Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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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.

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Pirate Morning Report: The Andrew Hearney Signing, What Does It Mean

This week the Pirates signed Andrew Heaney to a one year contract. This added to the strongest part of the team. What this boils down to is that it creates three possibilities. Let’s take a look at those possibilities, starting from what I consider the least desirable to the most desirable scenario. Knowing the Pirates like we do, they will probably do the first one.

If the Pirates follow traditional lines, they will use a 5-man rotation. In that case, Bubba Chandler will not be on the opening day roster, a decision that many fans and analysts may find perplexing. This will be yet another tactic by the Pirates. Their intention is to delay a player from becoming arbitration eligible. Such a practice can have long-term implications for both the player and the organization. Chandler is only 22 years old. He has shown immense potential. He deserves to be on the team at the start of the season. He pitched 26 games in the minors last year, posting impressive numbers that caught the attention of scouts and coaches alike. His merged AA and AAA stats were 10-7, which is commendable for a young pitcher facing various levels of competition. His ERA was 3.08 with a WHIP of 1.02, indicating that he was efficient and effective on the mound. In an impressive feat, he struck out 148 batters in just 119 innings. This showcases his ability to get hitters out. It demonstrates his capacity to dominate games. What makes his performance even more remarkable is his improvement. He was better in AAA than in AA. This is a clear sign of his ability to adapt and improve. If anybody needs to be in the rotation, it is Chandler, as his skills and performance significantly contribute to the team’s success.

The Pirates decide that they will go with a 6-man starting rotation, a strategic approach that is gaining traction in the league. With 3 young arms under the age of 25, it would be a great way to limit their innings for the year, ensuring that these promising talents are developed carefully without overexerting them. Each of the 6 pitchers has proven they can start and be effective. The only negative would be that this decision only leaves 7 in the bullpen, which poses certain challenges as the season progresses. With the way that The Shadow manages a bullpen, that could be a real problem, especially during high-stakes games when fatigue and injuries can easily arise. One thing that can help offset that would be to allow the starters to go deeper into games, counteracting the reliance on a short bullpen. The Pirates would consider letting the pitchers routinely throw around 110 pitches per game. The extra day of rest would help. This approach maximizes their contributions and provides more stability to the team’s overall pitching strategy. This would not only enhance the performance of the starters but also preserve the strength of the bullpen over the long haul, fostering a more resilient team throughout the grueling season.

The final scenario would be for the Pirates to trade somebody in the rotation. You would have to figure the young starters would be untouchable. Yet, depending on the return, I could see Chandler being dealt, as his performance might attract some interest from other teams. The three most likely trade candidates would be Mitch Keller, Barry Falter, and even though just acquired, Heaney. I mean, Heaney and Falter are practically clones in terms of their pitching style and capabilities, making them highly valuable assets if the right offers come along. It has been done in the past that a team signs a player and then trades him shortly after, often as part of a larger strategy to boost the team’s competitiveness. The Pirates still need bullpen help and shortstop depth or an upgrade, which could influence their decisions as they navigate potential trades. Ke’Bryan Hayes and IKF would be tradable as far as I am concerned, especially if the front office wants to shake things up and infuse fresh talent into the roster. I feel that the likelihood of a trade is small, yet you never know. The Pirates may finally try and really improve this team in a significant way. Certainly, starting pitching is the only real strength of this team, and any changes made will need to preserve that foundation. Everyone knows the baseball axiom that you can’t have enough starting pitching, and with what they have in the minors and their 40-man roster, the Pirates will put that statement to the test if they stand pat. Right now, this is an offense that does not have a lot of power or speed, and addressing this deficiency should be a priority in the coming weeks. Does anybody know the record for the longest stretch without scoring a run? I just looked it up. It is 48 innings, set by two teams. The Philadelphia A’s did it in 1906. The Chicago Cubs accomplished the same feat in 1968, the year of the pitcher. This Pirate team as it now stands, has a real chance of breaking that record. See Pirate fans, you thought you had nothing to look forward to.

