#which was one of the reasons why the polanco trade happened

[bigbuxbolds]

who's the angry twins fan that did this to pohlads wiki page 😭😭

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

You Are So Streaky, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

Well, you certainly know how to beat up on the bad teams. This week you played two last place teams, the Cincinnati Reds and the Miami Marlins. The only thing that stopped you from winning all six games was the weather. You were rained out yesterday so you couldn’t sweep all three from the Marlins. You scored 25 runs in the five games this week so the offense finally started producing again. The pitching remained solid only giving up ten runs in those five games. It’s the same old thing. You look like world beaters for a week and then the next week you look like you are the worst team in baseball. It’s what streaky teams do and typically streaky teams are only so successful. They are usually about .500 which is exactly what you are right now. You are 71-71 with twenty games to go. You are an average team. That’s okay because you are an average team on the rise with a rotation and bullpen that are young and improving. There is reason for optimism going into 2019 if you can improve the roster.

Gregory Polanco played his last game of the season this week. Polanco hurt his knee sliding into second and stayed down for a while before hobbling off. I was concerned it could be something that would carry into next season. It’s a significant bone bruise to his left knee that requires six weeks of rest. He injured his shoulder on the play too. That’s a relief as far as him being ready for next season. It’s a little disheartening to see a guy who has trouble staying healthy get hurt yet again. Polanco ended up putting together his best year of his career. 23 homers, 81 RBI’s, 12 steals, splits of .254/.340/.499 for an .839 OPS. His OPS+ was 127 and he ended with a WAR of 1.9. It’s not superstar level numbers but that’s a pretty damn good season from someone we were all losing faith in during his terrible slump earlier this year. These are good stats but if they are the stats of your best player, that’s a problem. Even if you have another player or two with the exact same stats it can work, but not when he’s your only batter to his over twenty homers this season. That’s a problem when you play in a league dominated by the home run. It’s something you desperately need to address this offseason. Maybe Jeff Branson should finally embrace the launch angles.

It’s not much of a debate who the biggest disappointment was this season. That would be Josh Bell by a landslide. Going into this week, he had only hit eight homers after hitting twenty-six last season. He hit two this week to get him up to ten, but even this week hasn’t been great. He did walk seven times so that explains his .370 OBP and the two homers give him a .500 slugging percentage which means he had an .870 OPS this week. He also batted .150 with three hits in twenty at bats. Over his last 30 games, he’s batting .211 with a .753 OPS which is funny because that’s his exact OPS for the season right now. Bell’s defense has improved but is still problematic based on his negative defensive WAR, so if he doesn’t hit more he’s basically Colin Moran. He can’t field, he’s slow, and he has middling offensive potential. Your corner infielders are supposed to provide a lot of offense in most lineups. With Freese gone, you are looking at next season with two corner infielders who have combined to hit eighteen homers this year. That as many as Starling Marte has and he’s not usually looked to for power numbers. After last season, Bell will be giving a full opportunity to bounce back next season and that’s an opportunity he should get given his pedigree. That means you need to add a third baseman and possibly an insurance policy for Bell. Maybe a righty hitter with some pop who rips lefties well. It would give you a nice platoon option, if nothing else. You can’t afford to go another season with production like this from your corner infielders. You do and you might be looking at another .500 season.

Corey Dickerson has had a tough fall from grace. He was putting together a terrific season and was a main reason why you felt comfortable trading Austin Meadows to the Rays in the Chris Archer deal. He should have arguably been an All Star with the first half he had. Then he pulled him hamstring and spent a little under two weeks on the disabled list. Since then, he’s been a totally different player, in the bad way. In his last 30 games, his splits are .211/.221/.275 for an abysmal .496 OPS. He struck out 26 times in 103 at bats during that span and walked twice. This is what happened to him last year. Had a terrific first half, made the All Star game, and then couldn’t buy a hit in the second half. It could be that he’s playing hurt so that’s affecting his performance. Either way, I assume it will put a pause on all of that extension talk. He’s making 5.95 million this year and has one year left of arbitration before becoming a free agent after next season. He should get a pay raise to about 7 or 8 million for 2019. It’s hard to know which Dickerson will show up. You have limited options right now so you will definitely pay him next season but the long term future with the team is cloudy. Like Polanco, he doesn’t hit lefties well so you want might to look into getting a fourth outfielder who punishes lefties. Then you can give either your lefties a day off once in a while. You hope Dickerson can bounce back next season, but with not a lot of outfield prospects near the majors, things have become a little dire.

This week isn’t so friendly. You hit the road for two series against two division rivals fighting for playoff spots. It could be fun to play spoilers. You start a three-game series today against the St. Louis Cardinals. They finally cooled off after their ridiculous run that got them back into the playoff picture. They currently hold the second Wildcard spot with a one game lead over the Dodgers and three games over the Diamondbacks. The Rockies only lead the Dodgers by a game in their division so there are a lot of teams still vying for those final two spots. It would be lovely to hurt the Cardinals chances of making the playoffs. After a day off Thursday, you head to Milwaukee to play the Brewers, who currently hold the number one Wildcard spot. They have a two game lead over the Cardinals and are only two games behind the Cubs for the division lead. These are huge games for these two teams that you don’t like and you could really put a damper on their chances if you can win some games. It would be fun to see that happen. The rest of this season is about seeing some of the younger guys and staying healthy. Obviously the Polanco injury sets a bad tone but you can’t just bench everyone and wrap them in bubble wrap to protect them. It’s not realistic. Though with a couple guys, I might prefer it. Keep getting better and try to ruin your rivals week. Good luck!

                                                                          Remaining Hot And Cold,

                                                                                           Brad

P.S. can stand for many things in this instance. Pretty Sloppy, Pretty Sh**ty, but it actually stands for Pittsburgh Steelers. They are back and played their first game yesterday in terrible weather conditions. They tied the Cleveland Browns 21-21 in what can only be described as an ugly game. The officiating was bad, the Steelers’ six turnovers were bad, and the Browns are supposed to be bad. They are certainly improved but they will need to right the ship quickly. The high-flying Kansas City Chiefs offense comes to Pittsburgh for the home opener next weekend. Another performance like this and you will be 0-1-1 with either Baltimore or Cincinnati (they play each other Thursday night) on top of the division at 2-0…

[jutebugle4-blog]

20 questions that will define the NL Central

Previews so far • American League West

It was only five years ago that the Cardinals won the National League Central with just 90 wins. Heck, it was only 12 years ago that the Cubs won it with 85, and 13 years ago that the Cards won it with 83. Point is: There have been times in recent baseball history that the NL Central was not exactly the toughest gauntlet in the sport.

But in 2019, it looks like the scariest division in baseball. You have a team that just won the World Series three years ago and whose young talent is peaking right now. You have a team that traded for an ace starter last July and is coming off its first winning season since 2015. You have a last-place team that appears to be all-in for 2019, trading for multiple All-Stars to add to a lineup that was already strong. And you have a proud 11-time World Series champion who has missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons and responded by trading for perhaps the greatest first baseman in the sport.

And none of that even includes the team that actually won the division last season.

Thus, our weekly series previewing each of baseball's six divisions continues this week with the NL Central. Like last week, our previews will be extended games of 20 Questions, in which we look at four pressing questions for each team heading into the 2019 season, and at the end, we will make some actual predictions on the final standings, predictions that are unassailable and so obviously iron-clad correct that we're a little worried you won't even bother to watch the actual games once you read them.

Chicago Cubs

1. So is this really it? The Cubs were one of the more disappointing teams in baseball last year, at least down the stretch, when the supposed dynasty split apart at the seams, relinquishing the NL Central to the Brewers in a tiebreaker game and then losing a heartbreaker of an NL Wild Card Game to the Rockies. The Cubs, after their historic breakthrough of 2016, have taken a step back each season, and now their competition in the NL Central is tougher than ever. So how did they respond? They added Daniel Descalso and Brad Brach and ... that's it. They claim to be holding the budget tight because of all the raises due to their young players over the next few years, but while the rest of the division is ramping up, the Cubs are sitting idle.

2. Is Maddon being set up to be a scapegoat? Joe Maddon's place in Cubs history, in baseball history, is secure: He was the manager when the Cubs -- the Cubs! -- won the World Series, after all. But all has not been well between this front office and Maddon in a while, made even more apparent by the dismissal of hitting coach Chili Davis and a refusal to extend Maddon's contract beyond this year, his last on the deal. Maddon is one of the three highest-paid managers in the game, but front offices don't like to pay up for managers anymore; the trend is going in the opposite direction. If the Cubs get off to a slow start, look out.

Video: Maddon, Epstein and Hendricks looking forward to 2019

3. How's Yu? The first year of Yu Darvish's six-year, $126 million contract couldn't possibly have been more of a disaster. He was hurt most of the year, he was ineffective when he did pitch and he took criticism for the management of his injuries and how much he traveled with the team. Darvish at least says he's healthy.

Whether Darvish is healthy and available or not could be the difference between the Cubs winning this tough division or finishing third or fourth. Even an average season from Darvish would be a vast improvement on last year. But the Cubs are paying for a lot more than average.

4. Is this a pivot season? The Cubs bottomed out for several years in order to build a perpetual contender, and they were rewarded with four consecutive playoff appearances and, oh yeah, a World Series title. But the clock is starting to tick a lot louder these days. Expensive contracts for Jason Heyward and Darvish, along with trades that have taken away from the farm system, have limited the Cubs' flexibility, and their stars are about to get more expensive in arbitration. If they take another step backward this season, then what? Will it be time to move on from the Maddon Era altogether? This has become a vital question much more quickly than anyone could have anticipated.

Cincinnati Reds

5. So how all-in is all-in? The Reds have done what any fan of their team should want their team to do in an offseason. They haven't been complacent or idle. They've been aggressive, adding Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Tanner Roark, Sonny Gray and Alex Wood, five veterans who provide instant credibility to a team that had a fantastic lineup and a not-so-fantastic pitching staff last year. It might be a risk to go all-in in a division as strong as this one, but it's impossible not to admire the chutzpah. But how far is Cincinnati willing to go with this? If the Reds are, say, three games out of the Wild Card race at the non-waiver Trade Deadline, will they give away anything that really hurts in order to contend? Or is the goal just to be relevant?

Video: Kemp on joining Reds, World Series experience

6. Is Puig your friend? Puig, for some justifiable reasons and some less-justifiable reasons, has been one of the flashpoint players in the sport since he arrived in 2013. He is insistent on still being himself in Cincinnati, but Cincinnati sometimes has a history of having less patience for players of Puig's, shall we say, flair. Great American Ball Park seems perfectly constructed to mesh with Puig's game, and in a contract year, he has every incentive to have a massive season. But will he be a fan favorite, or a headache? Or, like so often happened in Los Angeles, both?

7. Who plays center field? Letting Billy Hamilton go, off to Kansas City, made a certain amount of sense, particularly with the new even more pumped-up lineup. But it left the Reds without a center fielder. There are no good options on the current roster: The position is probably too much for Puig, Kemp, Jesse Winker or Scott Schebler. The answer appears to be, once they call him up, top prospect Nick Senzel, who has the agility to play the position but is, in fact, an infielder. Cincinnati's roster is beefed up this year, but somebody has to play center field. Who is it?

8. Can that rotation hold up? The Reds' rotation has been such a nightmare for so long now that their last two Opening Day starters were Homer Bailey and Scott Feldman. They looked outside the organization this year, and at first glance, they seem to have at least four league-average starters to fill out the rotation (Wood, Gray, Roark and Luis Castillo). But rotations never freeze at your first glance. Some of these guys are going to get hurt and/or be ineffective, and if that happens, Cincinnati is back to the set of uninspiring/disappointing prospects that got it in the rotation mess in the first place.

Milwaukee Brewers

9. Was last year entirely real? The Brewers were downright terrifying down the stretch last season, a tear that brought them within one game of the World Series. They have doubled down on that team, essentially bringing back the same roster, with a couple of key additions, to go after it again. But as great as Christian Yelich was last year, he was a monster in September, enough to win him a well-deserved NL MVP Award. Can he keep that up for a full season? Are we sure Jesus Aguilar can do that again? Can Ryan Braun hold up? And can they rely on that terrific bullpen for six months?

10. Seriously, can that bullpen hold up? It was a wonder anyone scored on Milwaukee past the sixth inning last September and October. Josh Hader is basically the epitome of how bullpen usage has changed, Corey Knebel is a reliable closer and Jeremy Jeffress, Matt Albers, Jacob Barnes and whoever else was hanging around out there shut down anyone even walking near a batter's box. But there is no area of a baseball team that's more variable than the bullpen. The bullpen was brilliant last year. Now it has to go do it again.

Video: Chacin, Nelson, Anderson part of Brewers' depth

11. Do they still need that top-tier starter? This was the No. 1 criticism of the Brewers for most of last year: Why don't they have an ace? They never did end up going out to get one, and all they did was miss the World Series by one game. Jhoulys Chacin did an excellent impression of an ace last year, but expecting him to do the same in 2019 is maybe asking too much. Manager Craig Counsell is going to have to remain flexible and innovative to make this work. And even that might not be enough.

