Let's go!

@@bridge2buctober great debut by Billy Cook,

Nope.

I mean, that's fair. Except the type of plays that we pointed out shouldn't happen. He has the physical ability, he just doesn't have the coaching. Mental errors are more fixable than physical errors. Almost half of his are mental. As I said, overall, not upset with the move for Cruz. But for the team, I'm not sure.

In Jake's defense, though. The throw from SS is further than the throw from 3B. You definitely need a better arm to play SS than 3B. But I think it's "fine" too. It just looks really slow when you've been watching Cruz. SS is also IKF's worst position of the 3. So, there's merit there.

@@bridge2buctober for the rest of this year ikf is fine this season is done so getting cruz reps in center is the priority. Ss can be adressed in the offseason. Yorke or Johnson can be moved and a trade or free agent can be had. I would like to see some of the young arms brought up and used from the pen to get them some mlb experience and for craps sake play henry and see if he figures it out. In short its time for the team to start evaluating for next year.

I hope you're right. But I think the intention was that IKF is the SS for next year, too.

@@bridge2buctober IKF at SS next year is fine by me,hes a defensive upgrade over Cruz and anyone else in the org. and he is better on offence than anyone but Cruz. Would i like to see them upgrade,sure,. Do i think they will? Probably not and honestly the priority this off season should be firing haines and fixing the offensive approach as well as fixing the bullpen. This team has the talent to be great it just needs coaches who know how to utilize it. Im fine with Tellez and Endy at 1st, de la Cruz in right,cruz in center and reynolds in left with suwinski/palacios/ect. As 4 5 6 ofers. Gonzales is the 2nd bagger with multiple options should he fail. Ss and 3rd are not as solid and depend on hayes/ikf/triolo performing and catcher will be Bart/Davis with Starter and back up being predicated by whos performing. Starting pitching is going to be frickin dominant with tons of depth. The pen is honestly the biggest question with SS and and 3rd coming in next.

They were down 5 Friday night, right?

Damn that reverse psychology shit really works!!😲😀

Bet on it. haha

I was asking how you let him bat in the 9th

​@@bridge2buctoberi mean thats just pretty blatantly not trying to win and is just evaluating Bae.

You're always trying to win. Always. I will never believe that coaches or players are throwing games until it's proven that they have already done it. I just can't imagine getting that many people on board with it.

@@bridge2buctober You may be right about Shelton not losing on purpose and im not saying hes tanking on purpose i just think he sucks as a manager and loses games because of it. As for Haines he costs the team games because of his inept coaching not in game so much as in general. As for tanking on purpose it has happened many times and been proven,its not so much something you have to get the entire team on board with just some or all of the coaches,the owner or gm says lose on purpose or lose your job and the coach either says no and gets fired or yes and stays employed. Why would a coach say yes? Simple,the coach knows the team benefits more from high draft picks than low draft picks thereby improving his and the teams chances of winning long term. Anyway brother be safe,have fun and have a great day😀

Those two catches were great by Bae. But Cruz can make wild plays, too. Both players deserve criticism defensively.

We will agree to disagree. How could you not be impressed by some of the stuff he's done? He's not consistent, sure, but he's essentially playing his first full season. The numbers in their first 200 games aren't even close. Cruz is way better. -- Cruz will be our first 40 hr guy since Pops.

@@bridge2buctober i just dont see it brother,i mean sure the talents there in spades it just does no good if it doesnt translate to consistent success, with cruz his biggest problem is on his shoulders and that tiny ass glove he uses is frickin ridiculous for a man that big. As for hitting he has the same problem he has throwing to first,he swings way to hard on every swing and he pulls his head off the ball,when he keeps his head down and follows bat to ball it goes a long way. I dont think we disagree at all your just more optimistic about him and andy by god haines figuring it out than i am. When haines goes and cruz gets a bigger glove ill share your optimistic outlook.

@RonHeichel Cruz uses an 11.75" glove. Which is the high end for a shortstop. Anything bigger and the ball will get lost in there. But yea... He's gonna hit homers

@@bridge2buctober better the ball get lost for a second than pop out into the outfield he does not have soft hands so he needs to compensate for those bricks somehow bigger glove,maybe something morr supple or more padding,hes gotta do something to stop all those balls clanking off,i still say the best solution is in the grass,he has range,speed and a rifle.

Except I haven't thought "next year" since 2015's wild card game was over.

@@bridge2buctober im an optimist😃

Challenge system is far better than robo umps. I agree.

Yep,pen go bye bye. This was plain to see coming. Pen started having trouble getting that 3rd out awhile back and it snowballed from there. Cant win with almost every reliever coughing up at least one run. Time to start calling up some of the future starting pitching depth to plug some holes and give the current relievers a break.

The point isn't that they suck. Haha. The point is that he's not as bad as we make it out to be.

​@@bridge2buctoberhe really is that bad Josh,hes not moving off shortstop this year,at some point though he has to go on the grass. For one thing the Pirates have multiple guys coming through the system who are better than him at shortstop and they have no options that would be better than him in the outfield. I think the only reason hes not in the outfield now is he would throw a fit and the team probably wants to sign him to a Keller,Hayes ,Reynolds type deal.

@RonHeichel He is also a better option than anyone else we have right now. He makes plays Alika can't make and he's better for the lineup. He will move off short eventually, though. We just need someone else who can make the plays he makes.

@@bridge2buctober said that as well brother,this year he is what ya got,next year though somethings gotta give.

Maybe. There's no one here moving him. Consider the fact that he also can improve. All young players can improve. Period.

Such is baseball, right? Get em tomorrow.

@@bridge2buctober cant help but think if IKF was in there instead of either triolo or hayes the pirates score one or two more. If tri and hayes arent married to an automatic out theyre sure dating for awhile.

Hang in there, man. Do what you gotta do. Don't let a sports team ruin your life.

@@bridge2buctober not the team brother its the shitty owner,i have a bad ticker and half my lungs so i dont need uncle ebenezer ruining christmas by stealing tiny tims crutch,what i need to do and am is closing all the feeds for pirates "news" its the same thing i did with so called news years ago and its amazing how much calmer i am and how much clearer things are now. I dont know if i told you but i stopped watching all sports several years ago after they decided to jump into the stupid end of the gene pool and just this year started watching baseball again because i heard the pirates had a chance to be good again and they should be and with any other owner would be. Anyway here we are and i think for my own health the only pirates news feed im gonna use is you and your brother you two are pretty grounded. Well ive written you that novel ive always meant to write so ill finish by saying thanks tou you both and may yall have a great day.