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Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Season Thread

If they try, and even if they don't, the Pirates have a good chance to finish with one of the worst records in modern MLB history. This is a team that does nothing even at an average level. They're probably some AAA teams that are just as good, and that's not hyperbole.
 
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2003 Tigers have the 162 game record at 43-119. The Pirates worst 162 game season was 57 wins. Pretty hard not to pass that Detroit total.
 
2003 Tigers have the 162 game record at 43-119. The Pirates worst 162 game season was 57 wins. Pretty hard not to pass that Detroit total.
Based on their impotent offense, bad defense (as of Monday they were tied for the most errors), terrible baserunning, and starting pitchers who only can go 4 innings at the most, I think that they can challenge that Tigers' record.
 
They do. It’s a Quad A team.......
More like double A.

There are plenty of baseball fans in the Pittsburgh area. The Pirates are lucky that there isn't a nearby minor league team. The closest is Washington Pa. If there was a double A or even single A minor league team in Monroeville or McKeesport or Cranberry or somewhere else nearby then the Pirates might not draw a single fan.

Anyone who pays to go to a Pirates game is paying major league prices to watch minor league talent.
 
So why don't the radio stations in Pittsburgh run a contest this year. Guess which team will have the fewest fans in the stadium by the end of the year: Pirates or the Pitt Panthers. Winner gets free drink refills during the next year's season.
Maybe a photo contest for the best picture of a sleeping fan at either a pitt or pirate's game.
 
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2 grievances filed in the last 2 years against Nutting by mlb. It may not be long before he is forced to sell...it's really our only hope. Check out the article in the cincy enquirer, no link yet but I will find it
 
Poindexter made, wait for it, 120 million ALONE this year on revenue sharing from mlb. His payroll is less than half of that. Poindexter is using, and has BEEN using the franchise as his personal ATM.
 
2 grievances filed in the last 2 years against Nutting by mlb. It may not be long before he is forced to sell...it's really our only hope. Check out the article in the cincy enquirer, no link yet but I will find it
Nutting has repeatedly said he will never sell the team. Only one way to get him to sell....boycot everything associated with the team and with Nutting. Boycot the games, the broadcasts, any and all sponsors like Giant Eagle, PNC Bank, auto dealers, everything. Write to these sponsors and tell them why you will not patronize their businesses. Boycott Seven Springs and Blue Knob and tell Nutting. Do this in a very public way, organized with social media technology. Have spokesmen do interviews both locally and nationally. TV, cable, sports shows, magazines, newspapers. Doing all this would help get MLB to act. It would take two or three years but it is the only way.
 
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amazing how often this happens:
 
amazing how often this happens:
Very true. Look at Morton, Glasnow, Taillon, and Musgrove. All failed in Pittsburgh but are prospering elsewhere. Not only do the Pirates have the worst players in baseball, they also have the worst coaching.
 
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Very true. Look at Morton, Glasnow, Taillon, and Musgrove. All failed in Pittsburgh but are prospering elsewhere. Not only do the Pirates have the worst players in baseball, they also have the worst coaching.
It isn't coaching and these guys didn't fail in Pittsburgh. They were given away by the owner because he's greedy....this is THE ENTIRE POINT of the thread
 
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It isn't coaching and these guys didn't fail in Pittsburgh. They were given away by the owner because he's greedy....this is THE ENTIRE POINT of the thread
well some of them got very poor coaching. Pirates and guys like Ray Searage tried to make every pitcher in the system in to a 2 seamer/slider pitcher. 'Pitch to contact and get ground balls' was their mantra. what they had failed to realize was that the game had evolved in to hitting the ball in to the air and most hitters now had swing planes that were meant to hit low pitches up. The pitchers needed to be high fastball and curveball guys that changed eye level. Burnett and Liriano made everyone think that Searage was god, but in reality they didnt go completely to his methods, he tweaked their mechanics some and because they were vets, he lets them figure things out on their own, which they did.

