The future of the Pirates

[JennieGarthAlgar]

I know they have very good talent already at the major league level, but I keep hearing about their deep farm and how well set up for success they are. Jamison Tallion is a name that registers, but whats his timeline and projection at this point? What other guys are worth "worrying about" from our end? What would you say their core consists of and whats their window look like?

 

For instance, say a cliffs notes example for the future of the Cubs might look like:

CORE (Rizzo, Arrieta, Bryant, Schwarber, Russell, Soler, Lester, Baez/Castro)

with a WINDOW of 2015 extending to 2021

and then top PROSPECTS to keep an eye on (Torres, McKinney, Contreras, Jiminez, Cease)

 

What might the Pirates' look like? Who is the next guy(s) for them that will be approaching Free Agency and will they be able to extend him/them?

[Cubswin11]

 

What might the Pirates' look like? Who is the next guy(s) for them that will be approaching Free Agency and will they be able to extend him/them?

Spoiler Alert: They all die from dongs

[Guest]

The Pirates currently have 6 players with 3 WAR or more:

 

McCutchen - 5.7 fWAR - age 28 - under control thru 2018*

Cole - 4.9 - 24 - 2019

Kang - 4.0 - 28 - 2019*

Cervelli - 3.5 - 29 - 2016

Marte - 3.0 - 26 - 2021*

Liriano - 3.0 - 31 - 2017

 

*option year(s)

 

 

Honorable mention: AJ Burnett would've reached 3 wins if not for injury and still might, he is a FA after this year. 24 year old Polanco(controlled thru 2020) has played at about a 3 win level in the 2nd half.

 

 

While you can say that Cervelli is probably having a career year and Liriano probably will get worse before he gets better, that's a very solid core and most of them are under team control long enough to give them a window of at least several years to compete.

 

Let's compare to the Cubs:

 

Arrieta - 5.9 - 29 - 2017

Bryant - 5.3 - 23 - 2021

Rizzo - 4.9 - 25 - 2021*

Lester - 4.4 - 31 - 2021*

Fowler - 3.3 - 29 - 2015

Coghlan - 3.3 - 30 - 2016

 

Honorable mention: Hendricks(25, 2020) will probably cross 3 wins this year, Russell(21, 2021) will probably be a bit short, and Schwarber(22, 2021) is playing at a 5 win pace in a third of a season.

 

To come back to the Pirates, their biggest problem is going to be in filling their rotation. PNC National Forest, 3 great defensive OF, and Ray Searage make this a solvable problem, but it does need multiple options. Taillon looked like the next Cole but we'll have to see how both TJS recovery and the MLB jump treat him. Glasnow has a great arm but inability to throw strikes could doom him to the pen. If one of those guys pan out and they can use Free Agency as effectively as they did with Burnett, they should be fine. But right now they're giving 60% of their starts to Happ, Morton, and Locke and relying on defense, park, and a good offense to carry them. An injury to someone like Cole could have them looking like the 2012-2013 Brewers.

 

 

tl;dr the Pirates have a core to be good for several years, and a few talented prospects on the way(not 2014 Cubs good, but good). They need to make sure to continue to hit on starting pitchers and keep them relatively healthy in order to continue be as good as they have been the last 3 years, their hitting is good but unlikely to be as good as it is this year to compensate for losing a stalwart SP for the year due to injury.

[JennieGarthAlgar]

This is awesome, thanks TT

[Guest]

It should also be noted that their pitching staff as been (nearly) as lucky as the Cards this season with beneficial sequencing. They are still good, but not as good as they've looked in 2015.

[Tryptamine]

I know they have very good talent already at the major league level, but I keep hearing about their deep farm and how well set up for success they are. Jamison Tallion is a name that registers, but whats his timeline and projection at this point? What other guys are worth "worrying about" from our end? What would you say their core consists of and whats their window look like?

 

For instance, say a cliffs notes example for the future of the Cubs might look like:

CORE (Rizzo, Arrieta, Bryant, Schwarber, Russell, Soler, Lester, Baez/Castro)

with a WINDOW of 2015 extending to 2021

and then top PROSPECTS to keep an eye on (Torres, McKinney, Contreras, Jiminez, Cease)

 

What might the Pirates' look like? Who is the next guy(s) for them that will be approaching Free Agency and will they be able to extend him/them?

 

The Pirate farm is pretty fantastic. They have a legit ace candidate and top 15 prospect in baseball with with Tyler Glasnow. There's a chance he opens 2016 in the rotation. Taillon is a legit #2/#3 candidate when healthy and could be used out of their pen in 2016 if the Pirates decided to go that way. Josh Bell looks like he could take over at 1B opening day. There's not a ton of power there, but he's what James Loney should have been. Great defense, tons of extra base hits, a potential .300/.375/.450 type of guy.Nick Kingham had TJS this year, but when he returns he should be a strong back of the rotation guy. They also have a stud in Austin Meadows who is a year to a year and a half away. Then you have guys who should be decent regulars like Alan Hanson and Reese McGuire.