ADVERTISEMENT

Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Season Thread

Ah fudge sickles
That sums it up. With the wrong Buc(k)s winning last night in the misery loves company sense, there are now 33 teams in the 4 major sports who have gone longer without winning a championship than the Buccos.

So…things could be worse.
 
I was at the game last night (as a DBacks fan)., however Bucs fans were well represented. Probably 20% of the 7,200 fans in attendance.

There was zero energy early and so few fans. For the first 3 innings I sat in the stands wondering. Wondering what it would be like to play in front of such a small crowd. Wondering how much money the home team must lose on operations when their team isn’t competitive. Wondering how scouts can struggle through watching games like these night after night. Wondering how boring it must be for concession workers. Wondering why there was no energy. And on and on.

Then I started to just enjoy the moment. I was there there with my daughter as her Father’s Day gift to me. We had quality time together. I took some time to share some baseball knowledge. We compared notes from previous games we attended together. We clapped along. Sang along and played along.

In the end, there was some good baseball being played. Some stellar defensive plays, home runs, a triple, several doubles, plenty of strikeouts and few walks.

While the Dbacks suck this year, we enjoyed the night together - and the win. It also provided a distraction from Game 6. 😢
 
  • Like
Reactions: bison13 and TheGLOV
I jinxed them last night with my early post!!
Since there is no Pirate news to pass along after three disgusting games in Arizona......I thought I would pass along a Baseball story I heard today.

State College, Pa was actually one of the first places in the country I believe to have access to Cable Television. As a child this meant I had access to three New York television channels with amazing shows and sports on them. All those classic games of the New Jersey Nets with Dr. J, the New York Knicks with Walt Clyde Frazier & Earl The Pearl, the New York Rangers, The Islanders Dynasty......and of course many, many Great Yankees and Mets games and all of their countless characters. Billy Martin, Reggie, Thurman Munson, Cleon Jones, Tommy Agee, Rusty Staub, Ed Kranepool and of course all of the Mets great pitching. Of course, now I simply have the MLB package since I love baseball and it has always been the sound of summer for me.
I still like to listen to Mets games even if they aren't my team. As a kid I got to listen to Pittsburgh Hero Ralph Kiner and the Mets other quality announcers. Yankees games were also awesome with Phil Rizzuto, Bill White and others. All announcers are homers, but I have always enjoyed New York Mets games because Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez have great insight in to the game whether they are talking about their team or the opponent.
So....to the story....

Yesterday Mets vs Reds.....blowout.....Mets have number 41 on their sleeve which Darling mentions is for Tom Terrific Seaver who passed away last fall. Darling goes on to talk about Seaver and mentions that he was once invited to his house for dinner. Seaver was finishing off some gardening work when Darling arrived, so Seaver asked Darling to wait for him in his study. Darling mentions that his study is like a museum of every award a pitcher could ever win. While looking around, Darling notices a drawer that is kind of askew so he looks inside and its full of baseballs. Darling is thinking why does he have all these balls in here. Later Darling says he got "Beer Brave" and got the courage to ask Seaver "what's with all the baseballs in the drawer". Seaver replied offhandedly ......."oh those were the shutouts". Darling's partner Gary Cohen says how many were there to which Darling replied ......"well I think there were 61!"

Made My Day
 
Since there is no Pirate news to pass along after three disgusting games in Arizona......I thought I would pass along a Baseball story I heard today.

State College, Pa was actually one of the first places in the country I believe to have access to Cable Television. As a child this meant I had access to three New York television channels with amazing shows and sports on them. All those classic games of the New Jersey Nets with Dr. J, the New York Knicks with Walt Clyde Frazier & Earl The Pearl, the New York Rangers, The Islanders Dynasty......and of course many, many Great Yankees and Mets games and all of their countless characters. Billy Martin, Reggie, Thurman Munson, Cleon Jones, Tommy Agee, Rusty Staub, Ed Kranepool and of course all of the Mets great pitching. Of course, now I simply have the MLB package since I love baseball and it has always been the sound of summer for me.
I still like to listen to Mets games even if they aren't my team. As a kid I got to listen to Pittsburgh Hero Ralph Kiner and the Mets other quality announcers. Yankees games were also awesome with Phil Rizzuto, Bill White and others. All announcers are homers, but I have always enjoyed New York Mets games because Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez have great insight in to the game whether they are talking about their team or the opponent.
So....to the story....

