Around Baseball 2025

[RobinThicc]

Good move for the Red Sox 

[Blue balls]

I'm expecting one of Tucker, Bichette, Bellinger or Bregman to sign by end of day tomorrow.

Why ? Because I would prefer having my next team settled before going in family parties to being asked all night long about it if I was them.

[Terminator]

The A's traded for Jeff McNeil and the Mets threw in some money.

They've got a pretty damn good lineup 1-9 now.

Their pitching sucks though and it's going to be hard to sign guys until they get out of the minor league park in Sac.

[glory]

[Terminator]

50 minutes ago, glory said:

That's a good pickup for them. Can platoon with Dominic Calzone. 

Part of their problem has been zero bench and lineup depth in recent years but getting some guys like this helps.

There is a long ways to go this offseason but I think the Mariners, Yankees and Jays are probably the top 3 AL teams.

[BTS]

TJS for Ronny Henriquez. Probably increases their push for Fairbanks

 

[Spanky__99]

2 hours ago, BTS said:

TJS for Ronny Henriquez. Probably increases their push for Fairbanks

 

Damn, bummer for me, pitchers man.

[Orgfiller]

2 hours ago, BTS said:

TJS for Ronny Henriquez. Probably increases their push for Fairbanks

 

That's sad, he was a budding relief ace.

[Orgfiller]

It's getting to that time in the offseason where the cheap teams start buying unsigned FAs at a discounted price to show that "see we're not cheap! We spend money! Also keep those revenue sharing checks coming". Ryan O'Hearn to the Pirates for 2/29.

This is the Pirates' first FA multi year deal since Ivan Nova in 2016 (3/26), and first multi year FA deal to a hitter since John Jaso (2/8) exactly 10 years to the date.

[Orgfiller]

Pirates' top 5 of Horwitz, Brandon Lowe, Bryan Reynolds, Ryan O'Hearn and Oneil Cruz isn't sending chills down your spine, but has potential to be a nuisance in any given game with some hidden potential, mostly in the form of Cruz.

[Terminator]

27 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

first multi year FA deal to a hitter since John Jaso (2/8) exactly 10 years to the date.

That is insane lol

The Pirates owner needs to sell the team. Force him out if necessary.

[Terminator]

However, the Pirates have spent more money on FA contracts than the Yankees have so far lmao

 

[sliderguy35]

38 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

It's getting to that time in the offseason where the cheap teams start buying unsigned FAs at a discounted price to show that "see we're not cheap! We spend money! Also keep those revenue sharing checks coming". Ryan O'Hearn to the Pirates for 2/29.

This is the Pirates' first FA multi year deal since Ivan Nova in 2016 (3/26), and first multi year FA deal to a hitter since John Jaso (2/8) exactly 10 years to the date.

god this is such a weird fit, he and spenny are basically the same player but i guess one of them gets to become the regular DH

i guess there isn't really a clean fit around the league though, all the teams that are desperate at 1B are super left handed heavy already (nationals / marlins) or have an in-house guy who's 80% as good for a fraction of the price (d-backs / brewers)

[Pendleton]

49 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Pirates' top 5 of Horwitz, Brandon Lowe, Bryan Reynolds, Ryan O'Hearn and Oneil Cruz isn't sending chills down your spine, but has potential to be a nuisance in any given game with some hidden potential, mostly in the form of Cruz.

 

If they have another signing or two like this in them, they can put together an ok lineup, which can be backed by very good pitching. 

 

This was a solid move for sure, O'Hearn was one of the better bats available out of those who were never getting huge money. 

[mphenhef]

2 minutes ago, Pendleton said:

 

If they have another signing or two like this in them, they can put together an ok lineup, which can be backed by very good pitching. 

 

This was a solid move for sure, O'Hearn was one of the better bats available out of those who were never getting huge money. 

With Skenes, Chandler, Keller and Ashcraft and Jared Jones coming back in May they could be sneaky good.

[Jimcanuck]

The Bucco's have a guy named Konnor Griffin who is apparently pretty good

The Pirates are "strongly considering" giving Griffin the opportunity to win their starting shortstop job, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports. (11/18/2025)

[glory]

31 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

With Skenes, Chandler, Keller and Ashcraft and Jared Jones coming back in May they could be sneaky good.

Yeah if the Pirates get a league average offense then they should at least be competitive. Last season they had a team wRC+ of 82 and team ISO of .119. They were collectively IKF with a little more power as an offense. At least with Cruz, Reynolds, Lowe, O'Hearn, and Horwitz, there's some decent options there. They'll need platoon mates for Cruz and Horwitz, and they still need to add a 3B. 

Not sure they'll be a playoff team (although that bar isn't high as witnessed by the Reds making it last year) but that should be a much more competitive team than previous seasons. With 4 more years of Skenes under team control, they had to start taking this seriously. 

[Terminator]

1 hour ago, glory said:

They were collectively IKF with a little more power as an offense.

🤢

[John_Havok]

17 hours ago, glory said:

Yeah if the Pirates get a league average offense then they should at least be competitive. Last season they had a team wRC+ of 82 and team ISO of .119. They were collectively IKF with a little more power as an offense. At least with Cruz, Reynolds, Lowe, O'Hearn, and Horwitz, there's some decent options there. They'll need platoon mates for Cruz and Horwitz, and they still need to add a 3B. 

Not sure they'll be a playoff team (although that bar isn't high as witnessed by the Reds making it last year) but that should be a much more competitive team than previous seasons. With 4 more years of Skenes under team control, they had to start taking this seriously. 

I think Horwitz was their only hitter above 100 wrc+ last year if im not mistaken, with his 119.

edit Oh and Joey Bart i guess at 101. 