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Pirates Morning Report: Tommy Pham

When the Pirates signed Tommy Pham, I reacted like most fans and media. I pretty much ridiculed the signing. This was another mediocre signing. The player is going to turn 37 in a couple of weeks. He looks to be on the downside of an average baseball career. When I thought of doing this blog, I could not wait to get to baseball reference. I wanted to crunch the numbers. I aimed to shoot holes in Ben Cherington’s statement that this would be a big upgrade for the Pirates. After reviewing the numbers of Pham’s 11 year career, I am about to change my mind. I also read about some of his off the field experiences. At least I am going to give this signing the benefit of the doubt. Even Cherington’s statement has some merit, only because the corner outfield position for the Pirates has been so terrible. As you will see Pham is pretty much an average major league player. In the case of the Pirates, this is a huge upgrade. I admit, I did not think the Pirates signed Pham to turn him into an everyday player. At the very least Pham is an interesting signing on many fronts. Let’s dig in on Tommy Pham.

The biggest negative about Tommy Pham is his age as he heads into his age 37 season. Andrew McCutchen is 38 years old. The Pirates are asking Pham to be their everyday left fielder, which is something they never required of McCutchen. He doesn’t have a history of playing many games in a season. In his 11-year career, he has only played over 140 games 3 times. One of these occasions was as recent as 2022. Yet, he did not have a great year, as he finished with a slash line of .236/.312/.374 for an 89 OPS+. Still a lot better than any corner outfielder the Pirates had last year. You have to question his durability at this stage of his career. Last year he had a 91 OPS+ over 116 games with 3 different teams. What makes Pham interesting is that despite his overall numbers, he has had some good stretches. He has also seen a lot of action in the postseason and performed well on the big stage. Last year with the Chicago White Sox he had a 104 OPS+ over 70 games. The Sox then traded him to the Cardinals where he had some history. He did not do well with them. They released him. He was then picked up by the Kansas City Royals. He continued to struggle but in the post season he batted .455 in the division series against the Yankees. In his career, he has played in 37 postseason games with a slash line of .315/.351./.492. The Pirates will be his 9th team that he will have played for. He was a late bloomer not having a full MLB season until he was 29 years old. He had a great year that year with the Cardinals. The next year he got into a contract dispute with them. The issue never really resolved, and it caused the Cardinals to trade him to the Tampa Bay Rays. He gave Tampa Bay a solid year and a half. As Tampa often does, they traded him to the Padres. While with the Padres he was stabbed on October 11, 2020, while leaving a strip club. The wound was serious enough to need surgery. When the Padres tried to downplay the incident, Pham decided to take legal action. He sued the club for various damages resulting from the stabbing. Despite all of this, he had a pretty decent year for the Padres in 2021. He played in 155 games and wound up with a 103 OPS+. He had another strange incident at the start of 2022. Before a game with the Giants, he slapped Joc Peterson over a fantasy league dispute. He was suspended for 3 games. Since then, he has had his ups and downs. He struggled during 22 and 24. Still, in 23, he had an OPS+ of 111. He greatly helped the Diamondbacks in the playoffs, helping them reach the World Series. He is an average fielder in left field. Still, for whatever reason, he is horrible in right field. This is the obvious reason the Pirates are moving him to left.

Certainly, Tommy Pham is not anywhere close to being considered a splash free agent signing. Still, he is not as bad of a signing, in my view, as it first appeared to be. The big question will be: can he stand up to being an everyday left fielder at the age of 37? If he can, there is no question that he can execute at the average big league level. The Pirates only have four other position players with similar performance. One of these players, Ke’Bryan Hayes, is more fragile than Pham. Certainly, until they acquired Pham, they did not have anybody even close to approaching that as a third outfielder. So, Cherrington is right when he says that Pham is a big upgrade. What he neglected to mention is that Pham is only a big upgrade because the Pirates are so pathetic. Pham has a certain amount of feistiness that is lacking on the Pirates. For whatever reason, Pham seems to help get teams into the playoffs. If he can just help the Pirates play meaningful games in September, he will be worth the signing. I think there is a better chance of that happening now, after taking a closer look at Tommy Pham.

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Pirates Morning Report: Looking At The Young Inexperienced Pirates

With the addition of Adam Frazier, the Pirates have 7 players on their 40 man roster that have over 1000 Major League plate appearances. In the last blog I discussed what I called 4 intriguing players that might help the Pirates. That leaves 11 players that have little or no experience in the Major Leagues. I will list them in the order I think that they will have the best chance of making a positive impact on the season. To show what dour straits the Pirates are in, Jack Suwinski comes in 5th on this list. At the end I will mention a couple of other players, one who better not be given the opportunity to have an impact on the season and another who needs to find himself this year.

