Pirates baseball...

...it's craptacular.

 

Dey whippin' up on dem Rangers right about now. 3 run first, hoorah! Don't count on that beer just yet. There's still plenty of baseball to be played.

 

Please.

 

They have a lot of young talent, you can't argue with that. The run support wasn't there earlier in the season but has picked up lately. They don't have a lot of power but get men on base. The problem is they leave them stranded. They make quite a few baserunning errors that cost them the chance of scoring which is indicative of both bad fundamentals and coaching. I don't think Tracy does a very good job of getting the most out of the talent he has. Their middle and late relief sucks and is the main reason they have lost more games than they've won. Whether Castillo or Wilson is playing short you don't have a shot of getting one past them. Duffy is a solid defensive centerfielder and has picked it up at the plate. Snell and Gorzelanny both should have better records than what they have, both have impressive ERA's for their age and experience. This is only Paulino's second year so he is still adjusting to handling the pitching staff, which itself is extremely young and inexperienced. They will finish strong.

 

Just need to finish above .500 to avoid that Phillies record ( next year, I think ?..most consecutive below .500 seasons ?)

 

it's only going to take that famous Klesko surge and .500 is in their rear view mirror

 

Listen, when your best player is a guy who put up a doughnut in the home run derby on his home field, you are in trouble.

You can talk about base running errors all you want but the bottom line is that you have no real material there and any young material you have will be in a bigger market if they ever develop.

You've got a shitty owner in a small market which makes it almost impossible to compete in MLB.

 

not to mention a worthless skipper.

 

You're wrong about the first part. Our best player won the NL Batting Championship last year. Sanchez had a bum knee in spring training which hurt him early and battled the flu over the weekend. He doesn't hit for power and still managed 85 rbi's last year. He can also play any infield position well which is impressive. He has a .985 career fielding % at three infield positions. He was in the Red Sox organization for a couple years.

You're half right about the second part. Mclatchy/Nutting doesn't put enough money into keeping quality players and are sellers at the trade deadline. Littlefield is a terrible GM and that is proven by bringing in Tracy and trading for LaRoche.

I get sick of the argument that Pittsburgh is a small market. The Steelers play there and have had tremendous success. They sell out Heinz field consistently. Pittsburgh is a FOOTBALL town, not a baseball or hockey town, and THAT is the problem. If Mclatch/Nutting would put some of that money they recieve from fox for t.v. and the luxury tax they could afford to keep the talent they develop. Until then it will be the same old song and dance.

 

Baserunning errors? So these guys must be "talented" from the neck down. This is MLB, no time for learning fundamentals.