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Pirates Morning Report: I Guess The Pirates Are Not Battling For A Playoff Spot After All.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Diamondbacks 9

Why The Pirates Loss: The Pirate management team thought it was more important to give Quinn Priester some work that to try and win the game. In a so-called important series, where the Pirates lost by one run in the first game, and it was 6-5 going into the bottom of the 6th, Colin Holderman, Aroldis Chapman, and David Bednar have not thrown a pitch. Of course, the Pirate management team must have known that the Pirates would get 1 hit over the last 3 innings. When the Pirate score 5 runs and lose it is a bad day for the pitching staff. If the Pirates had averaged 5 runs per game, they would have been 15-3-1 in their last 19 games. Management continues to do nothing to help this team. Other teams that really want to make the playoffs are getting the necessary players to help increase their chances. We have our 2 top guns pitching the next 2 games. It is essential that they pick up wins for the team.

Key Moment Of The Game: Bringing in and leaving in Quinn Priester just so he could take a beating, but at least it was over relatively quickly. Priester was very efficient giving up a single on the 4th pitch of the inning, hitting a batter on the next pitch, and walking the next batter on 4 straight pitches. That’s when I would have taken him out. Two sacrifice flies later it was 6-4 Diamondbacks. The Pirates scored a run in the top the 6th to make it 6-5. Priester came out in the bottom of the 6th and was just as efficient. A single on the 3rd pitch on the inning. This time it took him 6 pitches to hit the next batter. Come on Quinn you can do better than that. He did do better because on the very first pitch to Joc Pederson, he knocked it into the right field corner for a triple and it was 8-5 Diamondbacks. Four pitches later another single making the score 9-5 and the game was over. With the pressure off, Priester shut those bums out the rest of the way.

Next Game: This afternoon, Diamondbacks in Arizona. The road trip is off to a rough start in more ways than one. Nick Gonzales seemed get hurt last night and Tellez already has a brain, I mean back spasms. It looks like management will be able to use the injury excuse to hide their incompetence. It could also be their excuse for not making any moves. These next 2 games seem to be crucial, and the top of your rotation is going. I sure that management is hoping for 2 more losses so they can stand pat.

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Pirates Morning Report: Punchless Pirates Lose Again

Final Score: Pirates 3 Diamondbacks 4

Why The Pirates Lost: In the last 7 innings of the game the Pirates scored 0 runs on 3 hits. The 4 through 7 hitters went 2 for 14. The team was 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position. They left 9 men on base. The Diamondbacks tried to help out by walking 3 and hitting 2 batters but the Pirates refused to take advantage. Oneil Cruz looked like he was suffering from jet lag, his at bats were so bizarre. He took 2 out of 3 strikes to strike out on 3 pitches. To make up for it on his next at bat, he swung at all 6 pitches even though only 1 was in the strike zone, to strike out again. On his 4th at bat, he took 2 strikes and then could not hold up on a pitch that was almost over his head. Mr. Cruz is 6′ 7″. Luiz Ortiz for the first time in a long time had control issues. In just 5+ innings of work Ortiz gave up 3 runs, 5 hits, walking 3, striking out 4, while throwing 93 pitches. With this offense you have to do better than that.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was 3-1 Pirates going into the bottom of the 6th inning. Ortiz had been dancing through the raindrops giving up just 1 run. The inning started off with a bang when Joc Peterson hit an 0-2 fast ball 453 feet to make it 3-2. Then Ortiz walked the next batter and was done for the day. Out went Ortiz and in came Carmen Mlodzinski, who also seemed to be jet lagged. In 5 pitches he gave up 2 singles and before you could say how do spell Mlodzinski, the score was tied 3-3. If the Pirates would have somehow won this game, the next play would have been the play of the game. Eugenio Suarez hit a line drive but right at Ke’Bryan Hayes and he threw out the runner at 1st to complete a very fortunate double play. Mlodzinski took the game into his own hands by throwing a wild pitch to make sure that the Diamondbacks would win the game 4-3. The Pirates never really threatened the rest of the way and the road trip started with a loss.

