Dave Thomas

@SteelCityBucs30 @BigCallRichGall @CWolfPGH @Lord_Fades Not sure this is going to work as often this year if the Bucs win more. 😁

@BigCallRichGall @djthomas73 @CWolfPGH @Lord_Fades Yep

Is “hedging your happiness” unethical? I pay $50 for the Pirates to win or I get paid $43 if they lose.

Well apparently Under Armour understands the value of locking KG in early. Let's hope the Pirates do too!!! #LetsGoBucs

@rounder829 Double former Bucco call out!!

BIDO

@SteelCityBucs30 Most passionate argument about the Pirates potentially taking second place in the division. Very nice.

Tommy and Hubbs, YKB

@CellarOfKeller That last cut of the cubs players laughing just cuts deep. Don't ever post this again. PTSD.

this.

@GMBCSuperfan Honestly I agree that they reason it did not work out is because the O's wanted a higher end pitcher. Looking at what the bucs have right now in terms of pitching depth I'm glad they didn't do it. That said it feels like 3B is going down the road of 1B before SH.

I’ve been reflecting on the opportunity we had with the Orioles this offseason. They have needs for pitching and catching, and we covet their two third basemen. I could imagine a scenario where we had a deal in place, or were in strong negotiations, when the Jordan Westburg news hit about the partially torn UCL in his elbow. He’s out until “at least May.” I’m picturing a trade deadline opportunity for either Mayo or Westburg. I did a little digging back when I was thinking about writing about this, and I find Coby Mayo to be a genuinely intriguing talent. I’m actually worried he may break out and we’ll have lost our window. Anyone else see potential in the Orioles’ 3B logjam as a July opportunity?

@SteelCityBucs30 @CWolfPGH @Lord_Fades Interesting. I know absolutely nothing about betting but you learn something new every day right?

@djthomas73 @CWolfPGH @Lord_Fades I bet on the opponent every time Skenes pitched. The Pirates were generally favored to win, so odds were good.

@SteelCityBucs30 @CWolfPGH @Lord_Fades What kind of bet is this?

@CWolfPGH @Lord_Fades Much easier to do for football lol. I made bank last season doing this for every Skenes game.

@hundredand1 100% true. If you just do the math he comes out ahead dollar wise if he is a good player. If he is a great player maybe he is a little behind dollar wise but he is protected from injury by the generational money he is guaranteed to make. Then he still gets his bag at 26?

The common problem with these types of takes is forgetting that the players who accept these extensions, if they perform well enough to make them seem like underpays, *still* reach free agency at an age where they can make $300 million. If not, they got $100 million.

@PlatinumKey13 It's toooo. LONG!!!!!😭😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣

2 MORE DAYS

@SteelCityBucs30 You are a bad man. 🤣🤣🤣

Failed due to high Estrogen

@GMBCSuperfan Yep. But I think that to get him they would have had to offer him 8-10 million more a year. Maybe I'm wrong but that is the problem with being the Pirates in this economic situation in baseball.

@djthomas73 Agreed. I think missing on Okamoto was the biggest miss of the offseason.

