[ad_1]
Pittsburgh Pirates fans reminded me of a valuable lesson this week.
Members of the media are not permitted to pass judgment negatively on any aspect of a Major League Baseball Draft for at least five years.
You can however declare it as a spectacular success, which changes the franchise and changes the paradigm overnight.
This is how things turned out this week in Pittsburgh when the diehard Pirates – the 25 of them who remain – attacked me for not endorsing the Pirates’ project philosophy of going under. the first choice so they have more money to spend later.
Instead, I felt like the Pirates should have selected Vanderbilt pitcher Jack Leiter with the first pick in the MLB Draft instead of Louisville wide receiver Henry Davis.
It was such a ridiculous opinion that when the Pirates passed Leiter on, he fell throughout the draft to the Texas Rangers who only selected him …
…. uh… well… second overall.
Do you think I’m exaggerating? Check out my Twitter timeline.
Wait. Do not bother. You’re about to have way too much in the “Are you crazy, brother?” ” from this week. column.
In fact, let’s start with a tweet from the Steelers. Another gem from inside linebacker Devin Bush.
Welcome to the mind of a psychopath
– Devin Bush ll (@ _Dbush11) July 13, 2021
Thanks Devin. But the chat video was basically all the welcome we needed.
OKAY. Now on to the pirates. Take it away, Stephen B.
Tim, you can talk about the Steelers, and even the penguins. But you have absolutely no idea when it comes to baseball
– Stephen B. Smith (@Stephen_B_Smlth) July 13, 2021
So the team with four winning seasons and no division titles since Sid Bream slipped on home plate has always been right?
And am I the distraught?
I get it.
JG disagreed with a tweet I sent on the topic.
I think if you took a few minutes to do some basic research and examine how farming systems rankings generally correlate with major league success 3-4 years later, you would probably change your mind on that last sentence.
– JG (@ jg9188) July 13, 2021
I think if you had been doing basic franchise research since April 1993, you would change yours. It’s not just about ranking leads. It’s also about how leads are handled in the system.
And… it’s about (* gasp *) how the MLB performed once in Pittsburgh.
And… there is the small issue of contract retention once players have to be paid as well.
Donk36 says I’m too hard on the Pirates fan base to be too excited about the 2021 draft.
Yeah, but you act like no other fan base does the same…. Don’t you think Rangers fans are saying they had a good draft?
– Donk36 (@ heno_63) July 13, 2021
They should. A stupid team left them with Leiter.
I had quite an exchange with Bunker Bucco.
Half of the people who claim to want Leiter, had only seen his highlights this year and had barely seen him pitch. It started the year at around 100 mph and dropped to around 95 by the end. Not to mention a big stretch where he gave a ton of home runs in every game.
– Bunker Bucco (@bunkerbucco) July 13, 2021
Leiter was 11-4 with a 2.13 ERA and 0.129 batting average. He had 179 strikeouts in 110 innings pitched. He was part of the All-Tournament team. He appeared in a College World Series game that he lost 1-0 and got 15 strikeouts.
Not to mention his frame, he is only 6’0. Most star pitchers are preferred at 6’3-6’5. Even more likely at his height to get hurt too.
– Bunker Bucco (@bunkerbucco) July 13, 2021
Leiter is 6 feet tall. It’s taller than Pedro Martinez, the same height as Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. Leiter is 205 pounds. None of them broke 180.
But it’s probably just me defending a “small” guy.
I don’t think we can tear the Pirates apart until they grow. If Davis becomes another Tony Sanchez, tear him apart. If Leiter becomes a Hall of Fame, tear apart the Pirates. But if 2-4 of those guys they drafted in their first 3 rounds get awesome, they’ve made the right decision
– Bunker Bucco (@bunkerbucco) July 13, 2021
Awesome. Let’s make a deal. I won’t make Davis another Tony Sanchez (which I never did) if you all stop making him look like Johnny Bench.
This guy was upset that I was raining on the Pirates fan parade. So he decided to use Adam Frazier’s basic move in the All-Star Game against me.
Do we have the right to be happy that Adam Frazier broke the no-blow ??? Or is it taboo?
– CharDeeMacDennis (@ CharDeeMacDen12) July 14, 2021
Yes. You should have applauded him as loud as possible. It might have been your last chance before it shipped to Chicago, New York, or San Francisco.
Speaking of taking cheap photos of people who are moving.
I will clap loudly when you move to another town Timmy
– TG (@tom_gladden) July 14, 2021
I did it once. But I came back from Boston in 2015 because I knew Ben Cherington would follow me here from his role as general manager of the Red Sox and assemble the largest professional sports draft class since the Steelers in 1974.
See. I told you I was smart.
At least “Pittsburgh Opie” is on my side. He’s mad at the Pirates’ horns pouring over my stream.
Enough with the facts already! “Yay Pirates” is the only acceptable response to this project. Just look at their track record.
– Pgh Opie (@Pgh_Opie) July 13, 2021
Agreed. National League manager Dave Roberts should have done the right thing and brought Davis in as the All-Star catcher as he so deserved.
It seems that Billy Balla got that too.
I remember when Pirates fans used to play with the “haters” because Huntington and Co were the best management team in baseball.
– Billy Balla (@ BillyBalla7) July 14, 2021
Exactly. I remember when I was told I had to stop being so sentimental about Neil Walker’s trade with the New York Mets and accept that Jon Niese was going to help the rotation.
Finally, @benedickUSA seems to have enjoyed my column more than anyone else.
Tim was pretty solid. Now he’s playing for the lowest common denominator.
– Benedick wants to party all the time party all the time… (@BenedickUSA) July 14, 2021
Well, as a fan of Pirates, I’m in your hands. You have a lot of experience seeing the lowest common denominator.
Tim Benz is an editor for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication, unless otherwise specified.
[ad_2]
Source link