12. Can Grandal be the difference? Like last season, when they signed Lorenzo Cain and traded for Yelich in the span of a couple of days, the Brewers were smart and surgical in their offseason moves, bringing in Yasmani Grandal, one of the best catchers in the game, for a relatively reasonable one-year, $18.25 million deal. As we've established, Milwaukee might need to be a little bit better everywhere else to offset a potential step backward from its bullpen, and Grandal could be pivotal to that happening. The Brewers might have to bash themselves to wins this year; a big year from Grandal could be their best route.

Pittsburgh Pirates

13. Is Polanco OK? It was Gregory Polanco (128 OPS+) who put up the highest OPS+ on the club last year, and, at 27, he should be ready to break through for his big star season. Unfortunately, he had shoulder surgery in the offseason to repair a torn left labrum. When he comes back could be the question of the Pirates' season. If he's not back until late May, as was initially feared, this could get bad, fast. But if he's back by mid-April, like he's hoping, that changes things.

14. Is the rotation what they think it is? The argument against the Pirates' Deadline trade for Chris Archer last year was that they weren't nearly as close to contention as they were pretending, and that going all-in for a starter in his 30s was asking for trouble. Archer ended up hurt much of last year, but he says he's healthy now. If he is healthy and he can be the Archer the Bucs hoped they were getting, the Pirates have the best top four of a rotation in the division with Archer, Jameson Taillon, Joe Musgrove and Trevor Williams, who was for a while the best pitcher in baseball last year.

Video: Archer, Polanco looking to put injuries behind them

15. Were their last moves enough? Theoretically, a team like the Pirates should be eager to get in on the market: They were an above-.500 team last year with some young talent maturing and coming off a trade-the-future-for-now Deadline deal. But they waited an awfully long time to make any additions, and the ones they did were just sort of sprucing up around the margins, a Lonnie Chisenhall here, a Melky Cabrera there.

16. Is that really who they're playing at shortstop? Jordy Mercer had been here so long that it's going to take us until at least June to get used to him playing in Detroit now. His replacement appears to be -- squints -- Erik Gonzalez, Francisco Lindor's backup in Cleveland last year. Fans will be eagerly monitoring the performance of prospect Kevin Newman at Triple-A -- the Bucs' first-round Draft pick in 2015 -- as he could be the starter sooner rather than later.

St. Louis Cardinals

17. Is Ozuna healthy? Marcell Ozuna just wasn't himself last season, thanks to a right shoulder injury that plagued him all year, a shoulder he finally had surgery on when the season was over. Suffice it to say, the Cardinals need Ozuna, a free agent to be, to return to 2017 Marlins Ozuna rather than 2018 Cardinals Ozuna. He's going to be batting behind Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldschmidt, so there will be a surplus of opportunities for him, and he showed signs of life in the second half.

18. How do they fit everyone into a rotation? The Cardinals arguably have 10 possible starting pitchers: Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, John Gant, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Austin Gomber and Alex Reyes. (And that's after they traded Luke Weaver.) Martinez, Wacha, Mikolas and Flaherty seem like locks, and Wainwright will be given every opportunity in the spring to win the job, but if he doesn't, the Cards almost have too many options. The wild card, as always, is Reyes, the otherworldly talent who only threw four innings last year. Whatever pitchers don't stick in the rotation immediately turn into valuable bullpen pieces ... or even trade ones.

Video: Cardinals competing for rotation, Opening Day start

19. Can Dexter be Dexter again? Dexter Fowler had a nightmarish 2018 across the board, and at many moments you wondered if he had anything left at all. But the Cardinals, partly because of his contract and partly because of an improved relationship with manager Mike Shildt (as opposed to former skipper Mike Matheny), passed on opportunities to upgrade right field to give Fowler another chance. The Cards have other options than Fowler, from Tyler O'Neill to the still-here Jose Martinez, but everything they are trying to do works better if Fowler can be the player the Cardinals thought they were getting.

20. Can they end the streak? You'll forgive Mariners fans for withholding their sympathies, but if the Cardinals miss the playoffs this year, it'll be the first time since 1995 that they've been outside the postseason for four consecutive seasons. They've brought in Goldschmidt and Andrew Miller to supplement a talented, deep roster, and they're trying to appease a fan base that has grown restless as the Cubs and now the Brewers appear to have passed them. The Cardinals say their whole focus is on getting back to October this year. If it doesn't happen, there could be even more radical changes in St. Louis than we saw last year.

Video: Langosch joins Hot Stove to talk about the Cardinals

Predicted standings

1. St. Louis Cardinals: 96-66 2. Chicago Cubs: 94-68 3. Milwaukee Brewers: 83-79 4. Cincinnati Reds: 78-84 5. Pittsburgh Pirates: 72-90

Will Leitch is a columnist for MLB.com.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/20-questions-that-will-define-the-nl-central/c-303936160

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

We Have Reached A Crossroads, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates, 

It was the biggest week of the season and when it was all said and done you basically ended up right back where you started. Your eleven-game winning streak ended on Wednesday against a first place team, the Cleveland Indians, and then you split four games with a last place team, the New York Mets, which led you to a 4-3 week. That leaves you six games out of first place and four games out of the final Wildcard spot. Today is July 30th which means tomorrow is the trade deadline. With no game today, that means when the deadline hits on Tuesday, the most you could be out of the final Wildcard spot could be 4 ½ games. That puts you in a very interesting position. Milwaukee has the first Wildcard spot sitting 1 ½ games ahead of Arizona, who currently has the second Wildcard spot. Colorado is 3 ½ games ahead of you, Atlanta is 2 ½, and you’re the third team out of the Wildcard. You’re very much on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs go, but you are absolutely in it, so you need to act like it. Splitting a four-game series with the last place Mets at home didn’t exactly leave me with the highest vote of confidence but taking two out of three in Cleveland was rather impressive. These next two days will be very interesting and could in a lot of ways help shape the next three to four years of the franchise.

This week didn’t go quite as planned and that might mostly be because of the onslaught of injuries to your best hitters. In the midst of your lineup being the hottest in baseball, three of your four best players got hurt this week. The scariest, and what turned out to be the least severe, happened when Starling Marte took a pitch off his hand in the first inning on Wednesday. Initially the fear was it could be broken, but it fortunately turned out to be just a contusion. Marte missed the rest of that game plus two more. You lost two out of those three games. Before that, Corey Dickerson pulled his hamstring running to first base on Tuesday. You tried to wait out the injury but you finally put him on the DL on Saturday retroactive to July 25th. That means he should be available to return on August 4th. Then when it seemed like it couldn’t get worse, Josh Bell felt discomfort in his side running to first base on Friday. That turned out to be an oblique strain that landed him on the DL. Polanco has been on absolute fire, even through the Mets’ series, but your next three best hitters are Dickerson, Marte, and Bell. Marte returned Saturday, but not having Bell and Dickerson was probably a big reason for the brutal 1-0 loss yesterday. These injuries couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time but if you can survive this week then you might have your full squad back to make another run next week.

The trade deadline has basically arrived and it seems like one thing is very clear: you can't sell. It seemed like a foregone conclusion a couple weeks ago that you would trade Nova, Cervelli, Freese, Mercer, JHay, and Dickerson, but it doesn’t make as much sense especially given that you couldn’t get any value back except maybe for Dickerson and Nova. Now that you have won 15 of 19 games, it seems to change the whole opinion of this team, not just this year but moving forward. The two positions that are most of need are starting pitching and another reliever. Any trades you make shouldn’t focus on rentals, meaning someone who will be a free agent at the end of this year. There’s enough doubt that exists that it doesn’t make sense to go all in this year. Trading away prospects for two months of a player doesn’t make any sense right now. Controllable starters like Kevin Gausman and Chris Archer have come up in conversation but neither of those seem very realistic as of now. The most likely scenario seems to be adding a relief pitcher, which would still be worthwhile. With the emergence of Santana, Rich Rod, and Crick mixed in with the dominance of Vasquez, adding another upper level arm to that bullpen could make it one of the better ones in baseball. That could be essential for a team that can’t afford to pay top-tier free agents which means relying on winning close games. Your close enough that selling doesn’t make sense and doing nothing feels equally as apathetic. You have two days to figure it out and I will be extremely disappointed if you stand pat.

I think the main take away from getting back into this Wildcard race is that you might be a contender sooner than you think. On top of that, you might actually have a window that is closing. The dominance of Polanco, Marte, and Bell over the last month has been a revelation. The rotation has been better especially with Taillon pitching extremely well over that time and you have a dominant back-end of your bullpen. In the NL where there’s seemingly only two dominant teams right now (Cubs and Dodgers), it makes it seem believable you could be competitive between now and the end of 2021, when Marte will be gone. That’s why adding controllable players to this roster before the deadline makes so much sense because they could help you next year or in the years to come. That’s also why extending Corey Dickerson and trying to trade Austin Meadows for pitching makes sense because you need to be in the win-now mindset. I’m also not terribly high on Meadows at this point (.712 OPS in Triple-A this year), so I think selling high on him before his value sinks too low makes a lot of sense. The depth in your minor leagues has disappeared and now you are a top-heavy organization without many elite prospects coming in the future. There doesn’t appear to be anyone of the caliber of Cutch, Polanco, Marte, Bell, or even Taillon in your entire organization except maybe for Mitch Keller and Ke’Bryan Hayes. They are two of your four top 100 prospects and the other two are your first round picks last year (Shane Baz) and this year (Travis Swaggerty). They’ve proved nothing and they don’t even rank in the top 75 prospects according to most publications. You have the youngest staff in baseball and if you add to it, it could be good. You have a potentially really good offense if Marte, Polanco, Bell, and Dickerson continue at this level. You potentially have an elite bullpen especially if you add to it. The one thing this winning streak has taught me the most is that you have a three to four year window now. You need to take advantage of that like you didn’t the 2013-2015 window.

Things are about to get much more difficult. You have had a hell of a run, but the month of August has the potential to be brutal. This week is light as far as games but not as far as importance. After a day off on Monday, the Cubs comes to Pittsburgh for a rare two-game series. You face Jon Lester and newly acquired Cole Hamels, two lefties, which makes Dickerson and Bell’s absence a little more digestible especially when you consider you have another day off on Thursday. The St. Louis Cardinals come to town for the weekend, who are a game behind you in the Wildcard. As a matter of fact, with the Cubs and Cards on the docket this week, that means 28 of your next 30 games are against teams that are either ahead of you or are within two games of you in the playoff picture. The bad news is these are good teams, but the good news is that you have a chance to overtake some of these teams if you can beat them head-to-head. This run of games will be very telling as to the legitimate chances you have this season. If it’s not realistic, it does seem like there is a formidable team that’s a couple pieces away from potentially being a force. I hope that this streak showed you what’s possible. There is some legitimate talent on your team and there is no guarantee when players of that caliber will come along again. Do what needs to be done, whether that’s now or this offseason. Five huge games this week. Let’s see what you are made of. Good luck!

                                                                     Looking Forward To The Future,

                                                                                           Brad

P.S. stands for Pretty Standard which describes the clutchness of David Freese in his career. Freese single-handedly won a huge game on Friday night driving in all five runs in a 5-4 victory including a walkoff single in the bottom of the 9th. Freese has been on fire the last month and it makes you wonder if you should pick up his six million dollar option and keep him around next year. With this team showing they might be able to compete, doing something like starting rookies Kevin Kramer and Kevin Newman up the middle next year seems crazy. Maybe you pick up Freese’s option to give you depth at third and right handed option at first. Maybe you pick up JHay’s option or resign Mercer so that you’re not starting all rookies and then you rotate Newman, Kramer, and Kang at the other position depending on who is healthy and hitting. With this surge, it just seems like losing all of your veteran experience is now a really bad idea and David Freese provides veteran leadership as well as anyone.

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

You Are Back In It, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates, 

And the streak continues. I didn’t know if you would be able to keep the winning going against a Reds’ team that has played much better lately. I should’ve known better. You beat the crap out of them outscoring them 27-5 in a three-game series and you’ve increased your winning streak to nine games. Yes, you averaged nine runs per game in this series. You’ve climbed the ladder but you’re still a fairly insurmountable eight games back in the division. The interesting part is the Wildcard chase where you are only 4 ½ games back of the Brewers and the Phillies, the two Wildcard teams as of now. The Brewers got smoked again today so you are in it. There are still two teams between you and the final Wildcard spot, but you’re coming on strong just at the right time so that if you’re a seller at the trade deadline it will look terrible and if you don’t it will look stupid. This winning steak might be the most Pirates’ thing you have ever done. The offense has been absolutely electric albeit against some mediocre pitching. If you keep winning at this rate, is it possible you become buyers at the deadline? It’s not out of the question. I would have never imagined you would be in this position but I also never imagined you would win nine in a row. This next week will determine a lot. If somehow this winning continues and you’re within a couple games of a Wildcard spot, then maybe the thinking does need to change. I’m not there yet, but the tide is turning.

