Despite the Pirates' midseason flirtation with the pennant race, they're going to finish below .500 again, barring a late-season surge. Here's the latest on the 62-71 Pirates from Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review…
- The Pirates still haven’t approached Paul Maholm about a possible extension, according to Biertempfel. The club has a $9.75MM option for Maholm in 2012 and they expect to keep him around, despite the shoulder strain that currently has him on the disabled list. "It's a no-brainer to want to try to keep him here," GM Neal Huntington told Biertempfel.
- Derrek Lee and Ryan Ludwick will get lots of playing time when they return from the disabled list, since it could affect the Pirates' ability to attract players to Pittsburgh. "How you treat players is a recruiting piece," Huntington said.
- The Pirates haven’t given up on Garrett Jones, who is hitting well in August and now has a .249/.331/.452 season line with 15 homers.
- Right-hander Chris Leroux would like to move from the bullpen to the rotation, but that seems unlikely, according to Biertempfel. Leroux, who has been excellent in 13 innings out of the ‘pen this year, is out of options.
I hpe they keep Jones around. He’d be great off the bench with the occasional start. I’m not so sold on Maholm, though. Is he a part of the pitching staff’s future?
Whether or not he’s a part of the team’s future is a reasonable question.
Correia is signed through next year, if I’m not mistaken, so we can presume he’ll be there. And the other pitchers are under team control but their contract situations will likely not affect whether they make the team or not. So the question then becomes, who has performed enough to earn a spot as part of the pitching staff’s future?
You could argue that McDonald and Morton have been solid enough. Karstens hasn’t been terrible but I don’t know that he’s earned a guaranteed spot as of yet. Lincoln has disappointed and most of the team’s top pitching prospects are still a year or two away (at least). Barring an offseason trade, the Pirates might need Maholm to sit atop the rotation and eat innings. Or another veteran who can fill a similar role.
Garrett Jones needs to be either traded or released. There are two reasons, in no particular order, he has no poisition in the field in which he has an profficiency and he’s just been there too long. Ryan Doumit is in the same position.
Leroux in the rotation? Interesting. I’d like them to at least entertain this idea.
If they entertain the idea, then shouldn’t they give Resop a try there as well? He’s had similar (if not better) success starting in the minors in recent years.
Excuse me, that was meant to be in reply to the above comment by Ian_Smell.
I’m not sure I’d like Resop in the rotation. All he does is throw his fastball, and while it comes in at 95, it’s straight as an arrow and he barely mixes in off-speed stuff. I know he started at some point, but after watching nearly every one of his appearances this year, I don’t think he’d be a fit.
Garrett Jones and Alex Presley are much better players than Lee and Ludwick, I hope when they come back they are part time players at best. Garrett has been very hot this month and it’s important to evaluate him for next season. He will probably be the team’s best option to play first base.
I still hope they can get a comp pick for Ludwick, maybe he will make a handshake deal with the Pirates.
Garrett Jones is not a ‘much better player’ than any person in the Major Leagues.
The only thing to support Maholm getting a long-term extension is the first 3 months of this year. At no other time in his career has he looked like a top of the line starter, and in order to keep him they would need to pay him top of the line money. I just can’t see it being a good idea.
The Pirates do need to see what they have in Ludwick and Lee, but not at the expense of the younger guys. I don’t include Jones in that assessment… by now the Bucs know pretty well what they have in him, he’s streaky, at times he’s an automatic part of lineup, at times you keep him out. Everyone wants the Bucs to make more of an effort to spend money on free agents… well, if they stash Lee and Ludwick on the bench when they return from the DL, no free agent in his right mind will consider coming here. You don’t have to bring them back next year, but you do have to play them some.