Pittsburgh pirates 2014

[thekeyman]

well i am a die hard pirates fan and i would just like to share my thoughts for this season.they are a good and up and coming young team.i don't believe last season was a fluke like many others do.they sport a very good aaa farm club and the double aa is not bad either.they have one of the better pitching staffs in baseball and one of the best bullpens also.lets face it,when you have a guy like melancon backing up your closer grilli you have to feel good about that.the set up guys are also pretty good so pitching to me is not a problem.

now the part i am a bit miffed about is ,they did not pick anyone up in the offseason,i mean they have the same exact team as they did last year.they really needed to get a first baseman as that is a real weak spot on the field for them.they also could have went out and looked for a good right fielder and they failed to do that also.but really the part that gets me is they have the exact players on the field once again,now don't get me wrong they are good decent players but you always need to upgrade you team for the next season.

i guess they think they have the players they need to compete for a world series which i don't agree,they needed to get stronger at a couple positions and they didn't do that.i believe they should have kept marlon byrd and that would have taken care of the right field position,but they let him go and they will probably regret it.


well that's all i have i guess and i am looking for another good season in 2014 and lets hope im wrong about their offseason moves


​let's go buc's

 

[groundhog11]

i hope they make the playoffs again...

 

[thekeyman]

thanks GH,and i hope the go a bit further this season,....are you a pirates fan?

 

[Man in the Mirror]

What about Liriano tomorrow? How many will he be going?

 

[thekeyman]

What about Liriano tomorrow? How many will he be going?

well with the cool weather i would say no more than 5,but its a good thing to have a solid bullpen which the pirates have.

 

[goin4broke]

going to tailgate tomorrow hopefully get tickets into there game supposed to be 60 and sunny so naturally ill be in shorts and a t shirt lol last year was exciting first time they had a winning season since i was 10 haha i wish they upgraded at 1st and rf but hopefully this planco is the real deal we shall see lets RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER

 

[thekeyman]

going to tailgate tomorrow hopefully get tickets into there game supposed to be 60 and sunny so naturally ill be in shorts and a t shirt lol last year was exciting first time they had a winning season since i was 10 haha i wish they upgraded at 1st and rf but hopefully this planco is the real deal we shall see lets RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER

they said they have about 1000 tickets available but that's on stub hub,so maybe you are better off getting them outside the stadium

ill be in pittsburgh on 4th of july for the phillies and august 29th for the reds game

 

[goin4broke]

ya stub hub wants 60$ for standing room but I'm on crutches so thats out haha

 

[IndianaJones2013]

I live in Pittsburgh and I'm a huge Bucco fan! I think they will have another winning season...but maybe not as nice as last year I agree with what you said...they are hurting at right field, 1st base and our Shortstop's bat sucks! You gotta love the Shark Tank! If your gonna go to any games...wait 2.5 hours before game time and go on stubhub...you just won't be able to tailgate much.

 

[Soriano12]

Would guess they play around .500 this year tbh. Like the team, their approach reminds me a bit of Tampa building on pitching & defense instead of offense and big names.
But like you said, they have holes at 1st, in RF and no production from their SS. Lost Morneau, Byrd and Jones, not big bats or losses per se, but they didn't get anybody to replace them and if nothing else, that will hurt their depth.
Also their bullpen looks great, no argument about that. But it might be impossible to reproduce last years numbers, so even though they probably will have one of the best NL bullpens again, a slight regression might be due.
Burnett is gone, no replacement their either. That's about 200 quality innings they have somehow to reproduce and it most certainly won't be done by Volquez...a full season by Cole will be a bis plus, but then again they got about 100-120 very strong innings out of Locke last year, so even if Cole produces a great 1st full season in the majors, that will more or less just compensate for what Locke did last year.
Another thing I really don't like about their pitching: Wandy Rodriguez & Volquez are their no. 4+5 guys, both missed lots of time on the DL the last couple of years & Volquez for long stretches (when not being injured) was borderline major league material. So they might have to go to that 6th or even 7th starting pitcher this year and unlike last year, I just don't see the depth to do so without a significant loss of quality in starting pitching + taxing the bullpen a lot (and their RPs were already heavily used last year).
And any decline in runs allowed would hurt PIT badly because many of last years wins were close 1run games that were won by strong pitching.