Marte and Polanco have remained on absolute fire after the All Star break. Both have raised their OPS’s to .827 and .829 respectively with 15 and 17 home runs now on the season. This offense centers around them. Marte is a known commodity already having a full season in which he had an OPS over .900. Polanco might finally be breaking out and I almost hesitate to say that. His last month he’s been one of the best hitters in baseball with an OPS over 1.000 during that stretch. Anyone arguing we should trade them while their value is high is crazy. Polanco is only making 3.5 million this year. You have him under contract through 2023 and the last two years of the contract are option years where the most he will make is 13.5 million. Marte is making 7.5 million this year and he’s technically under contract until 2021 and he’ll make 12.5 million in that final year. Because of those team friendly contracts, their value is very high and you could get high-end prospects in return for them. The problem is that even if you got a few of the better prospects in baseball, you still don’t know how they will turn out. Even with Polanco’s inconsistencies, both him and Marte are proven commodities. When the Padres traded their closer, Brad Hand, and reliever Adam Cimber, who is having an awesome season, earlier this week and got one of the top prospects in baseball in return, people discussed trading Felipe Vasquez. First off, to get that kind of return, we would need to trade Vasquez and Crick. You only do that if you don’t think you can compete in the next couple years and given this run and how the NL really only seems to have two elite teams (Cubs and Dodgers especially after they traded for Manny Machado), it’s reasonable to believe you could compete sooner. You still might end up trading players who will be free agents this year or next year, but I don’t think doing a full rebuild is the right move because you don’t know what you will get in return and I honestly don’t trust this front office to make moves of that magnitude.

Who has the best OPS on your team right now? That would be Corey Dickerson after his 4 for 5 performance which included a double and two home runs, his 10th and 11th. He’s homered in four straight games. His OPS is up to .856 and he will be the biggest debate whether to trade him or not at the deadline. Obviously this nine-game winning streak throws a minor curveball into that thought process. He has another year of arbitration next year so he’s under your control for another season. He’s making 5.95 million this season so it’s fair to guess that he would make around 8 or 9 million next year. That’s still very reasonable for a guy with his current statistics. He’s been a streaky hitter throughout his career and his BABIP is .330 right now so he’s due for a regression. He is right around top five in the NL in batting average, which I know isn’t that important to most people, but it makes him fit very well at the top of the lineup. This week will probably determine if you are buyers or sellers but Dickerson could net you a very nice return. If you have a rough week and still don’t trade him, then that will tell me a lot about your opinion on Austin Meadows. I know Meadows started off strong but his last month before being demoted was well below average. The drop off from a .856 OPS to a .617 OPS (Meadows’ last month) is obviously drastic. I really like Dickerson as a ball player particularly his approach with two strikes on him. I don’t know why more players don’t choke up in that situation. He’s also cut down on his swing and misses on fastballs in the zone considerably after being the worst in baseball at that last year. That makes me think this could be sustainable.  By this time next week, Dickerson could be on another team. If he’s still here, that’s great. You could always trade him this offseason too. Or maybe you should extend him and trade Meadows. Again, it’s a proven commodity versus potential that might never come to fruition. Meadows has been very average at almost every level in the minors. One way or another, trading for Dickerson seemed like a no-brainer at the time and it has proved to be a brilliant move. Even if he ends up being traded, that mean you got a damn good prospect for him which is a win too.

I’ve been all about trading JHay and Mercer, bringing up Kevin Kramer and Kevin Newman, and starting them for the rest of the season. I’m starting to backtrack on that. Obviously things could change depending on what happens this week, but maybe you need to stay the course for now. I know JHay has had a terrible offensive season (.639 OPS) and Mercer is having a typical season which means his OPS is right around .700. Those aren’t two guys you want starting. I’m sticking with the theme of the week here which is you don’t know what prospects will actually do in the majors. People will say that there’s no way Kramer and Newman could be worse than those two but the reality is they could be. It’s very possible they could come up, bat under .200, and have an OPS of .500. That would be significantly worse. It’s also important to keep in mind that given their offensive numbers you are going to get next to nothing in return for Mercer or JHay. They both play stellar defense and are smart ball players, but that’s it. If this week ends up being a disaster and you fall well out of contention, I’d trade them in a second. I would just be sure that everyone is realistic on the lack of return you are sure to get and the possibility that what you are left with could even be worse than what you had. It’s a similar situation with Ivan Nova. I’m all for trading him too but, with the Kuhl injury, that means you are probably putting Glasnow or Holmes in the rotation and neither of those are a very desirable circumstances. My overall point is be careful what you wish for because things could always get worse.

I’m not overstating it when I say that this is the most important week of the season. For the millionth time, it will basically determine if you will be buyers or sellers at the deadline. The week starts with a tall task and finishes with a fairly easy one. Tomorrow you travel to Cleveland to take on the first place Indians and the pitching matchups don’t favor you at all. You start off by facing the defending Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and his 12-5 record with a 2.76 ERA. He will face basically your #5 starter Trevor Williams and his 4.36 ERA. That doesn’t bode well for you. Game 2 will see Joe Musgrove facing off against one of the top 100 prospects in baseball and the Indians #3 prospect, Shane Beiber. He’s 5-1 with a 3.53 ERA since being promoted after he threw a no-hitter in Triple-A. Game 3 will be your ace, Jameson Taillon, facing off against former top three pick Trevor Bauer and his 2.44 ERA. It’s the biggest series of the season and you are facing two Cy Young candidates and an elite prospect. After that, you go home to face the Mets and their lowly offense for a four-game series. You will have to go against Jacob DeGrom, but the other three games are very winnable. If this week goes well, you could be buyers at the deadline. If it goes south, you will be sellers. No pressure. It’s been a hell of a ride over this nine-game winning streak so thank you for that. Just keeping playing the way you have been and we will see what happens. Love you bunches!

                                                                                           Enjoying The Ride,

                                                                                                      Brad

P.S. stands for Pathetic Shit (pardon the language) and that’s in reference to the Brewers’ All Star reliever Josh Hader. During the All Star game, it was discovered that he had tweeted out some very racist and very homophobic things a few years ago when he was 17 years old. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior. He apologized for it and maybe he’s grown up a lot since then. We all did some stupid things when we were that age. I do think it’s a little ridiculous that his only punishment is sensitivity training rather than being suspended. A five-game suspension is still a fairly light punishment. Putting that aside, it was even more crazy when on his return to the mound at Miller Park that he was greeted with a standing ovation. I can understand forgiving the guy to a certain extent and maybe even not booing him (though I might have), but a standing ovation? Really? Poor form, Milwaukee…

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

Keep Beating Up On The Weaklings, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

That’s a good start to your stretch of games against bad teams that you should beat up on. You started the week off the against the lowly Chicago White Sox. After taking game one, coming back from a 4-0 deficit in the first inning, you trailed 4-0 again in game two but this time it was going to the 6th inning when Mercer and Polanco both hit solo homers. It seemed like you might have spoiled an opportunity to take two from one of the worst teams in baseball when the White Sox added a run to make it 5-2 going to the 9th. After back to back singles from Marte and Bell, Elias Diaz came up with one out and ripped a two-run double to score both and bring the score to 5-4. Rookie Colin Moran came up next and hit a two-run homer to give you the lead for good. After your second off day of the week, the San Francisco Giants and prodigal son Andrew McCutchen came to Pittsburgh. In all three games, the fans gave Cutch a standing ovation of appreciation for almost single-handedly bringing this organization back to prominence. Even for someone not at the stadium, the moment was special to watch especially because it brought your highest attendance so far this season. You did somewhat spoil his return by winning two out of three and making it a successful 4-1 week. Opportunities to beat up on bad teams still exist this week so let’s strive for a similar outcome.

It’s finally over. Geroge Kontos (4.58 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 7 K’s in 17 2/3 IP) has been removed from the 8th inning setup role after he blew yet another lead against the Giants on Saturday. I complained last week about Hurdle leaving Kontos in during a key moment against the Brewers when Ryan Braun was coming up. He blew it then and when you had a one run lead in the 8th inning Saturday my phone was blowing up with people complaining that they knew Kontos would be coming in and would blow it again. How did everyone in Pittsburgh except Clint Hurdle know this? Obviously, he gave up a run to tie the game. Fortunately, you were able to get the run back next inning when former Bucco, Tony Watson, hit Jordy Mercer with a pitch with the bases loaded and you held on to win. Based on comments made by Hurdle and GM Neal Huntington on Sunday, it seems like the straw finally broke the camel’s back and Kontos has been removed from that role. The most frustrating part is you have so many better options. Michael Feliz (3.18 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 23 K’s in 17 IP) has done great work in the 7th inning so he could easily transfer to the 8th. Edgar Santana (1.08 WHIP, 16 K’s in 16 2/3 IP) has been good all season and would work out great in the 7th. If those two or your closer Vazquez needs a day off, then Kyle Crick (2.89 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 13 K’s in 9 1/3 IP) has performed well for most of the season too. That seems like the best way to go at this point. I know Richard Rodriguez (1.84 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 25 K’s in 14 2/3 IP) has done nice work but he gave up the run on Wednesday in Chicago to give them a 5-2 lead. Even worse, he came in to relieve Ivan Nova trailing 2-0 yesterday with two men on base and promptly gave up a three-run homer to put the game out of reach. He probably shouldn’t be counted on in too many high leverage situations and neither should Kontos. Kontos velocity had dipped from prior seasons and it’s hard to be a back end of the bullpen guy when you don’t have a legitimate strikeout pitch. I mean, look at his strikeout rate. Both of those guys should be relegated to middle relief and what once was a struggling bullpen suddenly looks like a strength.    

You are about to have a very good problem. You only needed four starting pitchers this week so you sent down Nick Kingham Later this week you will need a fifth starter again and it seems like Kingham will then return. That’s at least what I want to see. The other interesting element to this discussion is Joe Musgrove, a starting pitcher acquired in the Cole trade. Musgrove started the season on the DL but has been pitching rehab assignments lately working his way back to the majors. He should have one more rehab start to get himself up to 100 pitches but his most recent one on Saturday was, well, perfect. He only went 5 2/3 innings due to an 80 pitch limit, but he didn’t give up a walk, or a hit, and struck out six. After one more start in the minors, he will be ready to come up which begs the question: What do you do with the rotation? Obviously, you could send Kingham back down though based on what I’ve seen he’s one of your top five starters. Musgrove did pitch out of the bullpen last year with great success for the Astros but if he’s pitching like this I at least want to see what he can do as a starter. Taillon and Williams are entrenched in the top five so that leaves Kuhl and Nova. Funny enough, Nova’s currently the worst out of the six. He’s currently sporting a 5.01 ERA with a 1.35 WHIP. His start yesterday was going well before the tires fell off in the 6th, but his two starts before that were horrible. Kuhl’s numbers are a little better, 4.17 ERA and 1.35 WHIP, and he’s coming off not only his best start of the season but arguably the best of his career. It’s hard for me to imagine you pulling either of them out of the rotation though. I really don’t have a guess for what’s going to happen. Knowing you though, my out-there prediction is if Nova’s next start is poor you will put him on the DL for some random reason and let the other five go for two weeks to see how they perform and then re-evaluate. That’s also if Taillon’s finger injury that caused him to leave the game Friday doesn’t remain a problem. Given how little faith I admittedly had in your starting pitching going into this season, I’ll happily deal with problems like this.

We are almost at the quarter point of the season and you still remain only a ½ game out of first place. So, who is your MVP so far? There are two very easy candidates right now in Francisco Cervelli (.305 avg. .414 OBP, 6 HR’s 24 RBI’s, .985 OPS) and Corey Dickerson (.319 avg, .355 OBP, 5 HR’s, 27 RBI’s .880 OPS). Dickerson is also just behind the league leader in doubles with 12. The one guy who is also in the conversation who probably isn’t getting enough credit right now is Starling Marte (.304 avg, .362 OBP, 6 HR’s 19 RBI’s, .856 OPS, 10 SB). Marte already has 15 walks this season after only having 20 last season. He did only play a half season with his suspension but he played a full season the year before, his best season too, and only walked 23 times. His plate discipline has improved exponentially. Marte has also finally started playing the type of CF we expected with two catches in the last week that only a handful of players in baseball could make. If those are the candidates for MVP, then who are the finalsist for most disappointing players? Josh Bell (.721 OPS) is the leading candidate now with Polanco (.808 OPS) a little more on track but my actual choice is Adam Frazier (.231/.286/.308 for a .593 OPS.) There was a time before you got Corey Dickerson that he was going to be your starting LF. That alone might give Dickerson the MVP and prove how poor the front office judgment can be at times. After the JHay injury, Frazier was penciled in as the starting 2B and leadoff man but has just been abysmal. When you bring up your fifth starter this week, he or Max Moroff will be demoted. There’s no way Jose Osuna will now that he’s legitimately the best hitter on this team against lefties. His absurd overall OPS of 1.188 (obviously extreme small sample size) will keep him in the majors. With Bell’s early struggles too, he could play 1st or even RF for Polanco like he did yesterday. Either way, that guy has to start every game against lefties. JHay starts a rehab assignment this week so Frazier’s value diminishes even more for a guy David Freese said could win a batting title one day. He very well could, but it will probably have to be in Triple-A.

