As someone living in north central Ohio, I'm excited about all the Pirates news I'll be hearing in the area now that they signed Galion's own J.B. Shuck. At least for the couple weeks before they hopefully release him because that dude sucks as a MLB player. How the fuck can you have an OPS of under .500 for a season AND STILL BE CONSIDERED EMPLOYABLE? That's as hilarious as it is sad.

Oh, the answer to the first half the question is by having a 192/231/255 slash line. The second half...who knows, man, who fucking knows.

Pirates might be just enough to battle with Reds for last....but I’m feeling real good about the Reds.

I'll be checking in here to see what is said about my third favorite team.

posted by Ironman92

Pirates might be just enough to battle with Reds for last....but I’m feeling real good about the Reds.

They have a potentially really good starting rotation (assuming people stay healthy, as there isn't much depth) with Taillon, Williams, Musgrove and Archer (also assuming Archer can start looking like what he used to be...like I said, "potentially"), some good back-end pieces in the bullpen and a few good fielding/offensive pieces. But so much is being placed on younger or unproven players like Newman and that Gonzalez obtained from Cleveland, a lot of guys that good seasons are needed from have had injury issues or haven't played much recently for other reasons (Kang) and I don't see them having the overall depth to be able to overcome injuries. They could be at least on the periphery of the wild card race if everything goes well, but if stuff starts going wrong, it could be a long season.

posted by Heretic

As someone living in north central Ohio, I'm excited about all the Pirates news I'll be hearing in the area now that they signed Galion's own J.B. Shuck. At least for the couple weeks before they hopefully release him because that dude sucks as a MLB player. How the fuck can you have an OPS of under .500 for a season AND STILL BE CONSIDERED EMPLOYABLE? That's as hilarious as it is sad.

Oh, the answer to the first half the question is by having a 192/231/255 slash line. The second half...who knows, man, who fucking knows.

I could put up an OPS of under .500 for much less money.

posted by justincredible

I could put up an OPS of under .500 for much less money.

Lol, so could I. I think the best thing about his stat line is just how horrible it is across the board.

.192 -- can't hit for shit

.231 -- when hits, it's probably a single

.255 -- doesn't even draw that many walks

And then you add in minor details such as how he's more adequate than really good in the field and doesn't have game-changing speed and it's actually sort of incredible that there was any desire for his services.

Nobody for us was sorry to see Gonzalez go. Pretty vanilla. 

The way the mlb revenue works teams have no incentive to win. They still get paid weather they win or lose. Many teams don’t even come within 100 mil of the 206 mill cap. That money goes right in their pocket. As I pirate fan this is going to be another disappointing year. I hope some young guys can pan out. The organization knows that people will show up either way so until the fans boycott games I doubt much will change.  The reds seem to be making some positive moves I’m happy for their fans

posted by geeblock

The way the mlb revenue works teams have no incentive to win. They still get paid weather they win or lose. Many teams don’t even come within 100 mil of the 206 mill cap. That money goes right in their pocket. As I pirate fan this is going to be another disappointing year. I hope some young guys can pan out. The organization knows that people will show up either way so until the fans boycott games I doubt much will change.  The reds seem to be making some positive moves I’m happy for their fans

Well, I know there was a decline in attendance last year from previous ones. Going from a perennial playoff contender for a few years to a team that dumped off Cole and Cutch for young guys (even if a few of them look like they'll be contributors) does have an effect on fan enthusiasm. I know it took a little while for me to really get into the season because last off-season was just demoralizing. By comparison, this one is just boring. Get a couple of Cleveland's platoon/bench guys to be platoon/bench guys for us and, uh, do about nothing else of note unless we live in a world where "getting motherfucking Jordan Lyles" counts as something.

OH BOY!!!! They re-signed Francisco Liriano to a minor league contract with a bunch of incentives!!!! I mean, his career hasn't been much of anything since 2015, but yeah, it's a signing. Of sorts.

In news that should shock no one who has followed the Cleveland Indians in recent years, Lonnie Chisenhall WILL start the season on the DL after breaking a hand a bit ago during the exhibition part of the season.

posted by Heretic

In news that should shock no one who has followed the Cleveland Indians in recent years, Lonnie Chisenhall WILL start the season on the DL after breaking a hand a bit ago during the exhibition part of the season.

lol---death, taxes, and Chiz/Salazar/Kipnis on the DL

And Starling Marte not starting due to migraine, so it's fucking Shuck starting in CF.

FML...

Takeaway from yesterday: Clint still keeps pitchers in for one batter too long. Giving up the homer to lead off the seventh is one thing, but keeping Taillon in after walking the next batter probably shouldn't have happened. Giving up the homer was all Rodriguez, but Taillon shouldn't have been allowed to give up the double that made it second and third with no one out.

The faster the fall, the quicker Pittsburgh can trade Dickerson to Cleveland.

posted by Verbal Kint

The faster the fall, the quicker Pittsburgh can trade Dickerson to Cleveland.

What if you're in sell-mode by that point because, no matter how good the pitching is, averaging 1.2 runs per game isn't gonna win that many?

With how St. Louis is trying to contend, with acquiring Goldschmidt and all, I wonder how long they'll be willing to send out past-his-prime Wainwright. Especially if his first inning today, where he walked three and gave up a 2-run double and three overall runs against the Pirates, is indicative of just where he's at by this stage of his career. He used to be a star, but 2014 (his last good full year) is a long time ago and he's not been good at all since the handful of games he pitched in '15.

Brutal home opener

I think a JV high school team would have done better with fundamentals than they did down the stretch. Some of those plays...amateur hour shit.

After another shitty loss last night, Pittsburgh moves on to a rematch with the Reds in a "one of these sets of fucks has to win their second game TONIGHT!!!!" contest.

Which means it'll be tied into extra innings and either be suspended after 20 or so, or rain will pop up. At least that's as likely as either team actually winning...

posted by Heretic

After another shitty loss last night, Pittsburgh moves on to a rematch with the Reds in a "one of these sets of fucks has to win their second game TONIGHT!!!!" contest.

Which means it'll be tied into extra innings and either be suspended after 20 or so, or rain will pop up. At least that's as likely as either team actually winning...

Got a chance for that still

Nice start from Mahle. Wish he could have gone another inning ortwo

God damn, Schebler is such a fuckface. 

Once again, Reds players don't have a clutch gene in their body. 

I was glad I was at my Reds fan friend's place to watch it with a bunch of beer. Made that display of groundouts and nice-sounding fly balls that fell short of doing anything a lot more fun than it'd be to watch it alone.

And it's only been six games for the Reds and my friend already wants to kill David Bell for his rapid fire "I'm a chess master!" changes. Peralta gets two quick outs, so put in Lorenzen to give up three straight hits. Barnhart has two hits, including a double, and is one of the few guys on the team actually hitting the ball, so pinch-hit sub-.100 hitting Kemp for him in the clutch. I guess I might have egged him on a bit, reminding him about how the season opener got a lot more stressful in the 9th than it should have been because he took Garrett out for Hernandez for, uh, reasons, and the Pirates nearly came back against him.

And yeah, S&L, he's also at the point of HATING Schebler. Would rather have Ervin on the 25-man instead of him (no clue if Ervin even plays CF and I'm pretty sure he doesn't even care -- he's just sick of watching Schebler flail impotently at any high fastball thrown to him.)

Best record in the NL and tied for best overall in the "it's only about 10% of the way through the season" update.