OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: We're the Pirates, bro

[cheesedanish87]

Honestly if your in Reyas shoes taking PED seems like a worthwhile gamble.

If he doesn't cheat he's a triple A ballplayer, why not try and cheat and see if you can be a MLB player?

 

[Winger for Hire]

And it's only 80 games. Not a terrible trade off

 

[Empoleon8771]

 

[Gallatin]

Slightly, yes.

And everyone, don't forget, this year it's a 26 man roster with a 13 or 14, I can't remember which, limit.

I have come to believe Longenhagen's the best at the ratings business. And there's a big gap to whoever is next. He kinda snuck up on me over the years, he's tought me so much though. I doubt we will have access to him for very much longer, will be in MLB or behind a paywall IMO.

Was curious if others saw him this way....

 

[Gallatin]

I think the pitching limit is 13. I also follow Longenhagen but not super closely. His report on Cruz was a big reason I have gone from very excited to extremely excited about Cruz. Honestly, if his hit tool looks good in AA this year, he's a mega-prospect in my eyes. He may not do much more than hit 10-15 dingers or so (12 or 13 would put him in the top-20 for the league), but if his hitting starts to get more and more dialed in, then he's a 5 tool guy.

Cruz is mos def exciting. One of the reasons I'm considering an Milb subscription this year.

 

[Winger for Hire]

I have come to believe Longenhagen's the best at the ratings business. And there's a big gap to whoever is next. He kinda snuck up on me over the years, he's tought me so much though. I doubt we will have access to him for very much longer, will be in MLB or behind a paywall IMO.

Was curious if others saw him this way....

He's grown on me. I hated him like 3 years ago, but he's grown a lot.

I still think Ralph Lifshitz might be my #1

 

[Gallatin]

Development at AAA is valuable to a point. Hayes' defense is MLB-ready; if MLB gave out rookie golden gloves, he'd probably be a top candidate. His bat is not where people want it to be, but hitting in AAA isn't going to be a great help to him as far as hitting in MLB, at least not as much as people think it would be. The gap in pitching talent is such that it's not really even worth worrying about unless the issues are technique/mechanics or he just really can't read a curveball (in which case he'll probably never hit in MLB).

If they only have to wait a couple weeks then so be it, but I don't see much value in keeping him in AAA when he's by far the organization's best defensive 3B and has a bat that's probably not significantly less productive than Moran's. Plus, he has some base-stealing capability.

I really don't care what other clubs do or don't do.

Isn't Hays reworking his swing this off-season? I would not want to be messing around with stuff like that as a rookie MLB player myself.

 

[ChaosAgent]

He's grown on me. I hated him like 3 years ago, but he's grown a lot.

I still think Ralph Lifshitz might be my #1

Wasn't he a character in the "Rugrats" cartoon?

 

[Gallatin]

He's grown on me. I hated him like 3 years ago, but he's grown a lot.

I still think Ralph Lifshitz might be my #1

He's good no doubt. Does he put out anything like the volume Longehhagen does though? And I don't believe he selects for upside in his ratings like Fangraphs does, or focuses as much on tools over stats. Something most of the industry fails at IMO. He's in my top 3 for sure though.

 

[Gallatin]

He's grown on me. I hated him like 3 years ago, but he's grown a lot.

I still think Ralph Lifshitz might be my #1

I didn't like him at first either. I believe right now he's the closest we see to a real scout.

 

[Gallatin]

Strange as it sounds - this is the best Pirates board I can find right now. Going to migrate over here for a bit.

I moved to Pittsburgh a non-baseball kid in 1979. Got sick from the bad air - was in the hospital for the World Series, and fell madly in love with the sport.

Learned to hit rewinding Bill Madlock on the VCR for months. Used all his body movements - and dam if that didn't work out great.

Nowadays I follow the Bucs from a GM's perspective; like to deep dive into analytics, coaching, scouting, development, etc... The parent club often gets less than a third of my baseball time in recent years.

