jay87shot

What would everyone's end of the year rotation preference be, just straight 5 man. I think Misi and Henderson will both be in the bullpen as they hit innings limits. 1)Freddy 2)Woody 3) Patrick 4) Priester 5)Quintana I really hope Gasser can get all the way back and make it back to the big league staff. It seems like the organization is determined to keep Priester there so hopefully he can continue to make small progressions like it seemed happened in his last start. I still think to make a playoff run we will need Woody to come back strong. Quintana has shown more than Civale or Cortes so he gets 5. My bullpen would be Megill, Uribe, Yoho, Mears, Koenig (gets it back together), Ashby, Hall, Misi, Henderson in that instance allowing us to turn excess arms into usable pieces.

I would think more than Soto because he is controllable longer. Basically they would get to pick like 6 prospect after Made if you asked me a price (not that I would do that).

I think we would all prefer not to sell because it means this team would be successful over the next 6-8 weeks. I think that there is a pretty defined line when we get close to the deadline, it is how far from the Cubs (or Cards) we are. With the Phillies, Mets, Dodgers, Padres, and Giants and then the D-backs, Braves, and our division teams fight it out I don't think the odds of getting a wild card are great (possible yes). If we are more than 5 games back I would sell the 1 year guys and entertain quality offers on Freddy and MeGill. I do think that we should make some early season moves here in the next month of so that will turn some excess pitching into a 3B/SS option. I wouldn't really call that buying or selling if it happens in the next couple weeks. I doubt any of our 1 year pitchers have a chance to get us a comp pick at this point. With how well the young guys have pitched and Hall, Ashby, and hopefully Gasser coming back II do think that there will be some buying and selling if we are kind of in a similar position standings wise as we are now. Sell short term guys, add younger controllable players.

I would be OK with Arcia, he probably would be better than Mone as a utility and there is at least a little power. If he is going good he could put together a good month or so.

I would guess he meant Shane Smith.

I like the idea of someone like Ronny Mauricio. The Mets have a bench of infield depth and before the injury he was a 5 tool highly exciting prospect. At the very least he is a top notch utility guy but he can play SS and 3B. I don't know what the Mets would want. Josh Smith would be OK but probably pretty expensive. IKF would be trade target at this point but Lara is to much. For IKF maybe like Mark Manfrdi if they eat some cash maybe a bit better like Kuehner Urias for Black wouldn't be bad but I would guess they would want pitching. KC Hunt, Cornielle, Birchard, or Kuehner and a lotto guy in rookie ball.

Ortiz and Durbin went 6 for 6 and Yelich seems to be getting on track. Yes it stinks to think that last night we were thinking about getting back to .500 and we dropped two tough ones. But if those 3 can get back on track those positives will long outway the bad taste of this one. I think it is time to say goodbye to Tyler Alexander. DL Hall is ready, Yoho and Jay are pitching well to be taxi guys at least. Woody and Quintana will need roster spots back soon (probably missing a rehab guy as well). Guys like Alexander end up being a dime a dozen at this point in his career.

If Birchard can keep the walks down like today I think he could quickly become a Logan Henderson level prospect.

I won't disagree but my guess is Made and Pena will be July promotions. Wilken yes please, it would appear Hardin needs on as well, That rookie ball is really promising and we continue to have a couple guys a week like Frederi Montero and Handlefry Encarnacion just becoming valuable prospects that no one really was even counting on before the year.

Yeah straight to the pen wouldn't make sense. I like the idea of piggybacking him with someone that way we can keep him stretched out and reduce innings so that he could be available for a playoff run if need be. I read posted somewhere else that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had an article speculating that the club might be dragging it's feet on a promotion until June 6th or as late as possible to eventually avoid super 2 status and save money through the arbitration process.

I agree with the 2nd two parts but I believe a true ace will always bring there best stuff and up their game against the best in the game. I agree a true ace should always dominate the current Pirates but there is a big difference between 6 innings 2 runs and like 6 k's and like 7+ innings 0 runs and 10 k's especially when going against Skenes and with our bullpen overworked.

Right now the bullpen is overworked and our starters are having a rough time getting though 5 innings or at least are not getting into the 6th. Woody and Civale (yesterday) are coming back but won't have a full workload for a few starts at least. Also Henderson and eventually Misi are going to have to have innings limit at some point this year. I love that we used a piggyback situation yesterday and would propose that the team actually put in a couple piggy back situations into play maybe for most of June. Here is how I would organize my staff and pen. The numbers are just the current order not how I would slot our starters by rank. Current) 1)Peralta 2)Preister 3) Henderson 4) Patrick 5)Ciavale/CarRod Other options) Myers, Woody, Misi, Hall, Ashby, Alexander 1)Peralta 2)Woody 5 innings/Hall 2-3 innings 3)Henderson 4-5/Misi 4-5 4)Patrick 5)Civale 5/Ashby or CarRod 2-3 pen Ashby, Hall, Misi, Mears, Anderson, Koenig, Uribe, Megill In this option I would have 3 piggybacks, if Hall and/or Ashby can get out of there 2-3 innings in like 30-40 pitches it would open them up for an innings a few days after they pitch or it would make a bullpen day easy to plan if maybe Woody, Henderson, or Civale go 6+ in there 75-80 pitches. If need be we could taxi Myers or Priester back and forth to also help a bullpen day for Hall. That really only leaves a 5 man bullpen plus a couple maybes in Hall or Ashby with extra work. However in theory those 5 would only need to cover a max 2 innings a game 3 times a week and 3-4 twice a week. It would also be easy to move Misi or Ashby/CarRod back or forward a day to cover Patrick if need be. Basically I want to see how everyone would manage this staff when we are healthy in like a week.

