Post by Strategist on Jan 15, 2020 7:10:28 GMT
2018 Review:
Record: 71-91 5th in NL Central. R/G Scored: 5th (NL) R/G Against: 13th (NL)
Starting the Offseason:
Lineup: Had what a lot of lineups didn't have and that is a superstar to hit right in the middle in SS Carlos Correa. Surrounding him were solid players: 3B Jake Lamb, 1B Ryan Zimmerman, CF Byron Buxton, RF Franmil Reyes and C Robinson Chirinos. Traded for C Josh Phegley to back up Chirinos. Traded LF Jay Bruce and signed LF Andrew McCutchen to take his place. Also signed 2B Jason Kipnis. After all said and done a very good overall lineup maybe not good enough to fight for the division because of the Brewers but definitely good enough to fight for a WC spot.
Rotation: Like his lineup he already had the ace in place with Patrick Corbin. After that though not quite the same type of talent around him. Filling in the spots with Rick Porcello, Steven Matz, Nick Kingham, and signing Martin Perez. Only Kingham rated way below average. So while not a major strength I would still think that the rotation was good enough to complement the hitting and be able to compete in the NL.
Bullpen: The bullpen was very good. Led by Seranthony Dominguez, Taylor Rogers, and Ryan Pressly. Also went out and signed the very good Adam Ottovino. To me the bullpen was ready to anchor a slighty below average rotation into an overall plus of a pitching staff.
Season:
Started the season off very slow going 12-16 Mar/Apr, 11-17 May, and 10-16 in June. Honestly looking at this team on paper I am not really sure why they under performed but they did in every single phase. This led to the Pirates shaking things up and trading away Correa, and McCutchen. They never did turn it around finishing every month besides March with a win % of .500 or less to finish at 69-93 good for 3rd in the NL Central.
Conclusion:
Lineup: 11th (NL) runs scored. Their lineup pretty much uniformly didn't play up to expectations. With Franmil Reyes being the best of the bunch after Correa and McCutchen trades hitting .249/.333/.447 29 HRs 79 RBIs and a 111 OPS+. Just a tough season overall for the Bucs offense.
Rotation: 13th (NL) starters' ERA. Corbin was solid with a 3.76 ERA in 29 GS. Porcello was ok with a 4.09 ERA in 30 GS but the rest of the starting rotation struggled mightily. No other starter with at least 10 GS finished with an ERA under 4.78. I would have thought that they would have struggled some but not this much.
Bullpen: 10th (NL) bullpen ERA. Most surprising of all is the bullpen not being a strength at all. Pressly pitched great going 6-2 2.17 ERA .93 WHIP 138 Ks in 83 GP and 87 IP. The next closest ERA of a RP that had atleast 50 GP was 4.03. Very shocking results from bullpen maybe just too many innings wore them down? I dont really know.
Future:
Salary Cap: Should have anywhere from 50 to 60 Mil in Cap space with Ottavino as the only FA but he has a 12.5 Mil player option that he might pick up.
Needs: The bullpen should be amazing. The minor league system is also amazing although not a bunch of prospects that look like they are ready to contribute next season. The rotation has Corbin back as an ace again with Matz, and Perez who should both be average SP for next season but with those guys being more 4th and 5th type starter the Pirates could use a couple of above average guys to slide into the #2 and #3 spots. The lineup unfortunately just doesn't have the same type of talent this year. Lamb and Zimmerman are both unlikely to be back with their current price tags. So really only leaves Buxton and Reyes as above average regulars currently on the major league roster. Honestly probably not a path to compete next season but if they are patient I think the Pirates could be very good in 2 to 3 years with all of the prospects they have coming up. If they don't want to be patient then they could look to move some of the prospects to get major league talent now.
Trades Overview:
RF Jay Bruce to MIN for SP Micheal Baez, and Jean Carlos Encarnacion - After signing McCutchen there was no reason to keep Bruce. Baez was a pretty good starter in the minors but got moved to relief this season and pitched well even getting called up and getting 24 GP in the majors. He was a mid tier prospect before last season. JCE is a mid tier prospect as well but right now is more potential then results. Overall a pretty good return.
