marlins just returned the favor. They handed a win to the Pirates. Even though he has not done anything at the plate, Endy Rodriguez has looked very good at 1st base. He did boot one ground ball in the 1st game, but he has made some smart athletic plays out there. Let’s hope he can get the bat going. Can the Pirates climb above .500 today? Only The Shadow knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: What An Opening Day

Final Score: Pirates 4, Marlins 5

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates did not shine defensively, they only got 4 hits, Paul Skenes only pitched 5 and 1/3 innings, and the bullpen imploded. The Pirates were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. They left 9 men on base. They struck out 11 times, with 7 of them being called 3rd strikes. They did not take advantage of 7 walks. The Pirate pitchers weren’t much better walking 7, although one was intentional. Skenes walked the last 2 batters he faced. The bullpen did implode, but it was not helped by the defense. Colin Holderman ran into some really bad luck not getting a called 3rd strike that would have ended the inning. In the bottom of the 9th, Oneil Cruz misplayed a line drive into a triple. He made a bad decision in the bottom of the 8th. He threw home, allowing a runner to get into scoring position. The runner scored on a game-tying single. It was not a good opening day for Cruz, topping in off by looking bad at the plate.

Key Moments Of The Game: Colin Holderman took over in the bottom of the 8th with the Pirates leading 4-2. He committed the cardinal sin by walking the first batter. It seemed that Holderman would escape his own mess. He got the next two batters out. A runner moved to second on the first out. Then, on a 1-2 count, Otto Lopez looped one into centerfield to score the 3rd run. Cruz made an ill-advised throw to home, and Lopez went to second base. The next batter, Dane Myers, took a 98 MPH fastball high and outside, well within the strike zone on a 1-2 count. The umpire called it a ball. The next pitch, Myers singled to centerfield to tie the score. Neither ball was hit over 86 MPH. The bottom of the ninth was another defensive disaster. The Marlins walked it off on David Bednar without making an out.

Next Game: Tonight, Marlins in Miami. The Pirates did not have a lot of luck going for them yesterday. For the last two years, they have won on opening day. Maybe this will be a good omen that they didn’t. The Marlins sure didn’t beat them; the Pirates gave it away. Their weaknesses were exposed in the very first game of the year: shaky defense and a weak bullpen. Tonight, Mitch Keller will go for the Pirates, facing Connor Gillispie. Gillispie has thrown only 8 innings in the Major Leagues. The Pirates will have to do better tonight. Can they get more than 4 hits. Let’s hope for win No. 1 tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Today Begins The Journey

Today just has to be every baseball fan’s favorite day, Opening Day. The Pirates open 2025 just as they did in 2024 with a 4-game series in Miami. The Marlins had made the playoffs in 2023, and when the Pirates swept the 4-game series, I was pleasantly surprised. Little did we know that the Marlins would become one of the worst teams in the National League. They lost 100 games. This year, there are some who are expecting the Pirates to sweep the Marlins again. I am not one of them. As I have written before, this is the most pessimistic I have gone into a season for a long time. I will admit this Opening Day roster is not giving me a bad vibe. It’s better than I thought it would be. Except for Nick Yorke, the Pirates kept who I thought they would for the Opening Day roster. The Pirates did not do as good a job when it came to selecting pitchers. They sent 4 solid young arms down to AAA: two starters and two relievers. With the Jared Jones injury, the starting rotation reads Skenes and pray for 4 days of rain. I do not think all is lost for the Pirates, and a contending season is still a possibility. So, why all the pessimism?

Even before the Jared Jones injury, I thought the Pirate rotation was being overrated. There is no question that Paul Skenes is one of the best pitchers in the game. He never had a truly bad start last year, and he may not have one this year. The rest of the pitchers are just average starters, with some a little below. Mitch Keller may break out this year, but there is no sign that he will. Andrew Heaney has a lifetime OPS+ of 94, and last year it was 92. Bailey Falter had an ERA+ of 95. This means that both of these pitchers are slightly below league average. That is not bad, by the way. The problem here is they are pitching on a very poor offensive team. Can three pitchers who are league average or slightly below manage to win? They are most likely going to be in low-scoring games. The Pirates are interesting offensively. Several players had some very good runs, even with other teams. However, they have not been able to recapture that performance. We all know who these players are. It will boil down to whether you think they could get back to their top performance. Obviously, my feeling is no. Even though I feel that way, it could happen. That leaves us with the bullpen and defense, both of which were way below average last year. One of the few moves the Pirates made in the offseason was to hire Brent Strom as assistant pitching coach. He succeeded greatly with the Astros. He also saw early success with the Diamondbacks. He helped their staff to the 2023 World Series. Things went sour for him and the Diamondbacks’ pitchers in 2024, and they let Strom go. Hopefully, he may have a real positive effect on the pitchers. The same thing could be said of new hitting coach Matt Hague. Both coaches may be the wild card for the Pirates.