Next Game: Tonight, Diamondbacks in Arizona. Marco Gonzalez starts for the Pirates tonight and apparently has a good record against the Diamondbacks. When will this team ever get offensive help. The Pirates are 2-3 in their last 5 games. The offense has averaged barely over 2 runs per game. They completely wasted an impressive performance by Paul Skenes. Management continues to do nothing.

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Pirates Morning Report: They Surprised Me Again, But Not Totally Convinced

Final Score: Pirates 5 Cardinals 0

Why The Pirates Won: The old adage of there are horses for courses is so true of Martin Perez. In 3 of his last 5 starts he has given up 17 runs all earned. The other 2 starts are against the St. Louis Cardinals, going 13 and 1/3 innings, giving up 1 run. The Pirates just need him to face the Cardinals. He was far from dominant or in control. He gave up 4 hits and walked 5 batters in 6 innings of work but gave up no runs. The Cardinals gave their best Pirate impersonation going 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and stranding 11 runners for the game. The Pirate offense with the help of the Cardinals was able to put up 4 runs in the 2nd inning. Rawhide Rowdy Tellez homered in the 4th inning to stretch the lead to 5-0. In the other 6 innings they did not get a hit and wound up only getting 5 hits for the game. Quite frankly, the way both teams performed in this series, I do not see either team making the playoffs, unless they make some major moves at the trade deadline. Regardless the Pirates managed to somehow take the series and are now 2 games over .500 after a 4-2 homestand.

Key Moments Of The Game: The top of the 5th summed up the Cardinals’ frustration, perfectly. The Cardinals got 2 singles and 2 walks in the inning and failed to score. After the first walk of the inning, Lars Nootbaar grounded into a double play. Two singles and a walk later the Cardinals had the bases loaded. Willson (That’s Right Two L’s) Contreras came to the plate. He swung at the first pitch that was outside the strike zone. On the second pitch Perez got a borderline call to make the count 0-2. The next pitch was in the dirt. Contreras swung at the next pitch that was off the plate away and grounded it to third where Ke’Bryan Hayes made the play, and the inning was over. Perez pitched around a 1 out double in the 6th and the Pirates bullpen danced through some raindrops the last 3 innings but they preserved the shutout. The Pirates head to road next.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Surprisingly the Pirates have their rotation set for the series. Luis Ortiz, Marco Gozales and Mitch Keller are penciled in to start. Then the Pirates go to Houston. Both of these teams have very similar records as the Pirates. The Astros have been playing much better lately after getting off to a bad start that saw them dip 12 games below .500. If the Pirates can go 3-3 this would be a very successful road trip.

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Pirates Morning Report: Punchless Pirates Waste A Great Skenes Performance

Final Score: Pirates 1 Cardinals 2

Final Score: It is hard to win a game when you start 4 players that should either be in AAA or DFA. These four magnificent players are Jack Suwinski, Yasmani Grandal, Josh Palacios, and Jared Triolo. As a group they went 3 for 13 which is better than I would expect them to do. Let’s set the record straight on Josh (High Energy Waste Of Cells) Palacios. He has a career WAR of -.3. His OPS+ is 80 with a whopping slash line of .231/.284/.371. and he is a below average fielder for his career. He is not major league material. With almost half the lineup below major league level, it is not surprising the Pirates scored only 1 run. They could not muster an offense against an aging overweight washed up pitcher. They can’t score when they put their best lineup on the field. Paul Skenes pitched a brilliant 8 innings giving up 1 run on just 2 hits. You could argue either way that Skenes should have come out for the 9th. My own opinion was he should have not. He had thrown 90+ pitches at that point. All the Pirates talk about is not trying to overwork their young arms. Well, you just did last night. However you slice it, this was a very hard loss to swallow and sets up the Pirates to most likely lose the series.