  1. Joey Bart, 28 years old. Bart was the most pleasant surprise of the season. In 2024 he slashed .265/.337/.446 which was a big improvement over his previous numbers. His defensive metrics were just slightly below average but he established himself behind the plate as the Pirates starting catcher for 2025. It would be great to see him continue to improve but if he can just maintain those numbers it would be a huge boon for the Pirates at the catching position.
  2. Nick Gonzales, 26 years old in May. Gonzales may not have been great, but he had a decent year at the plate, raising his OPS+ from 66 to 96 in 2024 with 100 being league average. Gonzales is a below average fielder at the moment but that can always improve. Right now, he is essentially the Pirates starting 2nd baseman and they could do a lot worse. His other positive is that he may bring something of value in a trade. There are not many Pirates on this team that can say that.
  3. Spencer Horwitz, 27 years old. The new first baseman. In 425 plate appearances he slashed .264/355/428 for an OPS+ 123 which is better than any Pirate did last year. He is an average glove at first base which is ok. He will have an opportunity to play an entire season this year and if he can just maintain those numbers, he will be another huge upgrade at the position.
  4. Jarod Triolo, 27 years old. Triolo after showing promise in 2023 had a very disappointing 2024. His OPS+ plummeted from 114 in 23 to 71 in 24. He did not have a bad last 30 games but overall his offense was horrendous. He is by far the best glove man of the group with a +8 in DRS over all positions. It would be nice to see him settle in at 3rd base if the Pirates trade Hayes and IKF.
  5. Jack Suwinski, 27 years old in July. Yes, there he is with still a chance to start in right field. As bad as he looked last year, his career stat line is not bad for a Pirate. In 1183 plate appearances his slash line is .207/309/409 for a 97 OPS+. His first two years were better, with last year being a disaster. I think the Pirates messed him up by trying to turn him into Kyle Schwarber by having him lead off for an extended period in 2023. He seemed to never recover from that. On top of all that he is a horrible fielder with a defensive runs saved of -15. I bet you can’ wait for the final 6.
  6. Emanuel Valdez, 26 years old. In 372 plate appearances his slash line is .235/.286/400 for an OPS+ 86. Another below average fielder with a DRS of -5. Why they acquired him I have no idea other than to continue the pattern of having below average hitters and fielders.
  7. Liovar Peguero, 24 years old. He has 227 plate appearances with a slash line of .237/.280/.370 for a 75 OPS+. He has been an average fielder. Expected to contend for a roster spot in 2024 he took a step backward in AAA, where he put up mediocre numbers. He will need to find something this year to stay in the organization.
  8. Jason Delay, 30 years old in March. Delay is a bit of a mystery man. The Pirates have not given him much opportunity and he has not really lit it up, but at times as shown some promise. I would assume somebody needs a backup catcher that they would be able to give a mid level prospect for. Delay is average behind the plate and in 373 plate appearances has a 70 OPS+
  9. Alika Williams, 26 years old in March. Williams has the rep of being a very good glove, but the metrics don’t support that with his DRS being 0 which is average. If he was an average hitter that would be great, but he is not close with a horrible OPS+ of 46. If he is on the opening day roster again, say goodbye to the season.
  10. Henry Davis, 26 years old. Maybe the new hitting coach will perform a miracle with Davis. His AAA numbers have been good to excellent. His Major League numbers have been awful. They are too embarrassing to print. I will be rooting for the guy but I think it is pretty much hopeless
  11. Tsung Che Cheng, 23 years old. He has not played in the majors yet and hasn’t done a whole lot at the minor league level, but for whatever reason the Pirates have him on the 40 man roster. I assume he will spend the season at AAA.

That leaves us two players that are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Josh Palacios who will turn 29 years old in July. He did not see a lot of action last year but did not disappoint. He continued to hit at below league average. If he sees any action this year the Pirates are in big trouble. Finally, we have former no.1 pick Termarr Johnson who will be 21 years old in June. This fall, when you looked at the Pirate prospects, it was projected that he would be brought up most likely in 2025. Now it looks like 2026. He had a good spring training last year but got off to a slow start in the minors, recovered somewhat, but did not really make any strong impressions. With a small sample size, he had a pretty good fall league experience. In 54 plate appearances he slashed .250/.444/.475. Hopefully he won’t become Henry Davis Jr. He will have to take a big step forward if he is going to make the Pirates this year. When you think about trades at the present moment, the two names that are at the top of the list are Ke’Bryan Hayes, who supposedly requested to be traded and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Possibly Nick Gonzales and/or Jason Delay could be thrown into the mix. When the season ended and for most of the winter, there was talk of the Pirates trading for a right fielder. However, when you look at this 40 man roster, the position players are so weak that the Pirates are in desperate need of high level prospects that are very close to being ready to play at the major league level. This has never been made clearer by the fact if you just go on past performance, then the opening day right fielder should be Jack Suwinski. That is how sad of a state the Pirates are in at the present moment, unless you think that Adam Frazier is going to come to the rescue.