SS Carlos Correa to MIN for 3B Bobby Dalbec, RF Kristian Robinson, and SP Simeon Woods-Richardson - The Pirates decided to move the franchise cornerstone in the middle of the season. I know they put him on the block and I am not sure what kind of offers they got for him. They ended up moving him for 3 prospects that all have tremendous ceilings and all ranked near the top of their respective Org rankings prospect charts. It is a long term move for PIT as Robinson, and SWR are both only 18 years old.
LF Andrew McCutchen to BAL for SP Jonathan Loaisiga, C Miguel Amaya, and CF Lamonte Wade - I think this trade was made because they obviously were going to compete this year and after trading Correa that it was going to be difficult to compete next season so instead of hoping that McClutch hangs on to his production into his mid 30s move him while he still has value. Amaya is a top 100 prospect who is young and has played well. Loaisiga was a NYY top prospect and made it to the big leagues pitching ok but did average over 1K/IP so there is some upside to him. Wade is a 4th OF type.
FA Overview:
RF Andrew McCutchen 4 yr 112 Mil - Hit .254/.359/.387 7 HRs and 104 OPS+ in 90 GP. Then flipped for a good package of prospects. A-
SP Martin Perez 5 yr 42.5 Mil - Had a 6.67 ERA in 11 GS and 46 GP overall. A very bad year. Got 1 yr 6 Mil IRL this offseason so the 8 mil AAV isn't bad and he pitched ok in real life so he should at least be useful as a 5th starter/swing starter. The Pirates do have massive amounts of cap space but I don't like guaranteeing 5 years to a 5th starter. D+
RP Adam Ottavino 2 yr 25 Mil - 4.20 ERA 110 Ks in 63 GP. Decent year in the sim. Pretty great year IRL. with the 2nd year being a player option I am not really sure that Ottavino will accept it or hit the market again. So overall decent signing think the Pirates should have looked to flip him with his ability to be a FA. B-
2B Jason Kipnis 2 yr 19 Mil - .249/.332/.407 17 HRs and a 101 OPS+. 2B was one of the holes in the lineup to start the season and Kipnis was used to fill that. He did that usefully. Still a very good defensive 2B with some pop. Not a good hitter all around the last 3 seasons IRL but if the Pirates are willing to eat the salary I could see them being able to move him for a low tier prospect. C+
Overall B-. Not a bad FA at all. Only 1 signing that I didn't care for but at that salary level not a huge eye sore on the salary cap.
Record: 71-91 5th in NL Central. R/G Scored: 5th (NL) R/G Against: 13th (NL)
Starting the Offseason:
Lineup: Had what a lot of lineups didn't have and that is a superstar to hit right in the middle in SS Carlos Correa. Surrounding him were solid players: 3B Jake Lamb, 1B Ryan Zimmerman, CF Byron Buxton, RF Franmil Reyes and C Robinson Chirinos. Traded for C Josh Phegley to back up Chirinos. Traded LF Jay Bruce and signed LF Andrew McCutchen to take his place. Also signed 2B Jason Kipnis. After all said and done a very good overall lineup maybe not good enough to fight for the division because of the Brewers but definitely good enough to fight for a WC spot.
Rotation: Like his lineup he already had the ace in place with Patrick Corbin. After that though not quite the same type of talent around him. Filling in the spots with Rick Porcello, Steven Matz, Nick Kingham, and signing Martin Perez. Only Kingham rated way below average. So while not a major strength I would still think that the rotation was good enough to complement the hitting and be able to compete in the NL.
Bullpen: The bullpen was very good. Led by Seranthony Dominguez, Taylor Rogers, and Ryan Pressly. Also went out and signed the very good Adam Ottovino. To me the bullpen was ready to anchor a slighty below average rotation into an overall plus of a pitching staff.
Season:
Started the season off very slow going 12-16 Mar/Apr, 11-17 May, and 10-16 in June. Honestly looking at this team on paper I am not really sure why they under performed but they did in every single phase. This led to the Pirates shaking things up and trading away Correa, and McCutchen. They never did turn it around finishing every month besides March with a win % of .500 or less to finish at 69-93 good for 3rd in the NL Central.
Conclusion:
Lineup: 11th (NL) runs scored. Their lineup pretty much uniformly didn't play up to expectations. With Franmil Reyes being the best of the bunch after Correa and McCutchen trades hitting .249/.333/.447 29 HRs 79 RBIs and a 111 OPS+. Just a tough season overall for the Bucs offense.