Still will be rooting for PIT to at least fight for a wildcard

 

[thekeyman]

Would guess they play around .500 this year tbh. Like the team, their approach reminds me a bit of Tampa building on pitching & defense instead of offense and big names.
But like you said, they have holes at 1st, in RF and no production from their SS. Lost Morneau, Byrd and Jones, not big bats or losses per se, but they didn't get anybody to replace them and if nothing else, that will hurt their depth.
Also their bullpen looks great, no argument about that. But it might be impossible to reproduce last years numbers, so even though they probably will have one of the best NL bullpens again, a slight regression might be due.
Burnett is gone, no replacement their either. That's about 200 quality innings they have somehow to reproduce and it most certainly won't be done by Volquez...a full season by Cole will be a bis plus, but then again they got about 100-120 very strong innings out of Locke last year, so even if Cole produces a great 1st full season in the majors, that will more or less just compensate for what Locke did last year.
Another thing I really don't like about their pitching: Wandy Rodriguez & Volquez are their no. 4+5 guys, both missed lots of time on the DL the last couple of years & Volquez for long stretches (when not being injured) was borderline major league material. So they might have to go to that 6th or even 7th starting pitcher this year and unlike last year, I just don't see the depth to do so without a significant loss of quality in starting pitching + taxing the bullpen a lot (and their RPs were already heavily used last year).
And any decline in runs allowed would hurt PIT badly because many of last years wins were close 1run games that were won by strong pitching.

Still will be rooting for PIT to at least fight for a wildcard

Well thanks for all the discouraging comments buddy, lol....don't worry your still one of my better friends. And tuition is going to be tough to match last year but I think they can do it. ...at least I hope so

 

[Soriano12]

Hey, you never know. Maybe Polanco gets brought up in June and gets them decent production in RF, who knows. When their top3 starters (Liriano, Cole, Morton) stay healthy, that would already go a long way.
At least it's not like the other teams (with maybe STL being the sole exception) in that division look better: Brewers added Garza, who imo is a bad fit for their homepark + keeps getting injured. Plus they lost Aoki, one of the more underrated players imo. And the Reds might struggle at least early on with all those injuries to their pitching staff and don't have much more depth in that regard than PIT. Cubs stink either way...so let's just hope for the best

 

[PayingJuice]

Hey Keyman,
I am a huge/life long Reds fan.
I can tell you I was a bit surprised that the Cards are such a run-away favorite to win the Division.
The Buccos are the team that scares me the most this year in the Central and I agree, 2013 was NO fluke for your boys!
Looking forward to a great season.

 

[volcom-pike]

Gregor Polanco is the reason they didn't make any moves for RF. Tabata had a great Spring, and should bode just fine until June when he'll be traded for the call up. The rotation is solid if they can stay healthy. I'd like to see Taillon come up around June to solidify the staff. I would've liked to see them add a solid bat at 1B, but I think Sanchez will bounce back and have a decent year, as long as they platoon him against lefties and Ishikawa against righties. Pedro will continue to grow into his power at the major league level, I expect his average to rise about twenty points this season, whilst keeping the power numbers.

 

[1osubucks]

i really like the entire pirates organization, they have a done a very good job. I am in between cleveland and pittsburgh and while i will always be an indians fan first i find myself watching as many pirates games as i do indians. hope to see my first game at pnc this year.

 

[thekeyman]

Hey Keyman,
I am a huge/life long Reds fan.
I can tell you I was a bit surprised that the Cards are such a run-away favorite to win the Division.
The Buccos are the team that scares me the most this year in the Central and I agree, 2013 was NO fluke for your boys!
Looking forward to a great season.

PJ,ill tell you i really enjoyed the race between the reds,cards,and bucs last year and especially against the reds as they had to play them i believe 6 times late in the season.i think the reds and pirates are bringing back the old rivalry of the past not that it ever ended but just the long time it took pittsburgh to become competitive again.like i said above i have tickets to the reds /pirates game on august 29th.

