OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Sell the Team
- Thread starter Big McLargehuge
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MrBurghundy
I may be older but I'm never forgetting #47 & #41
Honest question. At this point, why would anybody give a single **** about the Pirates at all? Unless you grew up in the 70's or earlier and actually saw a winning team, there's not much incentive to even recognize Pittsburgh has a baseball team.
Winger for Hire
Praise Beebo
Quick answer- I was born into it. Same reason someone is a Browns fan or Knicks fan or Jets fan.
I think people my age (mid 30s) might have it the worst when it comes to the Pirates. We heard the stories about Wagner, Big and Little Poison, Pie Traynor, Roberto, Maz, Dave Parker, Pops and the Family and how awesome the team was and how electric the city got in the late summer during a pennant chase. And to top it all off, when we (or at least myself) started really grasping the game and the whole concept of baseball, the Pirates were touting some amazingly talented teams with Bonds, Van Slyke, Bobby Bo, Drebek, Jay Bell and Chico Lind up the middle winning Gold Gloves. Young me got a small, brief taste of how it could be.
Then came the images that have been etched into my brain since Oct 14th, 1992
We know the rest... Bonds walks, ownership shuts it down, and Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield wreck havoc and chaos.
But between the stories from my father, the love of the game he instilled in me (and my brother and sister), and the team the Pirates had when I could really form memories I formed a bond with the team. It's MY team. Not in the sense that I own in, but in the sense that I KNOW it. We're like a diehard fan of one of those English Championship or League One/Two/Three clubs who are destined to make a year or two run in the EPL once every 20 years, but toil around the lower levels mostly. We dream of the light at the end of the tunnel (and may have seen it once upon a time in another era) and it's what we've hitched our wagons to.
bathroomSTAAL
The halcyon days
FlightlessBird
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madinsomniac
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MLB should have stripped umps from calling balls and strikes except on swings and misses/ fouls about ten years ago... joke of a league...
Penguins23
Le Magnifique
I haven't been following the Pirates since the Nicasio thing, I assume Rivero was unavailable yesterday? What a waste of a great start by Cole.
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Coastal Kev
There will be "I told you so's" Bet on it
I'm not sure who Alan is but his tweet doesn't hold up to what the graphic shows.
One bad call in 13 pitches. If this is an example of terrible umping with balls and strikes, then the umps do a pretty good job.
They got 2 out of 12 calls wrong. Thats 17%
Out of the 3 closest pitches to the edge one way or the other they missed 2 of those three.
So they got the 9 easiest call right and blew 66% of the close calls.
Coastal Kev
There will be "I told you so's" Bet on it
You may want to look again, he missed one clear strike.
Also, what makes you think the graph is 100% accurate? I'm not looking to start a pee-pee match, I simply found Alan's tweet funny, the evidence doesn't hold up to the characterization.
Its true that the calibration could be incorrect but this tech has gotten pretty accurate over the year, so assuming it is correct...
There are literally 2 blue (called balls) dots inside the black rectangle. Out of the three dots closest to the black line (in either direction), 2 were called incorrectly. Again as long as the graph is correct its a very black and white issue.
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DanielPlainview
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- Apr 28, 2009
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bathroomSTAAL
The halcyon days
Pick87your71Poison
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DJ Spinoza
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- Aug 7, 2003
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I was just coming here to post that it's somewhat annoying to see rumors that Kingham won't be one of the ones added now that Indy is done. Even to just get him a couple random innings of middle relief at some point, if there's no room for a start. We will need to make a decision on him in some capacity for next year, and he's finished the season off on a strong note.
On the other hand, Kuhl has certainly put together some impressive performances as the season has dwindled into total irrelevance. I don't think it's so open and shut that he belongs in the bullpen. Glasnow has definitely got to be at the top of the line for a shot in 2018, given his pedigree, and so maybe Kingham's fate will be bullpen, considering that there's no spot for Glasnow if everyone is healthy.
Almost wonder if now that he's extended, Huntington will be more aggressive with a re-tool/re-build over the winter, by looking to trade Cutch and Cole. Without Cutch, this team would truly have been a black hole of disaster this year, but the only other option is just letting him play things out, or moving him at the deadline.
Cole would be a big risk to trade, but if the return was very good, it makes a certain amount of sense, despite the obvious point that the Kuhls, Glasnows, Kinghams are not going to be able to be counted on for the same type of thing as Cole. But if you have the right amount of pessimism and not just total despair about this team, I think the tough reality is that Cole's timing is out of sync with the other important players on this team, and so it's better to focus more on 2019 than 2018. One bad injury to Cole and he becomes totally worthless, so cashing out on that chip now makes a lot of sense, even if the backlash will be intense.
Penguins23
Le Magnifique
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Man, I really hope he's ready this time. He'd be a gigantic shot in the arm going into next season if they can slot him between Taillon and Nova, then let Kuhl, Trev, and Brault duke it out for #5.
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