6/19/2013 Pirates at Reds

[WVRedsFan]

Not gonna lie ladies and gents. That one stings. A lot. Heck of a game though. Nothing cheap at all about Bruce's jack. Not many have done that against Grilli this year. I tip my cap.

Classy, IABucFan.

[Tony Cloninger]

Kent Tekulve--"it's our putrid offense. It's not like they were facing Johnny Cueto or a good pitcher"

What an idiot.

Was he talking about the Reds?

[WVRedsFan]

Was he talking about the Reds?

Yes. Talking about Arroyo.

[REDREAD]

Man, that was one of the best games of the season.. I was nervous the whole time. Great job by the Reds to win that. Nice to see so many guys contribute to a great win.

[IABucFan]

Was he talking about the Reds?

I'm not a big fan of Teke, but the Bucs offense is abysmal. I'm not taking anything away from the Reds. I couldn't start watching until the bottom of the eighth. But that was almost the fifth time Pittsburgh has won 1-0. That's unsustainable. Cutch, Walker, Alvarez, Jones, Snider, even Marte are all struggling relative to their career norms (maybe not Alvarez so much, but with him, you take the Ks because he always has the potential of hitting one out if the yard.). At the end if the day, the Bucco offense is bad right now.

Jerry Crasnick over at ESPN is advocating trading Jameson Taillon (#20 prospect in MLB), Gregory Polanco (#55), Tony Sanchez and a C grade lefty prospect for Giancarlo Stanton. I think that is too much. I'd love to get Stanton, but I'm not willing to give up both Polanco and Taillon.

But, this offense is bad. I think our pitching can carry us to a .500 record (especially when A.J. and Wandy come off the DL), but unless McCutchen, Walker, Alvarez, and Jones start hitting, playoffs aren't in the cards.

[RedTeamGo!]

I'm not a big fan of Teke, but the Bucs offense is abysmal. I'm not taking anything away from the Reds. I couldn't start watching until the bottom of the eighth. But that was almost the fifth time Pittsburgh has won 1-0. That's unsustainable. Cutch, Walker, Alvarez, Jones, Snider, even Marte are all struggling relative to their career norms (maybe not Alvarez so much, but with him, you take the Ks because he always has the potential of hitting one out if the yard.). At the end if the day, the Bucco offense is bad right now.

Jerry Crasnick over at ESPN is advocating trading Jameson Taillon (#20 prospect in MLB), Gregory Polanco (#55), Tony Sanchez and a C grade lefty prospect for Giancarlo Stanton. I think that is too much. I'd love to get Stanton, but I'm not willing to give up both Polanco and Taillon.

But, this offense is bad. I think our pitching can carry us to a .500 record (especially when A.J. and Wandy come off the DL), but unless McCutchen, Walker, Alvarez, and Jones start hitting, playoffs aren't in the cards.

I'm not familiar with those prospects but I think with the pitching depth the pirates have coming up if the Marlins were willing to make that trade you have to pull the trigger. I said in anther thread I would not trade Homer in the middle of the season for him, but I would trade the top 5 prospects in the system for him.

[IABucFan]

I'm not familiar with those prospects but I think with the pitching depth the pirates have coming up if the Marlins were willing to make that trade you have to pull the trigger. I said in anther thread I would not trade Homer in the middle of the season for him, but I would trade the top 5 prospects in the system for him.

I can see it both ways. I'm definitely torn as a Pirates' fan. I know last year there was some talk about giving up Starling Marte and another prospect for Justin Upton. I'm glad they didn't do that deal.

Polanco was an IFA, signed a couple of years ago. He had a big year last year in Low A, his first year stateside. He had another big first half of the year in High A. They recently promoted him to AA and he's off to a great start there as well. He's still young, and a true five-tool prospect. He'll probably succeed McCutchen in CF in a couple of years.

Taillon was the #2 guy drafted after Harper. Also is doing very well. Fastball can touch triple digits. He pitched for Canada in the WBC and did very well against Team USA.

Sanchez was the #4 pick in the draft in maybe 2008 or so. He was slowed by injury (took a fastball off the face and it shattered his jaw). But, he's done well offensively, and plays very good defense at a premium position (catcher).

It's easy to overvalue prospects, as I'm sure you all are aware. These guys could become perennial all-stars, or they could all bust. But, I don't like the idea of trading away a potential top of the rotation starter AND a five-tool center fielder, even if it is for a talent like Stanton. I could stomach parting with one, but probably not both. I just think that for a small market team like Pittsburgh, you have to keep turning out prospects. The fact that the previous management team didn't understand this is why they are in a 20 year losing streak.

[Tony Cloninger]

I'm not a big fan of Teke, but the Bucs offense is abysmal. I'm not taking anything away from the Reds. I couldn't start watching until the bottom of the eighth. But that was almost the fifth time Pittsburgh has won 1-0. That's unsustainable. Cutch, Walker, Alvarez, Jones, Snider, even Marte are all struggling relative to their career norms (maybe not Alvarez so much, but with him, you take the Ks because he always has the potential of hitting one out if the yard.). At the end if the day, the Bucco offense is bad right now.

Jerry Crasnick over at ESPN is advocating trading Jameson Taillon (#20 prospect in MLB), Gregory Polanco (#55), Tony Sanchez and a C grade lefty prospect for Giancarlo Stanton. I think that is too much. I'd love to get Stanton, but I'm not willing to give up both Polanco and Taillon.

But, this offense is bad. I think our pitching can carry us to a .500 record (especially when A.J. and Wandy come off the DL), but unless McCutchen, Walker, Alvarez, and Jones start hitting, playoffs aren't in the cards.

I was actually being more ironic about the fact that it could be the Reds offense he could be talking about as well.
Sure...it is better than the Pirates......but there are games upon games were you wonder who besides the big 4 will do anything of substance.

Sometimes at some point...you have to make a trade and deal with the fact some prospects will go elsewhere and flourish. Stanton would be a big pick up.