The Pirates announced this afternoon that they’ve optioned righty Nick Kingham back to Triple-A Indianapolis. The 26-year-old was the talk of baseball when he took a perfect game into the seventh inning in his MLB debut, though his second start (four runs in 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts against one walk) offered more mixed results. Kingham’s spot in the rotation will likely go to Joe Musgrove, who is nearing a return from the DL, though more immediately, his roster spot is going to infielder Jose Osuna, who has been recalled from Triple-A. Chad Kuhl’s strong weekend outing likely bought him some additional length on his leash, but it still seems likely that Kingham will be starting games for the Pirates again at some point in 2018, whether due to injury or poor performance from one of the club’s other young starters.
Here’s more from the division…
- Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman told reporters today that in spite of his considerable struggles, left Brandon Finnegan would make his next scheduled start (Twitter link via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic). Finnegan, 25, has been hammered for 19 earned runs on 27 hits (five homers) and 15 walks against 14 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings so far in 2018. He hasn’t lasted more than five innings in any of his starts this season and has allowed three or more runs each time he’s taken the mound. There was plenty of debate as to whether Finnegan was best suited as a starter or reliever even prior to Cincinnati’s acquisition of him in the 2015 Johnny Cueto blockbuster with the Royals, and he’s yet to establish himself as a viable rotation piece at the game’s top level. Rosecrans notes that Riggleman wouldn’t commit to anything beyond his next outing, so it’s possible that Finnegan’s leash is running out. Finnegan does have minor league options remaining for this season and next.
- Some Brewers fans have clamored for a promotion of infield prospect Mauricio Dubon, who has a 23-game hitting streak going in Triple-A, but Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Dubon incurred a knee injury over the weekend and is headed to Milwaukee to be examined by team physician Dr. William Raasch. Farm director Tom Flanagan tells Haudricourt that the hope is that Dubon is dealing only with a strain, though the organization won’t know until further testing and imaging is performed. Dubon suffered the injury while executing a rundown in Saturday’s game. Acquired alongside Travis Shaw in the Tyler Thornburg deal with the Red Sox, Dubon is hitting .343/.348/.574 with four homers and six steals in 114 plate appearances this season.
I have mixed feelings about Kingham being sent down. He’s had a taste of the majors and can now go down and work on a few things before his next callup. Would have liked to see him get another start or two before demotion.
Pirates have several off days coming up, they dont really need a fifth starter until the end of the month. Kingham will be in Indy, starting on a normal schedule and be up in Pittsburgh when needed.
he’ll be back.
Just roster juggling…..
Wow hate that, Kingham at least earned another start.
I heard Huntingdon’s show on the Fan yesterday, it was very clear from his comments that keeping Kingham and moving Kuhl to the bullpen was very much under consideration. Kuhl was absolutely pitching for his job yesterday and he came up big. Good for him, he has great stuff. He could be a solid #3 if he could improve his control just a bit.
The team has a bunch of off days in the next two weeks and will go with 4 starters for a while. Kingham will go back down so that he stays stretched out as a starter. I think he has a good chance to hold off Musgrove and send him to pen if he pitches well in his next big league chance.
I actually was hoping for this – until Kuhl had such a great start. I want Kontos gone!!!
and having Kuhl take his spot made some sense.
Bucs don’t need a fifth starter until Memorial Day week.
Send him down and let him pitch on his normal rest.
This also gives Musgrove a couple more weeks to get
healthy.
Will be interesting to see how they use Osuna – Bell has been
awful – and should be benched IMHO
I agree with your first part but Bell might just need a rest I think he has been in every game this year so far. Pinch hit twice and I think he started the rest. Might just need a breather. Hope they do use Osuna a couple of games at 1b. Bell was really good for the first half of their games but has cooled some. Hope with a couple days off can get him going again.
I know Kingham will likely be back before the end of the month, but still. They had other options than Kingham. Moroff hasn’t done too much this year, and nor has Glasnow.
They were looking at sending down a starter. Choices were Kingham, Taillon, Nova, Williams, and Kuhl. If Kuhl does not have the game he had yesterday, he might have been the one to go. This keeps Kingham on his regular rotation spot just like the other 4.will. Glasnow actually has been good minus 2 ugly outings. One was against the Nats and they were hitting everything that day. Kuhl was lit up too.
yeah Glasnow has been mostly decent, made a lot of progress since last year.. granted pretty small sample and still has control issues but whatever they did certainly helped. I doubt we’ll see him in the rotation unless there is a big blow out of arms.. but i could see them giving him an outside shot in spring if he continues to get better.