That brings us to manager Derek (The Shadow Knows) Shelton. He is the biggest reason to feel that this season has the potential for disaster. I have given him the benefit of the doubt every season. What is mind-blowing about Shelton is his rise through the ranks with two of the better organizations in baseball. These are the Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins. For whatever reason, he seems to have learned nothing. Maybe he is the proof of the Peter principle. The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence P. Peter. It observes that people in a hierarchy rise to “a level of respective incompetence.” Employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs. Eventually, they reach a level at which they are no longer competent. Skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another. Last year Shelton’s strictly poor judgment and bad managerial decisions cost the Pirates 7 to 8 ballgames. That would have been enough to get them over .500. This was a significant non-move by the Pirates. They allowed him to continue managing this club in 2025. It will be interesting to see if he makes it through the season. It’s play ball later this afternoon with Paul Skenes starting a Cy Young winning year. Let’s hope that he is not the only bright spot that happens this year. Only time will tell. See you tomorrow with the opening game Pirates Morning Report.

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Pirates Morning Report: Planning For Failure

The Pirates made some roster moves over the weekend and proved once again that they have no interest in winning. As I predicted, the 13 best players will not be on the opening day roster. Not all of the moves were bad; they designated for assignment Josh Palacios and optioned Henry Davis to AAA. Unfortunately, they did the same thing with Billy Cook and Nick Yorke. Now, you could make an argument that Cook was not ready, but Yorke should be on the team. Is Yorke better than Adam Frazier? Is Yorke better than some non-roster player that they are going to put on first base? Is Yorke better than Jack Suwinski and Ji Hwan Bae? Yes, to all three questions. They put Hunter Stratton on the 40-man roster. That does not mean that he definitely will make the team. The Pirates have already done a great job of putting their better pitchers in AAA. All of this is done to keep players from getting their major league service to become arbitration eligible. The Pirates are the masters of this. I would love to see the Indianapolis Indians play the Pirates in a three-game series with something on the line. I am sure the Indians would sweep them. Stratton’s stats at first glance look really good. Consider this: in his last 33 appearances of 2024, the Pirates lost 24 of those games. This guy only performed well in low-leverage situations. If he makes the roster, he will replace another young arm. That young arm should make the team. The final 26-man roster of the Pirates will securely entrench them in mediocrity. I just read that the young arm is most likely Kyle Nicolas. Hunter Stratton the king of blow out games is most likely going to make the team. It just keeps getting worse.

You can tell that the Pirate players are pretty much fed up with the organization. They will do anything to try and get off the team. The perfect example of this is the horrible spring that Liovar Peguero had. He routinely booted ground balls in the field, batted .133, and swung at just about every pitch. You could tell he had no interest in making this team. I am sure he would love to go to another team or be DFA’d. Who wants to play for Derek Shelton? He routinely throws his players under the bus to hide his managerial blunders. When he fails to make an obvious managerial move, he will say that the player that was incorrectly left in the game should have executed better. The first sign that this organization is serious about winning is when they show Shelton the door. This is a team that finished last in their division. They will most likely open the season with the same team that finished in last place and somehow be weaker defensively. All of this when you have the best pitcher in baseball. As I have written before, this could all change in a heartbeat if a trade is made. The chance of this happening seems to get less and less with every passing day. I really do hope that I am all wet about this and that they will contend this year. I will gladly eat crow for a playoff run.

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Pirates Morning Report: One Week To Go

In seven days the Pirates will open the 2025 Major League Baseball season in Miami. This is the most pessimistic I have been in a long time heading into a season. I stirred things up on X. I said the Pirates would lose 100 games. They would come close to having a season like the White Sox of 2024. Do I really think the Pirates are going to lose 100 games? No. I will say this, there is more of a chance of them losing 100 games than winning 80+ games. Is it possible for this team as it presently sits, to play meaningful games in September? For me, the season would be a rousing success if the Pirates played meaningful games in September. Missing the playoffs by about 3 or 4 games would mean they would be in it until the last week of the season. What must happen if the Pirates are going to do this. Maybe not as much as you might think. However, they will need to show a lot of improvement in certain areas.

