OT: Raise the Jolly Rodger: Setting sail on a new season

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Santanas sure trying to get traded

 

[ChaosAgent]

Nick Martinez is exactly who we should target in 4 months' time.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Would have been nice to see Priester get 6 IP, though I think this game is indicative of what to expect from him. Has to have the command working and scatter the hits around, and then be managed with a quick hook because as we saw against the Guardians, he can be hammered. Good move by Shelton to go with Borouki in that instance.

I think he offers an ok floor, but there will be some frustrating moments still to come for sure. He's going to keep you in a lot of games, but he'll need a decent offense and when he's not sharp, it could get ugly. There's still plenty of time to mature into more, but I think right now he's that kind of #4 starter.

I also wonder how we'll manage him. It's full go right now, but we moved some starters around to give him more like a full week's rest, and it wouldn't be surprising to see that again. He's surpassed his innings total from last year, so we probably have a number where we'll build him up and then shut him down at some point. He did pitch in the AFL, so maybe we get him to the end of the season, but wouldn't be too upset to try and get him through August or the first week of September and then call it a season.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Raise it!

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Mildly interesting that Jenkins hasn't signed yet, but it's probably just Boras getting the max for his client by waiting until the last moment. Even at just full slot, he's the 5th highest paid player in the draft by a huge margin and it might be hard to top that in three years.

Still, you have to wonder why Minnesota wouldn't just go into their overage to make sure this gets done. You're talking about 700K plus additional taxes on that, which is absolute peanuts for any MLB team. I think some of this stuff is more general league politics and power struggles rather than only being about one decision.

 

[WickedWrister]

 

[ChaosAgent]

Feels like the end for Marcano

 

[Empoleon8771]

I really thought they found something with Marcano but he has an OPS of .483 since the start of June. I’m glad they gave him an extended look but yeah it’s time for him to go back to AAA.

With Gonzales looking the part as a competent but streaky 2B, I don’t see where Marcano would fit anyway. Williams is another speed/contact guy but he actually seems to have viable defense at SS, so it should be nice to push Gonzales back to 2B full time and have Williams and Peguero start at SS.

Edit: I actually didn’t realize that Marcano had a bad looking injury yesterday, I missed that. I think Marcano needs to go back to AAA but it seems like he’s more likely to end up on the 60 day IL after that.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, Marcano's season has to be over after that injury. I doubt he was going to be on the roster for long, so while that was tough to see, probably for the best to get a look at Williams.

 

[sovietsanta87]

Termarr with homerun number 13.

They moved Sightler up to high A. He’s 2-4 with a bomb in his first game lmao

 

[Shrimper]

Oracle Park is very nice

 

[sovietsanta87]

Please never sign another 180 year old pitcher again.

 

[Shrimper]

Cobb with 7/8 K's

Oakland suck

 

[Shrimper]

This game is going by very quickly

 

[metalan2]

Off the bat from Mccutchen that was a base hit, but we're the Pirates so of course dude catches it.

 

[WickedWrister]

Uhhh... was Pedromo intentionally throwing at Machado there? Rage throwing 98 straight at his back after giving up a bomb to Soto?

Umps auto ejecting him was kind of surprising, but at least Shelton showed a pulse getting ejected there in solidarity.

 

[Shrimper]

Going to check out next years schedule to see where the Pirates are playing.

April looks good. @ Nats, vs Orioles and some NHL games around then

 

[WickedWrister]

Oviedo 4 pitch violations in the first inning? WTF?

3 automatic balls + one warning

 

[Empoleon8771]

Bednar has had a super bad outing but they were able to scrape by with it. Walks Soto on 4 pitches to walk in a run and make it 3-2, but got a popout and a strikeout to end the game.

 

[WickedWrister]

Raise it!

Don Kelly unintentionally intentionally walking Soto with the bases loaded was interesting.

First series win since last month against the Padres.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Raise it!

If Reynolds is waking up, we could see some good offensive baseball soon.
It is amazing the Padres aren't better considering the names in their lineup.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Raise it!

If Reynolds is waking up, we could see some good offensive baseball soon.
It is amazing the Padres aren't better considering the names in their lineup.

I picked up the Padres as a team I liked after I visited San Diego, and man I can't even imagine the shit Padres fans are going through watching their team.

The Pirates suck but everyone knows they're going to suck. The Padres? Watching a team with that kind of star power being a bad team must be infuriating to watch.

 

[ChaosAgent]

I picked up the Padres as a team I liked after I visited San Diego, and man I can't even imagine the shit Padres fans are going through watching their team.

The Pirates suck but everyone knows they're going to suck. The Padres? Watching a team with that kind of star power being a bad team must be infuriating to watch.

I think Boegarts is an awesome player but that is going to be one of the biggest albatross contracts of all time. He's already gaining weight.

Nick Martinez would be such a good pickup for the Bucs. He has an player option for 2 years, $16M with SD but we should be willing to give him $2, $22M. He can still start plenty of baseball games and could also be a multi-inning reliever.

If we can sign 3 pitchers of his caliber and spend $30M next year, we could be cooking with gas with this roster. I can be optimistic on the bats internally. I can't be optimistic about the arms unless we see a Roansy and/or Ortiz renaissance in the next month.

 

[Shrimper]

Whoever opened pitching for the A's, they stank

 

[DJ Spinoza]

First bigger trade, though seems like there might not be a ton more this year.

These are always a little difficult to evaluate when it's a weaker system, but seems like Chicago did pretty well for themselves here, with Quero being a middle top-100 prospect and Bush having some chance at a starting role and probably a floor as a solid reliever. Also fair to assume that Chicago had lots of offers and felt this was worth not waiting around for a better last-minute offer from probably half a dozen other possible teams.

The addition of Lopez also helps out, but still seems like a pretty hefty haul for two rentals.