Key Moments Of The Game: Twice the Pirates loaded the bases, in the bottom of the 2nd and the 5th, and failed to score. Andrew McCutchen’s at bat was particularly disappointing in the bottom of the 2nd. He took 2 called strikes with the first one being right down the middle. He then popped out to centerfield on a 3-2 count. Nick Gonzales’s at bat was not much better. He did swing at a strike but then swung at a pitch on a 1-1 count that was at least a foot outside to hit a little dibbler in front of the plate to end the inning. They were able to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th but then the Cardinals scored in the 9th to take the 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the 9th the Pirates showed their true merit by not putting a ball in play. Two of the three strikeouts were by AAA players.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. Every time I feel the Pirates have no chance to win a game, they somehow surprise me and pull it out. Why Martin Perez is starting I have no idea. Will the Pirates offense wake up today? They better with Perez pitching. If they lose today, it will be the third straight series they have lost to the Cardinals. That is not a path to the playoffs.

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Pirates Morning Report: Punchless Pirates Pull One Out

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cardinals 1

Why The Pirates Won: Mitch Keller pitched a solid 7 innings where he finished strong retiring the last 7 batters he faced. Even though not the strike out pitcher he was last year, Keller has been as consistent as anyone in baseball. Overall, he gave up 1 run on 6 hits, walking 2, striking out 3, while throwing 97 pitches. Aroldis Chapman came on in the 8th to get 3 up, 3 down on just 11 pitches. David Bednar gave up a two out single but struck out the last batter to preserve a big 2-1 win. The Pirate offense while terrible as usual did manage to push across the 2 runs that were enough to win the game. Oneil Cruz got a big 2 out hit in the bottom of the 3rd to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Nick Gonzales drove in the go ahead run in the bottom of the 8th. It looked like the Pirates were going to get more, but rally killer Ke’Bryan Hayes, batting 6th instead of 9th where any normal manager would put him, grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Cardinals had traffic on the bases the first 5 innings of the game. The top of the 5th opened with Nolan Gorman hitting the right field foul pole to tie the game 1-1. The Cardinals managed to get runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 out. Brendan Donovan hit a sharp ground ball down the first base line that Rowdy (Yes I Do Own A Glove) Tellez managed to make a diving stop, flipping to Keller to get the final out of the inning. If he does not make the play, the Cardinals get one run for sure and maybe even 2 which would have given them a 3-1 lead. The Pirates would have never overcome that.

Next Game: Tonight, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes takes the mound tonight and I always get that little sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that says this will be the start that Skenes shows he is human. I have had that feeling his last 3 starts and it has not happened yet. The Pirates have scored 2 runs in the last two games and are 1-1. Unbelievable. If they can win tonight, it will be a series win and puts the sweep into play. Greg Brown keeps saying Martin Perez is going to pitch the Wednesday afternoon game. The Pirate website say TBD. Let’s hope the website is right.

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Pirates Morning Report: Win Streak Over, How Will They Respond?

Final Score: Pirates 0 Philllies 6

Why The Pirates Lost: The 6 game winning streak came to an end with a big fat thud yesterday. If you are going to lose you might as well do everything bad and just get it over with. The Pirates offense was so bad, that even though they had 6 hits, they had only one at bat with a runner in scoring position. The offense did manage to strike out only 6 times again. They played lousy defense making 2 errors and not making plays on balls that should have been caught. Marco Gonzales had an ok start giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, walking 1 over 4 and 2/3 innings. The bullpen gave up the rest of the runs although 3 of the 4 runs were unearned. The Pirates stunk out the joint, but we will see which one was the anomaly. The first two wins or yesterday’s lousy performance.