Yesterday Mets vs Reds.....blowout.....Mets have number 41 on their sleeve which Darling mentions is for Tom Terrific Seaver who passed away last fall. Darling goes on to talk about Seaver and mentions that he was once invited to his house for dinner. Seaver was finishing off some gardening work when Darling arrived, so Seaver asked Darling to wait for him in his study. Darling mentions that his study is like a museum of every award a pitcher could ever win. While looking around, Darling notices a drawer that is kind of askew so he looks inside and its full of baseballs. Darling is thinking why does he have all these balls in here. Later Darling says he got "Beer Brave" and got the courage to ask Seaver "what's with all the baseballs in the drawer". Seaver replied offhandedly ......."oh those were the shutouts". Darling's partner Gary Cohen says how many were there to which Darling replied ......"well I think there were 61!"

Made My Day
to go along with the 61 shut outs he had 231 career complete games. Just goes to show how the game has changed. In 1971 Seaver had 21 complete games which did not lead the league. Ferguson Jenkins had 30. In 2019 MLB had 45 CG's (1971 had 1082).
 
I jinxed them last night with my early post!!
The Buccos are Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay Raising The Jolly Roger!!!!

Fresh off their worst series of the season in Arizona The Bucs Slay The Giants!!!!

Kuhl pitches pretty good other than two stupid home runs that allow the Giants to erase a 3 - 0 deficit and tie the game at 3. The GMen return the favor by giving up 3 runs in the seventh on ZERO hits!!!! Pirates take 6 - 3 lead to the ninth and Rich Rod was good enough to earn save number 14.

Reynolds hits a bomb of Cueto that bounces into the bay for his 18th HR.
Polanco not bad with triple, RBI and stolen base 1 - 3.
Newman awful at the plate.
Frazier & Hayes not very good either.

San Fran should take the next two easily to win the series ......but it's fun to watch them squirm.

Meanwhile, Colorado folding in the bottom of the ninth with a 6 - 5 lead at Chavez Ravine.
 
I jinxed them last night with my early post!!
Raise The Jolly Roger by the Bay as the Buccos continue to break hearts in San Francisco!!!!

Will Crowe dominates the Giants lineup with his career best game striking out 9 while pitching in to the sixth. Pirates rough up the MLB era leader Gausman for 6 runs in 4 and a third innings including a Polanco bomb over triples alley for his 11 th home run. Polanco with a big game also hitting a sac fly, a single and stealing a base while driving in 3. Hello Newman with a monster game racking up 4 hits and 3 rbi while surging his batting average to .216.

Frazier and Reynolds each with 2 hits!

Pirates clinch the series and season series vs San Fran!!!

Bucs have virtually no chance of getting the sweep tomorrow with batting practice Brubaker (4-9) taking the hill at 4:05 vs Wood (8-3).

Since 2014 Pirates are 16 W vs 6 L at San Francisco.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bison13 and TheGLOV
A frustrating day on the field is capped off by Adam Frazier being shipped to San Diego. 3 Prospects.....none in the top 100 from initial r
Miliano a stud. 21, 94 IP, 146 SOs.
Tucupita 21, can play.
Marcano 22, can hit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheGLOV
A frustrating day on the field is capped off by Adam Frazier being shipped to San Diego. 3 Prospects.....none in the top 100 from initial reports.
 
Not a good trade for the Pirates. Marcano the highest rated player in the deal is talked of as being a utility player. Let's hope this turns out to be a decent deal for the buccos but it will probably be a few seasons until we know how this plays out. Frazier will be missed. A hard worker and good team mate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheGLOV
Not a good trade for the Pirates. Marcano the highest rated player in the deal is talked of as being a utility player. Let's hope this turns out to be a decent deal for the buccos but it will probably be a few seasons until we know how this plays out. Frazier will be missed. A hard worker and good team mate.
I wouldn't call it a bad trade as I feel Frazier has played a little bit over his normal ability level so far this year. 21 and 22 and almost 23 year old ages with at least one top level skill but none of them 5-tool guys. Would have preferred a second picture in the deal over one of the position guys but we will see in two years where this one Falls
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheGLOV
Great news for Clay Holmes. He pitched so well in Pittsburgh that he was traded to the Yankees. Lucky guy getting out of that Pitt hole.

Man oh man! We are just FLEECING the other teams with our trades!

Move over horse-trade Sid Thrift.

Andy van Who?

Spanky what's-his name?
 
Ma




Close this content, you can also use the Escape key at anytime
The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.

Yankees deal RailRiders' top hitter to Pittsburgh​


Conor Foley, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
Tue, July 27, 2021, 6:17 AM


Jul. 27—When the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders take the field tonight in Syracuse, their best player won't be with them.
He'll be in another
organization.
Hoy Park, the team's dynamic middle infielder and top-of-the-order hitter, was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday in a deal that netted the New York Yankees a big league reliever in righty Clay Holmes. New York also sent Double-A infielder Diego Castillo to Pittsburgh.

