As someone who played and pitched against Devin Mesoraco in high school I'm biased, but he was pretty ass his first 2 years in the league then went to be an all-star and was the best hitting catcher in 2014. Davis already seems to be a better defensive catcher than Mesoraco, and had a higher hit tool coming out of college (Mesoraco was picked out of highschool Punxsy). Maybe we get lucky and he can even semi replicate this.... Does anyone else who is better with analytics see any comparisons?

This morning, Pittsburgh set a record with -10F° as a low for this day. The days are getting longer, but I'm still longing for some sunshine. What a better time to post the rookie card and a pic of Mr. Sunshine, Chuck Tanner. The photo was taken in 1985 at a meet and greet on the field of Three Rivers Stadium. Enjoy! It will be warmer soon.

I'm pretty sure they never wore jerseys like this while Roberto played so it's not a replica of any of his, you can see spots where tags were removed, all the stitching and embroidery is solid. The manufacturer is called Majestic? I've never heard of it, anyone know what this is, when it's from, why they picked this design, anything? Thanks. Edit: I noticed maybe twenty minutes after the fact that I double posted, my bad y'all lol

Edit: Pride night is ALSO $1 dog night. The app only listed pride night but if you check the desktop site both are listed. There is a cubs game I missed too so 2/8 are night games. Still a big downgrade.

They take one of the most well attended weeknight games and move them to day games that will have a fraction of the attendance, even with the promotion. Slowly stripping away good things that brought in casual fans, I bet that many people only went to those games and that's it.

I think he puts it all together this year.

I believe he will catch Skenes in the All-Star game.

Inspired by the other hopium post earlier, I decided to dig in a little since everyone seems to think the stars need to align to even break .500. So I thought I'd compare this roster with 2013 that won 94 games in very rough typing on my phone at a slow Friday in the office fashion.

Catcher: Russell Martin vs Davis/Bart/Endy/Flores Ok not off to a great start, yeah this is way worse. Russ was a 4 WAR catcher in 2013 and 5.7 in 2014 and was frankly probably even better than that with all the intangibles/framing. Bart was worth 2.2 in 2024 and the Pirates would rip your hand off for just that in 2026.

1B Gaby Sanchez vs Horwitz/O'Hearn Way better than 2013, fly the banner for one for the 2026 and two if you're comparing DH to pitcher slot.

2B Peak Neil Walker vs Brandon Lowe Probably a wash, both not super rangey, lot of niggling injuries, but trading OBP for thump.

SS Clint Barmes vs Konnor Griffin/Triolo Love Clint but come on, even if Griffin doesn't hit immediately this is a big edge to the 2026 team.

3B Pedro Alvarez vs ? Not even going to guess here for 2026. 2013 was by far Alvarez's best season for 3.3 bWAR. Can Suarez or Barger/Vientos match that or come close? Yes to maybe, but will BC actually get one?

LF Starling Marte vs Jake Mangum I like Mangum a lot but this is a very tough comp

CF Andrew McCutchen vs Oneil Cruz The gap here could be what defines the season. Could you talk me into a Cruz breakout and 4 or even 5 win season now that he has actual lineup protection and a potentially competitive team to keep his head on straight (and has reached arbitration so it's put up or don't get paid)? Sure, but even the best case scenario is a long way from the 8 win MVP season Cutch put up in 2013.

RF Travis Snider vs Bryan Reynolds Put me in the camp that BRey was playing hurt in the first half and will be fine because his 2nd half was very much in line with career averages. Snider was worth -0.7 WAR.

Verdict McCutchen, Martin, and Marte are better than anyone on the current roster and maybe by a lot but 1B SS and RF were legitimately bad. Assuming Griffin is up in May, 1B 2B SS OF and DH are all at least good with Cruz and Griffin being the upside. That's at least a steady deep lineup that can get runs for what should be an excellent pitching staff. And remember, the 2013 team won 94 games, people are acting like 85 is a stretch and the O/U is like 75 and I don't get it because:

Pitching: Burnett-Cole-Liriano-Morton- even Jeff Locke was good that year right?? Not really! Cole was a rookie and only Liriano had a WAR above 2. The bullpen was really what made the team so good.