[jaysblue]

Hoping to make the drive down to Pittsburgh this summer to see a couple games. Need to cross that ballpark off my list. 

[Orgfiller]

1 hour ago, John_Havok said:

I think Horwitz was their only hitter above 100 wrc+ last year if im not mistaken, with his 119.

edit Oh and Joey Bart i guess at 101. 

Yeah, aside from the cast that they were working with, they also just had a nightmare season in terms of underperformance. Oneil Cruz and Reynolds were both sub 100 wRC+ bats, but they both underperformed their xwOBAs pretty substantially. Nick Gonzalez took a nosedive after a decently promising 2024 campaign, plus his draft + prospect pedigree adding to the disappointment. Ditto Henry Davis x1000.

To their credit, they have an entirely home grown rotation, developed a good reliever in Dennis Santana for free (claimed off waivers), and have bolstered both their bullpen and lineup a good deal without needing to overpay anywhere.

[Brownie19]

12 minutes ago, Orgfiller said:

Yeah, aside from the cast that they were working with, they also just had a nightmare season in terms of underperformance. Oneil Cruz and Reynolds were both sub 100 wRC+ bats, but they both underperformed their xwOBAs pretty substantially. Nick Gonzalez took a nosedive after a decently promising 2024 campaign, plus his draft + prospect pedigree adding to the disappointment. Ditto Henry Davis x1000.

To their credit, they have an entirely home grown rotation, developed a good reliever in Dennis Santana for free (claimed off waivers), and have bolstered both their bullpen and lineup a good deal without needing to overpay anywhere.

I never realized how awful Henry Davis has been.  Complete swing and a miss at the 1st overall pick.  You just can't have that.  Endy Rodriguez also seems to have reached the "massive bust" status.  

Swaggerty was a bust and Termarr Johnson's glow has worn off. It's been a rough go for the Pirates.  Konnor Griffin needs to step up and save that franchise.

[Orgfiller]

47 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I never realized how awful Henry Davis has been.  Complete swing and a miss at the 1st overall pick.  You just can't have that.  Endy Rodriguez also seems to have reached the "massive bust" status.  

Swaggerty was a bust and Termarr Johnson's glow has worn off. It's been a rough go for the Pirates.  Konnor Griffin needs to step up and save that franchise.

At least they've made up for it in pitching development. Skenes seems like a tough one to give them a whole lot of credit for, given the hype and projections as he entered the draft, but he's nonetheless pitched as well as possible so partly some credit has to be given. Then there's Bubba Chandler and Jared Jones, high upside arms. Mitch Keller, Ashcraft are both solid mid rotation guys. They've actually killed it with drafting and developing starters recently.

[Jimcanuck]

1 hour ago, Brownie19 said:

I never realized how awful Henry Davis has been.  Complete swing and a miss at the 1st overall pick.  You just can't have that.  Endy Rodriguez also seems to have reached the "massive bust" status.  

Swaggerty was a bust and Termarr Johnson's glow has worn off. It's been a rough go for the Pirates.  Konnor Griffin needs to step up and save that franchise.

Yeah Davis cant handle MLB pitching.  Thats an unknown at time of draft.  Wasn't he a consensus #1 or at least top 3?  Hard to blame the Bucs for his failure

Endy had a significant injury.  He's on my watch list as the bat is a good one.

Griffin is gonna make up for the misses.

[Stangstag]

2 hours ago, jaysblue said:

Hoping to make the drive down to Pittsburgh this summer to see a couple games. Need to cross that ballpark off my list. 

Its a perfectly OK stadium with a great field and view. I didn’t really get the hype as being one of the “top” parks though TBH. 

[BTS]

Fairbanks to the Marlins for 1/13. He did well this offseason. Picked up a 1M buyout when TB declined his 11M option, then beat that amount anyway. 

[Terminator]

41 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Its a perfectly OK stadium with a great field and view. I didn’t really get the hype as being one of the “top” parks though TBH. 

I do think it's a top park but I get what you are saying. It's simplicity is part of the charm IMO.

There are really just two levels to it. Lower stand and upper stands with one giant concourse with plenty of walking room separating the two. Add in a top notch view and I can see why it rates so highly.

But it doesn't really knock your socks off with a ton of bells and whistles like some stadiums.

[Spanky__99]

2 hours ago, BTS said:

Fairbanks to the Marlins for 1/13. He did well this offseason. Picked up a 1M buyout when TB declined his 11M option, then beat that amount anyway. 

I was assuming he'd sign some where for like 2/20, he did very well. If he pitches well this season he'll get far more than I thought.

Yeah it's been the Winter of Pete, his contract is sweet...

It is a one-year, $13MM contract for the Republik Sports client, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. Per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the deal includes a $1MM signing bonus and another $1MM in incentives based on appearances. Fairbanks will also receive a bonus of $500,000 if he is traded. The deal is pending a physical.

[Stangstag]

3 hours ago, Terminator said:

I do think it's a top park but I get what you are saying. It's simplicity is part of the charm IMO.

There are really just two levels to it. Lower stand and upper stands with one giant concourse with plenty of walking room separating the two. Add in a top notch view and I can see why it rates so highly.

But it doesn't really knock your socks off with a ton of bells and whistles like some stadiums.

My personal faves are Petco and San Fran

[John_Havok]

4 hours ago, Stangstag said:

Its a perfectly OK stadium with a great field and view. I didn’t really get the hype as being one of the “top” parks though TBH. 

I think that's why it gets the hype. Most fans don't give two rats assess about creature comforts for corporate *******s. They want a nice field, comfy seats, a great view and a decent team to root for. 

Looking at it through the lens of corporate-types though, yeah it's probably starting to lag behind in the average to below average # of suites, luxury boxes etc.