Skenes will have 200+ strikeouts and a sub 2.00 ERA and finish w/ 7 wins

birddog23 wrote:

Skenes will have 200+ strikeouts and a sub 2.00 ERA and finish w/ 7 wins

That'd be shades of 1987 Nolan Ryan with the Astros. Led the league with a 2.76 ERA and 270Ks...only to have an 8-16 record.

One game in: Fuck this shit.

Man, relief pitching is such a volatile position where a guy can completely lose it seemingly overnight and go from elite to a near-worthless liability. A couple years ago, Bednar was one of the best (with an argument that he was THE best for at least parts of a couple years) closers in the game. Now, after a shitty 2024, he's still looking like an old dog who needs the Ol' Yeller treatment. Or at least management needs to get it through their heads that it might not be the best idea to have him in high-leverage situations. Shit defense has played a role in his struggles, but two losses and a 27.00 ERA (and a 6.00 WHIP) after four games against a team that at least some considered to be among the worst in the league isn't an encouraging start.

1-3 right now and I'm considering bringing back the NCF "classic" zinger of "BLOWPEN" to describe the relief pitching, with him and Holderman both really struggling.

Gotta love how MLB doesn't even bother trying to hide their contempt for the Pirates. Home opener today. Against the Yankees, where probably half the players have bigger contracts than Pittsburgh's entire payroll.

Start out 2-5 on the road and then play a blue blood with World Series aspirations to open up at home just to kill off any tiny shred of optimism still remaining in whatever small percentage of the fanbase that still feels remotely good about this team. Sadly, it's what they deserve.

Good Luck tonight

Haven't the Pirates willing dealt away some amazing pitchers/prospects? Cole, Baz, Glasnow, Musgrave, and some more recent ones too that are escaping my memory at the moment.

birddog23 wrote:

Haven't the Pirates willing dealt away some amazing pitchers/prospects? Cole, Baz, Glasnow, Musgrave, and some more recent ones too that are escaping my memory at the moment.

A lot has come down to them being really shitty at developing top-level pitchers, or at least that they were for a time.

In short:

Cole - was good, but not great with Pittsburgh. A good #2 to A.J. Burnett who seemed to stagnate at "good". Traded for Musgrove (and a couple other guys) when it came "pay big $$$ or lose" time. And then became great.

Musgrove - also was good, but not great and also got traded when it was time to do something or just lose him. And then got a lot better when he left.

Glasnow/Baz - the former was an elite prospect who SUCKED with the Pirates and would have been FUBAR if he stayed there, as they were bouncing him from starter to reliever to salvage something since he was about out of options, the latter was a top draft pick who had just started A-ball in the minors. Both, along with outfielder Austin Meadows, were traded to Tampa Bay for Chris Archer, who sucked with the Pirates. Glasnow's one weakness since then has been health, while Baz seems to be a promising young starter for the Rays.

But it was a weird period for the team and development. The pitching coach at the time, Searage, had a "pitcher-whisperer" reputation as among the best in the game and had gotten great results with Burnett, JA Happ and others, which played a huge role in them being in the playoffs three straight years in the mid 10s. And all of a sudden, they stopped being able to develop any of their good, young starters. Over a few years, the best result they had was probably Mitch Keller and he just went from the same "shitty" that Glasnow was to "good...when he's on, but inconsistent enough you won't know when that will happen". You know, where he's a serviceable arm who can eat innings and get an occasional All-Star game, but won't be good all year long.

I guess that wasn't really "in short". Whoops!