DK's Daily Shot of Pirates: Catastrophic catching 

We are letting the season get away. With our 3 good starters this is just criminal. Cherrington knows nothing about any position, not just catching.

They have the best offensive catcher in baseball in Joey Bart and his 149 OPS+ Is that just a small sample anomaly? Maybe, but I look forward to finding out.

Cherrington’s Follies.

Why did Cherington ever trade Stallings for a couple of low level prospects? If he wanted defense, he had it. The catching has been nothing but a disaster since then. Stallings' OPS this season - .837. And his salary is only 3.3 million.

Hey DK! I bet ya 2 beers and a chiclet the pirates make a trade this week😊

Calling Robinzon Diaz, Jason Jaramillo, Tony Sanchez....who did I miss???

Grandal just blows and i have been saying that for the last 2 months we need Henry Davis back asap who cares if we loose the batting (THAT WE DONT ALREADY HAVE) At least we will be getting solid defense with Davis

Steve Nicosia still looked pretty good at the '70s day. Give him a bat.

Hey DK, loved the J1 Q today. My question is like Key did could these guys seek outside help hitting? I know Key cost the guy inside the organization his job but if the hitting coach was outside the organization, couldn’t they seek someone like that out?

Stating the obvious here, but "catcher" is generally considered to be the most difficult position to play in baseball. A catcher has more defensive responsibilities than any other position player. Also, for a multitude of reasons, a catcher has to have a consistently heightened level of awareness, complete focus, and a temperament of composure before, during, and after every pitch. Catchers call pitches, receive and frame pitches, block pitches, monitor baserunners to prevent base stealing, etc. They control the strike zone. In addition, the catcher position is extremely physically demanding. In my opinion, laxity and a pronounced inability to focus are two major deficits that Grandal brings to the position. Grandal's significant weaknesses should be considered professionally unacceptable. I also appreciate the fact that DK mentioned in this episode that Endy was hitting exceptionally well at every level until he reached Pittsburgh. DK seemed to express a general observation that the offense is being knocked out of various Pirate players. A Pirate fan criticized me last night when I mentioned that Andy Haines needs to go as the first step in a genuine effort to systemically begin to repair this team. If Milwaukee had the wherewithal (and just cause) to fire Haines in 2021, why can't Pittsburgh do the same? The Pirate pitchers are no longer receiving crucial run support in games now. From what I've observed during this season so far, the Pirates organization is starting to look like the leader in "team self-sabotage" in MLB. I'm gravely concerned not only about the starting rotation, but also about the players who've already noticeably regressed, or who are regressing in real time right in front of our eyes. Who in this organization has the guts to make a significant change in the short term-- just ONE change?

Five runs are great but not when the other team scores eleven. It looks like a problem here. No pun intended DK. I can hardly wait to see what happens next. Great J1Q today and great answer DK Thank you DK Great show.

We had a gold glove catcher and gave you competitive bats each time up in Jacob Stallings and what do we do trade him for a couple of low end prospects. This offense is putrid and not one thing has been done to change it. Is it time to try and move Hayes and his contract to put his money into Jones or Skenes. Hayes has had 3 good months in his career.

You're forgetting about Bart, who was hitting well and got injured. It's silly to pick on the catching position. In general, Cherington has done a poor job acquiring position player talent, period.

Bad news bears

Da' wreck Shelton and Andy Paines is doing to the Pirates what Disney is doing to Star Wars..... It doesn't matter who's playing when they are so terribly managed and coached...

DK, I think Endy's injury, played a significant part in his hitting last year after his call up. I believe he will actually hit well once he heals from the surgery. Infact, he appears to be ahead of schedule on hos rehab, though the zpirates say it's unlikely he'll be back on the field this season. But Cherington has such a malaise in his demeaner, about going out and making deals, because he is a bad talent evaluator!

The catchers started off strong, its too bad

Grandal looks completely checked out. Don't forget this is the guy Tim Anderson tried to fight on the White Sox last year because Grandal wanted to leave for the ASB a day early to go on vacation. Just run out Bart and Delay when Bart is healthy.

Grandal is 35 years old and not known for his defense and he wouldn't even still be in the majors if not for Endy getting hurt and Davis haven't proven that he even belongs in the majors or play any position.

One bat is not going to help this lineup with this manager and hitting coach.

Catching is not the Pirates problem DK. The Pirates problems can all be traced to the awful hitting system they have implemented organization wide. This so called system puts way to much pressure on the other aspects of the game. So pitching and to a bit lesser degree fielding trys to be perfect to overcome the awful offence so of course they begin to falter (no pun intended) as well so what you have is a team riding a roller coaster all year unable to find any consistency either good or bad. A microcosm of that is evident in last nights 11 to 5 loss to the Reds. While that may ,and i emphasive may, be ok for teams on a rebuild it is NOT ok for teams that have the talent in place to contend. You drafted and developed these talented young players and at some point you have to let them utilize that talent at their level not via some arbitrary system that stifles them. The Pirates have apparently figured that out on the pitching end and just as apparently not on the hitting end. That all points to one guy. Andy by god haines who clearly has a system tailor made for little league teams that are rebuilding,just not for major league teams that are contending. Fire Haines,he'll find a job somewhere doing something,really he will.

Why is Andy Haines still here when the team OPS is worse than it was in 2021-2022? We lost 100 games those years in case anyone forgot. Every player (with very few exceptions) has gotten substantially worse at the plate this year.

Oh no Charlie Brown not again

Why don’t the Pirates go out and sign Trevor Bauer? I know he comes with baggage but could you imagine rounding out the rotation with Bauer?

As usual, starting pitching is completely wasted. Still no offense, no consistent relief pitching. As usual if the starter wants a win, he has to go the distance, which ain't happening. Just toss in the towel as always, because even if they would get a wild card out of this lousy division, they're still going nowhere. Skenes has a real good feel now for what it's like being a Pirate starter.

Andy Haynes is the worst hitting coach in major league baseball. It’s obvious he’s not gonna get fired. so why doesn’t he just quit? Does he not here the outside world pointing out the fact that he’s the worst

Wow he's ranked by 124th out of possible 125 catchers throwing out base runners that sad

Grandal would be a perfect DH switch hitter