Key Moment Of The Game: It is hard to come up with a really key moment in this game because you felt the Pirates were not going to score if the game went 15 innings. No question giving up the 3 runs on just 2 hits in the top of the 7th to make the score 5-0 sealed the deal. Oneil Cruz dropped the throw from Nick Gonzales on a possible double play ball that opened the floodgates. You really did not think that the Pirates were going to sweep the Phillies, did you.

Next Game: Tonight, the Cardinals in Pittsburgh. The big guns go for the Pirates, Keller and Skenes in the first two games of the series. The Cardinals have won 4 out of the 6 games they have played against the Pirates. The bear minimum here is to take the Cardinals 2 out of 3. We will see how the Pirates respond to a very poor performance. This team needs to keep the momentum going if they are really going to make a run at the playoffs. This all starts by beating the Cardinals 2 or 3 times this week.

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Pirates Morning Report: Couldn’t Lose Even Though They Tried.

Final Score: Pirates 8 Phillies 7

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates offense won this one because it sure as hell wasn’t the pitching. The offense was led by Reynolds, 3 hits, Cruz, 3hits, 3 RBI’s and Rawhide Rowdy Telles with 3 sacrifice flies. Management essentially forfeited the game. They had 5 choices to start the game, Perez, Gonzales, Priester, Keller, and Ortiz. They picked the worse pitcher of the bunch in Martin Perez, and you could say he came through. He pitched 3 and 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs on 7 hits, 2 of which left the park, walking 2 on 82 pitches. That is over 20 pitches per inning. Hopefully the next time we see Perez he will be coming out of the bullpen. Naturally with a break, the Phillies, who want to win every game, started one of their better pitchers in Aaron Nola. Surprisingly the Pirate offense came alive and lit him up for 4 runs on 6hits and 1 walk in just 5 innings. The Phillies bullpen is not quite as good as Bob Walk and Greg Brown made them out to be, but they are solid, ranked 8th in all of baseball. Of course, Walk said the Pirates have a good bullpen also. He must think being ranked 22nd out of 30 teams is good. None the less, last night the Pirate bullpen did out do the Phillies bullpen. The Pirates scored 4 runs over the last 4 innings to open the post All Star break with a win. Unbelievable.

The Key Moments Of The Game: It boiled down to the 9th inning. Going into the 9th the score was 7-6 Phillies. Carmen Mlodzinski came into pitch. The Phillies opened the inning with 2 singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Mlodzinski got a pop out and fly out to right field moving the runner to third base. One pitch later the other runner stole 2nd to put runners on second and third with 2 out. Mlodzinski struck out Brandon Marsh on a beautiful 97 MPH fast ball on a 3-2 count. In the bottom of the ninth the Phillies brought in lefty Jose Alvarado. Connor Joe singled to left field followed by an Andrew McCutchen walk. Michael Taylor pinch ran for Connor Joe after his single. The Pirates then pulled off the double steal, with Taylor just making it to third base. This changed the dynamics of the inning and set the Pirates up for victory. Bryan Reynolds struck out, but Oneil Cruz hit a chopper over the mound that the Phillies tried to make a play at the plate on, that was a mistake. Instead of getting the 2nd out now the Pirates had first and third with one out and the infield had to play in again. Nick Gonzales drilled a ball to left field and the Pirates had an unexpected win.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Pittsburgh. The best thing about this win last night was that the Pirates are not getting swept. To win any game 8-7, let alone against the Phillies, makes you wonder if things are starting to go the Pirates way. Time will tell. Shelton did ask Martin Perez if he could start again tonight but Perez said no. It certainly was a miracle win last night.

