After reporting earlier today that Starling Marte could be activated from the DL if he felt good upon arrival to PNC Park, Adam Berry of MLB.com tweets that Marte has indeed been reinstated, with the Pirates optioning first base/outfield type Jose Osuna to the minors.
The quick DL stint for Marte is obviously best-case scenario for the Pirates, who must have been concerned at first considering the dubious nature of oblique injuries in general. Marte’s kicked off the 2018 season with a bang, hitting .308/.366/.503 with six homers and ten steals, so his return to the lineup is excellent news for Pittsburgh, who’ve been a .500 team in his absence.
The more interesting implication of this transaction is that outfield prospect Austin Meadows survived the roster crunch. Meadows was promoted to the big leagues for the first time ever following Marte’s placement on the disabled list, despite hitting a tepid .294/.336/.397 in Triple-A this season. His performance in the majors, however, has earned him a longer look: Meadows has homered three times and struck out just twice while hitting .448 in his 29 MLB plate appearances.
gotta keep meadows in the lineup. hopefully he keeps a good pace to be in roy voting
Keep him in the lineup over who? Marte Dickerson and Polanco all deserve to play
Meadows has performed far better than Polanco. He could easily grab some starts from him and snag one from Dickerson and marte per week.
Which is why the NL needs to adopt the DH! It only makes sense, right?
I agree ! At least make the rules the same in both leagues .
He deserves to play over Polanco and his 0.209 batting average.The Pirates need to learn to play the players who deserve to play in order to maximize their chance to win.David Freese was right- there is not enough care of immediacy in the management of this team.
There would be if the manager’s job was on the line as it is with most teams.
Free Jose Osuna – Why is nobody calling for the benching of the over rated Josh Bell
You’re fooling yourself if you think that Osuna should be getting everyday playing time over Bell.
Jose Osuna is not an everyday player
How do you/we know?
And I could argue Josh Bell is not antbevery day player either
Proofread much? WTH.
I think that Osuna may deserve to platoon against lefthanded pitching but the Pirates already have David Freese for that role.Osuna is a fairly polished first baseman and I agree that we do not really know how good of a starter he would be.Josh Bell is a good player though who brings enthusiasm to the game.I can see a future for Osuna especially as he can fill in in the outfield corners.He needs to get somewhat regular playing time to show what he can really do.