The Pirates announced today that pitching coach Ray Searage will undergo cervical neck surgery this week (Twitter links via Adam Berry of MLB.com). He’s expected to resume his coaching duties once he’s sufficiently recovered, but he’ll cede those responsibilities to assistant pitching coach Justin Meccage for the time being. The 63-year-old Searage is widely regarded as one of the league’s best coaches, thanks largely to the Buccos’ numerous successful reclamation projects over the past several years (e.g. A.J. Burnett, Francisco Liriano, Edinson Volquez, Juan Nicasio). Best wishes to Searage in his recovery.
A bit more out of Pittsburgh…
- Right-hander Richard Rodriguez, it seems, is another example of Searage’s positive impact on the club. Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spoke to the 28-year-old Rodriguez about his breakout with the Pirates this season, and Rodriguez revealed that many of his teammates in the Dominican Winter League this past offseason, including Wandy Rodriguez, Edwin Espinal and Reese McGuire, vouched for Searage and bullpen coach Euclides Rojas as coaches who could strongly benefit the righty. Rodriguez first heard from the Bucs in November but was mulling interest from multiple clubs when teammates urged him to go to Pittsburgh. Brink chats with Rodriguez about his disappointment over quickly being cut loose by the Orioles after finally debuting last season as well as his long journey to the big leagues. He’s been a revelation for the Pirates, notching a terrific 2.61 ERA with 11.3 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.73 HR/9 and a 34.5 percent ground-ball rate in 62 innings.
- Right-hander Chad Kuhl is set to be examined by Dr. David Altchek in New York this Tuesday after suffering a setback in his rehab from forearm/elbow tightness, tweets Biertempfel of The Athletic. Kuhl hasn’t taken the mound in a game since June 26 but was said to be progressing toward a return until he felt renewed tightness in his arm when prepping for a bullpen session on Tuesday.
- In a full column (subscription link), Biertempfel looks at all of the players who were new to the Pirates’ Major League roster this season and examines their future. Notably, he speculates that right-hander Ivan Nova could emerge as a winter trade candidate in advance of the final season of his contract, while outfielder Corey Dickerson could be a candidate to be approached about a modest extension following the trade of Austin Meadows and the shoulder surgery for Gregory Polanco. Nova will earn $8.5MM next year and currently has a 4.07 ERA with 6.4 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and a 45.4 percent ground-ball rate in 152 2/3 innings. Dickerson, meanwhile, has faded after a huge start to the season but is hitting .289/.320/.449 with 11 homers and a vastly improved strikeout rate (24.2 percent in ’17, 15.1 percent in ’18). He’s also posted sensational defensive metrics (+13 DRS, +7.7 UZR) after previously grading out as a below-average defender.
Frankly, I’m shocked that Searage would be coming back. One would think that Gerit Cole morphing into one of the best pitchers in baseball once leaving his tutelage would be a major blow to his job security. Combine that with the fact that Archer, a middling pitcher with TB, has now become an awful pitcher with PIT, what exactly is he doing to maintain his employment? I think this organization needs to clean house. Maintain the focus on analytics, but large swathes of the organization need to go. The Archer trade alone should be a fireable offense for Huntington. That was awful.
Can’t blame him for Archer. Everything seen in Pit was exactly the same in TB. The only difference is TB is a pitchers park that favored him, and it was a club which did everything they could to give him even more advantages. In Pittsburgh those advantages are gone, so he is fully exposed and his inability is not longer hidden.
Plus, he is actually trying with Archer – attempting to get him to reintroduce his long lost Sinker and mix up pitches better. The problem is, Archer stopped throwing that pitch for a reason and his arsenal just isn’t good enough to effectively keep hitters from waiting for the pitch they want and doing what they want with the ball when they decide to make contact.
Gerrit Cole was one of the best pitchers in baseball for his first two years in Pittsburgh.He did not have to morph into one.He developed some health issues and was not happy with his contract situation for two years and that is when he went downhill.It also coincided with the Pirates mediocrity and Cole is highly competitive.It is absolutely no surprise to me that this first overall ML pick has done so well this year.Everyone knew that he was not going to sign with Pittsburgh.I think that the added years have also added maturity to reign in his temper.If he stays healthy,Cole will be signing a huge contract with someone about this time next year.
Cole also isn’t asked to be the ace of the staff in Houston like he was in Pittsburgh. We got good pieces for the Cole trade. Archer still has time to work out for Pittsburgh as well
Well Searage needs to work his magic (somehow) again and turn around Archer, because that trade slowly went from not so good, to awful . But hopefully he can bounce back next year.
Archer used to throw an amazing Slider, great Sinker, inconsistent Change and really poor 4Seam.
Archer the last couple seasons has only had that Slider, with his inability to throw the Sinker anymore and the other pitches suffering heavily for it. At this point, with Pit having tried to reintroduce the Sinker, Archer is throwing a great Slider, horrible Sinker, horrible 4Seam and questionable Change.
Not exactly an easy fix turning a guy with just 1 pitch into useful. He’s basically stuck starting over
I mean, Searage has done it before, turning awful pitchers into very effective guys, but then there’s guys like Jon Niese and Ernesto Freri who came to The Pirates as reclamation projects and never turned it around. So I guess we’ll see which category Archer will go into next year.
Searage and Benedict combined to be successful.Searage has rightly so developed a good reputation,and I think is still one of the best pitching coaches in the game.