Like I’ve been saying, this week provides you another opportunity against two struggling team. You have another two-game series against the White Sox starting tomorrow, this time in Pittsburgh. The White Sox currently have the worst record in all of baseball. You do face their ace, Reynaldo Lopez, tomorrow but you should still be able to win both of those games. Starting Thursday, you begin a four-game series with the San Diego Padres who currently have the fifth worst record in all of baseball. That series is in Pittsburgh too and with how competitive your division has been all season, you can’t afford a bad week against bad teams. That hasn’t been a problem all year so I’m hoping it doesn’t start now. After three games against lowly Cincinnati next week, you have a stretch of games when you play the Cardinals, Cubs, Cardinals again, Dodgers, Cubs again, and the Diamondbacks. All of those teams, except the Dodgers, are either in first place or within a game of it. That’s a rough 13 game stretch with only one day off within it. That’s why it’s even more essential to win as many games as possible this week. You’ve gotten plenty of rest with three off days in the last week, so you should be prepared to do battle. Great job this week and let’s keep the ball rolling. Love you and talk to you next week!

                                                                                    Continuously Impressed,

                                                                                                    Brad

P.S. unfortunately won’t stand for Pens’ series after today (But please still checkout DEATH AT SUNSET: HARD TIMES AND SOFT DRINKS, a radio play, noir detective story written by Chris Maxwell and myself now available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio. Google Radio Play, and SoundCloud.) The Pens ran out of gas and finally got beat by the Washington Capitals on an OT goal in game six to end their season. Malkin and Kessel were injured, they lost five major role players from last season, and they were just out-played. It was a hell of a run for the winner of the last two Stanley Cups. This team should still be a contender for years to come. Thanks for two great seasons, Pens. Now get some much-deserved rest.

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

Until We Meet Again, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

I’ll give you this: you finished strong. The 2017 baseball season ended for you yesterday and you finished with a record of 75-87 by going 4-2 in your final week. You were only a measly seventeen games out of first place but the good news you avoided finishing in last place by seven games. Way to go! This season will go down as even more disappointing than last season and you were coming off a 98 win year in 2015. This one hurt more because last year you expected, at least slightly, to take a step back. A.J. Burnett retired, Neil Walker has been traded, and you were still trying to fill the void left by Edinson Volquez’s departure the year before that. The “bridge year” had ended and it looked like the young staff could take steps forward. You can argue that it did but the offense took about thirty steps back. Losing Kang to the Visa, Marte to the suspension, Matt Joyce and SRod to free agency, and Polanco to multiple hamstring injuries cost you over sixty homers. That’s a lot especially when the league destroyed the record for most overall homers hit in one season. That immediately puts you at a huge disadvantage. Obviously some of those things were out of your control (i.e. Kang and Marte) but you had opportunities to do something about it and you didn’t. Maybe you knew this roster wasn’t where it needed to be without them. I don’t know. I do know that after back to back losing seasons you need to do something to improve this roster. You can’t stick with the status quo and expect things to change.

Could this be it? Everyone treated the final two home games of the year on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Orioles as if they could be Andrew McCutchen’s last in front of the Pittsburgh crowd. I still think the chances of that are very slim but it’s important to give one of the greatest players in franchise history his due just in case it comes to fruition. Cutch gave the home crowd a show on Tuesday night and they paid him back in full. Cutch hit his first career grand slam in a 10-1 smashing of the Orioles. The relief Cutch showed rounding the bases showed how much it meant to him. He took a curtain call after the fans wouldn’t relent and that would be his first of three that evening. He hit a three-run homer later which garnered another standing ovation and a tip of the cap. The final one came when Clint Hurdle made the classy move of sending Cutch out to play defense only to immediately pull him so the crowd could give him a much deserved round of applause. He went 4 for 4 in that game with two homers and eight RBI’s. I’m glad Pittsburgh acknowledged what Cutch has done for this franchise just in case it’s over. I believed for a long time we would never see a winning season again and never see a player of Cutch’s capabilities step onto the field in a Pirates’ uniform. Talk about the pitching all you want but we don’t make three straight playoffs if Cutch isn’t on your roster. Hell, we very well might still have the consecutive losing seasons streak going without him. He is a generational player. After an abysmal start to this year, he finished with splits of .279/.363/.486 for a .849 OPS, 28 homers, and 88 RBI’s. He even added eleven steals and played a far more respectable center field. Cherish the moments you watched him play. Cherish him handing his batting gloves to two elated kids in San Diego. Cherish an MVP winner. Cherish a man who loved to play for this city. Cherish a man who made you a winner again. This dedication might be pointless right now if he’s standing in center field on opening day next year but, in case he’s not, thank you Cutch for helping me believe in Pirates’ baseball again. You are easily my favorite Pirate that I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching in person.

In a down year, you look for silver linings in order to keep you optimistic moving forward. Obviously, Cutch’s bounce back was a big one. Josh Bell becoming a home run hitter and looking like he has the potential to be a corner stone piece was gigantic. Felipe Rivero becoming one of the best closers in baseball was a lovely surprise. I think the biggest surprise though might be the performance of Trevor Williams. When quality starting pitching is so hard to find, you can’t overstate how important Williams breakout season could be. Williams 4.07 ERA and 1.31 WHIP look decent especially for the number four or five guy in your rotation but when you see his second half numbers it’s becomes even more interesting. In the first half of the season, his ERA was 4.80. That included his first start in Los Angeles when he got tagged for ten runs. In the second half, his ERA was 3.35. His WHIP has actually remained fairly consistent in the two halves. First half it was 1.27 and second half it was 1.35. Those aren’t WHIP’s that blow you away but they are decent and, given it’s his first season starting in the majors, there’s reason to believe that could improve. His FIP’s were about the same as well with the first half at 4.06 and 3.99 in the second half. His strikeouts increased in the second half of the season but so did his walks which would explain his increase in WHIP. He stranded 64% of the runners he put on base in the first half and improved to strand 78% of runners after that. These are all very encouraging numbers. When you remember that you acquired Williams from the Marlins as compensation for pitching guru, Jim Benedict, taking a position there, it seems like a smart move. When you learn that Benedict was fired by new CEO Derek Jeter this weekend, the move looks brilliant. I don’t know if Williams can continue to perform at this level but there’s reason to believe that you have found your number four starter for now and for the future.

Jameson Taillon finally looked like an ace caliber pitcher again on Saturday night against the Washington Nationals. The Nationals didn’t have anything to play for but they still had their normal starting lineup in there and Taillon dominated. He pitched seven innings allowing four hits, one run, one walk, and striking out five. We haven’t seen this Taillon since his return from testicular cancer and if that’s not a good enough reason to give someone leeway than nothing is. Taillon has the ability to be a true ace and his ceiling could even be higher than Gerrit Cole’s. I don’t know what the state of the rotation will be next season but I’m optimistic. If they don’t trade Cole, which is possible, they have someone who pitched almost 200 innings and struck out almost 200 hitters. His home run numbers have to decrease significantly for him to be a force but given that he gave up more than two and a half times the amount of homers this year than he has in any other season, there’s hope that this was an anomaly. With Williams at the four and options like Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault, and Nick Kingham at the five, the only person you really need to get back on track is Ivan Nova which might be easier said than done after his poor second half (5.83 ERA, 1.61 WHIP). You would like to think that Tyler Glasnow could be a part of this conversation too but seeing as he can’t pitch three innings without walking five to six batters, he’s in the “worthless until proven otherwise” category. I’m not certain the rotation will be great or even good next year. I do have more confidence in this staff than I have had in the last two and I believe they are in better position for next year than the offense.  Let’s hope these pitchers play up to their potential and that you find a way to improve the offense.

I bitch and complain a lot. I harp on the mistakes you make over and over again. I have the luxury of sitting in the peanut gallery and analyzing everything you do with a microscope without knowing everything that goes on behind the scenes. It’s weekends like this past one that put things into perspective. Sports are fun. I take them as or more seriously than anyone else and sometimes you realize they only matter so much. When you see the devastation in Puerto Rico or the senseless massacre in Las Vegas, you remember that sports only have one responsibility: to entertain. Enjoy them. Enjoy them more than I sometimes do. That’s why they exist. I could complain more about a disappointing season but instead I’m going to thank you for being there. Thank you for giving me something to focus on, even once in a while, to take my mind off the insanity that’s out there. Many things need to drastically change to prevent tragedies like this but they don’t happen in a baseball blog. I tell you how much I love you all the time, and I do, but right now I want to say I love you to all the people who make my life worth living. You don’t know what could happen next and you never want to be in a situation wishing you would have said it more. To the people that read this, to my family, and to my friends, I’m grateful for you every day. These are difficult times and the one thing no one can stop you from doing is loving. I know this has devolved into schmaltz and cheesiness but there are few days when it’s felt more appropriate. Be more compassionate. Be more appreciative. I know I will be. We have a long fight ahead of us to stop horrific tragedies like today. All I currently have is the power of words so I will just want to say it once more: Thank you, all. I love you dearly.

                                   With Sincere and Desperate Hope For a Better Tomorrow,

                                                                                           Brad

P.S. stands for the Pittsburgh Steelers who got their season back on track with a huge win on the road against the division rival, Baltimore Ravens. You grinded out a 26-9 win on the back of great defense and Le’Veon Bell having his first real Le’Veon Bell type day (186 yds from scrimmage and 2 TD’s). You are now 3-1 and standalone at the top of the division ahead of the Ravens (2-2), Bengals (1-3), and Browns (0-4). You get only your second home game in five weeks on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. You are 3-1, you have had one home game, and your franchise QB has been above average at best. I’ll take it…

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

Keep Moving, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

That was awesome. You literally couldn’t have scripted it better. Sean Rodriguez was reacquired in a trade on Saturday. He had 72 hours to report but because you are still in this division race he chose to show up today and I couldn’t be happier that he did. SRod entered the game in a double switch in the 8th inning. After Felipe Rivero had a rare blown save in the 9th, SRod came up for his second at bat of the game in the 12th and demolished a homer to deep left field to win the game and win the series against the San Diego Padres. With the Cubs loss today, you are only 4.5 games back in this division. That’s pretty unbelievable especially with how poorly you played earlier in the week. You were embarrassed again by the Reds in the first two games of that series before salvaging it by winning the finale. You split the first two in the Padres series before the dramatic ending highlighted by the SRod homer. I’ll go more into depth what SRod’s return really means to this team but that almost seems pointless given what took place today. You have two months left and you finally added some necessary piecesx to this roster. You still need to continue to improve to really make a run at this thing but these next eight weeks should be very interesting.

So long, WaWa. On Monday, the July 31st trade deadline, you traded long time reliever Tony Watson to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two young prospects. It’s easy to be fine with this move given Watson’s mediocre performance over the last two seasons but don’t forget what Watson did for this team in their playoff seasons. He was a machine. From 2013 through 2015, he had ERA’s of 2.39, 1.63, and 1.91 along with WHIP’s of 0.88, 1.02, and 0.96. That’s excellent. It’s no surprise that he burned out a bit considering that since he entered the league he has the third most relief appearances over that span. Watson was going to be a free agent at the end of the year. You weren’t planning to resign him and you wouldn’t make him a qualifying offer so there would be no draft pick for him anyway. Trading him doesn’t weaken your team by much especially with how inconsistent he has been since being placed in the closer role last year. The two prospects you received weren’t top tier prospects but they are certainly interesting. Oneil Cruz is an 18 year old third baseman who stands at 6′6″. He’s a project but he has already crushed a towering homer since joining your minor league system. You also received 21 year old relief pitcher Angel German who throws mid 90′s, has a 1.91 ERA, and has a 10.1 K/9. These guys may not amount to much but I’m fine with rolling the dice on a couple prospects for a guy who was leaving regardless. Either way, a tip of the cap to WaWa. Thanks for all the good years. I won’t feel too bad for you seeing you joined a team who has won 43 of their last 50 games. Good luck to you, sir...

