Colin Beazley's Pirates chat: 08.04.26
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Colin Beazley
12:00
Hello from Milwaukee. Plenty to talk about today from the trade deadline to Mitch Keller's injury and more. Looking forward to taking as many of your questions as I can over the next hour.
Uncle Leo
12:03
Hello Colin! Kelly seems like a good guy and someone you’d like to see your team grow with. At the same time, there is clearly a lot of urgency to this season, and I can’t help but feel like a manager who’d won before (like Francona for example) would have squeezed at least five more wins out of this team to this point with better in-game decisions and mgmt of starters and bullpen. Most recently, I’m stunned that Kelly opted for a bullpen game to start the cincy series. Beyond the base running and errors, why can’t these guys hit sacrifice flys or bunt someone over? I hope we don’t regret what could have been…
Colin Beazley
12:07
Hello Uncle Leo! In my opinion, while I do think Don Kelly has made a number of questionable decisions this year, it's near impossible to evaluate exactly how many wins a manager is worth. There's so much that goes into decisions, including stuff that we don't know about. And no manager is perfect.

With the bullpen game, I get it. The Pirates are playing 17 games in 17 days with a number of young pitchers on limits and plenty of question marks. While managing health comes into it, the Pirates also saw that a number of their pitchers are more effective with one extra day of rest. And they almost won that game, too...
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
12:07
Hi Colin, thanks for the chats! I was pleasantly surprised with the deadline additions in getting relief help without giving up too many of the top prospects. Does Carmen now go back into the starting rotation with Keller done for the year? Also, any timelines on Cruz, and Griffin coming back as we need their bats now that Ohearn might be done until the playoffs?
Colin Beazley
12:09
Hi Sunner, thank you for your questions! My expectation would be that Carmen Mlodzinski would go back into the starting rotation, but the Pirates have not confirmed that yet. Honestly, I'm not sure what other options they have. Maybe Antwone Kelly or Hunter Barco from Triple-A? Connor Wietgrefe has been Indy's best starter of late, but that would be a big jump after he was recently promoted.

I'd be very surprised if it wasn't Mlodzinski.
Gene
12:09
When is Cruz scheduled to come off the IL
mikomark
12:09
Since the  Bucs' medical staff is not exactly transparent, I keep seeing that Griffin will return "sometime in September." True or False, Colin?
greg patton
12:10
where is Cruz at on returning to the lineup?
Michael
12:10
Realistically when can we expect Cruz to return? Because Mangum is playing so well doesn’t it make sense to keep him in center and DH Cruz?
Colin Beazley
12:15
Lot of Cruz questions (including yours, Sunner. Not ignoring you). I'll throw Griffin in here, too:
The last update we got on Ben Cherington's radio show (Sunday) was that Oneil Cruz's hand was healthy, they're just making sure all goes well in terms of him continuing to swing a bat. I'm not a hand specialist, but that's normal. Cherington was hopeful Cruz could begin a rehab assignment this week. He's first eligible to come off the 60-day IL on Aug. 8, I believe. That won't happen, but it doesn't sound like he's too far away.

Griffin's timeline was 8-10 weeks, with the care primarily being rest. He's been around the team. Given that the treatment is mainly rest, can't give much more of an update there other than he's itching to get back into games. We're at about five weeks here, so guess we'll start to hear a little more soon.
12:17
Also want to shout out the Pirates for actually being fairly transparent on injuries. Very few teams (maybe only the Pirates) have a team doc address the media for questions on a near-weekly basis like Tomczyk does. I've heard from other reporters that they wish their teams did what the Pirates do.

That said, sometimes they genuinely don't know. They also have had a few injuries this year where follow up scans showed a far-worse injury than expected. Know thats where the transparency complaints come in.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
12:17
Does Ozuna eventually get DFA'd or will the Pirates keep him around to mentor and help the Latin players because his bat has not been worth the 12 mil he is receiving.
Don kelly
12:17
Does Ozuna get dfa today ?
Colin Beazley
12:19
Time for the weekly Ozuna question (and what are you doing here, Donnie?)

His bat has not been worth 12 million, yes, but he gets paid regardless. The Pirates didn't trade for an Ozuna replacement. I don't think he's going anywhere.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
12:19
Do you think Skenes is protecting himself from injury not ramping up his fastball to the upper 90's or is there another reason for his declining numbers?
Colin Beazley
12:22
Paul Skenes changed his arm angle and isn't throwing as hard this season to help stay healthy over a long year. He's told me (and I've reported) that he's feeling much better physically at this point in the season than he has in years past.

I'm sure he didn't expect this level of decline in performance to come with it. I think it'll even out and he'll find solutions (i.e. he's not "washed") but I'm not counting on seeing 2025 Skenes (or even April Skenes) at any point again this year.
Mark
12:22
Why did BC wait so long to address the bullpen problems? It’s almost too late to rectify them now.
62 Stack Monster
12:22
Why didn't Cherington make these bullpen acquisitions earlier?
Colin Beazley
12:28
It would have been nice to have seen these additions be made sooner, but that's typically not how the market works. Teams want to wait as long as possible to drive up the trade markets and see where their team stands. For example, look at the Red Sox. They went from clear sellers in June to aggressive sellers at the deadline. Likewise, other GMs were able to play other teams off of each other and drive up prices as the deadline loomed.

