Pirates undefeated! This will be the only time we are 4 games over .500 and in first place.

Time to begin our normal free fall to the bottom of the barrell.
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I dunno. Cruz et al seem like they are beginning to put it together. Like your 3rd baseman and CF as well.
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Brought my World Series tickets.
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Do I know my Pirates or what!

From 9-2 with the best record in baseball to 13-14 after a wonderful 4-12 run that including being swept twice.

Trying hard to push you Cards out of last place. Hahahaha

Like that Tom Petty song:
"And I'm free
Free fallin'
Yeah, I'm free
Free fallin'"
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The mismanagement is the most frustrating aspect of the Pirates.

Paul Skenes is still in Triple-A despite having 34 K and 5 BB in 17 IP.

I don't think the Pirates have quite enough to compete with the Reds, Cubs and Brewers, but they do look better when Skenes arrives to join Jared Jones.
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Be nice if our 25 mil a year pitcher wasn't hurt so we could get this scrub out of the rotation. But everything Mo does is a disaster.
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Hey DJ, Hamas and anyone else that breakdown swings, was the hell has happened to Arenado?

Is it just aging?
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Just doesn't look as athletic anymore. Not defensively, not on the bases. He just looks a lot older. And he's always been a 'see ball, club ball' sort of hitter who wasn't exactly patient or selective in what he swung at. The traditional 'old man skills' weren't really his strength.

But he had good plate coverage and a willingness to attack anything hittable and drive it. Made him an excellent RBI guy.

Now he just looks older. And to compensate I think he's gotten MORE aggressive because, unlike when he was younger, he's not going to punish that first hittable pitch he sees. He may mis-hit it a bit so just in case, he's gonna expand his zone and try to attack a pitch he may not have in the past. And finally the frustrations of losing have him pressing and selling out for power.

I don't think it's anything mechanical. I think he's gotten older, he's gotten frustrated by poor performance and as a consequence he's just gotten awfully damn aggressive in his approach.

But if you want a far shorter answer - watch him play defense. He's not the best defensive 3b in baseball anymore. Or the NL. Or the even the NL Central. You could convince me that he's not one of the top THREE defensive 3b in the NL right now. And that's not approach. That's just age. His athleticism has just wanted.
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Agreed, he has never had what you would call a "sweet swing." He has just had incredible hand/eye coordination that was partly innate and partly honed even further by the defensive work he put in everyday.

Now, I think he has started to age (not uncommon for eyesight to start to change in your early thirties) and it's such a fine edge in baseball that you see him struggle. I really thought they should have tried to move him at the deadline last year. Some contender would have overpaid on his recent history.

He could still recover, but the signs of decline are starting to show.
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Thanks man. That explains a lot.
Thats what it looked like to me. Just age. A little late getting to balls he normally would. He seems to be just a little late on the swings. Aging comes for us all. Looks like its coming for him now, as far as his athletic career.
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Matt Chapman is the obvious number two.

Manny Machado? Ryan McMahon? Austin Riley?

I just looked!

*The 2023 Fielding Bible voting had Arenado at seventh overall among MLB third basemen behind KeBryan Hayes (1), McMahon (2), Chapman (3), Riley (4) and Machado (5).
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McMahon.

Hayes is #1 with a bullet. Chapman as a probable 2, McMahon at 3 and maybe Arenado at 4 (I still think Riley is a butcher). Machado should be great but doesn't seem to give a shit about baseball.

I think 7th overall is pretty harsh but even with a bounce back, I struggle to get him past Hayes or McMahon and Chapman has a history of elite defense in his own right.

He's just not the guy he was. Happens to everyone.
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Maybe Arenado opted to stay in STL because he knew he could suck and people would still wash his balls unlike if he went to a new team.

Lowered expectations make for an easy life.
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So far the openening day festivities on the pregame show are nothing but nostalgia because that's all this franchise has to offer.
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Skip got a bigger ovation than Oli :-)
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