July 31st passed and the only person you acquired was forty year old Joaquin Benoit from the Phillies to just add another arm to the bullpen. His numbers are actually decent this year though he gave up a homer in each of his first two appearances, That looked like it until Saturday when you brought back Serpico. You traded Connor Joe (another high draft pick you wasted because he has no position) to bring back fan favorite and defensive specialist Sean Rodriguez. Obviously I absolutely love this move even more now after his walkoff homer today. SRod is signed through next year and he adds depth at almost every position on the diamond particularly OF, 2B, and 3B. He could start for an injured Polanco, he can give Freese days off, and he can spell JHay or Mercer when needed. The move also meets the requirement of operating as if Jung-ho Kang will never play for you again. SRod is the definition of a super utility player. He’s been hurt most of the year after a bad car crash and since returning he’s struggled hitting but that’s to be expected. He hit 18 homers last year and after that bomb today you know he has pop. He will make over five million next year. Even if he doesn’t hit a bunch of homers, he is well worth that price for his defense. He can literally play every position on the field (he was even the emergency catcher last year). He has the added bonus of hitting lefties well so he could give Bell or Polanco a day off too. Bringing back SRod was a no-brainer and I couldn’t be happier you finally addressed the depth concerns. 

SRod wasn’t the only move you made on Saturday. You claimed relief pitcher George Kontos off waivers from the San Francisco Giants as well. Kontos was almost a Pirates years ago when he was one of the options for you to take from the Yankees in the Xavier Nady deal. Kontos has had an OK season with a 3.83 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. His three prior seasons have been terrific though. In those three seasons, his ERAs were 2.78, 2.33, and 2.53 with WHIP’s of 1.08, 0.94, and 1.16. This adds depth to the bullpen for this year and next year. Kontos is still in arbitration through next season and he’s making 1.75 million this year which means he will be affordable next year too. His walks are up a little this year but his K/9 has jumped from 5.9 last year to 9.6 this year. With Watson gone and Nicasio scheduled to be a free agent, you needed to add to the bullpen for next year. Obviously both SRod and Kontos can help you now but it seems like the front office realizes that with a fully healthy (and not suspended) team, you can compete next year if this year doesn’t work outt. Neither of these are flashy moves but you didn’t really need anything big. You needed to add depth to an already pretty good roster and you did that for an extremely reasonable cost. I’m still confused why you didn’t pull the trigger on moves like this sooner but, as they say, better late than never.

I’m still in shock. I was excited on Saturday when the news came that SRod was back. When I saw that ball soar over the left field wall today, I had chills. I’m not saying that you win the division now because of this but sometimes all it takes is that shot in the arm to propel you into a different stratosphere. Hopefully you take this momentum into this week which will be kind of a weird one. You play four games against the Detroit Tigers starting tomorrow with the first two at home and the next two in Detroit. This is a below .500 team that you need to beat. You follow that with a weekend series in Toronto against the Blue Jays, another sub .500 team. You need to set the standard this week and beat these mediocre teams. After this week, your schedule goes Brewers, Cardinals, Dodgers, Reds, Cubs, Reds, Cubs, Cardinals, Brewers, Reds, Brewers, and Cardinals. That takes you to the last week of the season. Those are all potential playoff teams except the Reds who have owned you this year. That’s a brutal stretch but also an opportunistic one. If you play better baseball, you will have a chance. You’ve shown glimpses of elite play but then your offense disappears for a few games. That can’t happen. Your margin for error is so small. Take it one day at a time and go out and beat two AL teams. Thanks again for a fun Sunday. Have a great week! Love you!

                                                                                         Your Satisfied Sidekick,

                                                                                                          Brad

P.S. Jameson Taillon bounced back in a huge way today. He gave up two runs in the first inning but then blanked the Padres the rest of his outing to go 6 1/3 innings giving up five hits, two walks, and striking out eight. It’s a relief to see after his last two starts had been the worst of his career. In those two starts, he went a total of 6 2/3 innings giving up twenty hits and seventeen earned runs, It raised his ERA from 3.08 to 4.74. If you have any hopes of winning this division, he needs to pitch like an ace. It was only two starts but they were so bad I didn’t understand what was going on. Getting him back on track today was huge. Here’s hoping that continues moving forward. 

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

I Need A Breather, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

Two games out. That’s what you were last Friday after you had swept the Brewers and destroyed the Rockies in game one in Colorado. You had two more games in Colorado before going further west to play two of the worst teams in the NL, the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres, A great opportunity to pick up ground. What transpired was an unmitigated disaster. From last Saturday until now, you went 2-6 losing the last two in Colorado and losing two out of three to BOTH the Giants and Padres. What the hell happened? The pitching sunk back to average and the bats didn’t show up at all, other than a certain number 22. You are now in fourth place and you’re 5.5 games behind the first place Cubs. You’re not done but your chances have reached minuscule proportions. I don’t care if it’s on the road or not, you can’t expect to win a division when you can’t beat the bottom feeders. Those are the games you have to win so that it can be acceptable when you split with the really good teams. I can’t believe how far my feelings have fallen in a week. It’s just so disappointing. 

I have been mad at you for a lot of things before. The Liriano trade last year made me irate even though it basically looks brilliant now. I will never, ever understand how you have gone a full year without an actual fourth outfielder on your roster. It’s insane. I wouldn’t do that if I was playing a baseball video game so I can’t fathom how a major league franchise would think that’s acceptable. If that wasn’t bad enough, the second Starling Marte was suspended months ago you should have traded for an outfielder. You knew you wouldn’t have him for eighty games and then the playoffs. Why wouldn’t you respond accordingly? If your excuse is that the value was too high especially given your desperation given your situation, that’s too bad. Then you need to overpay. It’s your fault for not addressing it sooner. You seem way too comfortable having “bridge years” or not going “all in” which basically means you waste seasons. You can’t afford that when you have players like Cutch and Cole for only so long. It’s inexcusable to have that mindset. “Playoffs are a roll of the dice anyway.” Not if you don’t make it they’re not. I understand you’re a small market team, you have limited spending, and all that other garbage but there is absolutely no explanation for allowing this to continue. 

Oh, we are not done discussing this. Not addressing this at the beginning of the season or when Marte got suspended was bad enough but you managed to somewhat get away with it with Frazier, Osuna, and Jaso for a little while. Kind of. When Polanco went to the DL late last week with a hamstring strain, you had to pull the trigger then. You had to!! You saw what the price was for position players from the J.D. Martinez trade and it wasn’t expensive. The outfield market at this trade deadline is over-saturated in a good way. There were so many options. Howie Kendrick would have been a perfect fit because he can play OF, 2B, and 3B. You need depth at all three of those positions and instead he got traded to the Nationals. Did you not want to take on the few million dollars remaining on his contract? Where did all that money you saved on Kang and Marte go? Nowhere. You allowed an entire week to go by where you plummeted in the standings without addressing your most glaring issue. In that week, you also watched Osuna and Frazier utterly embarrass themselves in right field on plays that cost us runs. (That’s not even mentioning Marte’s gaff that cost us a game but I have no explanation for that either.) You also saw your offense disappear when adding that outfielder could have aided that too. Throughout all of that, your only move was bring up a borderline prospect who started the year in AA and has barely had any at bats in AAA. On top of that, he made a defensive mistake too. You’ve had chance after chance to fix a mistake you made months ago and we sit here on July 31st and you still haven’t addressed it. I have no words...

You have a tendency to draft guys or acquire guys who can hit but don’t really have a position. Recent draft picks like Will Craig and Connor Joe fall into that category. Frazier, Osuna, and Jaso do as well. You signed Jaso to learn to play first base. You have basically used Frazier as your  utility player except he sucks at every position. You have succeeded with this before with JHay. When you traded for him, he had a good bat but no real position. Fortunately, he’s so gifted and such a hard worker that he’s managed to work himself into being good at every position. That’s what true ball players do. You managed to transition Josh Bell into a potentially adequate first baseman but even that has obviously had it’s growing pains. He’s such a good hitter that it’s doesn’t really matter but that’s a problematic philosophy though. It’s that philosophy that has put you into this situation. You assumed you could make Jaso or Frazier into a decent outfielder and then you wouldn’t have to spend more money or give up any of your prized prospects. Sometimes you focus so much on the future you forget about the present. It’s a cheap way of doing business. You have managed to make it work brilliantly with pitchers so I wonder if your arrogance is getting in the way. This is not an intelligent way to run your franchise. You can’t allow easily fixable things like a fourth outfielder to be this big of a problem. Not having an ace isn’t quickly fixable. Not having a legit power hitter or stolen base guy isn’t that easy to find. A competent fourth outfielder is as easy as it gets and you blew it. 

Today is the trade deadline and I can’t imagine you will do anything significant now that you are 5.5 back of the Cubs and they looks like they have found themselves again. I don’t think you will sell because you have to look at next year and assume if you get this Cutch, a full season of Marte, and a healthy Polanco (unlikely) that you could realistically compete. I’m so glad you have a day off today because after this past week I need a breather. At least you get to come home now. You play the last place Reds for three games starting tomorrow and then this weekend the still crappy Padres come to town. It feels like you need to sweep both series to remain remotely relevant but that’s not reasonable (kind of like not having a fourth outfielder). Anything less than four wins this week is a failure. Hopefully you add a piece today to help that come to fruition while Polanco remains on the DL. He will most likely rejoin the team just in time for it to be too late to matter. We’ll see. I’m extremely frustrated and I know you are too. Let’s put it behind us and try to move on. Regroup today and figure out a way to win tomorrow. One day at a time. Good luck.

                                                                                        Your Pissed Off Person,

                                                                                                          Brad

P.S. You managed to salvage the weekend series thanks to Gerrit Cole pitching like an ace but mostly Cutch being Cutch. He hit three homers yesterday. Three. He hit another on Friday to give him four homers and a ridiculous OPS of 1.513 for the week. I can’t imagine a scenario where he gets traded today but I also can’t imagine one where they offer him a contract extension. He is already top three in almost every offensive category in your history. Before he departs, most likely after next year, he will go down as one of the greatest Pirates ever and you are going to just let him walk away. I know it’s not an easy decision but it’s getting harder and harder to swallow when you see him play like this...

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

Don’t Bail On Me Now, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates, 

That’s quite an exclamation point to send you into the All Star break. A ten run first inning led to a 14-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs and a road series victory. You took two out of three in Chicago after winning the final three of a four game series in Philadelphia against the Phillies. A 5-2 week was a beautiful bounce back after hitting a season low when you were swept by the lowly Giants at home and then shutout in game one in Philly. Even with that good of week, you remain seven games back of the first place Brewers. It’s going to be an uphill battle to even make it interesting in the second half. I am gaining some hope even if it’s only for 2018. There is still a lot of talent on this team and when Cutch is going like this anything is possible. You show signs of a quality team at times and then you have games where you look like you will never have another winning season. You get Starling Marte back after the break and having Taillon back in the rotation gives you an anchor. You might be too far gone for this season but I’m finally seeing potential. Just don’t blow it all up.

Things have changed drastically. This might be hasty but you NEED to resign Cutch. Obviously in May you weren’t even going to pick up his option and then he spent the next six weeks being the best player in baseball. This is the front office’s most important decision yet. Actually it might be the most important decision in franchise history and that seriously might not be an overstatement. Cutch is the rock. Marte, Polanco, JHay, and Bell are or have the potential to be excellent pieces but they aren’t rocks. You win when Cutch is Cutch. He wasn’t for a year and a half and you weren’t good. I don’t know if he will play at this level consistently but he has seemed to fix whatever was broken. He’s already making 14 million per season. How much does it hinder you to up that by six million per season and give him 4 years 80 million? That would mean he’s earned over 130 million in his career and that doesn’t include endorsements. He really might take it especially after going through an epic slump that seemed like it could cost him a ton. He seems to love Pittsburgh. He wants to win here and wants to be the one lead us to victory. Let him.

I’m going to keep talking about Cutch because I think it’s the most important discussion there is right now. If Cutch’s contract is off the books, what is your payroll? You’re already going to subtract the contracts of Watson, Jaso, Nicasio, and Bastardo, That’s close to twenty million. Obviously you could resign one or two of them (not Bastardo) and most of the team will get raises but there is money to spend. A four year contract only puts Cutch at age 34. That’s not crazy. What would be crazy would be to rely on an unproven commodity, like Austin Meadows? I know he’s a first round pick but so was Reese McGuire. Meadows his played below average in Triple-A and has consistently dealt with injuries since being drafted. “But we will get something really good in return for Cutch and they will be a star.” Do you really think you will get any type of return that will come near to Cutch’s value? You won’t especially given his year and a half slump. I don’t think you have another option. You risk setting this team back five years. A guy of Cutch’s talent is worth the risk of a contract like that. I don’t care about the slump. This is your put up or shut up moment. Don’t blow it.

I’m preaching this idea so intensely because I think there’s still potential for success with this team. With top tier players like Taillon, Cole, and Rivero on the staff and if Cutch is Cutch, then all you need is your role players to step up. The rotation has pitched well overall. The offense has struggled this season so that’s a concern but you can’t minimize the loss of Marte and Kang. Forget Kang because who knows if he will ever be back but we will get Marte back. He was an idiot, no doubt, and it will be hard to trust him again. The one thing I don’t doubt is that Marte is still an elite talent, even without steroids. Call me crazy for believing him but I think he took steroids after last season because he only hit nine home runs, That doesn’t detract from his .818 OPS and his 47 stolen bases last season. That’s forty-seven times he turned a single or walk into a double. Those are both huge numbers to subtract from a lineup. He will be back after the All Star break and I’m excited to see if he can inject more life into the lineup. Barring anymore stupidity or an injury, Marte will be around for possibly five more years. It would be nice to have Cutch and him side by side until that time.

