Steven Brault is the Pirates Prospects 2017 Minor League Pitcher of the Year

1. Admittedly, I am not an in-depth analyst or a metrics statistician, but it strikes me that we get these prospects with great upside who seem to almost never reach their potential. Is there something wrong with the way our systems seeks to develop young players? We got lucky, it seems, with Bell, but we just don’t seem to develop talent like, for example, the Cubs or Yankees.

2. Marte and Polonco have below average baseball instincts. They repeat the same mistakes on bases each week. They seem satisfied with only a single hit in a game. Marte has no patience at the plate. Why even throw him a strike? At this point Marte is Tabata with better speed and a good arm. He would be in the minors if he did not get 20 infield hits each year.

3. I wonder why folks keep assuming that Cole will be or should be dealt? With 2 years control, and a legitimate chance to contend in 2018 (I know, many think differently) why would they deal him. The team has been horrible in September, but, should not be assessed in a 20 game vacuum. Nobody likes excuses, but the personal issues of Kang and Marte disrupted this team tremendously. With the replacements playing admirably for bench players filling in for long periods, they still could not replace the production and the bench was also weakened as there was a dropoff from Freese and Frazier to the guys that filled the bench roles. A starting 8 of Harrison, Marte, Cutch, Bell, Kang, Polonco, Cervelli and Mercer with Frazier, Seanrod, Luplow/Osuna, Diaz is on the bench is pretty formidable. The young pitchers matured nicely. Not sure what we do with Cutch in the offseason or plan around Kang, but, there is a lot of hope for 2018.

   • Cutch is gone- Kang will be here if he can be, but doubt it. We just need talent to upgrade other positions immediately. If cutch is dealt, we need a 3B better than Andy Laroche to take over back, or someone great enough at 2b to swallow moving Harrison to 3b permanently….

     • Not so sure that Cutch is gone. If he is as good as many fans want us to believe, why would we not keep him, let him have his monster year and then make a qualifying offer to get a draft pick if/when he departs in FA? As far as Kang, I agree that he probably wont be back but I think bounce back seasons from Marte and Polonco in addition to Cutch playing at a 2-3 WAR and Bell continuing to mature gives us plenty of offense and could see Jayhay at 3rd with Frazier at 2B.

       • Cutch is gone. Cutch is gone. Cutch is gone. Read an article, read 400 articles. They all say the same thing, they give us all the reasons. Tim has given us all the reasons, we all know why. Nothing else for me to say here.

   • I don’t believe they can legitimately contend in 2018. Cole has 2 years left, Boras as an agent, and has battled the Pirates over contact at every opportunity. Now is a good time to maximize return. If you wait until 2019 you get far less and Cutch is probably gone. I think I move them both now and reload with the young guys plus Keller, Meadows, Newman, etc.

4. I want to make a public apology to Tim and John.

   I got really upset at some comments from Tim and JD directed at me. And, I stupidly vented on BD and PBC Asylum this morn. I have placed a public apology on both sites.

   The bottom line is this: Had I NOT continually been negative towards the Pirates org (esp Craig) and then took that anger out on Tim and JD, I wouldn’t be in this position right now. Where once I was optimistic, I am currently not in a good place right now with our org.

   So, I take full blame for this. NO excuses. Anger is never a good thing. Never!

   I have no hard feelings towards them. I would’ve reacted the same way.

   I want to wish them all the best going forward. Nobody out there provides the in depth Bucs prospect coverage that they do. They both should be proud of that accomplishment.

   • so your done with pp?

     • If that would make people happy, then yes.

       • Please don’t leave Mr. Foo.

         • Thx. I am on a self imposed trial month. If I can keep away from the Pirate pessimism and anger and continually voicing it, I will stay. IF not, I’m gone or I will stay and just quit commenting.

       • heck no… at first I thought you were a jerk, but you have given some really thoughtful insight. thanks for that

5. If he doesn’t make the 2018 rotation, and his health and performance remain the same next year as was this year, why wouldn’t he at least be in the bullpen? He HAS to be better than some of the current bullpen pitchers.

6. Might have a good future as a reliever. Will have to wait and see. Command right now just isn’t good enough to get the ball every 5th day.

   • How do you conclude this?

     • Should have put a disclaimer as always that is just my opinion. I just don’t think his command is particularly good and that he will have sustained success with his stuff as a starter. Don’t really think he has an above average secondary pitch whether you are talking about his slider or changeup.

       Who knows, maybe we will be 2nd coming of Clayton Kershaw. I understand why they are giving him a chance as a starter, I just don’t think he still stay there long term.

       • He’s a lot like Jeff Locke honestly, but with a tick better fastball speed. So, honestly, that’s probably a fairly decent 5th starter for a few years

         • Locke had a great changeup

           • great? no.

             • Swinging strike rate was almost always 20 percent or higher. It was a really good pitch and much better than braults

               • We aren’t comparing changeups here. I didn’t say anything about Brault’s.

7. I’d like to see Brault in next year’s rotation with Glasnow, Taillon, Williams, & Kuhl. Trade Cole and move Nova to the pen.

   • The way Cole is pitching this year maybe they can get a good reliever for him and a minor league 3b with major league potential.

   • *stares blankly*

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