This is a big one gentlemen. 1 because it can set a tone for the next 2 games of the series and 2 because if Freddy can best Skenes it will cement his status as an ace in my mind at least finally 3 Yeli, Chourio, and Durbin are showing signs of life from yesterday if each can at least get a hit or on base a couple of times the confidence from that will hopefully jumpstart this offense back into full swing.

Looking at the teams who are out of it already, there is very little top of the rotation pitching available, Sandy Alcantara is probably the only guy I could call a top of the rotation guy and he has an ERA of 8 right now. Sugano and Eflin (Baltimore), Severino and Springs (A's), Heaney, big maybe Keller (Pirates) seem like the only decent pitchers who could be traded at this point and all of them have some question marks and Freddy is still better than all of those if you disregard age, injuries, or less than ideal results this year. If we do entertain Freddy we should be able to get a king's ransom if we play it right because he would be the best pitcher on the market by quite a bit. Not saying we will, I fully hope we are in a spot were we wouldn't dare think to trade Freddy.

I stand corrected, Siegler played last night in AAA. I am pretty sure he was suppose to be out a month with a broken finger but was only out a week (if even that long).

He got hurt last week and is out for a month I believe. It was the 1st game in AAA they were giving him a chance to play 3rd. Just our luck. He was on a couple week hot streak so his numbers may be a bit inflated, but he has really good tools. Interestingly he catches as well but had some injuries a couple years ago and transitioned to 2B, however he still has caught a decent amount this year. If he can play 3B there is definitely the makings of a top notch utility guy who can be a backup/3rd catcher, run the bases, and provide quality defense.

I fell asleep after the rain delay but was really surprised to see that CarRod went back out after a 2 hour delay. I get that we have a lot of over worked arms but a 2 hour rain delay seems a bit risky. I guess at least he had a ton of time to re-warm up.

It was nice to see Durbin have a really solid game (I missed a few innings so hopefully that is accurate). I think the main mistake yesterday was that Grant Anderson only threw 4 pitches, if he goes back for the 7th then it Mears 8th and Megill 9th. There would be no stretching Mears for a 2nd inning and bring Payamps in the middle of the order. It would also make Payamps available in extras, Pitching McGee a second inning with Alexander being so overworked probably would have been a good idea. My guess is that Alexander gets either like 3 days off or has a phantom IL stretch. I will give Murph a little pass on the position players not hitting well, I do agree he needs to move Yeli down the order to make a point. I haven't had to many issue with the bullpen management, yesterday wasn't good.

The Milwaukee Journal had an interesting article pointing out that the Brewers may likely dragging there feet on a Misi promotion due to trying to avoid a super 2 qualification. Basically it said that June 6th is a historically safe date for players to be brought up and avoid be super 2. If Dinges has a 70 arm and I feel pretty safe in saying he has a 55 bat and power. If the fielding can get to average he is for sure going to challenge Quero as catcher of the future.

Here are some other ideas that I haven't heard mentioned for 3B or SS. 1) Isiah Kiner-Falefa He is about as consistent as it comes and could do a good job at SS or 3B. He would definitely add stability. Hitting .282/336/683 he isn't going to bring any power but we just need a consistent player. He makes 7.5 this year so the Pirates will trade him and he won't cost a ton. 2)Yoan Moncada .229/.349/835 is a lot more power and upside than IKF, however I just feel it in my bones that if we trade for him he will get hurt like the week we acquire him. Another expiring deal that won't cost much. 3) Jose Tena Brady House is pretty close to taking over 3B, and the Nats have Garcia and Abrams at 2B/SS. Tena is probably a good utility guy for them but could be a interesting trade option. He is only 24 and controllable through 2030 so the price would be a decent amount more than IKF or Moncada. 4)Ke'Bryan Hayes This would be a gamblers move, he is owed 7 or 8 million a year through 2029 (2030 team option). The glove is still great and he is only 28, however the bat has been weak the past year and a half. He did put up a 4.5 WAR year in 22 and 3.9 in 23. My guess is that the Pirates would trade him if someone wanted to take that contract, however the risk of paying a potentially spent player for 4 years after this is huge. On the flip side possibly a change of scenery and new organization ignites the bat back to average or better and there could be huge value in getting a player with 4 WAR potential on a 4 year 7-8 per year deal. Would a Ashby for Hayes and a decent prospect (like top 10 Pirates org) sound like an intriguing proposition.

I was thinking that Ramon Urias would be a better target with the O's now 17 below .500 and Westburg and Mayo as younger 3B. I would be fine with Luis as well I think Elvis Peguero would be a nice piece to send to Oakland, it is an overpay this early in the year and probably doesn't hurt us long term. For Ramon maybe Peguero and then like a decent non top 30 prospect maybe like Kuehner/Cornielle or like KC Hunt if a little bit better ranked prospect was needed.

Owen Miller just elected free agency, I would take him back in a heartbeat. He isn't a long term answer by any means but he should hit over .200.

Sugano is going to be an interesting matchup, he doesn't walk many and has a high chase rate. Hopefully we can be aggressive on strikes early in the count. This feels like the kind of guy that could be perfect to get Yeli going, here's to hoping.

It's nice to see some deserved promotions trickling in even if it is in part because of injuries. Luis Lara has really played well the past month or so and it is easy to forget that he is still just 20 (until Nov.) in AA. If he can start hitting with even a little power he can turn into a really good prospect with hope good his defense and speed tools are. Brock Wilken has a little bit of that Mike Trout lean/finish when hits a bomb that is very satisfying.

3 in a row and Logan Henderson is looking like a stud. With CarRod getting a start and Misi balling out the future looks bright. Hopefully Woody and Civale can come back strong and our pitching will carry us until we can get Yeli and the left side of the IF right.