I am heavily influenced by Moneyball, RAPSIDO, and honestly Ben Cherrington - who I actually was a fan of when he was with Boston. So I bring a much more upbeat and positive perspective - as I believe strongly in BC's ability to scout and develop.

And please don't hate me - but the Redsox have always been my 2nd fav team for no reason I can even name. Well I do vividly remember Yaz & Rice from the early 80's...

 

[ChaosAgent]

Strange as it sounds - this is the best Pirates board I can find right now. Going to migrate over here for a bit.

I moved to Pittsburgh a non-baseball kid in 1979. Got sick from the bad air - was in the hospital for the World Series, and fell madly in love with the sport.

Learned to hit rewinding Bill Madlock on the VCR for months. Used all his body movements - and dam if that didn't work out great.

Nowadays I follow the Bucs from a GM's perspective; like to deep dive into analytics, coaching, scouting, development, etc... The parent club often gets less than a third of my baseball time in recent years.

I am heavily influenced by Moneyball, RAPSIDO, and honestly Ben Cherrington - who I actually was a fan of when he was with Boston. So I bring a much more upbeat and positive perspective - as I believe strongly in BC's ability to scout and develop.

And please don't hate me - but the Redsox have always been my 2nd fav team for no reason I can even name. Well I do vividly remember Yaz & Rice from the early 80's...

It's crazy, actually. Bucs Dugout used to definitively be the go-to as the team was rounding into form during the Huntington years. Then Charlie Wilmouth left, SBNation took over and the culture of the board didn't survive the change in baseball outlook + the change in board management. Trib/PG/whatever is ridiculously toxic and filled with the accurate-but-tiresome Nutting takes I've maybe been overzealous in trying to police here. DK is DK and he can never decide whether to be a shock jock or a reasonable person. I am certain his comment section is dominated by the shock jocks. Meanwhile, WHYGAVS and Rumbunter lean too optimistic and too "every prospect is good!"-ey. Though I do like to read Rumbunter with a grain o'salt.

No idea what Tim Williams and Pirates Prospects is up to. Hope the pay site is surviving.

 

[Winger for Hire]

He's good no doubt. Does he put out anything like the volume Longehhagen does though? And I don't believe he selects for upside in his ratings like Fangraphs does, or focuses as much on tools over stats. Something most of the industry fails at IMO. He's in my top 3 for sure though.

Lifshitz doesn't do the volume that Longe does, but he does have his own site (ProspectsLive) that does incredible work and has Jason Pennini as well, who is probably in my top 4/5. The entire site has like 6 guys who give some very good reports, lists, projections as well as Realistic/Ceiling grades in all their lists/reports.

One prospect guy I like, mainly because he looks at them from a fantasy aspect, which I dabble in quite frequently, is Eric Cross (@EricCross04) who writes for Fantrax (my fantasy site of choice).

 

[Winger for Hire]

Wasn't he a character in the "Rugrats" cartoon?

This is good content. 60 grade message board humor.

 

[ChaosAgent]

This is good content. 60 grade message board humor.

Looked both the scout and the character up. The character is a child psychologist named Lipshitz which is one of those subliminal adult humor things that you gotta put in your shows to stay sane as a kids' showrunner I imagine.

ProspectsLive is great. Their top 30 list for us was so comprehensive. Can't believe it was free.

I'll check out that Cross guy. Frequently I find that the fantasy people have more intrinsic motivation to be accurate. Mainly because there's gambling money riding on it. The same way that I always look up Vegas on election odds.

 

[Gallatin]

It's crazy, actually. Bucs Dugout used to definitively be the go-to as the team was rounding into form during the Huntington years. Then Charlie Wilmouth left, SBNation took over and the culture of the board didn't survive the change in baseball outlook + the change in board management. Trib/PG/whatever is ridiculously toxic and filled with the accurate-but-tiresome Nutting takes I've maybe been overzealous in trying to police here. DK is DK and he can never decide whether to be a shock jock or a reasonable person. I am certain his comment section is dominated by the shock jocks. Meanwhile, WHYGAVS and Rumbunter lean too optimistic and too "every prospect is good!"-ey. Though I do like to read Rumbunter with a grain o'salt.