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Pirates Morning Report: Four Intriguing Pirates and One Interesting Fact.

The Pirates have done practically nothing in the free agent market, causing fans and the local media to be very frustrated. Frankly I wish they had made at least one splash signing or even a big trade. There is still time for both, to happen, especially the trade. I am the last person to make excuses for the Pirates, but maybe one of the reasons they have done so little is to see how some of their young players may do this year. It is time to put up or shut up for some of these players. There are four of them that I feel have a very good chance to contribute and make the Pirates a lot better, even to the point of contending for the top spot in the division. In order of their best chance of doing so, we have;

Nick Yorke. He will turn 23 this year and was acquired in the Quinn Priester trade. He has had only 42 plate appearances in the major leagues slashing .216/.286/378 with an OPS+84. He has solid AAA numbers with a line of .333/.420/478 in 78 games. He has a very small sample size at the MLB level but he seemed to have a good plate process and was more than adequate in the field. He can play right field the big hole in the Pirate lineup.

Ji Hwan Bae, turning 26 in July. Bae had an injury plagued 2024 with a reluctance of the Pirates to bring him up to the major league level after having spent a lot of time with the parent club in 2023. His career AAA numbers are mind blowing slashing .310/.393/.461. Last year he slugged .504 at Indianapolis. For whatever reason he cannot come close to these numbers with the Pirates. In 489 plate appearances, his line is .231/.296/.304. He should be the no. 1 project for the new hitting coach. If he could come close to those AAA numbers, he would be dynamite at the top of the order with his speed. Even though he has not produced I still do not understand why the Pirates insist on batting him 9th when he does get an opportunity to play. Another player who could play right field.

Endy Rodriguez, turning 25 in May. Many people out there think Rodriguez is going to be some kind of savior for the team this year. It would be great to see him have a big year but the odds are against him. First, he sat out almost an entire season because of elbow surgery. Second, where he is going to play. He has potentially 3 fill in areas, 1st base, catcher, and DH. The Pirates have all three positions covered at the moment. Third, even when healthy his numbers were not that great. In 204 plate appearances, he slashed .220/.284/.328 for a 68 OPS+. I would love to see him have a breakout season but certainly at the beginning of the season barring injury he will have to quickly make the most of his opportunities.

Billy Cook turned 26 in January. He is simply the wild card. Why is he the wild card? He has spent so little time at AAA and MLB. He has 377 minor league games and only 100 at AAA since being drafted out of college. At AAA he slashed .278/377/.485. Like Yorke his only major league experience is with the Pirates having just 49 plate appearances slashing .224/.224 (no walks)/ 449 with an 82 OPS+ Hopefully he can find something and be a major league hitter. Another outfield potential.

The Pirates have a lot of young inexperienced players. Of their 22 position players on the 40 man roster only 6 have had 1000 or more plate appearances. That leaves 16 players with little or practically no time at the major league level. Right at the time I was writing this it was announced that the Pirates signed Adam Frazier to a 1year deal for a little over a million dollars. This was going to be my next six sentences. Maybe the reason the Pirates are not signing free agents is because they think it is time to see what their young players can do at the big league level. This includes players that I did not mention like Henry Davis and Liover Peguero. Jack Suwinski is one of the 6 that has over 1000 plate appearances but certainly this is his do or die season. Signing these low end free agents like they did last year may actually be impeding the progress of the younger players by not allowing them to see playing time. Last year that group was Tellez, Grandal, and Taylor. I was going to write next that the Pirates have no such signings this year. Bingo, we have Adam Frazier. Maybe they will trade Ke’Bryan Hayes or even IKF then I would be fine with the Frazier pick up. I feel all four players that I found to be intriguing should be on the team at the start of the season, especially the first 3. You absolutely know that Frazier is taking up a roster spot. I guess we can only hope that somebody will be traded. The Pirates are so bazaar,

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Pirates Morning Report: Free Agent Dead Zone

