2025 Pittsburgh Pirates

I see they swept Detroit. Not paying much attention but will tune back in when (I hope) Malcolm Nunez and Cam Devanney are on the left side of the infield.
They don’t have to be the 27 Yankees, if they could just consistently score 3 runs a game they could be respectable.

 

Buster Olney's intro in an article on the trade deadline I read on this morning:

"It would be ideal if every MLB team were so desperate to win that they would do whatever it takes. But in an industry with so many variables from team to team -- roster composition, payroll commitment, market size, owner ambition, fan rabidity and history -- some organizations are willing to go further and do more than others.

The New York Mets paid more in luxury taxes last season ($97 million) than the Pittsburgh Pirates have dedicated to payroll this season, and Pittsburgh could attempt to reduce salary commitments even further at this year's trade deadline."

 

Here's a scenario that I always wonder about.
Most GM's wait until the last week before the trading deadline to get real aggressive. It's not often that you see a trade well in advance of that time. But consider the case of Andrew Heaney - what would the return have been 3-4 weeks ago? I realize that GM's probably hold off to enhance a players value in a trade, but here's an example where the return has tanked to at best, nothing more than a fringe prospect. And in that time frame, the Bucs position in the standings hasn't changed. If they had engaged in serious discussion then, the return would have likely been more substantial. Think High A prospect vs. a rookie ball participant.

Now, possibly every GM in the league looking for pitching help knew that Heaney would probably fall off a cliff and waited it out, but the Bucs whould have been better served aggressively trying to move him. Of course, the flip side is we all wanted them to release Pham every day for the first 3 months of the season and they didn't. Now, he may return a higher prospect than Heaney ever would have.

Hoping that Keller returns a ML ready bat when he gets moved. Just don't trust Cherrington. If he makes a deal with Boston or Toronto, I'll freak out. Neither team has MLB ready talent that could help the Bucs next year that isn't already in the bigs. I really like the kid from the Cubs, Owen Caissie.