I don't think the Mets would have done a Weaver for Stafura trade in July, as they would have wanted to wait to see if another team offers something better. The Marlins were potential buyers two weeks ago. I do think maybe something could have been worked out for Yates or Doval, but even then the Angels or Yankees might have wanted to see other interest.

Essentially, if you want to make a major trade weeks before the deadline, the other team has to be confident they won't get a better offer (which means a drastic overpay). Right decision or not, the Pirates didn't do that.
Mike
12:29
Colin, thanks for doing the chats, much appreciated. I think the Pirates are in trouble despite last night win. Keller now out for the year, O'Hearn with his injury may have put the final nail in the coffin. I think we needed another bat, DFA'D Ozuna, he is done. I think Carmen should take a spoke in the rotation and will help. Plus we need Lowe to start providing power again. Tell me I am wrong
Colin Beazley
12:34
You're wrong. (Sorry, you told me to!)
I'm more optimistic than you are mostly because I want to see how much addressing the bullpen actually helps. But I also don't disagree with any of your points on their own. Keller is a blow, even as much as he's struggled. Horwitz coming back makes me a little less concerned about O'Hearn, though he'll certainly be missed. I'm not expecting Ozuna to turn it around. I would have liked to have seen them add another bat against lefties -- even an Alex Call would have done. And I agree Carmen should be the one in the rotation and a few homers from Lowe would help.
12:35
That said, the Pirates are deeper than they've been in the last few years and have weathered several injuries. The offense remains strong. The rotation still can figure some things out and I'm encouraged by the last starts from Bubba/Ashcraft/Jones. The bullpen was the biggest weakness and, on paper, seems to be addressed. I do wish they'd made one more deal and they're still on the outside looking in on the wild-card race, but I'm not counting them as dead yet.
Dan N
12:35
Got to see both Carmichael and Murf Gray last week…Really glad those 2 weren’t included in any deals…
Colin Beazley
12:36
I'm a little surprised neither ended up being moved, but I'm high on both of them, too. Hoping to make a trip to Altoona soon and see both of them.
Greg
12:36
While everyone has been speculating about what's happened to Paul Skenes, the obvious has been overlooked---it's the "Cochran Curse"! Look what happened to Kenny Pickett after he appeared in their commercials...at least Skenes' car wasn't stolen while he was making them.
Colin Beazley
12:36
Could be the "Sheetz Scourge" too.
Gene
12:36
Is Weaver the closer or will they do it mix it up depending on the situation?
Colin Beazley
12:39
We asked Don Kelly about this yesterday and he did not call Weaver the closer. I'd expect Weaver to handle the highest leverage spot of the game, whenever that is, regardless of if that's the ninth. If 2-3-4 are due up in the eighth, I'd think that's when the Pirates will use Weaver instead of tying him to the ninth.

No issues with that, in my opinion. The new Pirates bullpen should be very flexible, which will be a good thing.
Michael Bleier
12:39
How much longer can the Pirates wait for O. Cruz to figure things out- hitting for average, fielding and base running. If he doesn't what can they get for him? Has his trade value declined over time?
Michael
12:39
Doesn’t it make sense to keep Mangum in center and DH Cruz when he returns? Mangum is really providing an excellent spark to the lineup.
Colin Beazley
12:43
Not sure if this is the same Michael who asked both questions, but you do realize Oneil Cruz was on pace for a 30/30 season, right? A career-best, .800+ OPS year? He was hitting for average and baserunning well when he was healthy.

That said, the Pirates could use Mangum more in center  when Cruz returns now that Ozuna is no longer the penciled-in DH. Cruz is not going to be the full-time DH, as the Pirates like to rotate it, but that is an option. Mangum has performed well.
Pittfan
12:44
Hi Colin. Do you believe Esmerlyn Valdez is going to be a one season wonder or can we look forward to him being the Pirates everyday right fielder?
Colin Beazley
12:46
Not sure, but there are signs this is real. Shoutout to the NL Rookie of the Month.

While Valdez has slumped lately, he's also still drawing a ton of walks. Strikeout numbers are high, but he is getting on base. He was never going to continue the Linsanity run he was on for the rest of his career, but he has done the little things right to show that he is a major leaguer.

To be the every day right fielder, you need to do that and show some of the power that got our attention. I bet that'll return soon, but I'm not signing him to an extension just yet.
Michael
12:46
Can we look forward to a lot more bullpen games this season?
Colin Beazley
12:48
Kind of. Whoever it is in the rotation (it should be Mlodzinski) probably won't be a seven-plus inning starter. I'd guess Bachar will be a bit of a Mlodzinski replacement in the bullpen with Carmen back in the rotation, but he'll need to be built up again.
Ethan
12:48
Will the three new guys all be in uniform tonight?
Michael
12:48
when Sisk comes back who is he likely to replace in the bullpen?
Star Spangled Yinzer
12:48
What roster moves will be taken to work the new bullpen guys in?
Colin Beazley
12:51
I asked a couple people if all three will be active tonight. They weren't sure, but I'd expect we'll see them. I'm expecting Evan Sisk to be active, too.

I won't say exactly who I think will be optioned, but I will say that none of the three who pitched yesterday will be going anywhere. Four are coming in today (or tomorrow at latest I assume). Yohan Ramirez is out of minor league options and has earned his spot. There's your eight right there (or nine if you don't want to move Carmen to the rotation quite yet).
Ryan
12:51
Good afternoon Colin what do you think about the play of Yohan Ramirez so far this season i think he looked good vs Cincinnati on Thursday
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