That move was all about money. If Kingham stays with Pirates all year he becomes eligible for 4 years of arbitration instead of 3. Pirates were never going to let that happen. He won’t be back until they are sure he won’t be able to acquire enough time to be super 2 eligible!
Dubon is killing it but a .343 average with a .348 obp is a little suspicious. 2 walks in 114 plate appearances.
More Brewer fans have been clamoring for them to bring up Nate Orf than Dubon. Orf’s numbers are better. While their OPS’s are nearly identical, Orf’s OBP of .441 dwarfs Dubon’s .348.
Orf’s 28 and went undrafted out of Baylor. and was signed as a 23 year old. All he’s done since is hit wherever they put him.
Have to agree. The Villar/Sogard experiment is over. Bring a kid up and see what happens. They need a spark somewhere.
Please. Villar was a one year wonder and sogard is a great guy but a depth piece at best.
Agreed. Sogard is 31 with 1700 mlb 0a’s under his belt. He is bad this year and is not getting better. Orf has earned a legit shot at the majors and at 28 still has the upside potential to be one of those late-bloomer types.
Kingham will back, He’s earned the chance to show his stuff at the MLB level when the opportunity presents itself. Its just not there with Joe coming back (hopefully) and may not need a 5th guy for a bit, rather than him ‘sit on his butt’ and not pitch live hitters send him back to get some work in.
Good to see Jose getting the call too, he was tearing up AAA (small sample). I don’t see him replacing bell, moran or polanco long term, but might put some fire on their butts to pick it up a notch or four….
nonsense for c Trent hipster douch bag. Finnegan had a great run till he got hurt. He missed spring tranning and only got 1 start in rehab. No wonder cincy fans don’t know crap if our writers don’t.
Finnegan will never be effecient enough with his pitch count to log the needed innings, so that’s why he should be in the bullpen. Even when he has a good start, he’s above 100 pitches in the 5th or 6th. Combine that with his past arm injuries & the argument that he should move to the pen looks valid.
Finnegan wasn’t the only bum the Reds got for Cueto. Reds front office did a great job of getting a lot of crap for Cueto.
True. As a fan, I worry how it gets better. GM’s dad & uncle are 2 of the 6 voting members on the board…think he’s going anywhere & you’re crazy. New manager can’t help by himself. Organization is a mess.
Yes, Jocketty was tecnically GM when Cueto was traded, but Williams was his asst. Point is, Williams has led the Reds to the worst team in baseball for the last 3 years.
Well, you guys are judging the trades after the fact. What about Suarez, Duvall, Desclafani, Straily, Peraza/Schebler? These were good deals. Reds were trading for major league ready only talent. Before you comment, do some research.
to be fair Duvall is mediocre, Disco can’t stay healthy, peraza hasn’t shown anything. until now at least a bit. I love Schebler but he’s still a bit of a question mark. i think real reds fans know we have gotten screwed on many trades.
Sure they have made some good trades, but the bottom line is the bottom line. They are in the midst of a failing rebuild that started at least two years too late.
Correct
Dubon’s injury did not look good. Leg gave out on a rundown.
Here’s some research. 2015 Reds pitching staff ranked last in WAR = 8.8, next worst was Braves at 13.9….2016 Reds pitching staff ranked last in WAR = -1.4, next worst was Angels at 6.7…..2017 Reds pitching staff ranked last in WAR = 3.6, next worst was White Sox at 4.4….So far in 2018, Reds pitching staff ranks last in WAR = -0.6, next worst is Marlins at 0.7. All this with a pitching coach running things from the Manager’s chair. I don’t really care about judging individual transactions when the organization is failing as a whole. If you fail a class are you happy about that one B you got on a test?
When are the Reds going to give up on Finnegan?
The only sensible trade destination for Machado right now is Los Angeles. With Seagar out for the remainder of this season a rental of Machado’s caliber is the perfect replacement. And after the season the Dodgers are under no obligation to keep him on.
sorry, intended for a different thread.