Gregor Polanco is the reason they didn't make any moves for RF. Tabata had a great Spring, and should bode just fine until June when he'll be traded for the call up. The rotation is solid if they can stay healthy. I'd like to see Taillon come up around June to solidify the staff. I would've liked to see them add a solid bat at 1B, but I think Sanchez will bounce back and have a decent year, as long as they platoon him against lefties and Ishikawa against righties. Pedro will continue to grow into his power at the major league level, I expect his average to rise about twenty points this season, whilst keeping the power numbers.

VOLCOM,you may have hit it right on the head as they are really high on polanco and he shows to be a good ball player,as far as pedro he really came on the second half of last season with his hitting and also hitting against lefties was impressive,so i believe he will be improved this season,now the only thing he has to work on is his fielding as he does commit more errors than a third baseman should

i really like the entire pirates organization, they have a done a very good job. I am in between cleveland and pittsburgh and while i will always be an indians fan first i find myself watching as many pirates games as i do indians. hope to see my first game at pnc this year.

1OSUBUCKS,if you can make it to pnc park do it,it is a beautiful ballpark,its unreal and you won't regret it.cleveland was always one of my hard luck teams that i liked,i was not a rooter of them but i liked how they played hard and just got some bad breaks,they are just a team that you can't hate on,just my opinion

 

[volcom-pike]

+750 to win the NL Central is a bargain in my opinion

 

[5teamparlay]

when you have a guy like melancon backing up your closer grilli you have to feel good about that.the set up guys are also pretty good so pitching to me is not a problem.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pirates-deal-grilli-angels-frieri-230026338--mlb.html

[h=1]Pirates deal Grilli to Angels for Frieri[/h]<cite id="yui_3_16_0_1_1403918383559_1098" class="byline vcard top-line">By The Sports Xchange<abbr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1403918383559_1097">2 hours ago</abbr></cite>The SportsXchange



The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Los Angeles Angels swapped late-inning relievers on Friday, with Jason Grilli going to the Angels and Ernesto Frieri to the Pirates.



The 37-year-old Grilli lost the closer's job with the Pirates to Mark Melancon this season after posting an 0-2 record with 11 saves, four blown chances and a 4.87 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. Grilli, a National League All-Star last year, missed a month of this season with a strained left oblique before returning May 23. "We are appreciative of all that Jason has done for the Pirates and in our community," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said in a statement. "We believe that adding Ernesto Frieri was a good move for our bullpen. He has been an effective late-inning reliever who, despite his struggles to date this season, has solid indicators that cause us to believe he will be a quality addition to our bullpen this season and potentially beyond." Frieri also was replaced this year as the Angels' closer by Joe Smith. The 28-year-old right-hander has an 0-3 record with 11 saves, three holds, three blown opportunities and a 6.39 ERA in 31 innings this season

 

[mplastered]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pirates-deal-grilli-angels-frieri-230026338--mlb.html

Pirates deal Grilli to Angels for Frieri

<cite id="yui_3_16_0_1_1403918383559_1098" class="byline vcard top-line">By The Sports Xchange<abbr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1403918383559_1097">2 hours ago</abbr></cite>The SportsXchange



The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Los Angeles Angels swapped late-inning relievers on Friday, with Jason Grilli going to the Angels and Ernesto Frieri to the Pirates.



The 37-year-old Grilli lost the closer's job with the Pirates to Mark Melancon this season after posting an 0-2 record with 11 saves, four blown chances and a 4.87 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. Grilli, a National League All-Star last year, missed a month of this season with a strained left oblique before returning May 23. "We are appreciative of all that Jason has done for the Pirates and in our community," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said in a statement. "We believe that adding Ernesto Frieri was a good move for our bullpen. He has been an effective late-inning reliever who, despite his struggles to date this season, has solid indicators that cause us to believe he will be a quality addition to our bullpen this season and potentially beyond." Frieri also was replaced this year as the Angels' closer by Joe Smith. The 28-year-old right-hander has an 0-3 record with 11 saves, three holds, three blown opportunities and a 6.39 ERA in 31 innings this season

A change may help them both. Good luck Grilli.

 

[5teamparlay]

Pittsburgh
57-49

• Josh Harrison hit a leadoff home run in the first inning and Travis Snider added a two-run shot in the second for the Pirates, who moved within one game of first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
  
  1 game back of first!!!