I have been wanting to write this article for a while now, but every time I thought about doing it, I figured there would be a slew of free agent signings right after it. Now with only about 3 weeks to spring training there are still around 20 quality free agents that are unsigned, but teams are obviously being cautious because of perceived warts that all of these players have. The one thing that all of these players have in common is that they are 30 years old or older. I am sure the sticking point for every one of these players is the length of the contract. Teams do not want to give them more than 3 years, with players and their agents thinking more like 5 to 7 years. Many players had a down year on their contract year that added fuel to the fire that most of these players are on the downside of their careers. Recent history of some very bad long term contracts of players 30+ years are making teams proceed even more cautiously. The Pirates of course are in a terminal dead zone when it comes to signing free agents. Despite this, there is one available free agent that is just screaming for the Pirates to sign and get out of that dead zone.

Anthony Santander plays right field and has slugged .455, .472, and .506 over the last 3 seasons. His OPS+ has been 120,121 and 134 over this period of time. No Pirate, including Brian Reynolds, has come close to putting numbers up like that in the last 3 years. Last year he had his best production hitting 44 home runs and driving in 102 runs. He is just turning 30 years old. The Pirates have a gaping hole in right field. He is a below average fielder, but the Pirates are used to having that in right field. Most baseball sites put a contract value on him at 5 years for about 17 to 18 million a year. If the Pirates are really serious about winning, which I doubt, this should be a no brainer signing. There is really nobody else out there that the Pirates really need. There are lots of relief pitchers available that would sign 1 year deals. If they would only sign Santander, it would be much less than they spent on free agent garbage last year. Unfortunately, this will probably not happen. If they would sign him, I would just go out my back door, fall face down in the snow and just lay there until I died. There have been 1 year rentals, like Alex Verdugo mentioned as possible signings to fill the right field void for the Pirates. I will be surprised if that even happens. Verdugo’s OPS+ the last 3 years has been 102, 100 and 83. He has never hit more than 13 home runs in a season. He seems to be in decline. After further thought, this does sound like the perfect Pirate. They’ll sign him. The garbage will be picked up on opening day.

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Pirates Morning Report: Any Team In Need Of Mediocre Infielders Just Call The Pirates.

The one positive thing, pretty much the only positive thing, about the Pirates is their abundance of high quality starting pitching. An old adage in baseball is you cannot have enough pitching. However, the Pirate’s front office must feel that you cannot have enough infielders. In the case of infielders, quality is not even a consideration. Here is a list of the players that the Pirates have available to play 2nd, 3rd and shortstop. All of these players are on the 40 man roster and they have played any one of those positions for the Pirates or in the minors. Some of them have played in the outfield but all of them have a decent number of games in the infield. Here is a list of the future Hall of Famers with the position they have played the most in the infield or what I consider their best position: Liover Peguero 2b, Nick Gonzales 2b, Ke’Bryan Hayes 3b, Isiah Kiner-Falefa 3b, Jared Triolo 3b, Enmanuel Valdez 2b, Alika Williams SS, Ji Hwan Bae 2b, Nick Yorke 2b, and finally Tsung-Che Cheng SS. Count them, 10 players for 3 positions. The Pirates also have no. 3 ranked prospect Termar Johnson, who is projected to make his major league debut in 2025, playing, you guessed it, 2b.

These infielders have a lot in common. All of them are below average major league hitters. Half of them are not that good of fielders. The Pirates have 11 infielders that have the potential of being on the team this year. Granted Bae saw practically all of his limited action in 2024 in the outfield but he still has played 69 games at 2b for the Pirates. So, what’s a mother to do. The Pirates only carry 13 position players. It would be shocking if the Pirates wound up only carrying 12 pitchers. Will the Pirates just have a massive DFA party around March 24th? Most likely it would be Hayes, IKF, and Gonzales as the starting infield opening day. Quite frankly, these players would be the only ones that would generate any trade interest. I do not think that you would get much for them but certainly you could get some bullpen pieces. What if the Pirates traded all three of them. The new infield would look something like this, Triolo, Peguero, and Valdez. In reality this is not much of a drop off. When you add both groups’ OPS+ they come out exactly the same at about an average of 73. If Valdez gets off to a rough start, you always have Johnson waiting in the wings. You still have Williams, Chang and Yorke as replacements also. If you are going to get bullpen help, this seems the way to do it.

