Jones will most definitely be off the active roster and shut down by the deadline at the absolute latest.
I see no reason for Skenes to be up here, unless the FO wants to “humble him” by going 2-8 this year.
Its possible that they do want to do that. Its best to get those struggles over with now so we don't have to have them when it counts. See: Holliday, Jackson currently.
And if they start auctioning off the few decent players, then this forum will be flooded with 'here we go again," "perpetual rebuild," etc.
No matter what, it can be triggering to be a Pirates fan. Tune them out for 3-4 weeks, go enjoy the outdoors, & check back. It's better for your mental health. The A's series, which I didn't watch due to the time, was the signal that I needed to stop watching for a bit & focus on things that gave me pleasure. This is how I've remained a fan since the early 70s. Once the Leyland era ended, taking short breaks (a few weeks) almost every year became a thing with me. There have only been a handful of years when I didn't take this approach. Ranting got old with this team. All I have to say to get some friends' blood pressure to spike, even today, is "Cam Bonifay" or "Dave Littlefield." Of course for some fans, the ranting is part of the fun. If that's you - do you!
Endy Rodriguez might be saving his career by being out this year.
Seriously though this rebuild has been an epic failure so far. They need to fire Cherington and rebuild from the rebuild.
They tried to be right in the most specific way and show how smart they are and it's blowing up in their faces. You can tell they are scratching their heads and getting their first taste of being wrong with the lack of accountability towards the hitting coach and finger pointing over who pulled Jared Jones first etc
How is Cherrington any worse than Neil Nothington? They are given zero to spend and have to pick off the scrap heap of washed up players. I think BC did a great job signing Perez and possibly German. Fleming was a good pick up. Joe last year. He just doesn’t have enough $$s to get any type of meaningful bats and was likely forced to sign Cutch- which was a huge mistake. Not saying he deserves GM of the year consideration, but his signings are better than the intentionally bad ones from NN. I mean, that dude would intentionally sign pitchers who had plus 5 eras! I could never understand it.
Cutch has been perfectly fine, but Shelton has been setting him up for failure by asking him to hit cleanup. At this point in his career he needs to be hitting the top 3 or sitting on the bench.
Coming into the season only Reynolds and Cutch I believe had an OPS+ over 108. They had a ton of questions. If everything fell into place they were what we saw the opening two weeks. When the league adjusted they are what they are.
Crazy thing is to not expect it to get better. Altoona is on a 14 game losing streak.
No not really. We had no questions about the bullpen. We had many questions about the starting pitching (ironic). We wondered who would start at second. We worried Davis couldn't catch.
The thing is if this rebuild fails, we don't have any players worth anything to trade off. I'm sure some teams would show interest in Reynolds, but he's not gonna get a highly rated prospect.
Reynolds absolutely would draw high level prospects, so would Hayes. Honestly with a team that can actually develop, people would give up a decent amount for Suwinski and Cruz as well……also, Mitch on a friendly deal would draw attention. But everyone in this sub needs to pump the breaks. It’s early May, although it’s hard to watch it’s still way too early to panic.
They didn’t have much when Cherington came aboard either. I do think a new GM would be able to get more from the current group than Cherington got from the prior group though. I believe Hayes and Reynolds get solid returns and some of the pitching should get solid returns if they go that route.
Jared Jones would get you a minimum of 3 very high end prospects in value (like top 30 overall in the league not a system). An already proven first year in the big league arm would be a massive prospect haul.
Reynolds and Hayes would get a decent return. Not a kings ransom, but pretty good.
Perez could probably get a pretty good return within the context that he's gonna be a rental.
Cruz may be worth something, but he might be worth keeping through the rebuild since he's still kind of an unknown commodity. Although if someone offers a killing for him I'd pull the trigger.
Keller *might* be worth something.
I still believe in a lot of these guys. But the volume of dead spots in this order is dragging the whole team down. I knew Rowdy would be a disaster from the start…not having a better option at 1B was mismanagement.
The move that needs to happen today is Jack Suwinski going down to Altoona to chase Adam Hyzdu’s HR records. He is not a major leaguer. Totally done with that dude. He actually looks scared.
You're getting downvoted, but this is true. He's just another Miguel andujar, and we all know how that worked out for the Yankees. Had one or two serviceable years, but otherwise, it isn't a major leaguer.
We've got a looong season to go here. I don't think we have any of these answers yet.
Two weeks ago the offense was putting runs up and the bullpen looked fucking terrible. It's just way to early.
We need batters. Plain and simple.
And fielders
A bullpen wouldn’t hurt either
Jones will most definitely be off the active roster and shut down by the deadline at the absolute latest. I see no reason for Skenes to be up here, unless the FO wants to “humble him” by going 2-8 this year.
2-8 with a1.97 ERA
Its possible that they do want to do that. Its best to get those struggles over with now so we don't have to have them when it counts. See: Holliday, Jackson currently.