None more so than the anemic offense, which was not improved at all by any moves in the off season. The Pirates obviously are hoping that a lot of players are going to get better at the plate. This team was 24th in runs scored last year. The Pirates need to make a 20 point improvement on OPS+. I am not interested in who brings the number up. This has to be a team effort. The Pirates do not have a player capable of putting a team on his back. No one can carry it for 2 months. Oneil Cruz comes close to such a player. However, it is way too hopeful to expect him to have an MVP type of season. The Pirates have a new hitting coach. I am not too sure he will improve this club’s offense by 20%. If September baseball is going to have any meaning this has got to happen.

The bullpen must perform better than it did last year. The Pirates added pitching guru Brent Strom as assistant pitching coach. I assume he is going to be out in the bullpen. The Pirates did nothing to really bolster the bullpen. They added two lefthanders via free agency. Both of them are above average relievers and certainly better than any lefty they had last year. Ryan Borucki is another lefty option. When healthy, he pitches well. However, he rarely makes it through a season without something going wrong. The bullpen overall last year ranked 21st in baseball. If the Pirates are going to have any chance, the team will need to improve to a top 10. No matter who winds up being the closer this year, the Pirates must do better than having 29 blown saves. That put them 3rd worst in baseball.

They need to improve defensively. Seems like we say that every year when discussing the Pirates. Except for 3rd base and when Jared Triolo plays, every position player is an average or below average fielder. There is hope that Oneil Cruz can become an average fielding center fielder. I believe that can happen. The rest of the position players are set in their roles. I do not see much of a way for them to improve. Jack Suwinski is a horrible fielder. The same can be said of Henry Davis. Both have a chance of being on the opening day roster. If that is the case, there is no way the defense is going to improve.

That brings us to the strength of this team the starting rotation. I will not question this statement for the moment. If this team is going to contend, the rotation must perform better than the hype has generated. This means the starters need to pitch more innings. They must go deeper into games than just 6 innings. Seven to eight inning starts are going to have to be commonplace. This will ease some of the pressure for the bullpen and give Derek Shelton less chance to mismanage the bullpen. Hopefully some young arms not starting the season on the roster can come up quickly. They will aid the cause. Already bad news for the Pirates as I write this. Jarred Jones has elbow discomfort. Nothing more needs to be said. Next start June 2026.

This is what the Pirates will have to do if they are going to be relevant in September. That is if they stay in their current state. It is still not a given on who will make the 26-man roster. The Pirates already do not have their best pitchers on the team. It is unlikely that the best 13 position players will be on the team. Is it possible that the aforementioned elements for a successful season will happen. As the old saying goes anything is possible. In the next blog I will discuss what could happen in a disastrous season for the Pirates. I will also talk about one intangible that would be the biggest factor in such a season. Even though I think that this is the most likely thing to happen, I still cannot wait until opening day.

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Pirates Morning Report: Spring Training Update.

We are a little less than three weeks until the start of the regular season. The Pirates, of course, have made no big moves. They made another waiver signing. Johan Oviedo probably won’t pitch until after the All Star break. Speculation continues about who will be on the 26 man roster. I am a little surprised that when you see most people’s list, Endy Rodriguez is left off. I am no Pirate insider. Seeing that so much makes me think they might be starting him off in AAA. The other two names that keep popping up are Jack Suwinski and Henry Davis. They are having pretty good springs. I see Suwinski making the team before Davis. The one thing that people seem to keep forgetting is that they both stink defensively. The outfield is so thin that taking a last chance early flier on Suwinski is probably ok. If putting Davis on the roster means taking Rodriguez off, that can be nothing but a bad move. This also means that Nick Yorke, Billy Cook, and Ji Hwan Bae will not be on the opening day roster. Bae is having a good spring at the plate. I would rather take a flier on him than on Suwinski. According to the Pirate Broadcast Booth, Adam Frazier might be slightly injured. He has not played in over a week. If he opens on the IL, that may clear a spot on the roster. There is only one sure thing when it comes to the Pirates. The best 13 players will not be on the opening day roster.

The Pirates did another waiver deal. I wonder what the record is for waiver deals over a 12 month period. The Pirates have probably set it. This time they picked up reliever Justin Thomas from the Colorado Rockies. It is surprising, despite Thomas’s raw numbers, how positive the opinions have been on this pick up. Some have gone as far to say that he is the best pick up of the off season. Pitching for Colorado always will skew a pitchers numbers. Lawrence had his best year in 2023 and his worst season in 2024. On the positive side he has stayed healthy in these two seasons appearing in 125 games. Last year he appeared in 56 games. Thirty of those were in Colorado. In 39 appearances he gave up no runs. In two appearances he gave up 5 runs. He struggled in one bad stretch in late July and early August. During this time, he gave up runs in 7 of 10 appearances. All of this led to some pretty bad numbers in 2024. In 2023 he appeared in 69 games and with an ERA of 3.72 and an ERA+ of 134. He finished strong giving up only 1 run in his last 12 games. Still, last year he seemed to lose his strikeout pitch. He also lost his control. This resulted in the worst Strike Out to Walk ratio of his career. The Pirates are hoping he regains his 2023 form. Just add him to the list of players that the Pirates hope regain their 2023 form. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Jared Triolo, Jack Suwinski, David Bednar, Colin Holderman, and Mitch Keller.