This is All Star week so everyone, minus JHay, gets four much needed days off. It’s time to sit back, relax, and regroup. Friday will be your first game back and you need to hit the ground running to get back into this division race. You will certainly have your opportunity. You begin a seven game inner-division homestand on Friday when the St. Louis Cardinals come to town. That kicks off a span in which 22 of your next 29 games will be played against teams with records below .500. Four of those seven games will be at home against the first place Milwaukee Brewers one week from today. See what I mean by opportunity? Those 29 games will take you to and through the July 31st trade deadline so we will have a very good idea of where you stand soon enough. Regardless of what happens, don’t sell and try to rebuild. I think given the right signings (*cough* Cutch), players returning, and adding in the offseason you can still compete. Everyone assumed the Cubs dynasty was a foregone conclusion but given their first half struggles that’s far from certain. Don’t bail on me now. Things are finally looking promising again. You need to spend money once in a while and the only type of players you can sign are your own. You can’t compete in the free agent market for top tier talent. I could be wrong. I could be crazy. We won’t know for a while. I think you have to bet on the talent you have already seen perform. Have a good week off and I look forward to Friday!

                                                                      Your Suddenly Optimistic Observer,

                                                                                                Brad

P.S. I usually trust in the front office when it comes to trades and roster decisions but there have been some glaring errors in judgment. The Keon Broxton and Trey Supak trade for Jason Rogers is embarrassing. Given Marte’s suspension, Broxton would have been huge for us in this first half. Rogers isn’t even in the system anymore and Broxton has 14 homers for the Brewers. That’s not even to mention releasing Alen Hanson, who has played reasonably decent for the White Sox since getting picked up, basically for Max Moroff who is 4 for 52 (.076) since being called up. You gave up on Jared Hughes because one million was too pricey. Now he’s pitching for the first place Brewers with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Given your bullpen struggles, he would have been nice to have. This is just one of the reasons why I’m concerned about them trading Cutch.

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

There Might Be No Saving You, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

This should have been a 4-2 week. I should be singing your praises right now. Instead, Tony Watson decided to implode in epic fashion. You lead both games in Baltimore going into the 9th inning. The first game was a 5-3 lead that disappeared when Watson gave up a two run homer to tie it. You lost in extra innings. Clint Hurdle stood by his closer even though he had blown his last four save opportunities. The next game you had a 6-2 lead in the 9th and a 6-3 lead when Watson entered. He gave up an RBI double to make it 6-3. He got a second out and had two strikes on pinch hitter Trey Mancini before he hit a two run homer to tie it and you lost again in extra innings. It hurt even more the second time because you had your elite reliever, Felipe Rivero, available but Hurdle was too stubborn to pull his guy. Two games you should have won turn into two losses. Hurdle finally removed Watson from the closer role, albeit too late. You got killed in the first two games at home against the Marlins but then came back to win game three and four, both of which Rivero closed and got the save. Instead of a 4-2 week, it’s a 2-4 week and you still remain in last place. Thanks to Tony Wawa for losing his velocity and accuracy and thanks to Clint Hurdle for making this move way too late when your closer has already blown five saves and had pitched terribly in the closer role last year. 

In one of the few bright spots of the week, it was announced that Jameson Taillon will return to the rotation on Monday. That prompted a reshuffling of the rotation and the bullpen. Edgar Santana, a hard throwing righty, and A.J. Schugel, a righty with a great changeup, joined the bullpen. More interestingly, Taillon will replace Tyler Glasnow in the rotation as Glasnow was finally optioned to Triple-A. The whole “he’s proven everything he could in Triple-A” narrative looks insane now. Glasnow wasn’t showing any signs of improvement, In fact, he was getting worse. His 7.45 ERA and 1.91 WHIP were abysmal and that’s being kind. He led the majors in most pitches per inning. He’s still young so I’m not going to say there’s no chance he figures it out but until he can lock down his fastball command, he will not be a successful major league pitcher. There’s is no more important aspect to a pitcher than fastball command and Glasnow seems to have no idea where his pitches are ever going. I would leave him down in Triple-A the rest of the season to see if there’s any hope he can figure it out. I would have him throw almost all fastballs even if it means he gets shelled. Nothing else matters until he can master that. If he doesn’t, then Glasnow might end up being the worst thing you can be as a baseball prospect: A bust. 

A lot of blame can go around for the lack of success this season. We have harped on the Marte/Kang/other injuries blame game endlessly but with due right. Cutch’s abysmal play early on was easy to blame too but he’s been on fire the last two weeks so it’s hard to keep pointing the finger at him. The two most egregious under-performers (other than Tony Watson) have been Gregory Polanco and Gerrit Cole. Cole started the season off well but has been just awful lately allowing seven earned runs in each of his last two starts. His 4.83 ERA is easily the worst of his career and his 1.34 WHIP isn’t much more impressive. I know I mentioned it last week but he’s also given up more homers this season than any other year in his career. Polanco has just been bad all season. He has dealt with injuries (like always) but his .251 average and .324 OBP aren’t nearly good enough. The scary thing is they are almost identical to his final numbers last year. His slugging percentage was almost 100 points higher last year mostly because of his twenty-two home runs. This year he has three. His OPS has dipped from .786 last year to a pathetic .696 this year. Polanco’s batting averages over the last three seasons are .256, .258, .251 and his OBP numbers are .320, .323, and .324. This is becoming his normal which is incredibly mediocre without that power. Add in his below average defense and Gregory Polanco might be only be an average player.

Everyone has complained that the Cervelli and JHay contracts were big mistakes. The way Elias Diaz has hammered the ball lately the Cervelli contract is starting to look that way especially given his lackluster performance and his injury history (trade him and his 10 million contract per year at the deadline if anyone will take it). On the contrary, and I can’t believe I’m about to say this, JHay has been your most consistent hitter this season and it’s not even close. His line of .307/.377/.468 with a .845 OPS and a 123 OPS+ puts him as one of our only players even getting All Star consideration. The only other two possibilities are Juan Nicasio and Felipe River, who is almost guaranteed to make it. This season is very reminiscent of 2014 when JHay finished 9th in MVP voting. His final numbers that year were .315/.347/.490 for an .837 OPS and a 133 OPS+. His final WAR in ‘14 was 5.3. He’s on pace for about a 5.0 WAR so he’s only trending a little below. Add in JHay’s stellar defense at second, third, and even in the outfield when necessary and he’s easily worth his 7.75 million dollar salary this season. He’s scheduled to make 10 million next season in the last year of his contract before he goes into his option years. It will be interesting to see how much longer he’s in Pittsburgh but right now he’s your offensive MVP.

The good news for this week is you get to stay at home for six more games. The bad news is you start the week against the Colorado Rockies, who currently hold the best record in the NL. After an off day Thursday, you play the defending champs, the Chicago Cubs, over the weekend. You are currently 28-35 and still reside in last place. If Tony Watson didn’t stink, you could be 30-33 right now and you would only be three games out of first place. Taillon’s return to the rotation on Monday will not only cap off an incredible and inspiring come back but it will give this rotation a much needed lift. With Taillon’s return and the highly dependable Ivan Nova (1 hit in 6 innings today), your rotation actually starts looking a little respectable if Gerrit Cole can find himself. Chad Kuhl and Trevor Williams haven’t been terribly consistent but there is reason to be hopeful. When you face two teams that are as good as these two, I’ll happily take a 3-3 week even at home. It’s hard to feel too optimistic for this season after how many things have gone wrong and considering you are seven games under .500 but that’s why they play the games. I like the changes you made this week and here’s hoping they pay dividends. Good luck!

                                                   Always Hanging Onto My Sanity By A Thread,

                                                                                                    Brad 

P.S. still stands for Pens’ series. After the Predators tied the series 2-2 on their home ice, the series moved back to Pittsburgh. The Pens responded with a dominant performance in game five destroying the Predators 6-0. Game six happens in Nashville tonight and, with a win, the Pens would collect their second straight Stanley Cup. If they can’t close the deal, game seven will happen Wednesday night back in Pittsburgh. Let’s repeat last year and win on the opponents ice just so we don’t have to sit through another stressful game seven. Bring home the Cup, boys!! LET’S GO PENS!!!!

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

You’re In Striking Distance, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates, 

Your offense certainly showed up this weekend. You scored twenty-five runs in three games and paid back the Mets for taking two out of three in Pittsburgh last weekend by taking two out of three in New York. Unfortunately you started the week losing two out of three at home to Arizona so that makes for a 3-3 week. You are 26-31, you are still in last place, and by some miracle you are only 3.5 games out of first place. Who would have guessed your division would be this bad? You’re still not quite performing like a true contender but there is reason for hope. You’re as healthy as you have been all season especially considering Jameson Taillon is on the verge of returning. You need more consistency in every aspect of the game. The offense comes and goes. The starting pitching looked like a strength a couple weeks ago and now looks more questionable than it has all season. The bullpen has a couple weak links but has overall performed admirably. You need to elevate your game in all levels if you want to make a run at this thing but you are still in it.

Jameson Taiilon had another extremely successful rehab outing on Friday. He will have one more start in Triple-A which means he will probably rejoin the rotation after that. Who does he replace though? Trevor Williams originally replaced him but he’s pitched too well (7 IP 7 H 1 ER 2 BB 3 K today) to remove him. My vote is Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow had another poor start on Saturday to raise his ERA to 6.97 and his WHIP to 1.87 in eleven starts. He’s only averaging 4.58 innings per start. Chad Kuhl has been almost equally as bad posting a 6.02 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. Kuhl is also only averaging 4.48 innings per start but he had a start cut short by injury and another cut short by a rain delay. Ideally both would be replaced with someone better but that second person doesn’t exist right now until Nick Kingham gets more minor league innings under his belt. With all else being equal, I keep Kuhl in the rotation simply because of his fastball command, He has some and Glasnow doesn’t. That’s a prerequisite for pitching in the major leagues. Unfortunately, I’m starting to think that’s something Glasnow will never master which will be a problem throughout his career but send him down so he can figure it out in Triple-A and stop costing the big league team victories. 

Cutch might actually be coming around. Since his benching in the Atlanta series a little over a week ago he’s been on fire. Cutch highlighted it with a 3 for 5 performance today including a three-run homer. His splits since his brief hiatus are an extremely impressive .394/.500/.727 for a 1.227 OPS. They moved him down to the sixth spot in the order but his success hitting in that spot is only a coincidence. He’s finally hitting balls on the outer half of the plate to the opposite field. He’s not swinging at balls out of the zone. He’s not missing fastballs thrown right down the middle. He was doing none of those things prior to his break. Does this mean he’s back to being MVP Cutch? I’m far from assuming that. He hasn’t looked like MVP Cutch in two years and one week of domination isn’t going to change my mind that quickly. If somehow he is back to being great, that changes the outlook of this season tremendously. You’re still very much in striking distance in this division. You just need to iron out the rotation if you plan to contend, Taillon’s return will help that but other things need to happen like Gerrit Cole getting back on track and Cutch performing more like this on a regular basis. 

Yeah, Gerrit Cole has not been good recently. He started the season so well and now his last few starts have been a disaster. He got rocked on Friday night giving up seven earned runs over five innings. He did get hosed on pathetic defensive play by Gregory Polanco. A ball was lined directly at him that he managed to misplay leading to a two run triple but because the ball didn’t hit his glove it was deemed a hit. I don’t understand why a play like that can’t be a judgment call to determine it was an error. Regardless, Cole still pitched poorly. For the year, he has a 4.27 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP, and a 4.77 FIP. The biggest problem is the fifteen home runs he’s allowed this season. In no other season has he allowed more than eleven and we are only at June 4th. That’s a glaring problem. He’s still struggling to get lefties out with their OPS against him at .881 as opposed to .718 versus right handed hitters. I don’t know what the answer is and Cole doesn’t seem to either. If he gets hot again, do you trade him? I know I brought this question up previously but you need to seriously consider it especially if you fall out of contention. None of this really matters unless Cole turns it around. Here’s hoping he figures it out. 

Monday is another off day which will be helpful given you only have one more off day over your next nineteen games. You have an odd two game series in Baltimore against the Orioles on Tuesday and Wednesday. You immediately travel back home to begin a ten game homestand starting on Thursday with four games against the Miami Marlins. These are winnable games especially considering the week after brings the wildcard leading Colorado Rockies and the defending World Series champs, the Chicago Cubs. Take advantage of this week because next week could be rocky (pun intended). No one wants to win this division the way they are playing right now. This offense can be very good. The pitching needs to improve but once Taillon returns you have a legit top of the rotation if Cole can get it together and Nova keeps pitching this way. Your defense has even improved over the last month, minus the Polanco play, to the point that it’s almost a strength. Winning the division is a possibility. You need to defend your home field and find a way to beat some very good teams. If you can’t beat good teams, then you can’t win the division. It’s as simple as that. Keep swinging those bats and I look forward to talking with you next week. Love you bunches!!

