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Post by diehard2200 on May 2, 2013 10:12:02 GMT -5
While the past two seasons they weren't strong at all in April (in fact very awful in both seasons) they have been this April. Will that make a difference? Or are they still going to fall off after awhile?
Are they overachieving?
I personally don't think the lineup is overachieving but I do think the rotation is. We still have guys rehabbing from injury and Jeff Locke seems to be "locke-ing" up his starts. Believe it or not, I'm personally not sold on the guy.
The lineup is great and I think they are maybe even underachieving a little bit...though that could be the homer in me.
What do you guys think?
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Post by NickWorthem on May 2, 2013 11:28:39 GMT -5
Absolutely, they can. I picked them to win the NL-Central, so I have to stay optimistic
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Post by cityofchamps on May 2, 2013 11:37:48 GMT -5
The difference is that they are winning on the road more often now. If Andrew can get out of this slump, they will be scary, but the good thing is that they are winning games without having to rely on Cutch so much. Everyone is contributing and our bench is the best in the MLB.
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Post by diehard2200 on May 2, 2013 12:02:22 GMT -5
The difference is that they are winning on the road more often now. If Andrew can get out of this slump, they will be scary, but the good thing is that they are winning games without having to rely on Cutch so much. Everyone is contributing and our bench is the best in the MLB. Not to mention the bullpen has been phenomenal so far. And yeah it seems the only one that hasn't contributed much yet is McCutchen, but he'll hit his stride soon enough
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Post by diehard2200 on May 2, 2013 12:03:03 GMT -5
Absolutely, they can. I picked them to win the NL-Central, so I have to stay optimistic That's quite a bold pick with the kind of division they're in! Why'd you pick them?
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Post by NickWorthem on May 2, 2013 12:15:48 GMT -5
Absolutely, they can. I picked them to win the NL-Central, so I have to stay optimistic That's quite a bold pick with the kind of division they're in! Why'd you pick them? Top-to-bottom, they have the best offense in the NL-Central. Their pitching staff needs to continue to mature, but they have been playing well. The bullpen was expected to be solid and is delivering, fairly well. I mainly picked them because the Reds and Cardinals HAVE millions of question marks.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 17:02:44 GMT -5
Absolutely, they can. I picked them to win the NL-Central, so I have to stay optimistic LOL. your joking right? could they win it as of now? sure, but not likely in the end you picking them to win before the season started? LOL. sorry but i dont believe you. nobody, and i mean NOBODY was picking the pirates to win the division before the year started. it was down to the reds and cardinals, but mainly the reds. pirates were majority wise to finish 3rd at best, but most people said 4th place. i didnt see a single person pick them to win the division unless its someone from pittsburgh not trying to knock down on the pirates but they just as many question marks as the reds, cardinals, and brewers pirates dont have any starting pitching. there rotation is not consistent and not really that good. great bullpen, overated starting pitching. brewers also have a bad rotation the only bad thing for the reds is there offense has been stone cold for the last couple of weeks, and they struggle on the road. the cardinals only weakness? losing to shitty teams and having a bad bullpen i know the reds arent playing good at all right now, but that was not a problem last year when they started out awful. ive seen this movie before. im confident the reds will rise out on top in the end like last year, while the pirates......well, they might be lucky to finish over .500
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Post by cityofchamps on May 2, 2013 17:41:48 GMT -5
Absolutely, they can. I picked them to win the NL-Central, so I have to stay optimistic LOL. your joking right? could they win it as of now? sure, but not likely in the end you picking them to win before the season started? LOL. sorry but i dont believe you. nobody, and i mean NOBODY was picking the pirates to win the division before the year started. it was down to the reds and cardinals, but mainly the reds. pirates were majority wise to finish 3rd at best, but most people said 4th place. i didnt see a single person pick them to win the division unless its someone from pittsburgh not trying to knock down on the pirates but they just as many question marks as the reds, cardinals, and brewers pirates dont have any starting pitching. there rotation is not consistent and not really that good. great bullpen, overated starting pitching. brewers also have a bad rotation the only bad thing for the reds is there offense has been stone cold for the last couple of weeks, and they struggle on the road. the cardinals only weakness? losing to shitty teams and having a bad bullpen i know the reds arent playing good at all right now, but that was not a problem last year when they started out awful. ive seen this movie before. im confident the reds will rise out on top in the end like last year, while the pirates......well, they might be lucky to finish over .500 I think you are being a little too overconfident/biased towards the Reds. Sure it is a long season, and there is definitely a chance that the Reds can pull out of their slump (though there is a chance that they won't as well), but to say that the Pirates will be lucky to finish over .500 is unfair. Our rotation is better than you think (although they can be inconsistent at times). A.J. Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez are quality starters. Jeff Locke is coming along as a starter and we will get some help at some point this season in the form of Gerrit Cole (though it might be a little later than Pirates fans would like). The issues are with James McDonald and Jonathan Sanchez. Our bullpen has been nothing short of spectacular, with Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli closing out every game they have played in. Though I am worried a bit about us overusing our bullpen too early. Our starters need to go more innings and our young guys need to develop more. As far as our hitting goes, everyone is contributing and it is only a matter of time before Andrew McCutchen starts heating up. Starling Marte is having an All Star year, Gaby Sanchez has hit himself into the starting lineup, and Russell Martin is proving to be one of the best Free Agent signings the Pirates have made for a LONG time. Our bench is also the best in the Majors. Most importantly (as I mentioned earlier) is that we are winning more games on the road this year, which can only be a plus. Road games were our Achilles Heel last season, but we are getting over our demons we have had against certain teams for years.