What do the Chicago Cubs know about Cody Bellinger that nobody else does. They traded him to the Yankees for a pitcher that is 30 years old and has pitched in only 24 major league games in his career. Plus, they had to give the Yankees 5 million dollar. Talk about a salary dump trade. The Pirates had to give up more to acquire Spencer Horwitz who has not had 400 major league at bats. It will be more than interesting to see how Bellinger does in the big apple. Will the Pirates ever pick up somebody and pay him between 15 and 25 million ? Highly unlikely. Let’s just hope they don’t spend another 35 million on garbage. I would rather see them do nothing that just pick up these washed up free agents again. Not only do they not produce but they block the progress of the younger players. One thing is for sure, the Pirates have enough infielders to field 3 teams. The sad thing is it does not matter what players you plug in, the 3 infields are going to perform about the same. Mediocrity is a hard thing to overcome. It may also be a hard thing to trade. Please, answer this cry for help, the other 31 teams in baseball. The Pirates need a right fielder and some bullpen arms. We can only pray.

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Pirates Morning Report: 2024 Season Wrap Up, Team

The Pirates finished 23rd in baseball overall with their 76-86 record. All phases of their game were mostly in the bottom of the statistics. I am going to hit the same basic stats that I went through at various times during the season plus look at some additional stats. According to baseball reference the Pirates were the 7th luckiest team in baseball. They were fortunate to win 76 games with the way they played. The cold hard statistics will bear that out. The overall problem with this team is that they were never a very aggressive bunch. Let’s get to the data.

The offense was pretty much nonexistent all year. They finished 24th in runs scored with 4.1 runs per game. There were only 3 teams in baseball that struck out more than the Pirates. The Pirates struck out a whopping 1,506 times. That is an average of a little over 9 times per game. They finished 17th in walks with 485 for an average of just under 3 per game. The tradeoff for strikeouts is supposed to be home runs. That is the new baseball philosophy to swing for the fences despite striking out a lot. This did not work out for the Pirates. They hit only 160 home runs to place 25th in baseball. Wouldn’t you think management might figure this out and try to stress making more contact. Apparently not. The Pirates were 27th in on base percentage at .301 when the league average is .312. The Diamondbacks led all of baseball with .337. Seven of the top eight on base percentage teams are in the playoffs and the Diamondbacks just missed. In the league comparison stat of OPS+ the Pirates rank 28th with 87 where the league average is 100. One area where the Pirates did well but did not do it often enough was in stealing bases. They stole 106 bases ranking them 16th with an 85% success rate. With that much success, where 75% is considered very good, the Pirates should have been trying to steal more bases. Another management failure. Another indication of the overall lack of aggression with this team. The team needs to find a new identity. I wonder if anyone in the Pirate organization knows this. This is not a power laden team despite what they say in the broadcast booth. This team needs to start making more contact and be more aggressive on the bases to increase the run total next year.

The pitching was better than the offense but not by much. They were 21st in runs allowed. In fielding independent pitching the Pirates had one of their highest rankings coming in at 13th. Overall, they had a league average pitching staff with an ERA+ 101. The starting pitching ranked 7th and the bullpen ranked 21st. The pitching staff gave up 515 walks which was the 11th most in baseball. The bullpen seemed worse losing many games in the late innings. The bullpen will need to be revamped but more on that when I go through the players. A little better year for the pitching staff and at least something to build on.

When the Pirates are evaluated position by position with the rest of the league, they do not come out all that well. The highest ranked position is left field and that is 15th. The rest of their positions are ranked from 18th down to having the worst right fielder in baseball. Their pinch hitters were ranked 27th. On the defensive side of the ball the Pirates were really bad. Their defensive efficiency rating was 24th in the league.

It is obvious by now that the Pirates will need a lot of help if they are going to improve in 2025. This organization is one of the worst in baseball. Since 2000 the Pirates have only had 4 seasons where they won 80 or more games. The next closest to that mark are Colorado and Cincinnati with 6 seasons. There is one team in the American League with 7 and the rest of the teams have a lot more seasons with 80 wins. Bob Nutting has been the owner since 2007. Will he ever loosen the purse strings. With a couple of good free agent signings and building a bullpen the Pirates could go right to the top. They have a good but not great young core. When I evaluate the players in the next blog, you will see that most of the players on the Pirates are overrated thanks to the hyperbole in the Pirate broadcast booth. If you just listened to them and knew nothing else, you would have thought the Pirates won the division by 10 games. I do not see that much hope for the coming year unless Shelton and the coaches are gone. I think it would be really interesting if they gave the players a vote. As long as it would be secret ballot, he would be gone. It is this team’s only hope.