                                                                                          Your Prudent Partner,

                                                                                                         Brad

P.S. still stands for Pens’ series. The Stanley Cup finals have began and it started off beautifully. The Pens won the first two games at home to take a 2-0 lead. They dropped the first game in Nashville last night to put the series score at 2-1. They play game four in Nashville tomorrow night. If they can manage to steal that game, then they only need to win one out of the last three games and two of those will be in Pittsburgh. The power play needs to improve and they just need to play better than last night. They’ve bounced back after every bad game in these playoffs so no reason to believe they can’t do that again. LET’S GO PENS!!!

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

You Are All In, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

The impossible happened this week. If you would have told me a month ago we would be in this situation, I would have laughed at you and said there’s a zero percent chance that happens. That eleven game winning streak changed your entire outlook for the next three years. At the trade deadline, you traded for arguably the best starting pitcher and best relief pitcher available. Keone Kela and, even more unbelievably, Chris Archer are part of your team and will be for the next few years. I’ll dig more into those trades in a bit. The actual performance on the field this week left something to be desired. You split a two-game series with the Cubs which I have a hard time being upset about. Even though it was at home, that’s one of the best teams in the league, so I can live with the split. The Cardinals then came to town with the red hot bat of Matt Carpenter. He homered in all three games in the series. After winning a crazy one on Friday, you dropped the next two games thanks to questionable coaching and no timely hitting. You are now 57-55. You are 7 ½ games back in the division and fives games back in the Wildcard with the Cardinals and Nationals having leaped over you. There are now five teams ahead of you for the final Wildcard spot and that doesn’t include the team that currently holds that spot. You’re going to have to play better if you want to stay in this thing and your upcoming schedule makes that possible.

I can’t believe you traded for Chris Archer. I was floored the day it happened. I kept saying I won’t believe it until I actually see him in uniform even after it was announced. Once it was confirmed you got him, then the big question became the return. Would you have to give up Mitch Keller or Ke’Bryan Hayes, your top two prospects? How outlandish could this return be? You managed to pull it off without trading either of them. You did, however, send them Austin Meadows, who people are still very high on, and Tyler Glasnow , who has terrific upside if he could ever get his accuracy under control. The third player in the deal is a Player To Be Named Later, but GM Neal Huntington did say that it would be a “significant piece.” It won’t be Keller or Hayes, so for me that’s still a major win. Archer’s numbers this season have been rather pedestrian (4.31 ERA and 1.385 WHIP) though his FIP was 3.62 so that means he’s pitching better than his numbers show. His first month was rough but since then he had been dominant. He also pitches in the AL East which has the most hitter friendly parks in all of baseball. Archer’s career ERA against the AL East is 4.02 (and 4.89 this year), but against all other divisions his career ERA is 3.40. His first start didn’t go well (4 ER and 4 BB) but I’m willing to blame that on jitters. Pitching coach Ray Searage has had success improving already established pitchers in the past and I imagine this will be no different. The most impressive part of the deal is how long Archer will be under contract. He has this year and next under contract and then two option years. That means you control him through the 2021 season at a very reasonable price. Your rotation lacked a true strikeout pitcher and Archer is absolutely that. This was the best thing to happen to this team since Cueto dropped the ball. As far as anything off the field, this reminds me of when you extended Cutch. It was a truly remarkable day and kudos to the front office for pulling the trigger.

The move you made first ended up getting overshadowed by the Archer trade, but it was still a damn good one. Keone Kela, the closer for the Texas Rangers, came over in a deal that sent Taylor Hearn and another Player To Be Named Later to Texas. The PTBNL in this instance sounds like it will be someone who is not one of your top 15 prospects so I’m not too worried about that. Kela has worked out of their bullpen for the last four years. His career ERA is 3.41 and his career WHIP is 1.14. His career K/9 is 11.1. Kela throws in the high 90’s with a wipeout curveball. He is still in arbitration for this year plus two more years. He will be a free agent after the 2020 season. Adding him to a bullpen that has Vasquez, Crick, Sanchez, and Rich Rod will make this bullpen one of the deeper and more dominant pens in all of baseball. You might need to look at adding a better long relief option now that you have traded Glasnow and sent Brault back to Triple-A because he’s forgotten how to throw strikes. That was made very obvious watching Alex McRae (who?) blow a tied game on Saturday. Long relief aside, this Kela move bolstered your bullpen in a big way. It’s crazy to think that it was not that long ago when your bullpen seemed to be a huge weakness. Now you have five legit and controllable arms for at least the next couple years. Bravo, yet again, on another great move.

These two trades have set your team up for the next couple years. With Austin Meadows gone, it’s seems likely that you will approach Corey Dickerson about a contract extension. He’s signed through next year anyway so your still set in LF for now. The two positions you will need to figure out this offseason will be 2B and SS. JHay and Mercer will likely be gone after this year and, while Adam Frazier has been on absolute fire since getting called back up, his defense is a liability at second so the only way it would be worth starting him is if he keeps ripping.  The good news is you should have a payroll of only about 80 million as of right now. After the Archer move, there’s no reason to believe that you couldn’t get that payroll back to around 100 million. One way to help that would be to try and trade Ivan Nova this offseason. He’s due to make about 9 million next year and his numbers this year (4.49 ERA and 1.34 WHIP) just aren’t up to snuff. He still has value so you might be able to get something in return and, if not, you can at least shed that salary and use it to fill your middle infield. Your rotation has Archer, Taillon, Musgrove, and Trevor Williams. You need one more pitcher which could be Chad Kuhl, if he doesn’t need Tommy John surgery, or Nick Kingham. He was demoted for Archer after being terrible in his last few starts but he still has upside. You could also have someone hold the place until Mitch Keller is ready. There’s still a lot of options if Nova is gone. It seems too risky to rely on the two rookies, Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer, to be starters on a team trying to compete when they haven’t even played in the majors yet. You will need to address second and short this offseason but, thanks to these deadline moves, that’s about the only things you need to address.

This was a great week. Don’t let the fact that you went 2-3 get you down. These deadline moves were about more than this year. They were about the next three years and taking advantage of this window of talent the way you really didn’t from 2013 to 2015. You realized what had become obvious to everyone else. This team can compete for the next few years if Polanco and Marte keep playing like this. You don’t know what prospects will actually do and your best ones have already come up. So you decided to go all in on these next three plus years and I couldn’t be happier about it. You play playoff contenders the rest of this month so if you can get back on track, you can stay in the hunt. This week you travel west starting with a stop in Colorado to play the Rockies for a three-game series. You have your three best pitchers (Musgrove, Taillon, Archer) going so there’s reason for optimism. You follow that with a trip to San Francisco for a four-game series with the Cutch and the Giants. This is a big week. It’s tough to win on the road but you’re going to need to find a way to remain in striking distance. I just want to say thank you once again. This week changed the entire complexity of the next couple years and restored my faith, and I think many other fans’ faith, in this front office. I love you for that. This was a memorable week that I hope to look back on it as a turning point. We shall see. Now go have a hell of a week!

                                                                                      Beyond Exuberant,

                                                                                                Brad

P.S. stands for Please Stop and that’s directed at all of the people wondering why we didn’t keep Gerrit Cole if we were going to trade for Chris Archer. First off, Cole is a free agent after next season and he was going to leave anyway. Cole also would not be doing here what he’s doing in Houston. Houston really changed the league perspective by making pitchers throw more off-speed pitches. It’s not like you just gave Cole away for nothing. While Michael Feliz has faltered, and Colin Moran looks like an average third baseman at best, Jason Martin has had a huge year between Double and Triple-A and Joe Musgrove looks like he could be legitimate middle of the rotation starter. Cole seemed done with Pittsburgh and I was honestly a little over him too. Cole’s having a great year, and good for him, but he’s gone and you made two outstanding moves this week. Time to move on…

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

I Don’t Understand You, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

This is getting harder and harder to watch. The week actually started off fine. You took the first two of a four game series from the first place Chicago Cubs, a team that you have fared well against this year. Obviously being as far out of first place as you are makes all these games meaningless but anyone with a competitive edge still wants to win. Those two wins would be the only thing to smile about this week. The Cubs won the next two games so it turned out to be a series split. You followed that with a trip to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals. That did not go well. Besides my absolute rage over the Juan Nicasio situation (more on that later), there’s nothing more annoying that watching you get your clocks cleaned by the Cardinals and that’s exactly what happened. A three game sweep punctuated by the 7-0 shutout yesterday. You are now 10 ½ games back in a division that is still up for grabs. The Brewers, fresh off sweeping the Cubs this weekend, are two games out of first place as are the Cardinals. This division was winnable this year and did almost everything in your power to avoid being competitive. A team with money like the Cubs isn’t always going to be this vulnerable. Chalk this season up to a wasted opportunity.

 You announced this week that manager Clint Hurdle has received a four-year contract extension to remain manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Some people might object to this and I can understand why. Hurdle is far from perfect. His bullpen management leaves plenty to be desired and his teams constantly seem to be lacking in basic fundamentals which in my opinion always falls on the manager. He also seems to screw up when and when not to bunt far too often. I say all this and I’m still happy with this extension. It’s not Hurdle’s fault his front office handicaps him at every turn as far as what they’re willing to spend. When I think about the potential of firing a manager, I always ask myself one question: Is there a better option available? I was actually concerned they would fire Hurdle and hire bench coach Tom Prince. I don’t know much about Prince and maybe he will be a fine manager someday but doing that would have seemed like a money saving move and I can’t stomach more of those right now. When you look around the league, there aren’t any other glaring candidates that excite me. Hurdle is a good leader and I like his decision making more often than not. Overall, this team’s success really isn’t contingent upon Clint Hurdle. It’s the higher ups that make or break it.

You also announced this week that general manager Neal Huntington also received a four-year contract extension to remain in his current position. I’m more on the fence about this one. Let me preface this by saying that I realize Huntington is handcuffed by whatever budget owner Bob Nutting sets for him. He has no control over how much he can or can’t spend. That being said, Huntington has had back to back putrid seasons. If I was terrible at my job for two straight years, I would be fired rather than receiving a four year extension. Huntington’s downfall started after the 98 win season in 2015. Entering 2016 with Jeff Locke, Ryan Vogelsong, Jon Niese, and Juan Nicasio as your rotation options was insane. I know it was a ‘bridge year’ but that was embarrassing. We have discussed how awful trading Keon Broxton for Jason Rogers looks now with Broxton’s 20 homers and Rogers no longer even on your team.  Having Broxton would have been especially helpful this year with the Marte suspension and the bevy of Polanco injuries. This season has been defined by his decision to basically do nothing. Actually, nothing would be better than a couple of the moves he has made. He lets Juan Nicasio go for nothing to “get the younger guys more opportunities so they are ready for 2018” but before that had already acquired 40 year old relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit for no reason. Huntington managed to do a lot from 2013-2015 with very little money spent and made the playoffs. That should be applauded. These last two years will have me questioning this extension every step of the way.

The bizarre circumstances around losing Juan Nicasio took an even more ridiculous turn this week. Huntington put Nicaiso on irrevocable waivers (meaning all a team has to do is pay a player’s salary to claim them) rather than regular waivers because reportedly a rival had claimed him and you didn’t want him to go there. Reports are saying that team was the Cubs. Instead of trading him to the Cubs for a prospect, you allowed the Phillies to claim him on irrevocable waivers so they only have to pay the remaining $600,000 of his contract this year. This week the Phillies flipped him to your rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, for a prospect who ranked tenth in their system at the beginning of the season. Not any huge return but at least some return. Salt was rubbed in an opened wound this weekend when Nicasio saved Friday and Saturday’s games against you. This move is an embarrassment for the organization and particularly Huntington. Maybe Nutting said he needed to get rid of 600,000 but this a mess either way. Huntington has done things in the past I didn’t agree with but I at least understood his mindset. This one made no sense at all. During his press conference after signing his extension, he started making excuses for their failures. He said that your playoff record could be different if there was only one Wildcard team and that he regrets voting to make it two teams. That’s great. It’s also incredibly pointless. He also said that if you invert your record against two bad teams this year (Giants and Reds) you would only be a game and a half out of first place. You might as well say if you invert your current overall record you would be a ½ game out of first. That is as meaningless as it gets. There isn’t even logic involved there. What is he talking about?  I know Huntington’s extension was decided on a while ago. It’s just a terrible look to extend the man after two terrible seasons and one truly indefensible decision.