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Post by NickWorthem on May 2, 2013 18:25:36 GMT -5
Absolutely, they can. I picked them to win the NL-Central, so I have to stay optimistic LOL. your joking right? could they win it as of now? sure, but not likely in the end you picking them to win before the season started? LOL. sorry but i dont believe you. nobody, and i mean NOBODY was picking the pirates to win the division before the year started. it was down to the reds and cardinals, but mainly the reds. pirates were majority wise to finish 3rd at best, but most people said 4th place. i didnt see a single person pick them to win the division unless its someone from pittsburgh not trying to knock down on the pirates but they just as many question marks as the reds, cardinals, and brewers pirates dont have any starting pitching. there rotation is not consistent and not really that good. great bullpen, overated starting pitching. brewers also have a bad rotation the only bad thing for the reds is there offense has been stone cold for the last couple of weeks, and they struggle on the road. the cardinals only weakness? losing to shitty teams and having a bad bullpen i know the reds arent playing good at all right now, but that was not a problem last year when they started out awful. ive seen this movie before. im confident the reds will rise out on top in the end like last year, while the pirates......well, they might be lucky to finish over .500 That's fine, you don't have to believe me, but I'll tell you WHY I picked them? Offensive CONSISTENCY, combined with the top 1-8 in the Central. There are better individuals on the Reds and Cards, but the whole lineup of 8/9 batters? Give me the Pirates, any time. A reliable, good, not great, but not bad bullpen. A starting rotation headed by resurgent AJ Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez (once he got his control back, he became a #2-3 starter). It was an easy pick, without bias, as a Cubs fan :/ EDIT: It also had to do with their phenomenal farm system. They can swing a trade, they can make an impact call-up, things the Reds and Cards have less ability to do.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2013 7:06:57 GMT -5
LOL. your joking right? could they win it as of now? sure, but not likely in the end you picking them to win before the season started? LOL. sorry but i dont believe you. nobody, and i mean NOBODY was picking the pirates to win the division before the year started. it was down to the reds and cardinals, but mainly the reds. pirates were majority wise to finish 3rd at best, but most people said 4th place. i didnt see a single person pick them to win the division unless its someone from pittsburgh not trying to knock down on the pirates but they just as many question marks as the reds, cardinals, and brewers pirates dont have any starting pitching. there rotation is not consistent and not really that good. great bullpen, overated starting pitching. brewers also have a bad rotation the only bad thing for the reds is there offense has been stone cold for the last couple of weeks, and they struggle on the road. the cardinals only weakness? losing to shitty teams and having a bad bullpen i know the reds arent playing good at all right now, but that was not a problem last year when they started out awful. ive seen this movie before. im confident the reds will rise out on top in the end like last year, while the pirates......well, they might be lucky to finish over .500 I think you are being a little too overconfident/biased towards the Reds. Sure it is a long season, and there is definitely a chance that the Reds can pull out of their slump (though there is a chance that they won't as well), but to say that the Pirates will be lucky to finish over .500 is unfair. Our rotation is better than you think (although they can be inconsistent at times). A.J. Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez are quality starters. Jeff Locke is coming along as a starter and we will get some help at some point this season in the form of Gerrit Cole (though it might be a little later than Pirates fans would like). The issues are with James McDonald and Jonathan Sanchez. Our bullpen has been nothing short of spectacular, with Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli closing out every game they have played in. Though I am worried a bit about us overusing our bullpen too early. Our starters need to go more innings and our young guys need to develop more. As far as our hitting goes, everyone is contributing and it is only a matter of time before Andrew McCutchen starts heating up. Starling Marte is having an All Star year, Gaby Sanchez has hit himself into the starting lineup, and Russell Martin is proving to be one of the best Free Agent signings the Pirates have made for a LONG time. Our bench is also the best in the Majors. Most importantly (as I mentioned earlier) is that we are winning more games on the road this year, which can only be a plus. Road games were our Achilles Heel last season, but we are getting over our demons we have had against certain teams for years. sorry im a little late at responding to this, but here we go overconfident on the reds? no. its called expectations. anything less than a division clinch for the reds is a failure for us, and until we are 10 games behind the division, i wont think otherwise. and dont get me started on being biased because we all know your the same on the steelers i will admit that the last couple of days now the rotation looks better now, but its barely in the top half of all the other 30 teams IMO. maybe thats a reason the bullpen is so good because the rotation is average? your offense is good because your IF players are great. besides mccutchen, dont think your OF situation is that good. infact i think thats the weakest link at the moment they are playing better than expected so far ill say that, but the number of games so far this season is like 3 weeks into an nfl season. not enough the bottom line is yes this division looks very competitive so far but eventually the true teams will pull away from the pack. my money is the pirates will be first to go, or the brewers. i wish it were the cardinals, but its not gonna happen and i know it
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