The Pirates finished last in their division. They continue to do very little to improve their team. They seem to be giving jobs to the players who contributed mightily to their last-place finish. There is still time to make moves and clean house, but it is growing short. It is possible that this could change in the blink of an eye, but I am not holding my breath. The Pirates have lots of decisions to make in these remaining 3 weeks of spring training. I am betting they won’t make very good ones.

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Pirates Morning Report: Did The Pirates Win The Division Last Year?

The Pirates finished last in the Central Division in 2024. You would never know by the way competition is for the 26 roster spots. With 27 days until the season starts, the Pirate roster is pretty well set. There are only 2 spots up for grabs. There would be only one spot open if Spencer Horwitz did not have to have wrist surgery. We will go through the list of 24 players that are a lock to make the team, with a few exceptions. This situation could change if the Pirates make a trade. Alternatively, it could change if they decide to eat a contract. The Pirate broadcast booth even tried to put a positive spin on the lack of competition in pitching. They believed it was beneficial for Bubba Chandler. He will pitch spring games without the pressure of trying to make the team. That thought process sums up better than anything why the Pirates are permanently pathetic. Here are your 2025 Pirates.

Position Players: Endy Rodriguez, Joey Bart, Nick Gonzales, Ke’Bryan Hayes, IKF, Tommy Pham, Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds, Jared Triolo, Andrew McCutchen and Adam Frazier. This leaves two spots open. I will look at who is battling for those 2 coveted spots on such a powerful Major League lineup.

Pitching Staff: This is even worse because the staff is already set. There will be one who may be on the bubble but only time will tell. I will look at who this leaves out. The rotation is Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Barry Falter, and his clone Andrew Heaney. The bullpen will have David Bednar, Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski, Caleb Ferguson, Dennis Santana, Tim Mayza, Kyle Nicolas, and Johan Oviedo. The last two are the only ones that have a slight question about them. They might decide to stretch out Oviedo in AAA. Nicolas might be knocked off by competition.

Here are the position players that are fighting for the two spots, with what I think their chances of making the team. Jack Suwinski, maybe, Josh Palacios, hope not, Ji-Hwan Bae, unlikely but could surprise, Nick Yorke, should but won’t, Emmanuel Valdez, hope not, Matt Gorski, making noise, Liover Peguero, maybe because he can play shortstop, Billy Cook, should but won’t, Tsung Cheng, no chance because of experience, Henry Davis, maybe but where is he going to play, Jason Delay, no room at the position. Who knows what the Pirates are going to do? They might try to make up fake injuries to make the decision easier. My two choices are Nick Yorke and, if he continues to impress, Matt Gorski. To me, this is the perfect time to give Gorski a shot with really no one to play first base. If Gorski seems to cool off, then I would go with Ji-Hwan Bae because of his speed and versatility. If it were me, I would not have Adam Frazier or Tommy Pham on the team. Let the young guys play for God’s sake. On the pitching side of the equation, things are even worse. Barring any foreseen injuries, there are a lot of mediocre old guys that are keeping Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington, and Mike Burrows off the team. The only player that could be in jeopardy of losing his job would be Kyle Nicolas. Burrows or even Hunter Stratton could unseat him. As I wrote earlier, they may decide to send Oviedo down to AAA. This move would stretch him out and open up a spot.

As you can see, the talent laden Pittsburgh Pirates 26 man roster is pretty well set. The problem is the most talented players are not going to make the team. A trade could change all of that. There has not even been a hint of that happening. The Pirates could make a surprise cut and eat a contract. Yeah, right. We are stuck with who we have for a least the year. Here are the sobering facts, Jack. On the Pirate 40 man roster there are only 4 players that are lifetime above average hitters. They are Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds who can possibly improve. Tommy Pham and Andrew McCutchen whose better days are behind them. The Pirates have one elite fielder in Ke’Bryan Hayes. The rest are barely average or way below average. What are the chances that Hayes will play over 130 games. Certainly, less than 50%. The bullpen will need to prove itself to start the season. Things could change but right now things look mighty mighty bleak for a team that is coming off a division title. Wait, that’s right they finished last in 2024. Well, you could have fooled me and Greg Brown.