PIVOT: Why Missing Okamoto Won’t DERAIL the Pittsburgh Pirates—Offseason OPTIONS Still OPEN

14 comments

1. Jones and Chandler for Duran, Casas and Campbell. Play Campbell at 3rd

2. Scolding a fan base who has been chit on for 40 years for being skeptical is rich my dude. BTW they have barely spent more than they did last season so there is no need to white knight for this ownership because they finally signed a few capable free agents.

3. I’m bummed about Okamoto but he’s about to be 30 coming off injury and he’s a boras guy who’s never played in the majors. Not the end of the world. Suarez or yoan moncada would be interesting. Triolo did hit .276 when he was starting

4. Great show Gary. Much needed voice of reason after a dissapointing weekend. At this point, I'd rather just see them pursue a long term contract with Griffen. Left side of the infield isn't ideal, but I can live with it for now, especially if they lock up Konnor.

5. I’m not so concerned about third base defense, because we are talking about buying enough time until you can count on Griffin being up on the roster. Triolo at third and Gonzales at short is not a good plan. As bad as Suarez, Andujar et al are defensively, or Moncada as an injury concern, they are no worse than going with Gonzales as a shortstop. He is a bad second baseman and doesn’t have a great arm. Playing him there is desperate move because he was a negative WAR player who would be playing out of position and isn’t an established hitter. So why not bridge the gap with a deficient fielder but a good hitter at third until Griffin is ready? Once Griffin is ready then you go with a Triolo/new guy job share at third. Think back to how the Pirates used Serpico with Pedro. None of these potential options are as bad defensively as Pedro was, and Triolo is overall better than Serpico.
   We may also want to consider bringing back IKF. He did really well the first half of last season. It looked bad, but his defense was acceptable at short and he was handling the bat well, albeit with no power. Ultimately at short he is a better option than Gonzales. You could also play him at third and Triolo at short, until Griffin is ready to take over.

6. Go with Triolo at 3rd, and get a veteran lefty starter. Go Bucs!

7. Moncada had a .815 ops against right handed pitching last year just platoon him with Triolo and third base is solved, Suarez is a DH at this point and will decline fast IMO take that money and extend Konnor

8. My immediate reaction to Okamoto going to the Jays was to check-in on the players you mentioned for the exact reasons. If/when they sign Tucker/re-sign Bo then those 3 names could become available. Love Barger…..yes it’s another left handed bat, so what. From memory Pirates faced RH pitching 74-77% of at bats last year, Barger/Triolo platoon plays. The 2 challenges are the cost I would expect being a package that would make fans cringe, the other being he has an option year remaining….worst case scenario is Blue Jays stack the roster and send him to Buffalo for the season until injury makes his services required. Could imagine that conversation from Ross Atkins being along the lines of thanks for calling, have you seen what Ernie Clement can do?

   I don’t think Clement does much more for the roster than just rolling with Triolo as the everyday starter short of shoring up the left side defense

   That Santander contract would take some serious negotiating to make anything sensible for either team to take action. It could work for someone, just don’t think it’s a world the Pirates would want to start getting into.

9. I think it’s even more urgent and crucial now to add at least one more hitter. And that is because we HAVE improved, and now might be on the fringes of contention and one more bat could change the discussion from possibly hanging around in the wildcard race to maybe winning a division. This has been a very good off-season but if they are serious about contending, and maybe they are, they need another bat.

10. I just want them to spend that Okamoto money elsewhere. There is no next year. All in now, even if its just a few bullpen arms. ANYTHING. JUST TRY TO WIN.

11. Derail the Pirates? From what?

12. Arenado could be had for about $7 mil per year with the Cardinals eating the rest of the contract and the prospects return would be minimal (lotto tickets). Just getting him to waive that no trade clause. The Pirates have done some good stuff this off season that might be encouraging to him and maybe get Skenes to call him. Yes he is worth $14 mil total for 2 yrs.

13. Technically, they really haven't changed payroll from last year thus far. Im guessing thats the way Ebennezer Nutting wants it. Credit to Cherrington for maximizing his resources. Maybe he can pull off one more cost Prohibitive trade to improve? Go Bucs!

14. Go get Jordan Westburg. O's need pitching, Pirstes have it. Sure Westburg is still pre-arb, so the offer has to be really inticing, bit this giy can hold down 3b for years, has 20-25 hr poeer, modest K rate, high ops.