Niese and Frieri are very poor examples.Niese was a solid #4pitcher who was consistent who simply lost it because of injury or other reasons and has never come close to regaining what he had.It does not seem to me that he has even tried.Maybe he just lost the fire to compete.Frieri could not throw a strike and no other pitching coach could reclaim his either.He had one or two good years with the Angels and that was it.
With Searage, he’s a good pitching coach, but not great. For every A.J. Burnett there’s a Jon Niese.
If he’s good, not great, then I guess nobody is a great pitching coach to you
No, I think there are some great pitching coaches out there, but calling Searage great isn’t true.
The pirates are a mediocre team. The owner and management will not spend money to make this team any better. They will will trade nova and let rookies consume 2nd and short stop. Let’s get literal, Cleveland is a small market team but they will spend money to make their team competitive. Bucs need a pure power hitter and also power pitcher. They will be cellar dwellers for the next 20 years until management sells the team.
So you called them mediocre and cellar dwellars in the same comment. Which is it?
Does it matter? He is an idiot.
I’m sorry but in this age of baseball if you are mediocre then you are a cellar dweller. mediocre teams do not compete for playoff spots. for example pirates, reds, nationals, Mets, giants, angels
No big deal but…
Cellar dweller quite specifically means last place. I’m only commenting because you double-downed on it.
Good luck to your Astros.
The Indians are spending money now because their home grown talent has matured and is ripe and their window to win it all is closing.
The Pirates need to start winning again next year as their three year period of mediocrity is up.
They do need a power hitter and a power pitcher would be nice but they are both at a premium market price with no guarantee.
The ownership rationale is not to get too bad and to compete for any playoff spot where they would in theory have a chance to win it all.
The only way that they win it all is to develop the best scouting and development system and I think that that is beyond this management team.
It just would be nice to have two or three guys who could jack the ball out to win the close games.
they give up on guys who have power i.e. Jose Bautista .
just think of how many more games they would have won in the past few years if they had kept this guy.around.
Except that Bautista did not have much power when he was on the Pirates.They gave him a number of chances but he never showed much other than being a decent utility man.
It seemed that he suddenly got much bigger and stronger once he got to Toronto.Not sure how but the change was quick and evident.
Archer trade might be the worst of the entire season. Meadows is actually really good, and I feel like the Pirates would be in better shape with Meadows in their lineup rather than Archer in their rotation at the current moment.
Pirates are .500 as of right now. They have not been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs (its so far out there that no worth talking about beyond that) with 13 games left they have a real reasonable shot at finishing over .500. That is a substantial improvement over 2017 Sure they dipped some after the deadline but seem to be recovering the past 10 game or so.
Some people wont’ be satisfied with anything but a world series win.. but finishing .500 is a huge victory for the team.
I’m totally fine with a .500 or right around there, as long as they build off of this season.
I just like that the young guys are playing instead of the veterans and theyre still competitive and winning some games right now.
That might not be possible on their budget considering their competition in the NL Central. If the Reds open up their checkbook to get some good pitching this offseason, then the Buccos are likely doomed for a last place finish next season no matter what they do.
I agree in general. What they can build iwth is limited. fix archer, get Bell and Moran on track.. keep polanco healthy could be enough to be .500 and again not be elimiated before september… with no other changes other than figuring out which young guy is playing short.
I havn’t been able to watch the past month or so.. seems like i havn’t missed much good. hopefully i’ll be able to pick up a few games..
sad to hear i havn’t heard anything in passing about keller getting his toes wet yet.
I think Archer will rebound next year and the overall rotation will be pretty strong.
The question is if Moran or Bell can start providing some power – when they traded Freese I thought Moran might blossom but he hasn’t and Bell has been a major disappointment this whole year.
If they do trade Nova (and perhaps Harrison) they should have enough money to do something but I have no illusions they will sign a difference maker – just maybe some baby steps to somehow obtain a thirty homer bat
I like your name as I lived the first year of my life there.
Dick Groat was the 1960 NL MVP so you must be a lifelong Bucco fan.
I think that the Pirates have developed a good pitching staff,but it may be folly to trade Nova as he is relatively inexpensive,a strong #4,and you can never have enough pitching.Plus they would not get a difference maker for him.
I totally agree about the lack of power.The problem is the good players are at a premium and the rich teams can afford to overpay.
Harrison will not be signed for his $10M option so he will get his wish and become a free agent.The saying is true here that you better watch what you wish for because you might get it.
Maybe the Brweres will tarde one of their free swingers who could be that 30 homer guy that the Pirates desperately need.
Quite frankly most of the big money signings end up not being successful anyway.
Chad Kuhl has to show he’s major league material and tone down his attitude on the mound. Dude looks like an 8 year old out there at times. Show some poise
They will rid of Harrison for sure. That’s another savings for the Pirates. Freese, Harrison, Cole, Cutch. All these guys equate to close to what 40 million ? Where has the money gone? The infamous word they use reallocation….where has it been reallocated to besides seven springs? They have no excuse with all these rookie contracts to not go out and purchase a power bat. They have no one in the lineup that pitchers fear. The fans made their statement this year by staying away. Doubtful that it makes much difference other than management saying they have nothing to spend because the fans didn’t support. I agree that what needs gone is the ownership and most of the FO.
Las Vegas is a big city, big enough to fit a baseball team. Congrats, A’s for finding a great spot for a Triple-A team