Rotation: 13th (NL) starters' ERA. Corbin was solid with a 3.76 ERA in 29 GS. Porcello was ok with a 4.09 ERA in 30 GS but the rest of the starting rotation struggled mightily. No other starter with at least 10 GS finished with an ERA under 4.78. I would have thought that they would have struggled some but not this much.
Bullpen: 10th (NL) bullpen ERA. Most surprising of all is the bullpen not being a strength at all. Pressly pitched great going 6-2 2.17 ERA .93 WHIP 138 Ks in 83 GP and 87 IP. The next closest ERA of a RP that had atleast 50 GP was 4.03. Very shocking results from bullpen maybe just too many innings wore them down? I dont really know.
Future:
Salary Cap: Should have anywhere from 50 to 60 Mil in Cap space with Ottavino as the only FA but he has a 12.5 Mil player option that he might pick up.
Needs: The bullpen should be amazing. The minor league system is also amazing although not a bunch of prospects that look like they are ready to contribute next season. The rotation has Corbin back as an ace again with Matz, and Perez who should both be average SP for next season but with those guys being more 4th and 5th type starter the Pirates could use a couple of above average guys to slide into the #2 and #3 spots. The lineup unfortunately just doesn't have the same type of talent this year. Lamb and Zimmerman are both unlikely to be back with their current price tags. So really only leaves Buxton and Reyes as above average regulars currently on the major league roster. Honestly probably not a path to compete next season but if they are patient I think the Pirates could be very good in 2 to 3 years with all of the prospects they have coming up. If they don't want to be patient then they could look to move some of the prospects to get major league talent now.
Trades Overview:
RF Jay Bruce to MIN for SP Micheal Baez, and Jean Carlos Encarnacion - After signing McCutchen there was no reason to keep Bruce. Baez was a pretty good starter in the minors but got moved to relief this season and pitched well even getting called up and getting 24 GP in the majors. He was a mid tier prospect before last season. JCE is a mid tier prospect as well but right now is more potential then results. Overall a pretty good return.
SS Carlos Correa to MIN for 3B Bobby Dalbec, RF Kristian Robinson, and SP Simeon Woods-Richardson - The Pirates decided to move the franchise cornerstone in the middle of the season. I know they put him on the block and I am not sure what kind of offers they got for him. They ended up moving him for 3 prospects that all have tremendous ceilings and all ranked near the top of their respective Org rankings prospect charts. It is a long term move for PIT as Robinson, and SWR are both only 18 years old.
LF Andrew McCutchen to BAL for SP Jonathan Loaisiga, C Miguel Amaya, and CF Lamonte Wade - I think this trade was made because they obviously were going to compete this year and after trading Correa that it was going to be difficult to compete next season so instead of hoping that McClutch hangs on to his production into his mid 30s move him while he still has value. Amaya is a top 100 prospect who is young and has played well. Loaisiga was a NYY top prospect and made it to the big leagues pitching ok but did average over 1K/IP so there is some upside to him. Wade is a 4th OF type.
FA Overview:
RF Andrew McCutchen 4 yr 112 Mil - Hit .254/.359/.387 7 HRs and 104 OPS+ in 90 GP. Then flipped for a good package of prospects. A-
SP Martin Perez 5 yr 42.5 Mil - Had a 6.67 ERA in 11 GS and 46 GP overall. A very bad year. Got 1 yr 6 Mil IRL this offseason so the 8 mil AAV isn't bad and he pitched ok in real life so he should at least be useful as a 5th starter/swing starter. The Pirates do have massive amounts of cap space but I don't like guaranteeing 5 years to a 5th starter. D+
RP Adam Ottavino 2 yr 25 Mil - 4.20 ERA 110 Ks in 63 GP. Decent year in the sim. Pretty great year IRL. with the 2nd year being a player option I am not really sure that Ottavino will accept it or hit the market again. So overall decent signing think the Pirates should have looked to flip him with his ability to be a FA. B-
2B Jason Kipnis 2 yr 19 Mil - .249/.332/.407 17 HRs and a 101 OPS+. 2B was one of the holes in the lineup to start the season and Kipnis was used to fill that. He did that usefully. Still a very good defensive 2B with some pop. Not a good hitter all around the last 3 seasons IRL but if the Pirates are willing to eat the salary I could see them being able to move him for a low tier prospect. C+
Overall B-. Not a bad FA at all. Only 1 signing that I didn't care for but at that salary level not a huge eye sore on the salary cap.