Colin Beazley's Pirates chat: 09.22.26
powered byJotCast
Prev Page View Full Chat
This chat is available to members only. Please log in to participate.
Colin Beazley
1:00
To JD's question: 1. Lowe, 2. 3B, 3. bullpen reinforcement, 4. LH starter.
Sunner in Orlando from Lebo
1:00
Skenes article yesterday was revealing about why he possibly struggled this year. What is the plan for the off season with him? Do they consider trading him if there is no lockout and if there is a lockout, does he still get credit for the year if they don't play at all next year?
Ethan
1:01
How do you think Skenes will approach his offseason after he basically admitted he pushed it too hard this spring? Surely he knows he needs to prepare his body to be throwing 98-99 regularly again next year
Colin Beazley
1:06
Somewhat surprised these are the only Skenes Qs... no, they're not trading Skenes. Important to note that they still have him for three years, and the first year of arbitration isn't prohibitively pricey. I don't have an exact estimate, but it'll be somewhere around $7-$10m in all likelihood. He will not be traded now.

I think this offseason taught him a lot. He'll take things slower without a WBC to prepare for, though it may be tricky given we don't know when spring training will start. I also expect him to take a much more real break. From my conversation with him, it seemed like he expects to be able to get his velocity back.
Charlie
1:07
I see and hear all the calls for GMBC’s firing. I disagree. Yes, Osuna was a big mistake, but this guy traded Mike Burrows for Lowe, Mangum, and Montgomery. He also in 1 year turned Ke’Bryan Hayes into Luke Weaver. Those 2 trades alone should allow him another year. His hands are still tied by Nuttings failure to understand that a winning team fills seats and his wallet.
Jimmy Kimmel
1:07
One great trade in seven years does not make a good GM. I suspect that the proximity of the trade and the meaningless end of the season collection of victories against cupcakes will be enough to provide cover for Nutting to retain BC. My contention is that seven years is enough time to get any job done and that BC has provided enough of a track record to show that he can NOT complete the job. Your thoughts?
Colin Beazley
1:08
Don't have much of an answer here, just found these two comments (sent two minutes apart) interesting. The two trades were excellent and he is dealing with tighter restrictions than a larger market team. He's also had seven years to build something better than a 79-77 team. Both real things for Bob Nutting to consider.
Yinzerwally
1:08
Any chance of signing that honorable power hitting 2nd man?  Or we will extend Cruz who specializes in bad base running incredibly poor fielding decisions and had a fixer?  Does character matter for a cheapskate?
Floating around
1:08
Tendering Lowe and signing Cruz to a contract that buys out at least one free agent year the top priorities?
Colin Beazley
1:11
Bringing Lowe back should be the top priority. Again, interesting difference in opinions on Cruz. Cruz has two more years of arbitration left. In honesty, I'd thought it was one. Maybe you could get a 3-4 year deal done?

But realistically, given how far about Cruz's ceiling and his floor are, he's a really, really difficult player to find a fair value for. I'd broach the subject, but I doubt there's a middle ground between what the Pirates would want to pay him and what his camp would want after his strong year this year.
Dwight
1:12
Great coverage this year Colin. I know there has been a lot of criticism of DK this year. Do you think it is justified? I struggle with the concept of pulling a relief pitcher after one very effective inning for no apparent reason. This approach depends on every reliever being on their game on a given day, and many games have been lost because one of these guys is having an off day. This backfired several times this year.
Colin Beazley
1:13
Thank you, Dwight. I think some of it is justified, but I don't mind a reliever pitching one inning. That is their job and what they've specialized to do in most cases. It's also not worth pushing a reliever to failure (too tired to keep pitching/until they give up runs). Modern baseball.
Eh, modern baseball, but it's also not like the concept of a one-inning reliever is entirely new.
Jimmy Kimmel
1:14
What happened to the Pirates 2025/2026 celebration of the Cobra's entry into the HOF?
Colin Beazley
1:14
I'm surprised his number hasn't been retired yet.
STLFN in NC
1:14
Hi Colin - I really like what I've seen from Rafael Flores.  What do you expect his role to be next season?  And what do you think that means for Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez?
Gene
1:14
Do you think the Pirates have found their future catcher in Flores
Colin Beazley
1:19
I'm encouraged by Flores, which makes me less worried about catcher than I am about other priorities like re-signing Lowe and finding a third baseman. I'm not quite ready to declare him the answer, just like I'm not quite ready to say Valdez is 100% the Pirates' right fielder for the next decade, but both have certainly impressed this year.

Both Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez are arb-eligible for the first time next year. Neither will be particularly expensive. I'd keep both. Davis is a perfectly fine backup catcher, while Endy was stellar when healthy. Not expecting much out of either, but worth keeping around at least.
1:20
Alright folks, that'll do for this week's chat. Pirates just made a roster move, activating Kirby Yates from the injured list and designating Camilo Doval for assignment. Guess they've made their non-tender decision two months early.

Thank you, as always, for participating. If I didn't get to your question, feel free to email me. I'll look forward to the next chat, whenever that may be.
Connecting…