Park, 25, led Triple-A East with a 1.042 OPS in 48 games with the RailRiders. He was batting .327, had just as many strikeouts (46) and walks (46) and hit his 10th home run against Rochester on Sunday.
"I was obviously bummed that I wouldn't get to spend the rest of this year with Hoy, just because I enjoy being around him and obviously, he's a really good player and helps us a ton," RailRiders hitting coach Casey Dykes said of hearing the news. "But I think also there was a lot of excitement for Hoy, too, to see him going to Pittsburgh where, if they're making a trade like that for him, I would think that they have plans for him to be in the big leagues, hopefully sooner than later. And if that's the case, then I'm extremely excited for him. He's worked hard to get that opportunity and that's what this is, this is an opportunity for him to get to Pittsburgh and make an impact there now. I'll be excited to watch him."
Holmes, 28, has appeared in 91 big league games since his debut in 2018 and has a career 5.57 ERA. But it's his under-the-hood numbers that likely attracted the Yankees. He throws a power sinker that averages 95.7 mph this season, ranking in the 84th percentile, according to Baseball Savant. While that doesn't lead to an overwhelming number of strikeouts, and contributes to too many walks (6.32 per nine innings for his career), it generates a lot of ground balls and weak contact. He's in the 86th percentile for average exit velocity.
After seeing limited playing time at the Yankees' alternate site in April, Park started the year in Double-A, where he was just 6 for 31 in 10 games. But once he earned his first promotion to Triple-A on May 18 — and went 3 for 5 with a double and two RBIs in his debut — he became a staple of the RailRiders lineup. On June 20, he hit a walkoff homer to beat Syracuse. He had 15 multi-hit games, including four three-hit outings and two four-hit performances. At one point, he reached base in 30 consecutive games.
"His plate discipline was the most impressive thing," Dykes said. "Even when he got off to a really hot start here, guys started to pitch him different and he was able to make that adjustment and not just swing to swing, but to stay disciplined in the zones he was looking, stay discipline to his approach and make guys come to him. And if they weren't, then he would just take his walks. And I think that's a really, really mature trait to have as a hitter."
Park also made his MLB debut July 16, one of the many SWB players to be promoted when the Yankees were hit with a COVID-19 outbreak. He appeared in one game and grounded out in his only at-bat.
Castillo, 23, cooled off in July after a scorching start to his season at Double-A, but was still batting .277 with an .850 OPS with good contact — he struck out just 34 times in 224 at-bats.
According to MLB.com's rankings, neither Park nor Castillo ranked among the Yankees' top 30 prospects.
Gil honored
Throw the majority of a combined no-hitter and accolades will follow.
Luis Gil, who fired six dominant innings Wednesday and combined to no-hit Rochester with relievers Reggie McClain and Stephen Ridings, earned Triple-A East Pitcher of the Week honors Monday. Gil walked two and struck out nine.
He's the third RailRiders player this season to earn one of the league's weekly honors. Starting pitcher Deivi García was the top pitcher for the May 10-16 period, and first baseman Chris Gittens mashed his way to a Player of the Week nod for June 21-27.
Brantly back
With Holmes' arrival, and with Kyle Higashioka expected to be activated off the COVID-19 injured list soon, the Yankees sent catcher Rob Brantly back to the RailRiders.
After Park's exit, SWB has just five infielders on its roster, so it's possible Brantly could see some added time at first base. Or, with three catchers on the roster, Brantly, Donny Sands or Max McDowell would be available to get at-bats as the RailRiders' designated hitter.
Brantly was 2 for 15 with a double in four games with the Yankees.
Contact the writer:
cfoley@timesshamrock.com;
570-348-9125;
 
  • Like
Reactions: bison13
Ma




Close this content, you can also use the Escape key at anytime
The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.

Yankees deal RailRiders' top hitter to Pittsburgh​


Conor Foley, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
Tue, July 27, 2021, 6:17 AM


Jul. 27—When the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders take the field tonight in Syracuse, their best player won't be with them.
He'll be in another
organization.
Hoy Park, the team's dynamic middle infielder and top-of-the-order hitter, was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday in a deal that netted the New York Yankees a big league reliever in righty Clay Holmes. New York also sent Double-A infielder Diego Castillo to Pittsburgh.