Pitching is about missing bats and for too long pirates pitching philosophy was the opposite. So they draft studs pitchers with great strikeout potential and turn them all in to #4 starters that rely on a bad defense to help them.
 
It isn't coaching and these guys didn't fail in Pittsburgh. They were given away by the owner because he's greedy....this is THE ENTIRE POINT of the thread
I think it is a combination of an owner who isn't willing to be the sugar daddy that the Pittsburgh market requires and poor coaching. Morton failed in Pittsburgh and was given away to Tampa. Recall in Pittsburgh Morton was called "Ground Chuck" because they made him throw curveballs constantly. He is a big guy and in Tampa he became an effective fastball pitcher. Glasnow was a great prospect and the Pirates gave up on him because he wasn't effective. Tampa provided better coaching and now he is their best pitcher.

Nowadays baseball teams are financed by TV money. Pittsburgh is a lousy TV market. The only way the Pirates will ever again have a winning team is if Nutting sells the team to a billionaire who is willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars to buy good players. Nutting wants the team to make a profit for him. Thus, the Pirates will never be a decent team again as long as Nutting is the owner. The Pirates should have moved out of Pittsburgh about 25 years ago when the steel industry crashed and Pittsburgh could no longer support a major league team. Instead they fleeced the taxpayers to build their new stadium knowing that the team would never be successful.
 
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I think it is a combination of an owner who isn't willing to be the sugar daddy that the Pittsburgh market requires and poor coaching. Morton failed in Pittsburgh and was given away to Tampa. Recall in Pittsburgh Morton was called "Ground Chuck" because they made him throw curveballs constantly. He is a big guy and in Tampa he became an effective fastball pitcher. Glasnow was a great prospect and the Pirates gave up on him because he wasn't effective. Tampa provided better coaching and now he is their best pitcher.

Nowadays baseball teams are financed by TV money. Pittsburgh is a lousy TV market. The only way the Pirates will ever again have a winning team is if Nutting sells the team to a billionaire who is willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars to buy good players. Nutting wants the team to make a profit for him. Thus, the Pirates will never be a decent team again as long as Nutting is the owner. The Pirates should have moved out of Pittsburgh about 25 years ago when the steel industry crashed and Pittsburgh could no longer support a major league team. Instead they fleeced the taxpayers to build their new stadium knowing that the team would never be successful.
While I agree with some of what you put your curveball usage for Morton is exactly the opposite of what you're saying. He was called ground chuck because he was using a two-seam fastball for over 60% of his pitches while with the Pirates. His curveball would use was maybe 20%. The two-seam fastball acts like a sinker the way that he threw it and thus he was initially getting a ton of ground balls but then he lost the feel for it and was not getting as much movement but was still forced to use that pitch by searage in the staff.
Scroll down to the pitch usage graph near the bottom. He's now a curveball heavy pitcher had 40% which is double what it was when he was with the Pirates.
 
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While I agree with some of what you put your curveball usage for Morton is exactly the opposite of what you're saying. He was called ground chuck because he was using a two-seam fastball for over 60% of his pitches while with the Pirates. His curveball would use was maybe 20%. The two-seam fastball acts like a sinker the way that he threw it and thus he was initially getting a ton of ground balls but then he lost the feel for it and was not getting as much movement but was still forced to use that pitch by searage in the staff.
Scroll down to the pitch usage graph near the bottom. He's now a curveball heavy pitcher had 40% which is double what it was when he was with the Pirates.
You are probably right and my recall is likely off. The point however is that the Tampa coaches changed the way he pitched and he went from a loser when he left the Pirates to a winner at Tampa.
 
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You are probably right and my recall is likely off. The point however is that the Tampa coaches changed the way he pitched and he went from a loser when he left the Pirates to a winner at Tampa.
Well, the Pirates had terrible fielding, terrible base running, terrible hitting....so that might have affected the pitching staff some what.......🥴
 
Some of these young Buccs are fun to watch. The opposing pitchers don't have much of a book on them yet, so the hitter's numbers will drop off through the season. But they're young, aggressive, and having fun out there.
 
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