Buc Fever

[dadw/2sons]

They are still a first place team. Having some rough pitching performances. Need tget back to throwing good pitches instead of right down the middle. Offense is struggling with some injuries. still playing hard.

[old school]

Enjoy it while you can. Bucs are 5-0. How long until the bottom falls out?
Not making fun the the organization, I'm a lifelong Pirates fan.

[12HankQB]

3% of the was to 162-0

[Manfred]

Enjoy it while you can. Bucs are 5-0. How long until the bottom falls out?
Not making fun the the organization, I'm a lifelong Pirates fan.

You and I are much the same. We've been playing 'Charlie Brown' for far too long, only to have LUCY yank the football out from under us each and every time.

[12HankQB]

They can and should definitely be better than last year and have excitement coming up. As long as they can be entertaining and not be in last place...

[dadw/2sons]

I said it before and I will say it again. I am a diehard Bucco fan. I heard this yesterday, that this is the best start and maybe the best team in that person's lifetime!! I said wait a minute. They won 2 World Series in my lifetime, so I will enjoy every minute they are in first place and keep playing hard like they have been. What's amazing is that even the front office is making some smart moves. Picking up Taylor, Grandal, Bart and others is building depth to try and maintain the good feeling as long as possible!! We Are Family!!!!!

[Crimson's Ghost]

I like that they are going out and going with their own guys in big roles...Davis, Hayes, Cruz, Reynolds, Suwinski etc.

I hate those seasons when not only they stink, but their third best player is like Ben Gamel.

[12HankQB]

It's shades of 2013 and their non big role names can be fairly decent. If you can have Joe, Triolo, and Taylor be average, you sit pretty nice. If it's me, I'm getting Trevor Bauer on this team while bringing Skenes up. Falter and Gonzo out of the rotation. Skenes, Bauer, Keller, Jones, Perez is a solid rotation on top of that bullpen...

[abpk2903]

I don't think the Pirates really need Trevor Bauer. It would just give the FO an excuse to keep Skenes in Indy until the All-Star break. The pirates seem very satisfied with the approach of drafting a ton of big young arms (Chandler, Skenes, Jones, Solometo, Priester, Harrington) and building the top end of the rotation through the draft. Then signing cheap guys to fill out the back end of the rotation, if need be.

I don't want to give up on Priester either. His trajectory reminds me a little of Tyler Glasnow. Brought him up, found out there are some issues. Goes back down to fine tune some things. Priester had one hell of a first start down in Indy, 5 and 2/3s, 9 K's, and only allowed a hit. This is coming off a 5 K performance to close out the spring against the Yankees. Signing a guy like Bauer could stunt the opportunity for a guy like Priester to work his way back into the fold. If (big if) Priester can find him game like the first round pick he originally was through to be then getting a spot in the rotation will be hard.

Skenes, Jones, and Keller are all going to be long term starters. I tend to think at least 2 of the combo of Chandler, Harrington, and/or Solometo get here at some point next summer. Priester would be a bonus and Ashcraft (oversloted 2nd round pick in 2018) finally seemed to get healthy last year with a fastball touching 98 in Altoona. With Marco Gonzales signing a 4 year deal this offseason, the Pirates could have a really good problem in early 2025 with way more pitching than they need. More that likely, some injuries and underperformances will sort this potential issue out.

The Pirates have earned the punchline of the jokes around the city over the last 3 decades but I really like their current approach at building out their roster. Trading JT Brubaker for international pool money sounds like a losing trade but when you are the Pirates you need to have unique ways to get talented baseball players into your system without over spending in FA. The only 2 ways to do that is international signing and through the draft. I like JT Brubaker as a back end of the rotation inning eater but I just don't know where he was going to fit into this rotation once he was finally healthy.

[footballfan1]

Who is the hitting coach for the Pirates? Credentials? Resume? Maybe move on from him. Where did the offense go?