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Pirates Morning Report: All Star Break, Part Two

The Pirate broadcast booth, some on social media, and the written media are just downright giddy over the Pirates 4 game winning streak and getting to .500 at the All Star break. Derek Shelton says that the Pirates are playing better. The cold hard facts do not show that. Beginning today the reality check will begin. The Pirates are going on a 24 game stretch where they play 6 games at home, 6 games on the road, 6 games at home and 6 games on the road. They will play 3 games each against 2 of the best teams in the National League, the Phillies at home and the Dodgers on the road. The other 18 games are going to be against teams that currently have better records than the Pirates. The Pirates’ home and road record is pretty much the same. There are 12 games before the trade deadline. Six at home against the Phillies and the Cardinals. Then they go on the road to face the Diamondbacks and the Astros. Losing something like 9 out of 12 is a distinct possibility with the team that they now have assembled. Shelton said recently that they are looking to add a bat. He did not say that there would be a player attached to that bat. Ben Cherrington said earlier that he felt the Pirates were going to fix their offensive issues from within the organization. The bottom line on all of this is, as usual, the Pirates will not be major players at the trade deadline. It will be a big surprise to me if they even make one trade. What is life if not to have some fun. Here is simply what I would do if I ran the Pirates.

Gone are Jack Suwinski and Jared Triolo to be replaced by Ji Hwan Bae and Liover Peguero. There are three blue chip names that are most likely on the trade block. Two of them for sure and the other one a definite maybe. Taking them in the order of most desirable for the Pirates. At the top of the list is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. His current OPS+ is 130 and that is after getting off to a very slow start. He would add a whole new dynamic to this team. He is under team control until 2025 and this guy stays on the field. The last 3 years he has played between 156 and 161 games. Next at a very close 2nd is A’s closer Mason Miller. This would bolster the bullpen which right now sits at 22nd in baseball. Finally, another Oakland A Brent Rooker. The problem with him is that he is basically a DH. McCutchen has not exactly been chop liver at that position, but to think that he can play the field on a regular basis may be stretching things a bit. When Rooker has been out in the field he has been horrible. The Pirates do seem to get along with a mediocre right fielder and there is no question his bat is elite. If I ran the Pirates, I would make sure that I got two out of three. If this team is going to make the playoffs they need some huge upgrades in certain areas. You are not making the playoffs with the worst centerfielder and a bottom third right fielder. This trade deadline is tricky to say the least. There are only about 6 teams that are definitely sellers. The Blue Jays are not one of those teams. They are a borderline team, and they may not be in the selling mode. Getting the other 2 Oakland players would be just fine. It would take some bold strokes to pull this off, so it is unlikely to happen. Which is the same thing you can say about this organization making the playoffs this year, very unlikely. The next 12 games and the Pirate activity at the trade deadline may change my mind.

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Pirates Morning Report: All Star Break, Part One

The Pirates made it to .500, 48-48 thanks to a finishing 4 game winning streak. The Pirates are 7-0 against the Marlins and the White Sox. I will never belittle those wins. The Marlins beat the Reds in the last game before the break. This does beg the question, did the Pirates really improve, or did they take advantage of poor competition. In the 3 phases of the game, hitting, pitching, and defense, let’s see what happened. They got a lot better pitching, stayed the same hitting, and surprisingly got worse on defense since we last took a look at the Pirates, 31 games ago. Let us look at the team numbers first. The offense continues to stink but at least they did not get worse. If you listen to the broadcast booth you would think this team is ready to become the 27′ Yankees. Dream away child. In runs scored they are still at 20th in the league at 4.19 runs per game. In on base percentage they have fallen to 27th from their lofty perch of 24th. In the comparison stat OPS+ there are now only 2 teams in all of baseball that hit worse than they do. There is no question their pitching has gotten them to .500. They showed vast improvement in every category. In runs allowed they went up to 14th from 19th. In fielding independent pitching, they had a huge improvement going up to 7th in baseball from 19th. In the comparison stat of ERA+ they went up two places to 12th. Going through each position and area according to WAR the Pirate rotation is hitting elite status as they are ranked 3rd in all of baseball. Too bad the rest of the team can’t even come close to that. The next highest ranked position is left field where Bryan Reynolds has played the most at 12th. Where the Pirates stink the most is centerfield (30th), pinch hitting (26th), catcher (25th), right field (22th), and the bullpen (22nd). Then we come to what I feel is the most disappointing part of this Pirate team the defense. In defense efficiency which takes in all aspects of a team’s defense not just errors, the Pirates now are 25th, falling 8 places. Essentially, they are one of the worst fielding teams in the league.

