Sweeps Galore

The 2017 Pirates are a team of extremes it seems.  They’ve either swept or been swept in each of their series thus far.  After the Bucs were swept by the Reds the sky was falling on all the message boards (there were some voices of reason.)  Now sitting at 6-6, everyone is like…

For those who were harshly judging Andrew McCutchen on his performance over the first six games, I wonder how they judge him over the last six games where he’s batted .333 with two HRs, one double, and one triple while only striking out three times.  His OPS over this limited timeframe is 1.151 which is incredibly high.  Does this mean Cutch is back?  Hell no!  It’s only six games!  Baseball is a game that’s difficult to discern over small windows of time.  That’s one reason the season is the longest in professional sports.

Twelve games in is enough to make some observations while realizing in a few weeks we’ll learn how accurate or wrong we were.  Here are our brief observations thus far:

• The Bucs are 0-6 in games they’ve scored three or less runs while 6-0 when they’ve scored four or more.
• Cutch is critical to their ability to score four or more.
• Thank God we have David Freese.  I thought he was a luxury when we resigned him, but he’s instrumental.
• So isn’t Adam Frazier and his .953 OPS.  The Bucs need to keep finding ways to get his bat in the lineup regardless of his inconsistent fielding.
• Something is wrong with Josh Bell.  I almost feel he has lingering issues from his off-season surgery and perhaps should have started the season on the DL and extended spring training.
• The bullpen has not been good, but Wade LeBlanc has been a pleasant surprise.  He throws strikes which is our number one.
• I don’t think Antonio Bastardo will be used in any leverage situations for a while.
• It is essential Daniel Hudson becomes the set-up man the Bucs think he can.
• The starting rotation truly has the potential to be dominant.  We already know Gerrit Cole’s ability, Jameson Taillon pitches with poise beyond his years, Ivan Nova has owned Pittsburgh since he joined the team, Chad Kuhl battles, and Tyler Glasnow shown flashes of his stellar stuff.  This staff could get on a roll.
• Alen Hanson deserves more playing time over Phil Gosselin.  The Bucs need to see what they have there and his speed can be a game changer.
• Now that Francisco Cervelli is healthy he is truly driving the ball

Let’s go Bucs!