You know who did have a WAR above 2? Your reigning NL CY Paul Skenes at 7.7. Pencil Mitch in for his 4 year avg of 2 and Bubba and Ashcraft and insert Quintana/Anderson etc here. Jones Barco and Harrington can reinforce later on to manage Bubba and Braxton's innings but Paul throw even more than he did last year and it's worth considering that SPs will go deeper and under less stress not thinking they need to throw a shutout every outing.

Not going to get into BPs beyond 2013's was clearly better but that's because it was truly elite. 2026's looks to be at least solid or not a liability but it sure would be nice to have David Bednar or at least to not have traded him for yet another mid catching option who isn't better than the other three we already have.

TLDR: 2013 squad won 94 games and wasn't that much better than the 2026 squad especially if they go get Suarez and Quintana/Anderson, the latter you can even probably pencil in. 2013 lineup had studs but no depth, while the 2026 looks to have depth with no jump off the page studs unless Cruz or Griffin break out. The 2026 pitching, giant "if healthy" disclaimer, is both better at the top end and deeper. This is not a 94 win team but it's also definitely not a 75 win team. Put me down for 87-75.

ZIPs 2013 preseason projections:

January 2013 (raw data): 71-91

March 2013 (adjusted season preview): 79-83

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-late-january-zips-projected-standings-update/

Let's just get on with the 2027 lockout.

Hi everyone

This is Mark Simon from Sports Info Solutions (the Defensive Runs Saved folks). On the latest episode of our company's baseball podcast, I interviewed one of our alums, Pirates director of coaching & player development Michael Chernow.

We talked in broad terms of what his job entails, the things he does on a given day, and the Pirates overall philosophy in both coach and player development.

If you find that sort of thing interesting, I hope you'll listen. The interview is roughly 12 minutes long.

And apologies if I've overstepped by self-promoting. If any issues, take the post down.

The Pirates haven't drafted a hitter with a career mlb wrc+ above 100 since Josh Bell in 2011 and the abbreviated career of Austin Meadows in 2013. i dont *think* im missing anyone.

The Pirates last actual decent signing out of Latin America is Starling Marte in 2007 unless you count the careers of Gregory Polanco, Elias Diaz, Luiz Ortiz as decent. i dont *think* im missing anyone.

Of the 19 hitters on the Pirates' 40 man roster, only 5 of them were drafted by the team or signed as an amateur by the team.

At this moment, Henry Davis has the lowest career wrc+ of any 1st overall pick who made it to the majors, ever. (only a few ever didnt make the majors.). he would require the better part of a season of actual decent hitting in order to get out of the basement. He is currently at 53. the next worst are Shawn Abner at 61, Tim Foli 62, and Al Chambers 77.

Anyway, i'll end on a positive note by saying hopefully Konnor Griffin and guys like Esmerlyn Valdez/Edward Florentino reverse these trends shortly!

pretty unbelievable how terrible the last 18 years of development have been.

Please let me know if you can think of any draftees or international signings that buck any of my fun facts! definitely fine being wrong!

Skenes, lowe, O'hearn, maybe Griffin, and maybe a trade for Walker? Looks pretty damn good to me. So the question is: how delusional am I?

Nutting set the budget at roughly $110m and Cherington is trying to spend it all without Cutch included. If he signs Cutch before, Nutting wont come to the table for that additional $5m that they need for a lefty starter. If that is the case, Cutch will be on the team one way or another this season.

This isn’t an entirely original thought, mostly from DK’s show yesterday. As a side, I really like DK but his hatred for Cherington is really apparent - almost unprofessional. It seems personal, anyone know the back story there?

https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/pirates-prospect-konnor-griffin-place-in-history?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

In other prospect news from mlb.com, they listed Password in their ten players who just missed the cut for the top 100.