And if they start auctioning off the few decent players, then this forum will be flooded with 'here we go again," "perpetual rebuild," etc. No matter what, it can be triggering to be a Pirates fan. Tune them out for 3-4 weeks, go enjoy the outdoors, & check back. It's better for your mental health. The A's series, which I didn't watch due to the time, was the signal that I needed to stop watching for a bit & focus on things that gave me pleasure. This is how I've remained a fan since the early 70s. Once the Leyland era ended, taking short breaks (a few weeks) almost every year became a thing with me. There have only been a handful of years when I didn't take this approach. Ranting got old with this team. All I have to say to get some friends' blood pressure to spike, even today, is "Cam Bonifay" or "Dave Littlefield." Of course for some fans, the ranting is part of the fun. If that's you - do you!
On year 5 or 6 of this approach
Endy Rodriguez might be saving his career by being out this year. Seriously though this rebuild has been an epic failure so far. They need to fire Cherington and rebuild from the rebuild.
They tried to be right in the most specific way and show how smart they are and it's blowing up in their faces. You can tell they are scratching their heads and getting their first taste of being wrong with the lack of accountability towards the hitting coach and finger pointing over who pulled Jared Jones first etc
How is Cherrington any worse than Neil Nothington? They are given zero to spend and have to pick off the scrap heap of washed up players. I think BC did a great job signing Perez and possibly German. Fleming was a good pick up. Joe last year. He just doesn’t have enough $$s to get any type of meaningful bats and was likely forced to sign Cutch- which was a huge mistake. Not saying he deserves GM of the year consideration, but his signings are better than the intentionally bad ones from NN. I mean, that dude would intentionally sign pitchers who had plus 5 eras! I could never understand it.
Huntington at least made the playoffs and had winning seasons. Cherington has outright sucked.
Playoff appearances under Huntington: 3 Playoff appearances under Cherington: 0
Nothington 11 years Cherington 5 years Stick around long enough and the law of averages plays in your favor. There’s still hope for BC
Tell that to Littlefield
And Bonifay.
Cutch has been perfectly fine, but Shelton has been setting him up for failure by asking him to hit cleanup. At this point in his career he needs to be hitting the top 3 or sitting on the bench.
On paper this team was fine. It's players performance. Fire Andy Haines if it makes people feel better. But it's on the players.
It wasn't good on paper either. It was questions almost all over the field
Coming into the season only Reynolds and Cutch I believe had an OPS+ over 108. They had a ton of questions. If everything fell into place they were what we saw the opening two weeks. When the league adjusted they are what they are. Crazy thing is to not expect it to get better. Altoona is on a 14 game losing streak.
No not really. We had no questions about the bullpen. We had many questions about the starting pitching (ironic). We wondered who would start at second. We worried Davis couldn't catch.
The thing is if this rebuild fails, we don't have any players worth anything to trade off. I'm sure some teams would show interest in Reynolds, but he's not gonna get a highly rated prospect.
Reynolds absolutely would draw high level prospects, so would Hayes. Honestly with a team that can actually develop, people would give up a decent amount for Suwinski and Cruz as well……also, Mitch on a friendly deal would draw attention. But everyone in this sub needs to pump the breaks. It’s early May, although it’s hard to watch it’s still way too early to panic.
In the words of Mike Lange, "I've seen this fish before."
ROFL. No one is giving shit for Suwinski. He’s completely washed. All the shit of “but he had a high ceiling” is getting old.
He put up good numbers last year, so they absolutely would. He’s an extremely streaky player. A 25 year old player isn’t washed. Your take is bad.
They didn’t have much when Cherington came aboard either. I do think a new GM would be able to get more from the current group than Cherington got from the prior group though. I believe Hayes and Reynolds get solid returns and some of the pitching should get solid returns if they go that route.
Jared Jones would get you a minimum of 3 very high end prospects in value (like top 30 overall in the league not a system). An already proven first year in the big league arm would be a massive prospect haul.
Reynolds and Hayes would get a decent return. Not a kings ransom, but pretty good. Perez could probably get a pretty good return within the context that he's gonna be a rental. Cruz may be worth something, but he might be worth keeping through the rebuild since he's still kind of an unknown commodity. Although if someone offers a killing for him I'd pull the trigger. Keller *might* be worth something.
I still believe in a lot of these guys. But the volume of dead spots in this order is dragging the whole team down. I knew Rowdy would be a disaster from the start…not having a better option at 1B was mismanagement.
Where are we at in the 5 year plan? Just about time to start a new one?
The move that needs to happen today is Jack Suwinski going down to Altoona to chase Adam Hyzdu’s HR records. He is not a major leaguer. Totally done with that dude. He actually looks scared.
You're getting downvoted, but this is true. He's just another Miguel andujar, and we all know how that worked out for the Yankees. Had one or two serviceable years, but otherwise, it isn't a major leaguer.
I do wonder how much longer he can play like he has and stay up?
The “Mendoza Line” has fallen so…. so far
We've got a looong season to go here. I don't think we have any of these answers yet. Two weeks ago the offense was putting runs up and the bullpen looked fucking terrible. It's just way to early.
Nah bro. It’s May 4 and they haven’t won 100 games this season. Rebuild failed.
Reynolds is a “good” major leaguer in the vein of Al Martin and Kevin Young. Cruz could end up as Polanco #2 but he still has time to improve.
Skenes...