OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: More of the same

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, and a quick glance at Locke shows a lot more variance than what we've seen from Williams. Granted, Williams is outperforming the underlying stats, but I think even assuming regression, he's a good middle of the rotation cog. I think his control is a lot more sharp that Locke's -- earlier in the season, it seemed to me like he was trying to sell out more to get better K numbers, but the resulting increase in BBs isn't worth it for his style of pitching. He needs to keep runners off the bases, and BABIP will only help so much in that regard.

More vaguely, I've just never had much of the same feel watching Williams as I did with Locke, and I think there was a stretch of that season where Locke was just plain old pitching well for a decent stretch. Maybe Williams is about the same, but I think he's been a useful asset to have around from day 1.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Yeah, i like Williams a lot more than Locke. He's a useful arm for us. I'd rather not have him be somebody who is pitching in October but as a 4, you could do a lot worse.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

Yeah he should settle into a back end guy. Hes better than Locke in totality but this half year anomaly is just that, an anomaly.

 

[DanielPlainview]

Of course he's not going to go the rest of his career tossing a 0.87. He'll regress. And if he follows his own trend it will be to around 3.20-3.30. He's a #3 unless the Pirates are rolling with a top 5 rotation.

 

[Winger for Hire]

I can't wait for the offseason...

 

[Winger for Hire]

I was letting my mind wander off into the offseason this evening and was thinking about trade targets for the Buccos. I was thinking about swinging a deal with the Padres for Wil Meyers since they have a bunch of OFers vying for time already and Hosmer and soon Naylor locked in a 1B. I figured Myers might be a guy they dangle out there and he wouldn't be a bad option as a 4th OF, 1B mate with Bell, and/or 3B option; A 30/20 corner guy.

Then I looked at his contract...

Woof... nevermind. Back to the drawing board.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Solid, but unspectacular outing from Archer tonight, largely because of a big mistake pitch in an inning where he was unraveling a bit. Still the same kinds of highs and lows, but the pitch count was in very good shape until that inning. I doubt he's ever going to be someone who will cruise, but I do think he's partially reinventing himself right now, and so if these kinds of solid starts can become more of a baseline, then that bodes well going forward.

Polanco may have ended his season in the most Polanco-way imaginable. Maybe the ugliest, most awkward thing I've ever seen him do.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Kevin Kramer taking over 2B at above average production next year would be huge.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Kevin Kramer taking over 2B at above average production next year would be huge.

If we dont solve our 3B problem Id rather see him there and Frazier at 2B. Or at SS if Newman doesnt earn a starting job.

I do like that we have options now and there will be competition for starting jobs. Should get the most out of these guys having to earn it. Instead of just being handed a spot like Bell and Moran were.

Tucker and Hayes coming up in 2020 full time as well. Likely seeing them next September.

Luplow needs to be in the OF the rest of the season, with Polanco hurt he will get his chance now. He was solid in AA/AAA the last two years...he deserves a long look. Then we have Reynolds/Martin as well.

We really need some of these guys to step up and contribute. These next few years are depending on it.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Tucker hit a huge grand slam tonight to keep Altoona in the playoffs. I think Kramer should definitely get as much of a look as possible, including defensively at SS. Things could change, but I think right now, the plan will be to send J-Hay into the night and have Frazier be the everyday 2B who occasionally spells the corner OFs. Luplow would make sense as an OF reserve, and having the RH power on the bench would be a good asset.

That would seem to leave a FA SS, Newman, sometimes Kramer as SS options, and Moran, Kramer, Kang? as 3B options. Moran just kinda seems redundant at this point. Kramer might not be the most ideal 3B, but he has more offensive upside than Moran, and we desperately need offense from out infield. I'm really not sure what the best play would be -- it's also probably true that Escobar is the most reasonable free agent additional who could help offensively. I don't have a lot of optimism about the offense improving significantly. I think we're more likely to have improved success next year if we return to the days of starting pitching that hovers between adequate and very good, and a bullpen that is damn near invincible. I do think there's reason to be optimistic on both of those fronts, but all it takes is something like an injury to Taillon and it's a gut shot. We have an encouraging team ERA over the past two months, which is a very encouraging sign, since the main thing that has plagued the 2018 Pirates is wild inconsistency.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Bell suddenly hitting a bunch of HRs in September would be a kind of final bitter development from this season. But hey, if we win every single game, we can still get 91 wins.

