OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: New season of plundering begins

[Empoleon8771]

His UCL would have been just fine. If he would stayed in his arm wasn’t going to explode

There was absolutely no benefit for keeping him in. He's already on an innings limit for this year as he gradually increases from where he was in college, and wasting those innings on a meaningless 7th inning in a game that's already done would have been silly.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Honestly this feel like the kind of game that can make this team go on a run. Between downright dominance from Skenes, great hitting all throughout the lineup and going up 2-0 on the Cubs in the series, I think this could be a spark to let this team go on a run.

They just need to not make dumb lineup decisions, like sitting Joe or Olivares for Suwinski or Tellez.

 

[ImporterExporter]

This bullpen is such ass. Walk after walk after walk.

 

[sovietsanta87]

Just get one guy out please

 

[Empoleon8771]

I don't understand why they DFA'd Contreras if they were just going to call up Ryan to replace him.

 

[sovietsanta87]

Throwing f***ing strikes

 

[WickedWrister]

These bullpen walks are killing my soul

 

[sovietsanta87]

Morel first pitch swinging at a ball out of the zone. Trying to his an 8 run homer

Nibbling with an 8 run lead. You can’t tell me there aren’t better pitchers out there

I have to walk away before I break something. It’s not even about winning and losing. It’s bad baseball.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Just find a way to get 4 outs without giving up another 6 runs.

 

[td_ice]

Friggin' arson squad.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Stratton was a welcome viewing to end that game.

Skenes gets his first W throwing a no-no with 11 K's, in his 2nd career start.

Skenes-Jones-Keller can win a WS. Just need better people around them, especially in the pen.

 

[WickedWrister]

"The seven strikeouts to begin a game set a record for a Pirates pitcher and were second most behind Jacob deGrom (eight straight batters in 2014) for the longest run by a rookie in MLB history. It also tied the fifth-longest streak to start a game in big league history.

Skenes' 18 strikeouts through his first two outings -- both against the Cubs -- are tied with Nick Maddox (1907) for the most by a Pirates pitcher over his first two career starts.

Skenes threw 12 pitches at 100 mph or faster Friday, while sprinkling in his secondary pitches in a dominant performance. He became the fifth rookie pitcher since the mound was extended in 1893 to have 10 strikeouts and no hits allowed in a game."

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Skenes is love, Skenes is life, Skenes is eternal, Skenes does not forgive.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

Paul Skenes is basically a cheat code.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Skenes has the best stuff I've ever seen, maybe better than Strasburg. The fastball is even more explosive than I imagined.

Nick Gonzales could be a very pleasant surprise.

Re: the pen. Look. We have 4 good relievers in Bednar, Chapman, Holderman and Ortiz. Stratton may be joining their ranks. Bednar and Chapman have been garbage to start the year but they will be above-average when the dust settles. When we are up big we try to manage those guys' workloads.
It sucks that the underbelly of the bullpen is so bad; Borucki would have REALLY helped and perhaps Priester or Falter in a relief role would help. But it doesn't make sense to continue assuming that the crappy guys are going to give up 3 runs an inning. We should just let Tellez or someone pitch at that point.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Skenes has the best stuff I've ever seen, maybe better than Strasburg. The fastball is even more explosive than I imagined.

Nick Gonzales could be a very pleasant surprise.

Re: the pen. Look. We have 4 good relievers in Bednar, Chapman, Holderman and Ortiz. Stratton may be joining their ranks. Bednar and Chapman have been garbage to start the year but they will be above-average when the dust settles. When we are up big we try to manage those guys' workloads.
It sucks that the underbelly of the bullpen is so bad; Borucki would have REALLY helped and perhaps Priester or Falter in a relief role would help. But it doesn't make sense to continue assuming that the crappy guys are going to give up 3 runs an inning. We should just let Tellez or someone pitch at that point.

