Pirates Notebook 9/29; Paul Skenes, Rowdy Tellez, Grandal, Oakland, Sportsnet

Paul Skenes, man.

• Paul Skenes, man. Just insane. Yeah, he only pitched two innings yesterday in New York, but it was a spectacular two innings. Striking out Juan Soto looking, Aaron Judge swinging and Jazz Chisholm looking.

• Painting 100 mph fastballs glove side to Juan bleeping Soto. Unreal.
• Since 1912 when ERA became an official statistic, Paul Skenes is the only AL/NL rookie pitcher to finish with at least 170 strikeouts, at least 130 innings and have an ERA under 2. Because of course he is.
• Has been said many times by many people, but the Pirates have to make the most of Paul Skenes while they have him and while he’s healthy. The expectation for 2025 is making the playoffs, if they don’t meet that expectation, every decision maker in baseball ops should be out the door. I can think of more than a few reasons to fire some people right now honestly.
• I should have a commentary in the coming days as I gather my thoughts some more but, I don’t get some of the outrage or national coverage at Rowdy Tellez being DFA’d four PAs short of a $200,000 dollar contract incentive. League wide this sort of thing isn’t all that uncommon, and Tellez was a bad player. The Pirates are in no way obligated to pay bonuses to bad players they no longer wish to roster – and no, it wasn’t some grand season-long scheme by owner Bob Nutting to save money. If you want to be mad at something, be mad that Tellez lasted as long as he did, that’s the real problem here.
• I have got to admit, I was wrong about Yasmani Grandal. Really wrong. Ever since the team stopped asking him to handle the majority of the catching duties, he’s been great. Really solid back up. .302/.429/.558 with 6 home runs and a wRC+ of 172 since the All-Star break. I guess in retrospect it should have been obvious that the nearly 36-year-old catcher would do better with more regular rest. I wouldn’t mind him being brought back for 2025.
• With two homeruns in the past two games, Nick Gonzales raised his OPS for the season up to .715. I’ve been down on Nick, but honestly that’s fine production out of second base. I still think in an ideal world, Gonzales and Nick Yorke are competing for a starting job next spring.
• We’ve seen some pretty bad players over Ben Cherington’s tenure. After all, it’s been the worst five-year span in team history by winning percentage since the 1950s. Josh Vanmeter, Austin Hedges, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Ka-ai Tom… but Bryan De La Cruz might be the most useless player I have ever seen the team employ. There is not a single thing on the diamond that De La Cruz isn’t absolutely dreadful at. He’s not a good baserunner, his defense in right field is maybe the worst I’ve ever seen from a supposed MLB level player, and I am constantly amazed by how bad the average De La Cruz plate appearance is. By fWAR, he’s been the worst qualified player in baseball this season at -1.2. Headed into his first year of arbitration, non-tendering him should be a foregone conclusion. There is no reason to waste four percent of your offseason budget on a raise for this player.
• As ready as I am for this disappointing season to be over, I find myself getting cold feet as we approach game 162 tomorrow. I will miss this.
• The three National League wild card spots will all go to teams that finish just short of 90 wins. A ton of work will be required for the Pirates this offseason to get from where they are to where they need to be.
• I was not impressed with Sportsnet Pittsburgh this year, I’m very willing to cut them some slack, given it’s the first year of operation for the team owned network, a joint venture between the Pirates and the Penguins, but production will have to be better if they want me to subscribe to their streaming app SNP360 or whatever it is their calling it. Their website is bizarre, filled with errors and misspellings of both player’s names and even the city our teams play in. As best as I can tell, they’re just getting NESN people from Boston who likely haven’t seen a single game to work on the website. No matter what, I think the entire league would be better off without these regional sports networks. I’m glad that’s the direction the league is pushing for.
• John Fisher murdered the Oakland Athletics and MLB helped him do it. I watched the final game on TV and had the same take aways as the rest of the world. The hundreds of jobs lost. The decades of fan dedication totally ignored. Awful. What struck me the most was just how much of a choice this all was and how little sense the A’s plans make. For three years they’ll be playing in a AAA stadium in Sacramento waiting for a park that doesn’t even exist yet and does not seem likely to exist three years from now in Las Vegas. What happens then? Stay in Sacramento for longer? What happens if the Vegas plans never come to fruition? Salt Lake City? Nashville? Vegas isn’t even that much larger of a media market. If John Fisher put the A’s up for sale right now, there would be buyers willing to keep the team in Oakland by the end of week ready to fork over billions, more money than Fisher will make from ownership of the team over the rest of his life. John Fisher not only chose this path, he wanted this path. The least he could do would be to leave the name, the championships and the retired numbers behind in Oakland where they belong. In one last twist of the knife, he’s taking that to. $#&* you John.
• Was going through some old family photos, this is my great grandfather, Fred Alverez Garcia

Fred, his father Emanuel and the rest of the family came to America seeking the promise of a better life. He worked his whole life in the Luke paper mill. Fred wasn’t a citizen until his 30s. The only thing they loved more than America’s pastime, was America herself.

Just something that’s been on my mind a bunch recently. Interpret that as you will.