No idea what Tim Williams and Pirates Prospects is up to. Hope the pay site is surviving.

I stuck with Tim Williams. He's been limping along, while designing a new site. The dialogue has gone down hill though.

 

[Gallatin]

Lifshitz doesn't do the volume that Longe does, but he does have his own site (ProspectsLive) that does incredible work and has Jason Pennini as well, who is probably in my top 4/5. The entire site has like 6 guys who give some very good reports, lists, projections as well as Realistic/Ceiling grades in all their lists/reports.

One prospect guy I like, mainly because he looks at them from a fantasy aspect, which I dabble in quite frequently, is Eric Cross (@EricCross04) who writes for Fantrax (my fantasy site of choice).

Their stuff is excellent no doubt. The level of detail is crazy amazing...

 

[Gallatin]

Looked both the scout and the character up. The character is a child psychologist named Lipshitz which is one of those subliminal adult humor things that you gotta put in your shows to stay sane as a kids' showrunner I imagine.

ProspectsLive is great. Their top 30 list for us was so comprehensive. Can't believe it was free.

I'll check out that Cross guy. Frequently I find that the fantasy people have more intrinsic motivation to be accurate. Mainly because there's gambling money riding on it. The same way that I always look up Vegas on election odds.

Prospectslive's Cruz write up is kinda amazing. Never seen so much info free before. Pirates 2020 Top 30 Prospects — Prospects Live

 

[ChaosAgent]

I stuck with Tim Williams. He's been limping along, while designing a new site. The dialogue has gone down hill though.

Yeah I just looked up P2 and "limping along" would be a nice way to put it. The content doesn't look worthy of paying for honestly.

Having said that, I think I saw an interview with him recently saying that fan apathy towards the Pirates and their system was driving the site's demise. The site started in the midst of the NH full teardown and so all fans really had was the minors and their expectations were nil. Now, most of the interesting pieces are 2018-2019 rookies or AA/AAA guys where Tim's coverage isn't quite as needed. Maybe with the AZ kids, this Australian dude, the draft class last year, the draft class this year and that "new Polanco" kid there can be a renaissance of interest in the low minors.

 

[Winger for Hire]

The other thing I really like about Prospects Live is that they get live looks at a lot of different players- random Cape Cod looks, high school showcases, All-American games, etc

 

[Gallatin]

Yeah I just looked up P2 and "limping along" would be a nice way to put it. The content doesn't look worthy of paying for honestly.

Having said that, I think I saw an interview with him recently saying that fan apathy towards the Pirates and their system was driving the site's demise. The site started in the midst of the NH full teardown and so all fans really had was the minors and their expectations were nil. Now, most of the interesting pieces are 2018-2019 rookies or AA/AAA guys where Tim's coverage isn't quite as needed. Maybe with the AZ kids, this Australian dude, the draft class last year, the draft class this year and that "new Polanco" kid there can be a renaissance of interest in the low minors.

The Bucs are loaded with high upside teenagers ready to break out. Like - at least 10 of them. BC is going to crush it here.

 

[ChaosAgent]

The Bucs are loaded with high upside teenagers ready to break out. Like - at least 10 of them. BC is going to crush it here.

Name 'em! I love the SS from Arizona, love Priester (plz stay healthy), and love Thomas. Gimme 5 more...

 

[Gallatin]

Name 'em! I love the SS from Arizona, love Priester (plz stay healthy), and love Thomas. Gimme 5 more...

Company just walked in. I'll get back to this in the next 24.

 

[ChaosAgent]

Company just walked in. I'll get back to this in the next 24.

Was a pleasure chatting with ya. Welcome to the Pirates enclave on the (best) Penguins board.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I'm still legit mad we don't have Gerrit Cole anymore.