The road-trip continues this week with more divisional games. You will start a three game series in Milwaukee today against Neil Walker and the Brewers. That’s always a friendly reminder of how a team with a smaller payroll that was supposed to be rebuilding is still in the playoff race. It’s also fun to remember how you gave up Neil Walker for nothing and then had a chance to get him back this year for the playoff run for almost nothing but instead allowed the Brewers to get him. You just love making your rivals better than you. You get a day off Thursday, which is a mental break for me, before heading to Cincinnati for a weekend series against the Reds. The Reds are one of those teams where if you invert your record against them you’re magically a better team. I use the word magic because that’s what would be necessary for that scenario to have any merit at all. I do like that you are giving the young players more chances. Gregory Polanco and Adam Frazier returned from the DL which helps too. Even with Polanco and rookie Jordan Luplow on the roster for some reason you decided to start John Jaso in right field yesterday. Makes no sense to me but illogical decisions have been a recent trend for you. There’s nothing the players can do about it except keep playing the best baseball you can and keep trying to get better. That’s all I can really ask of you. Take care this week and sorry your GM/owners keep taking your legs out from under you.

                                                                                        Your Bewildered Beau,

                                                                                                       Brad

P.S. stand for Pittsburgh Steelers and they sure made us sweat out the first game of the season. Against the lowly Cleveland Browns, they had to sack the rookie QB DeShone Kizer seven times to help seal a 21-18 victory. The dynamic offense looked pathetic until late in the game. The play-calls early were too conservative and I think it might simply be a case of rust. Nowadays, starting quarterbacks barely play in the preseason. It used to be a least a series or two in most preseason games and now they basically only play a few series in game three to avoid injuries. I agree with the concept. It just means that it might take the offense more time to adjust. That might explain why all the games yesterday were kind of duds. The ‘W’ is all that matter as they move to 1-0. Go Steelers!!

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

I Don’t Trust You Anymore, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

Last week, I told you that your only chance to get back into this division race was to sweep the Cubs this week and next week. Instead the Cubs swept you right out of any hopes you had for this season. They beat the crap out of you highlighted by a 17-3 victory to cap the sweep. It was embarrassing which was a word that played into a hot topic of conversation this week (more on that later). You are currently 10.5 games out of first place even after taking two out of three from the Reds this past weekend. Unfortunately, this season is over. You didn’t do nearly enough to even try to compete in this division. You did deal with injuries/suspensions/Visa problems this year so it doesn’t completely fall on you especially now that JHay has a broken hand and is done for the year. You had opportunities to help this team and you neglected them. You chose not to probably because you knew all along you were a long shot and didn’t want to waste even the tiniest bit of money. Maybe that was the right call but how you have handled things this season have been all kinds of wrong. Who would have imagined when you cut the division lead to two games near the All Star break that you would end up having a significantly worst season than last year? It’s almost hard to remember those three straight playoff seasons because you feel so far away from that now. 

The story of the week was Juan Nicasio. Not because your second best relief pitcher did something well on the diamond, Instead it was because management did something bad in the offices. Nicasio was placed on irrevocable waivers. That means you don’t have to trade anyone to acquire the player you claim. All you have to do is pay their remaining salary.  Basically you just give the player up. That’s what the Pirates did with Nicasio. They gave him up to save 600,000 dollars. GM Neal Huntington of course didn’t admit to that. He claimed a rival tried to claim him off regular waivers and rather than trade him to a competitor they put him on irrevocable waivers which gave more teams options to get him so he ended up going to the Philadelphia Phillies for nothing. I know this season was over anyway and Nicasio is a free agent at the end of the year but I thought there was a chance you would resign him. Maybe that was never going to happen. I know your feelings on paying relievers and I honestly don’t disagree with it. This just appeared to be more of the same penny pinching that has handcuffed this team for years. I understand not having a 150 million dollar payroll. I don’t understand why it’s necessary to save 600,000. Have things really become that bad?

I don’t trust you anymore. This Nicasio thing sealed it. I don’t know if I believe the whole “rival claimed him” excuse. I know I don’t believe that you traded him to get the younger arms more work before next season like you also said. That seemed untrue when you started John Jaso and Chris Stewart the next day when there are young guys who could be playing in their spots. You have proven to be full of it too many times. You tried to make us believe that you really targeted Drew Hutchison in what was obviously a salary dump of Francisco Liriano. Even if that was the right move, that’s still a lie. You told us Tyler Glasnow had nothing more to learn in the minors when Hutchison failed miserably and you didn’t have any better options to put in the rotation. Glasnow also failed miserably and was sent back down. This has become a trend over the last two disappointing seasons. You start trying to cut the payroll when you realize you aren’t going anywhere and instead of admitting that you treat us like we are stupid. You could have held on to Nicasio and maybe he liked it in Pittsburgh so much that he would want to stay at an affordable price. You need to address the bullpen regardless. None of these “young arms” have really proven anything yet. In fact, they aren’t even in the majors yet because of minor league playoffs. You better plan to address the bullpen in the offseason because right now it’s pretty pathetic aside from Rivero and I guess Kontos. 

It might be time for Huntington to go. I’ve always liked him and I thought he deserved more credit for getting the job done on a cheaper budget. He’s had a really bad past two years and over these last few months it’s been even worse. He admitted they probably should have done more to help this roster after the Marte suspension, the Kang situation became clear, and the multiple Polanco injuries. He admitted he should have done more but he had multiple opportunities to do something and did nothing. Then with this whole Nicasio situation you are complaining that some team leaked Nicasio’s waiver status in order to embarrass you? Really? If it’s so embarrassing, don’t put him in that waiver status. We would have all figured it out anyway once Nicasio got traded away for nothing. Ever since he followed up a 98 win season with the likes of Nicasio, Vogelsong, Locke, and Niese as your best rotation options, things have been rocky. That was an inexplicable decision even if you claim it was a “bridge year”. This front office has also missed on too many first round picks. Those matter more than anything in baseball, especially for a small market team, and you traded one away in a salary dump, traded another away for SRod, and Austin Meadows can’t remotely stay on the field as he was again placed on the DL this week for the millionth time. I understand you are trying to make financially responsible moves and that it’s Nutting’s fault more than anyone but when you start talking about teams trying to embarrass you by leaking something you did that’s embarrassing it feels like you have lost it. Maybe it’s time for someone else to take a shot. 

The good news is that this week you get to play four games against the team that beat the crap out of you a week ago and almost surely will win your division. The Cubs have rekindled their championship form and again look like a formidable option to win the World Series. For the weekend, you travel to St. Louis to play the Cardinals so it seems quite likely that this week won’t go well. What does it really matter? You finally started to (were forced to) play some of the young guys more. Jordan Luplow (who homered on Saturday) should play in right field everyday. Max Moroff will probably start almost everyday at second base with JHay done for the year. Elias Diaz better start almost every game at catcher while Cervelli is hurt. Between all of that and starting pitchers like Kuhl, Taillon, and Williams still basically rookies, there is plenty to observe in preparation for next season. This season, however, is dead and buried. Keep trying to get better and keep playing all of the young talent you have to see who could be helpful next season. You have flushed two seasons down the drain and you can’t afford to do that again next year with the clock ticking on Cutch and Cole. Have a good week and just keep trying to get better in all facets. I still love you and always will. 

                                                                                 Your Non-Trusting Naysayer, 

                                                                                                      Brad

P.S. thankfully stands for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They will kick off their season this coming Sunday and there are reasons to be excited. Aside from making the AFC championship game last year, they drafted well again (take note) and went out and added to their weak spots. CB and TE were both lacking in talent and they addressed it. They traded for TE Vance McDonald from the 49ers and signed recently released from the Brown CB Joe Haden. Both of these guys immediately make you a better team because they enhance your two weakest positions. Well done on your part. Go Steelers!

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

This Is Getting Serious, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

I really didn’t think you would do it. I knew there was a chance but I truly didn’t expect it. In arguably the most important series so far this season, four games against the first place Brewers, you swept them. Each game you had to make a comeback to win, one of them was even in the ninth inning. It was the most fun fans have had in two years. You kept it going by winning game one in Colorado 13-5 and suddenly you were two games out of first. Wow! Unfortunately, you basically got smoked in the next two games. Neither of your best pitchers pitched in the series, it was on the road, and you took two out of three from Colorado last time. A season split with one of the best offenses in baseball is good enough for me. That still gives you a 5-2 week and you are only three games out of first place. If you told me at the beginning of the week you would be three out, I would have been thrilled. I still am. The team I watched this week can compete with almost anyone. They can win a division. Maybe even more than that. I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I have a tendency to move too fast in these situations. I just know that I’m excited about you again and that’s a welcomed feeling.

This week did have some bad news. Gregory Polanco strained his hamstring and was placed on the ten day disabled list. After getting Marte back in the lineup at the beginning of the week, we finally saw the potential of this lineup with everyone in it. Obviously having Kang would make it even better but that’s not happening. It’s crazy to think how good this lineup would be if we had him. It’s scary, With no real backup outfielder on the roster, Polanco’s injury actually comes at a convenient time. It forces the front office to pursue an outfielder before the trade deadline. He could fill in until Polanco returns and then he could start for Marte if we somehow make the playoffs because he will be ineligible. Osuna, Jaso, and Frazier are all decent bench players but if Polanco is out for any significant amount of time, it’s going to be a big problem. Polanco was finally coming on too. Over the last month, he has a .966 OPS. It’s not a coincidence you were a much better team over that span. You need more offense and you need someone with more experience defensively. None of your other three options have ever played the outfield with regularity. Acquiring an outfielder not only helps with that but it gives you an insurance policy for Polanco and Marte. Win-Win.

Speaking of more offense, there’s another position you might want to address at the deadline: third base. Let me preface this by saying I like David Freese a lot. He seems like a good team leader, he always gives you a professional at bat, and his .384 OBP is very impressive. He should be your ninth guy. That means you start eight everyday and he’s the 9th. He could always start against lefties or give guys days off. Even if he’s splitting time with someone, that would be an improvement. He’s older now and Hurdle has already admitted he needs to scale back the amount of innings he plays. He’s a very good ninth guy to have. He’s performed admirably and I couldn’t be happier that you gave him that extension especially considering what’s happened with Kang. You need to address the position moving forward because you have to operate under the assumption that Kang will never play for you again. You don’t have any third base prospects on the horizon so now seems like as good as time as any to acquire a starter. The J.D. Martinez trade to the Diamondbacks set the market for position players and the cost does not seem high. Not the way starting pitching will be. That’s why getting a third baseman and an outfielder should very much be in the realm of possibility. You’re in this thing now. Act accordingly.

Anyone who is expecting you to add a legitimate starting pitcher at the deadline is likely to be very disappointed. Every contending team is looking to add pitching so the price is expected to be astronomical. That might actually be OK. Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl haven’t been lights out but they have each pitched well enough to feel comfortable starting them. Honestly, you’re not likely to find anything on the trade market as good as them that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Jameson Taillon has pitched mostly like an ace since his return from testicular cancer. Even Gerrit Cole has pitched like his old self lately. In his last three starts, he has pitched nineteen innings giving up seventeen hits, five earned runs, he’s walked one batter, and struck out twenty-two. That comes to a 2.37 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP, and over a strikeout per inning. Those are ace like numbers. Ivan Nova has regressed out of ace mode which has people in a mild panic. Nova isn’t the type of pitcher who will have an ERA in the high twos. He’s will usually be in the mid threes and right now his ERA is 3.62. That’s fine for a number three pitcher. Everyone better get used to this rotation because it looks like this is what it will be for a while which is good enough.

This week begins your stretch of playing sub .500 teams. This is where you need to take advantage of a weak schedule. You start it off with two series on the west coast against two of the worst teams in the NL. Today you play game one of the three game series against the San Francisco Giants. They embarrassed you on your home field a couple weeks ago so payback is necessary. You get a day off Thursday before heading to San Diego to play the rebuilding Padres. There is no reason you can’t take two out of three from both of these teams. Actually, it’s basically mandatory. The Chicago Cubs have come out of the break hot as a firecracker and now they are tied for first. You know how talented their roster is and they already added Jose Quintana to sure up their rotation. I’m sure they will add something else before the July 31st trade deadline a week from today. That’s why you need to add too. You need to keep pace with them if you want to win this division. Shake off those last two games in Colorado. It’s over. You have lesser opponents right in front of you so that’s where you focus need to be. I’m proud of you for fighting this entire season to stay close enough to get back into it and you finally did. Keep the momentum going this week and catch those Cubbies. Love you always!!

                                                                               Your Suddenly Psyched Suitor,

                                                                                                    Brad                     

P.S. Everyone needs to calm down about fans applauding Starling Marte’s return. It’s OK. You might as well forgive him because he’s going to be around for a while. We aren’t going to trade him which was one bad idea I saw this week. Milwaukee fans applauded Ryan Braun when he came back from his suspension. That’s what hometown fans do. Marte made a terrible mistake. He cheated and there’s no way around that. He deserves another chance so why is it such a problem to give him a small clap. If he screws up again, he and his reputation are gone. For now, we accept what happened and move on.