Looking at the individual players here are the culprits that are having horrible offensive seasons up to this point. OPS+ is the comparison stat on how a player compares with his constituents. It takes into consideration the run scoring environment, the competition and the ballpark the player plays in. It comes out simply a whole number with 100 being league average. Being a league average hitter is absolutely fine and if the Pirates had about 8-9 hitters at league average or above, they would probably be in first place. Here are the Pirate players that probably could not get a hit even if there were only 5 players on the field. Their OPS+ is in parenthesis. Yasmani Grandal (42), Ke’Bryan Hayes (74), Michael Taylor (53), Jared Triolo (59), Jack Suwinski (63), Henry Davis (45), and Alika Williams (48). With the exception of Hayes, these players are hitting at a rate of 37 to 48% worse than the league average. Even though I know this won’t happen, there is not one single reason that I can think of for these players to be on the team when play resumes after the break. More on that in part 2. Even with his hot 6 to 7 weeks Rawhide Rowdy Tellez sits at 92. What Rowdy are we going to see after the break. The April May Rowdy or the June July Rowdy. The other aspect of the Pirate game that will have to improve is the bullpen. You cannot be the 22nd best bullpen and make the playoffs. Hopefully the defense will improve just by the normal course of events.

Finally let’s set the record straight. This is not the second half of the season. The season is 60% over. The Pirates have played 96 games and there are 66 games to go. With the expanded playoffs the last two years, 87 and 84 wins have made the final playoff spot. Both years that final playoff spot made it to the World Series. Let’s compromise here and say it will take 86 wins to make the playoffs. The Pirates would need to go 38-28 to get to that point. I do not see that happening in the team’s current state. In my view the Pirates need 2 outfielders, a catcher, and at least on more bullpen arm. How they will go about that or even if they will go about that will dictate how this season will go. Part 2 on Friday.

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Pirates Morning Report: Getting To .500

Final Score: Pirates 9 White Sox 4

Why The Pirates Won: A total offensive performance against a very bad team gave the Pirates a very nice win. Everybody but Jack (Packing My Bags) Suwinski got on base at least once. Six players scored runs and 6 players had RBI’s. The team had 12 hits with 7 being extra base hits. They struck out 6 times. For whatever reason Mitch Keller only went 3 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, walking 3, while striking out 3. The bullpen gave up 2 runs on 6 hits, but stop the presses, Colin Holderman had a clean inning 3 up, 3 down in the 8th. Dennis Santana pitched the 9th again showing he may be the best low leverage pitcher in baseball.

Key Moments Of The Game: The White Sox did a great Pirate imitation going 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and leaving 10 men on base for the game. Joey Bart’s 3 run homer was huge in the top of the 4th but this was a close game 4-3 after 6 innings. In the top of the 7th, after one out, Bryan Reynolds walked and Oneil Cruz bounced a single to right field to put runners on 1st and 3rd. Nick Gonzales hit a line drive to left field that Andrew Benintendi made an awkward diving attempt to catch the ball. The ball got by him clearing the bases making the score 6-3. Gonzales wound up at third on an overturned call triple. The Pirates added 2 more on a sacrifice fly and back to back doubles by Ke’Bryan Hayes and I am still not writing his name down. The game was over and the Pirates had won 4 in a row.

Next Game: July 19, Phillies in Pittsburgh. The Pirates go from playing one of the worst teams in baseball to the team with the best record in the National League. There will be two Pirates Morning Reports during the break. One on how the Pirates have done so far and the second on what if anything the Pirates should do at the trade deadline, which could be a lot trickier than it would first appear.