Skenes is a 10 foot tall beast man who showers in vodka and feeds his baby shrimp scampi.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Yeah I have a history of overreacting about players in short sample sizes, but I can't just help being super excited with Gonzales. He has all of the tools you want out of an all-star 2B if he's just making contact, and he's showing that right now.

His strikeout rate is a glaring example of how much he has improved. Last year, he struck out 118 times in 443 PAs in AAA (26.6%) and 36 times in 128 PAs in the MLB (28.1%). This year, he's at 24 strikeouts in 137 PAs in AAA (17.5%) and 5 strikeouts in 26 PAs in the MLB (19.2%). It's obvious that he changed something with his swing in the off-season which is letting him make much more consistent contact, which was the sole thing holding him back from being a legitimately good MLB 2B.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I did some more digging into Gonzales' batter metrics in AAA this year, yeah this breakout is real. The main thing Fangraphs criticized him for was his bad ability to make contact with pitches inside the zone, which was even shown last year. But this year, he's up to an 82% z-contact% in AAA, which is up 7% from where he was last year in AAA at 75%. I don't know the exact numbers, but the low to mid 70s are bad I believe and the low to mid 80s are more average from what I can tell, but that difference along makes Gonzales an infinitely more viable long-term 2B.

Like I've said before, he has all of the tools you want out of a 2B if he's just making contact. He did something with his swing this off-season that is causing him to make substantially more contact (I'd call that jump "substantial") and it looks pretty sustainable. Anything can happen in the future, but he's skyrocketing up the Pirates prospect boards with this improvement. Fangraphs had him at a 30/35 hitting tool, I think this improvement puts him firmly around that 40/45 range. Which isn't anything great, but he doesn't need to be a great contact hitter.

 

[ChaosAgent]

So we'll be significant underdogs tomorrow with Imanaga. I would go with 9 righties in the lineup. Cruz needs a day off against a lefty.

DH Cutch
LF Reynolds
1B Joe
RF Olivares
2B Gonzo
3B Triolo
CF Taylor
C Bart
SS Williams

Pinch hit Cruz if needed later.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I still can't believe that Paul Skenes threw a 6 inning no-hitter in literally his 2nd outing in his professional career. We're going to get to watch 100-150 of his starts at minimum, and it was only start #2 that he put up a pure ace-level performance that the Pirates haven't seen in decades.

Cole ended up a monster after he left Pittsburgh, so the Pirates definitely failed him, but Skenes looks like he'll be better for the Pirates than Cole ever was.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

I still can't believe that Paul Skenes threw a 6 inning no-hitter in literally his 2nd outing in his professional career. We're going to get to watch 100-150 of his starts at minimum, and it was only start #2 that he put up a pure ace-level performance that the Pirates haven't seen in decades.

Paul David Skenes sits on a throne made of human skulls.

f*** it, give Skenes a 15 year, 440 million dollar contract right the f*** now.

 

[Sorry]

Never seen pitches like this so low in the zone with that speed. Good luck.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Amazing pitching performance

 

[DJ Spinoza]

The nice thing about taking care of business with two aces on the mound is that we're basically playing with house money tomorrow. The pressure is on the Cubs to hold serve and give themselves a chance at a split.

I have followed Imanaga fairly closely and it's not going to be an easy task. We will need to make him work and not miss any opportunity that does come up. The one nice thing is that the Cubs are pretty lefty heavy right now, with Swanson still on the IL and Suzuki not really looking comfortable.

I don't expect a lot out of Falter but the goal posts have moved a little bit for him now that Skenes has finally arrived. If he can just give you 5 IP, 2 runs, you take that every day. Anything more than that is a massive boon.

 

[OnMyOwn]

Seems like the pirates really need to start investing in acquiring hitters and soon. They basically have 2 aces and a decent number 3 in Keller. No reason to sit tight with mediocre hitting at several positions.

Only saw skenes highlights from yesterday, but my goodness what a performance.