Swing and a Miss: What I Got Wrong This Offseason Now that the 2026 roster is set for the Pirates, I can look back on an offseason of prognosticating and own my mistakes. I am a fallible human, and this gig requires staking oneself out on a set of informed predictions every morning . That inevitably leads to a few misses… okay, a bunch of them. If you ask my wife, me being wrong is nothing new. Given my strategy day job, I have a habit of creating correlations between unrelated sets of data, and enfolding them in a plausible narrative. “Hey, it looks good on paper!” But then that theory gets interrogated by reality. When it works out, it seems extraordinary, but it is also likely not to work out. Like baseball, it’s all about your hit rate. And sometimes I just strike out. We Didn’t Address Third Base If you had asked me at the start of the offseason what I thought absolutely had to happen, I would have said acquiring a third baseman. I have at various times advocated strongly for Kazuma Okamoto, Alec Bohm and Mark Vientos, the latter someone I thought they might acquire right up until yesterday. No dice. Nick Gonzalez is the opening day 3B, and I kind of hate it. Gonzo is a lot of things, but a third baseman is not one of the them. His defense is really poor at 2B, so one can only imagine how his fringe arm will work way across the diamond. You have to be buying his bat in this alignment, and we have no data that suggests a corner infielder-worthy breakout is imminent. The failure to acquire a 3B earns Cherington his lone F grade this offseason. But so does my Bohm Dome. Eat My Shorts, Bart is Still Here My earliest and most oft-repeated certainty was that Joey Bart would be traded this offseason. His offensive performance last season was such a letdown from his 2024 breakout, and his defense continued to be lackluster. I had him and his $2.53 million contract on the proverbial chopping block all winter and found a way to include him in every mock trade. Instead, Bart is the backup catcher to Henry Davis and probably in line for 40% of starts. He will almost certainly be out there against most lefty starters as it is his only useful role. My early pick for backup, Rafael Flores, is starting the year at Indy with my other manic pixie dream backstop, Endy Rodriguez. Of course, I will just keep moving the goal posts on this and declare boldly that Bart is gone at the trade deadline. An absolute certainty. Write it in ink. Mitch Keller Didn’t Get Moved I’m not an advocate for Mitch Keller by any stretch of the imagination, but I did come around on him a bit this offseason. I now think it at least makes sense for him to start the year in the rotation. Without the traditional acquisition of a soft-tossing veteran to be the #5 guy, we really need Keller to do his thing to start the year. But I still believe this is a big gamble. His peripherals suggest a fastball devolving from an average of 95.1 mph in his best year to 93.7 mph last year. Any further slippage and we’re in the danger zone. Like Bart, I’d like to see him flipped at the trade deadline as the plethora of starting pitching options expand. I know that is unlikely, but it “makes sense on paper.” His contract doesn’t fit for a team with this much starting pitching and such a modest payroll. He has also traditionally crapped the bed in the second half. Injuries and earned promotions will surely dictate this. Konnor Griffin Got Sent Down I’ve spilled a bunch of ink on this already so I won’t belabor it. I got fooled by all the offseason acquisitions into thinking this wasn’t the same old Pirates on some level. Management is simply unwilling to go all-in and do something with significant long-term financial ramifications just because it is the best baseball decision. Same old story. What has been galling is seeing so many lift up his spring stats as justification for the move. The team is said to have made an 8-year, ~$110 million offer to Griffin, and you’re nuts if you think they would have sent him back to Indianapolis if he had signed that contract. This was always about money, and I forgot for a second that it is the #1, without a doubt, single most important factor when discussing the motivations of Bob Nutting, and by extension the general manger he hired. Bottom Line 📌 Those four predictions stand out among a sea of floated concepts that never materialized. Of course, that's what is fun about following a team -- analyzing statistics and debating theory on how to get the most production out of 26 guys. It wouldn't be a lot of fun to write only about what the team will do, every morning throwing ice water on passionate arguments; finding creative ways to continually write: "that will never happen." That's for the one-offs who somehow find their way here, read something I wrote, and comment "LOL, as if." Yes, sir, I agree. As if. The world is an imperfect place.

@GMBCSuperfan Yeah I hear you. Honestly I do think that they tried to get a legit 3B option. Just could not get it done. In some cases for reasons beyond their budget. I think if you blow Okamoto out of the water with a financial offer you could get him. Bob just would not do it.

Yes, seeing which of Gonzo and Yorke perform at 3B will be an early opportunity. I’m open to being surprised -- but it really isn’t in either of their profiles. We shall see. I’ve definitely gone down the ‘concentric circles of acceptance’ -- I started this offseason hoping for Triolo to be a super sub on the left side, now I’m just grateful we have him at all.

@HalToHell He was the real deal in college and the National's can't afford to give up on him. That said I'd rather be the Pirates than the Nationals right now with Paul on board.

Dylan Crews hit .426/.567/.713 with a 20.6% walk rate in his draft year

@SteelCityBucs30 Come on Homer... Kid is a player. All be it a little off beat. I am not looking forward to seeing him for a division rival for then next number of years.

This is a MASSIVE overpay

@whaler2326 No joke these guys really do stink.

lol I’m sure he did. Foul Smelling Territory.

@BloopAndABlast Say more. Tell us why? I love this insight that you are bringing to the table as a ball knower and pilot!!! Two topics I really love. Tell us MORE!!!

The Pirates are chartering a CRJ this year? Boy they really are cheap

@JaredSandler Cutch is going to help the Rangers win games this year. This is a good fit.

#Rangers manager Skip Schumacher on Andrew McCutchen making the team and what they hope he’ll bring

As much as I love Cutch and hate that he isn't a Pirate this year, this IS the way to deploy him at this point in his career. After the Pirates signed Ozuna there was just no fit in Pittsburgh. Really happy for Cutch he will help the Rangers win games this year.