Before I get into how accurate my thoughts were going into this season, there was news yesterday. The Pirates got rid of dead wood by trading Adam Frazier to the Royals. In return, they got 28-year-old Cam Devanney, a career minor league player. He has had a successful minor league career. This year, he is having a very good AAA season and is slugging over .500. If the Pirates get rid of more dead wood, he could be starting at shortstop. More on this tomorrow. Now let’s get to the topic. First, where I was wrong,
I thought Ji Hwan Bae might be an asset this year. He was very bad for just 2 games. As a result, the Pirates sent him down immediately. I don’t blame the Pirates for that decision. He was called up for a brief look but only got 1 hit in 11 at-bats. The whole experience seemed to have set him back. He usually posts very impressive AAA numbers. Not so this year. He has been a little better lately but is only slugging .397. In previous seasons, he has slugged over .500. I thought the starting rotation was being overrated, especially after Jared Jones was gone for the season. Despite having problems with the 5th starter, they are ranked the 5th best rotation at the All-Star break. The bullpen has found itself and pitched much better than I thought it would. I guess you could say I was wrong about the Pirate offense. I thought they would be bad, but I did not think they would be as bad as they are. I am surprised by how well the Pirates are playing defense. I thought, at best, the Pirate defense would stay the same. They finished right around 20th in defensive efficiency. This year, they are 2nd so far. Now, where I was right.
I was right that this team did not want to play for Derek Shelton. They were 12-26 under Shelton, and they looked worse doing it. It was not a sad day when he was let go. They quickly looked better under Don Kelly. Even with the 8-game losing streak, their winning percentage is .457. That’s a lot better than .316 under Shelton. I was right about the new Pirate additions being pretty much useless. Taking them in no particular order: Spencer Horwitz. Negative WAR, mainly because of a slash line of .232/.298/.329 for an OPS+ of 75. His fielding is slightly above average. Tommy Pham. Thanks to his recent surge, WAR is .9. His overall slash line is still mediocre at best, .250/.321/.346, giving him an OPS+ of 87. Another punchless Pirate. Surprisingly, he is having the best fielding season of his career. Adam Frazier. WAR is .2. Another below-average slash line, .255/.318/.336. Basically just an average fielder. He has been traded. Alexander Canario. Rinse and repeat. Slash line .222/.288/.329, OPS+ 72. Four acquired players all turning out to be incompetent clones. No power and do not get on base that much. Perfect offensive additions. We left off the list Emmanuel Valdez, who is out for the season. He performed like the others. However, he got to play first base for the first time in his major league career. Great thought process, Pirates. Andrew Heaney. He has had his moments. When the dust settles, he is a below-average starting pitcher. His Fielding Independent Pitching is 5.11. He is by far the worst of the starters. Of the 13 pitchers that have seen the most action, only Chase Shugart is worse. From the Pirates’ point of view, he did serve a purpose. He blocked Bubba Chandler from getting to the Major League level. Caleb Ferguson. By far their best signing. Cherrington, 1 for 7. Nice job. My other prediction that had nothing to do with the Pirates was about the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees. I wrote the Dodgers would make the playoffs but not the World Series. I wrote that the Mets and Yankees would not make the playoffs. As of right now, both teams would make the playoffs. Their leads are small at this point. There is still a lot of baseball to be played. I still feel they will not make it. We will see what happens. I will look at the trade deadline tomorrow.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 