As always, no PBP in the thread. If you need that try one of the game cast sites. Keep discussion to this series. If it is not about this series it goes somewhere else. 7-2 Jordan Lyles vs. James McDonald 6:05 on FSH 7-3 Lucas Harrell vs. AJ Burnett 6:05 on FSH 7-4 Dallas Keuchel vs. Kevin Corriea 12:35 on FSH 7-5 Bud Norris vs. Jeff Karstens 6:05 on FSH
Young guns! I'll say LWWW. Probably too optimistic, but I'd hate to not win at least one series against the Padres, Cubs, & Pirates (I know they have a winning record, but I think they will fall back down).
I seek refuge in your positive demeanor sir! I can't help but think we may get swept this series. I know the Pirates fell apart last year but I think they're legit this year. Plus our bats are starting to slump way too frequently now and Pitt's pitching staff has been very very good lately. I know I know, call me Mr. Brightside. :grin:
The Pirates are once again doing their now-annual masquerade as a decent team before they fall back in the second half. Most have them pegged as a team on the rise, but I'm not sure I agree. McCutchen and McDonald have the look of stars, but that's about it at this point. Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata were big-time prospects, but both of those guys are taking a little longer to develop than the Bucs would have liked. Other than that, they just seem to be getting good production from a number of guys like Neil Walker, Joel Hanrahan, A.J. Burnett and Jason Grilli that I wouldn't be willing to bet on long-term. You have to have some of those guys to have success, but in order for those guys to be good role players, you have to have the stars in place and I don't know that they have that. And by the time they do, will they have those guys (or those types of guys) on their roster? The one caveat I will allow for is that I don't know the prospect scene well enough to know if they have a stud or two waiting in the wings. I would assume not, as I follow it closely enough that I would think I would have heard of them, but maybe I'm mistaken.
Hitting wise no. But they have two of the top 10 (overall) prospects in pitchers Gerrit Cole (#1 overall last year) and Jameson Taillon. They also drafted Mark Appel this year. They could have a Nationals-esque rotation in two years. As ridiculous as it sounds, they actually have a promising future. They do need a butt load more hitting though.
That's right. I had completely forgotten about Taillon. And I hadn't even realized that the Pirates were the ones that ended up with Gerrit Cole last year. Watched him a lot in college. Kid has electric stuff.
Mills has this weird 0/1 reliever or 6 reliever thing going on. Any time the starter doesn't go 8+ innings, the entire bullpen is emptied. Whatever happened to keeping a 6th starter/long reliever stretched out? I don't like Aneury Rodriguez much, but that's the perfect job for him or Sergio Perez. You don't need a bullpen of 7 one-inning guys and LOOGY/ROOGYs.
Not very creative on his pitch selection hmmmm? No wonder hitters key on him. Pitches to Alvarez: Strike swinging (94/fastball), Foul (94/fastball), Ball (93/fastball), Ball (82/slider), Ball (94/fastball), Foul (94/fastball), Foul (94/fastball).