Park, 25, led Triple-A East with a 1.042 OPS in 48 games with the RailRiders. He was batting .327, had just as many strikeouts (46) and walks (46) and hit his 10th home run against Rochester on Sunday.
"I was obviously bummed that I wouldn't get to spend the rest of this year with Hoy, just because I enjoy being around him and obviously, he's a really good player and helps us a ton," RailRiders hitting coach Casey Dykes said of hearing the news. "But I think also there was a lot of excitement for Hoy, too, to see him going to Pittsburgh where, if they're making a trade like that for him, I would think that they have plans for him to be in the big leagues, hopefully sooner than later. And if that's the case, then I'm extremely excited for him. He's worked hard to get that opportunity and that's what this is, this is an opportunity for him to get to Pittsburgh and make an impact there now. I'll be excited to watch him."
Holmes, 28, has appeared in 91 big league games since his debut in 2018 and has a career 5.57 ERA. But it's his under-the-hood numbers that likely attracted the Yankees. He throws a power sinker that averages 95.7 mph this season, ranking in the 84th percentile, according to Baseball Savant. While that doesn't lead to an overwhelming number of strikeouts, and contributes to too many walks (6.32 per nine innings for his career), it generates a lot of ground balls and weak contact. He's in the 86th percentile for average exit velocity.
After seeing limited playing time at the Yankees' alternate site in April, Park started the year in Double-A, where he was just 6 for 31 in 10 games. But once he earned his first promotion to Triple-A on May 18 — and went 3 for 5 with a double and two RBIs in his debut — he became a staple of the RailRiders lineup. On June 20, he hit a walkoff homer to beat Syracuse. He had 15 multi-hit games, including four three-hit outings and two four-hit performances. At one point, he reached base in 30 consecutive games.
"His plate discipline was the most impressive thing," Dykes said. "Even when he got off to a really hot start here, guys started to pitch him different and he was able to make that adjustment and not just swing to swing, but to stay disciplined in the zones he was looking, stay discipline to his approach and make guys come to him. And if they weren't, then he would just take his walks. And I think that's a really, really mature trait to have as a hitter."
Park also made his MLB debut July 16, one of the many SWB players to be promoted when the Yankees were hit with a COVID-19 outbreak. He appeared in one game and grounded out in his only at-bat.
Castillo, 23, cooled off in July after a scorching start to his season at Double-A, but was still batting .277 with an .850 OPS with good contact — he struck out just 34 times in 224 at-bats.
According to MLB.com's rankings, neither Park nor Castillo ranked among the Yankees' top 30 prospects.
Gil honored
Throw the majority of a combined no-hitter and accolades will follow.
Luis Gil, who fired six dominant innings Wednesday and combined to no-hit Rochester with relievers Reggie McClain and Stephen Ridings, earned Triple-A East Pitcher of the Week honors Monday. Gil walked two and struck out nine.
He's the third RailRiders player this season to earn one of the league's weekly honors. Starting pitcher Deivi García was the top pitcher for the May 10-16 period, and first baseman Chris Gittens mashed his way to a Player of the Week nod for June 21-27.
Brantly back
With Holmes' arrival, and with Kyle Higashioka expected to be activated off the COVID-19 injured list soon, the Yankees sent catcher Rob Brantly back to the RailRiders.
After Park's exit, SWB has just five infielders on its roster, so it's possible Brantly could see some added time at first base. Or, with three catchers on the roster, Brantly, Donny Sands or Max McDowell would be available to get at-bats as the RailRiders' designated hitter.
Brantly was 2 for 15 with a double in four games with the Yankees.
Contact the writer:
cfoley@timesshamrock.com;
570-348-9125;

I think I read on another site that the Yankees placed Park(?) on unconditional waivers when they sent him back to the minors a few days ago, which which means the Pirates and every other team passed on him. Yes, the Pirates could have had him for nothing.
 
I think I read on another site that the Yankees placed Park(?) on unconditional waivers when they sent him back to the minors a few days ago, which which means the Pirates and every other team passed on him. Yes, the Pirates could have had him for nothing.
Would have had to of kept him on the 40 man roster if they had claimed him. A 40 man roster spot is more valuable than what we gave up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheGLOV
Would have had to of kept him on the 40 man roster if they had claimed him. A 40 man roster spot is more valuable than what we gave up.

Have you seen the Pirates 40 man roster? They didn't have a problem cutting Crick a few days ago, and it's not like Park has to stay on the 40 man for very long before putting him on waivers again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheGLOV
It's looking like the Pirates are signing their 14th round pick for a little less than $300K. That's the last of the higher rated draftees.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: TheGLOV
Not a good trade for the Pirates. Marcano the highest rated player in the deal is talked of as being a utility player. Let's hope this turns out to be a decent deal for the buccos but it will probably be a few seasons until we know how this plays out. Frazier will be missed. A hard worker and good team mate.
Who knows, but the way I look at it is where were they going to go with Frazier. You know the answer.
 

It's dark out there....vewey vewey dark......sigh......
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT