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Bill Brink's Pirates chat: 8.23.17
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Bill Brink
12:00
Good morning and thanks for coming by this week's Pirates chat. We'll get going in a couple of minutes. Keep those questions coming.
Action Jackson
12:01
Again our dream outfield fell apart.Lifelong baseball coach and former D-1 player here. My Question:How on earth could a staff name/evaluate Palanco the starting LEFT fielder before the season after watching him in the minors,since he was 16 years old?! Poor angles,baseball IQ(base running etc), day dreams,awkward. Huh? Was this a sneaky  way to throw Cutch further under the bus,out of town? Cutch belonged in left and it was interesting when Marte returned how they handled the outfield spots.Help me understand this???
Bill Brink
12:05
Part of the idea when they did this in spring training was that McCutchen does better chasing balls to his right, while Polanco does better going after balls to his left (I don't have the numbers handy but that was part of the Pirates' rationale). That was interesting even at the time because the Pirates have long stated the need for two CF-caliber players, one in left and one in center, because of how big PNC Park's left field is, so the inclination would have been to put McCutchen in left if that were the case.
Al in NJ
12:05
Bill,  I think its time everyone comes to the realization that Cole has reached his upside and is never going to be the "ace" everyone thought he would be. The Pirates would be better off trading him now while he has decent value, perhaps for a solid everyday thirdbaseman. Thoughts?
abowerspittsburgh
12:05
Does Gerrit Cole already have his bags packed?  To fans, the guys' body language screams "I hate this place, get me out of here."  I've yet to hear anyone in print, on tv or radio who covers this team talk about this.
Daniel Laruso
12:05
Do you think Gerrit Cole is really an Ace like Hurdle called him. He has not looked anything like that for 2 years now. Maybe he misses Jim Benedict more than we all thought huh?
Bill Brink
12:08
He's not pitching like an ace. Whether he ever can is a tough one to gauge. He's a season and a half removed from going winning 19 games with a 2.60 ERA and more than 200 strikeouts, and at times this year he's pitched like he did in '15. But he's been much more inconsistent and really struggled to keep the ball in the park. As far as his body language, I think it's less wanting to get out of town and more frustration with his own performance.
Hector Belaypin
12:09
I'm thinking fans need to analyze "owner-metrics" so we can rank the quality of owners of MLB teams. Attendance would be an important measurement to gauge the level of commitment and interest the owners have in their team. I understand when George Steinbrenner was alive, he attended many Yankee games.

What do you think?
Bill Brink
12:09
It would give fans something to talk about but I don't think it would provide any actionable intel because with the exception of a Frank McCourt-type situation, it's really hard to make an owner do anything with his team.
Bobby
12:10
The pitching has been awful lately. Guru Searage's magic fix it has disappeared. Should all the starter's rest when the roster expands? There are several guys in the bullpen who are not pulling their weight. Maybe with expanded rosters they should not be used, except in blowouts?
Bill Brink
12:11
Expanded rosters Sept. 1 will give Hurdle more options out of the bullpen, for sure. If the team decides rest would benefit one of the starters they could skip them, and with guys like Glasnow and Kingham pitching well they'd have options for spot starts.
Buc'nnuts
12:12
Is it time to fold the tent on this year and start looking at prospects and holes that need to be filled?
Bill Brink
12:13
I asked Hurdle something to this effect last September, when the Pirates were mathematically alive but didn't have any real chance of contending, and he said unequivocally that he tries to win until that's not an option anymore. So I don't think they'll do that yet.
Mister Ed
12:13
Why do you think the owner Bob Nutting did not spend the money saved on Kang, Marte and Hughes to help upgrade this team? We the fans are fed up with the cheapness that permeates this franchise. The decision was there for the taking Bill!!
Leo
12:13
Why didn't Neal Huntington acquire Jay Bruce or Curtis Granderson to help the team with all the injuries? Sitting pat and doing nothing is an embarrassment to the fans.
Bill Brink
12:15
Similar questions, both good ones. It would have made sense to do something in April when Marte went down. The Braves showed it could be done with Matt Adams. They also could have done something when Polanco went down the second time, in late July. It could be they looked at the season with no Kang, no Marte for half of it and Taillon out for five weeks and thought, let's not trade minor leaguers this year and rather build for next year. But their actions at the non-waiver deadline didn't do anything for them this year or next year, so that was curious.
Mister Ed
12:15
Couldn't Hurdle see that Cole was out of gas after everyone was hitting and getting on base in the 7th the other day and his pitch count was over 110? Leaving him in to face Granderson was a travesty, agree?
Bill Brink
12:17
That was curious. I generally think Hurdle does a good job deciding when to remove his starters, and I know he had a short bullpen, and I'm sure Rivero has his routine and might not have been ready -- but a fresh arm, a fresh look, would have been the way to go regardless of the outcome.
Daniel Laruso
12:17
Since coming back from his cancer treatments, I think I read that Taillon has over an 8.30 ERA and has looked terrible. With the Pirates out of any playoff chase now, isn't it time to shut him down and let him recover more from his diagnosis both mentally and physically? Something is definitely affecting his pitching because Brooks
12:19
I meant Taillon looks nothing like he did at the beginning of the year.
Bill Brink
12:20
He's got a 5.67 ERA in 13 starts since returning. The problem has been his past six starts. In his first seven starts back, he had a 2.87 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 37.2 innings. He's got a 9.31 mark and 43 hits in 29 innings in his past six. It's possible something is affecting him physically, and it's possible it is related to the illness or procedure, but it didn't manifest itself right away.
Daniel Laruso
12:20
Is it time for the Pirates to get rid of Jordy Mercer? The guy is hitting under .200 since the all-star break and was doing the same the first 2 months of the year as well. He has his few weeks of hitting okay but they are few and far between. We need a better shortstop.
Bill Brink
12:20
And there might be one in triple-A in Kevin Newman, but he just got there. For now, Mercer is their best option.
Leo
12:21
How could Huntington leave us such a minor league and bad bullpen. None of these guys like Barbato and Santana are major league ready right now and they are the only options. As a fan I am angry sir.
Bill Brink
12:22
That's been a strength of his in the past, was building a good bullpen on the cheap. But when you do that, you have a much lower margin for error, and this year the production hasn't been what it used to be. But the unit's 3.97 ERA still ranks 10th in MLB.
Trunks14
12:23
Bill...could you see a JHay 3B and Frazier 2B starting scenario next year?  I'm a bit concerned on the defensive side with Fraz, but the offense is there with these two in the lineup.  Alternatively, how's the Osuna experiment going at 3B?
Bill Brink
12:24
I would agree with everything you said: Frazier's defense at second base is sub-optimal but getting both their bats in the lineup would be a help. I imagine the Pirates will explore this over the winter. And Osuna is just taking grounders there now. He looks OK -- backhand could use some work -- but we won't really know until he gets into a game.
Nick
12:24
Hi Bill, do you travel on the team charter plane for games? Can you talk tp players while onthe Plane?
Bill Brink
12:25
I don't. That used to be the case years and years ago, but that practice stopped before I started on the beat. It did make for some funny stories from the great Gene Collier, though.
Nick
12:27
What can the team do if the owner said :Catch the Cubs".
Bill Brink
12:28
Right this moment, it would be tough because waivers come into play on trades and players who would help -- Granderson, Bruce, Nunez -- have moved. In this hypothetical world, you could go get Verlander and Stanton, if the new Marlins ownership would OK the trade. But in real life, not too much.
Andrew from Long Island
12:28
I was taught at a young age to never say never, however it is my belief  that this team will never consistently win with this ownership group.  Agree?
Bill Brink
12:30
Next year's a big year for my thoughts on that assessment. In the six full seasons they've been trying to win, they made the playoffs in three of them, so that's a good start. This year they ran into some unforeseen challenges, lack of depth in the minors in position players, but next year looks promising. If they don't contend next year the three years of playoff appearances will look more like the exception than the norm.
Jeff
12:30
Why do you think crickets on Huntington/Hurdle option year.
Bill Brink
12:31
The logical explanations are, there's disagreement on the notion of a possible extension for one or both, or one or both don't want the option exercised because they want to go elsewhere.
Bob
12:31
Do you see Luplow playing every day in right field once the rosters expand?
Bill Brink
12:31
Probably not every day but he'll be mixed in, I would think.
Hank
12:31
Any idea how much money MLB reimbursed the Pirates for giving up a home game to Williamsport? I assume tickets plus some sort of concession deal?
Bill Brink
12:32
I don't know the exact number but it's something to do with the average gate of a Sunday Cards game in August type of thing. It should work out to pretty much be a wash.
12:36
What other questions do we have today?
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