 

[td_ice]

They'll end up better than I thought before the season. I had them down for about 74 wins.

 

[td_ice]

Solid, but unspectacular outing from Archer tonight, largely because of a big mistake pitch in an inning where he was unraveling a bit. Still the same kinds of highs and lows, but the pitch count was in very good shape until that inning. I doubt he's ever going to be someone who will cruise, but I do think he's partially reinventing himself right now, and so if these kinds of solid starts can become more of a baseline, then that bodes well going forward.

Polanco may have ended his season in the most Polanco-way imaginable. Maybe the ugliest, most awkward thing I've ever seen him do.

Yeah, his slides are awful in form.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

I think 82 wins is a decent guess. Definitely won't be an easy schedule, but also we have somewhat of a spoiler "advantage" against all the hated division rivals. Sadly, we are probably just 5 or so wins going the other direction from actually having our fate fairly firmly in our hands. Still would have taken an incredible final run, but not as out of the question as it would seem at first glance.

Nice to at least hopefully beat up on the very bad teams, and I hope at least spoil some shit for the f***ing Cardinals if nothing else.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

 

[ImporterExporter]

Polanco is one of the most awkward elite athletes I've ever witnessed. It's insane how clumsy he can be.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Honestly, as long as he's back for next year, I don't really care how long he'll be out.

The Pirates should be a good bet to finish over .500, because their remaining schedule is either shit teams or teams they have done decently well against this year. I think going 5-2 against the Marlins, Reds and Royals with going 7-6 against the Cardinals, Cubs and Brewers is totally within reason, which puts them at 83 wins. They've been getting such good starting pitching since the all-star break, if they can get their offense churning at all, I'd expect them to do even better than 12-8 in the last 20 games.

 

[ImporterExporter]

And this back and forth shit means Hurdle will get to keep his job.....again. He wouldn't have survived a tank job, which is what needed to happen in all reality. Now, we'll finish with like 80 wins and everything will be status quo.

Plus another middling 1st round draft pick in 2019....

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

We have all been wondering why they refused to play the young guys in August , and this is what happens when they finally do.

Hurdle sat around all month watching his offense avg 1 run a game.

This should be a playoff team. Our staff is at the top of the NL for the second half of the season.

As for Nova, if we decide to keep him...they should skip him in the rotation after each start. Hes way more productive after some time off. It would take some creative thinking(not really) tho so we would need a new manager.


I like that these young guys are hitting but it better not give them the excuse they wanted by not adding a top FA bat .

 

[DanielPlainview]

Yeah, I'd like to see them finish >.500 for the year, but I also don't because it means there's absolutely no chance Hurdle is canned...not that there really is either way.

I hate being held hostage by that stooge of a manager. Jesus.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Game today is cancelled due to rain and re-scheduled for October 1st, aka will never be played once we are officially eliminated from playoff contention.

Helps me out as long as Williams is pushed back til tomorrow, so that he starts in fantasy playoffs for me, but I can easily see us skipping his start, and continuing to do that with a couple pitchers in the remaining month.

 

[PensandCaps]

I'd say if we replaced every game Harrison and Sean Rod started and Put Fraizer there...that's at least a few games in the standings.

All went downhill with the Holmes game on San Fran.

Thanks Hurdle...god he's gonna be here forever isn't he? Costing us 10 games a year.

 

[td_ice]

Yeah, I'd like to see them finish >.500 for the year, but I also don't because it means there's absolutely no chance Hurdle is canned...not that there really is either way.

I hate being held hostage by that stooge of a manager. Jesus.

Yeah, there is no way they eat 3 years of his contract.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

lol that game just summed up the whole year.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, I had in my head that maybe it is some kind of meta-commentary that we are going to keep running the table on teams in order to finish with the half decent, slightly above .500 record that was always this teams series, after basically being dead in the water to make these games meaningless, but blowing a winnable game because a good pitcher just magically turns bad - and then within that, actually coming back but still losing because the bad pitcher you put in to mop up for the good pitcher turned bad is just actually bad - is probably a better season precis.