Yesterday, the Pirates placed right-hander Kyle Crick on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 4th. Outfielder Jason Martin was recalled to take his place on the 25-man roster.
Crick is suffering from right triceps tightness after making just two relief appearances this season. A former first round pick of the Giants, Crick joined the Pirates before last season as part of the Andrew McCutchen trade. While he may not be a household name, Crick was an effective piece for the Pittsburgh bullpen after being called up in mid-April. Appearing in 64 games, Crick went 3-2 with a 2.39 ERA (3.14 FIP, 4.00 xFIP) across 60 1/3 innings – good for exactly 1.0 fWAR. He throws a 95.8 mph heater, augmented with a hard-driving sinker and a slow-down slider, effectively used to put away right-handed batters last season (44.4 K%, 50% whiff rate).
He figured to serve in a primary setup role after tallying 16 holds last year, second on the team to only Edgar Santana, who is out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Trade deadline acquisition Keone Kela will be relied upon even more heavily in his stead to set up closer Felipe Vasquez. Elsewhere in the pen, tule 5 pick Nick Burdi is getting looks early this season, while Richard Rodriguez will claim whatever high leverage innings aren’t taken by Kela/Vasquez. The Pirates bullpen was generally middle of the pack last season, finishing 14th in ERA, 12th in xFIP and 14th in fWAR.
Taking Crick’s roster spot is outfielder Jason Martin, who will make his major league debut. Martin, 23, came over in the Gerrit Cole trade. He ranked 24th on Fangraphs’ list of top Pirates prospects coming into this season. With a roughly even split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2018, Martin hit a combined .274/.337/.429, though with a stark difference between the levels. After raking in Double-A to the tune of .325/.392/.522, Martin hit only .211/.270/.319 in Indianapolis. While he’s being pressed into duty with the big league club a little earlier than the Pirates likely hoped, he had a strong spring, and they are definitely in need of outfield depth after injures to Gregory Polanco, Lonnie Chisenhall and Corey Dickerson.
Crick was really the only Pirates reliever who hadn’t had at least 1 bad outing so far this year. In the bright side, this is a good opportunity for Martin to get his feet wet in the big leagues.
I’m not too certain about the pirates current roster construction, but generally the only time a position player is called up to replace a bullpen piece they aren’t up too long before they are sent back down. In most cases this would happen only if the bullpen is fairly well rested and the outfield corps is banged up, OR the team was previously running high on the pitcher side and decided to go with a more balanced roster make up.
I believe that when Corey Dickerson went on the DL a few days ago they activated Jordan Lyles, which put them at their usual numbers if 13 pitchers and 13 position players. However they have had a bunch of off days so far and the bullpen is likely fairly rested right now.
“While he’s being pressed into duty with the big league club a little earlier than the Pirates likely hoped, he had a strong spring, and they are definitely in need of outfield depth after injures to Gregory Polanco, Lonnie Chisenhall and Chris Dickerson.”
Hey TC, just reporting yet another error. It’s Corey Dickerson, not Chris Dickerson. I’ll check back later and re-read the corrected version for you.
How about going outside in the rain, and stand there looking up to the sky with your mouth wide open for about 6 hours.
You are right, but I gotta hit our Chris Dickerson quota somehow.
Hmm, this is a good plan. I approve!
After seeing Moran in left I knew something had to be done. Decent bat and good defense. He’ll do.
I don’t think Crick is really ‘hurt’, more so this is a move to call up an OF.
Don’t think so. The bullpen has crashed and burned in all their losses. More like precautionary measures with the colder weather. Don’t want to test a tight tricep.
Yea, but Crick has been one of the ones not to implode. If it were one of the other ones who has had horrible outings recently, then maybe.
It’s a testament to how good the starters have been that they are winning with the “pitching and defense” formula given how bad the bullpen and fielding have been so far.
Why do the Pirates wait until guys are 23 or 24 to bring to Big Leagues.
It is said that the Pirates are investing in their “whole organization” top to bottom when questioned on MLB Payroll budget.
Scouting and the Pirates true investment in lower level parts of their organization if they can’t develop at least 2 players every 5 years that can get to MLB roster before 23 years of age.
Willing to here opinions.
Probably because they haven’t had such a prospect who was ready at 20 to 22 probably since Cutch. Meadows…..maybe.
I don’t understand your concern?
A debate can be had as to whether they have developed well enough in general, but what does the player’s age matter?
The Pirates are getting 6-7 years out of a player, tops. Better to make sure they are ready than rush them and waste some of that 6-7 year window with on the job training.