Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings left this afternoon’s game against the Giants in the seventh inning after being struck by a Buster Posey foul tip. The Pirates announced he’s dealing with a left quad contusion (via Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). He was replaced by Michael Pérez. Stallings has rather quietly gotten off to a very good start to the season, hitting .257/.370/.446 over his first 119 plate appearances. Stallings and Pérez are the only backstops on Pittsburgh’s 40-man, so the team would need to make a roster move if the 31-year-old is forced to miss time. The Pirates have a pair of former big leaguers, Andrew Susac and Joe Hudson, splitting time at the position with Triple-A Indianapolis.
More out of Pittsburgh:
- The organization is hopeful third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes will be ready to embark on a minor league rehab assignment within the next several days, general manager Ben Cherington said on 93.7 FM The Fan (h/t to Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). One of the sport’s top prospects and a popular preseason pick to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award, Hayes has been limited to seven plate appearances this season by a wrist injury. He isn’t eligible to return from the 60-day IL until June 3. The 24-year-old got off to an incredible start to his big league career last season, hitting .376/.442/.682 over his first 95 plate appearances.
- Cherington also noted that there’s some hope each of Colin Moran and Phillip Evans can return from the injured list without needing to embark on rehab assignments (via Gorman). Moran went down last week with a left groin injury, halting a strong .297/.352/.468 start to the year. Evans began the season blistering hot but quickly cooled off. He went on the shelf earlier this week with a hamstring strain.
- Corner outfielder Gregory Polanco and starter Mitch Keller will continue to get opportunities despite disappointing starts to the season, writes Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic. Coming off back-to-back down years, Polanco has managed just a .206/.284/.351 line over 109 plate appearances to start 2021. Those struggles make it highly unlikely the Pirates will wind up exercising their $12.5MM option on Polanco for next season, and it’s difficult to imagine the rebuilding club will find much of a market for him at the trade deadline. Nevertheless, Cherington pointed to Polanco’s somewhat promising batted ball metrics (including an 80th percentile hard hit rate) as reason for continuing to hope for a bounce back. Keller has been up and down over his first three MLB seasons, but it’s not particularly surprising the Pirates plan to give the 25-year-old time to work through his struggles given his prospect pedigree and mid-90’s velocity.
Pirates pitching is good enough that they would be a respectable team if Hayes Moran stayed healthy. Keller looked fine today, who knows what next start brings.
Really? They’re perhaps the worst team in baseball. 2 players ain’t changing that. Especially since Moran is practically replacement level. I gotta totally disagree with this.
I have seen every game this year and also Grapefruit League. They are a scrappy team that lacks power. The pitching has been pretty good and consistent. Especially the bullpen. They are evolving but Moran is their only real power threat so they do need him. Hopefully Hayes comes back and provides some pop along with defense. They are young and deserve a chance to prove themselves. I really love watching them play. Win or lose they usually make the games really fun to watch.
The Pirates don’t have too many of those big power hitters throughout their system. Really, only Oneil Cruz and Mason Martin have that 35-40 HR potential. Maybe Alexander Mojica (he’s huge for being just 18). But the system has a ton of 30-40 doubles hitters. Like I could see Smith-Njigba, Gonzales, Peguero, Head, Rodriguez all being around that mark.
I would have agreed that Moran is a replacement level player, but he’s looked like a completley different player in 2020 and 2021. He’s already hit more home runs in 2020-2021 than he did in either 2018 and 2019 despite ovbisously way fewer games played. Looks like a completley different batter now. His defense over at first base hasn’t been awful either. I’m not saying he’s on the level of Rizzo/Goldschmidt/Freeman with the glove, but he’s been more than passable. He was on pace for about 2.5 fWAR across 600 PA’s this season, which is right around I think he’s worth (2-3 win player).
Really? Cosmo you are a troll
Thanks for the insight, show me on this doll where the internet hurt you
Lucky thing you have that doll lying around handy, huh?
Cubs and several other clubs just as bad. Pirates just not expensively bad.
Cosmo here…NAILED IT.
This team will finish…Dead Last. (As they should).
But their PITCHING (if any RAY…and I don’t mean “Devil Ray” of quasi-hope, exists) IS the key to ANY kind of “suck-sess” the Bucs shall come to know. If ever.
“Pitching Wins Pennants.”
The Pirates? Lol. Even WHEN they were a seriously-considered “team” have NEVER HAD (ever) “strong pitchers”.
Their pitching sucked when Clemente ruled the OF. Their pitching sucked when Stargell was “Pops w the Stars”.
Their pitching sucked when Bonds was in a lineup. Their pitching sucked when Honus Wagner was in a lineup.
But strangely-enough? It doesn’t suck right now.
The only REASON they aren’t redefining the word “godwaful” in the dictionary…is BECAUSE the pitching on the Pirates (right now) is rather good.
Good. Bout damn time. Only took em 100 years! You recreate a Pirate Team around miles and miles of ARMS.
Their “bats”? (Lol) can’t “hit” their ways out of wet paper bags.
But BATS…can be BOUGHT. Pitching, on the other hand…must be so OVERLOADED…that you can (possibly/someday) trade 2 for that TRUE BAT…you need.
Til that time comes? Bucs lose 95+. But that is ok. So long as they PITCH? They can GET bats.
But for the first time in “recorded history”…a Pirates Team is REBUILDING around “Pitching”
Duh. Only took em since 1973 to figure that out
Bout time
Maybe they can LUCK into a .500 season somewhere in the next 3 seasons. But if they truly “wanna be a ballclub again”? It will be the ARMS that make it happen.
Guaranteed
That 4 game series vs the Giants was moreso the Giants hitting being awful than the Pirates pitching being dominant.
Kevan Smith to buccos calling it
Mitch Keller has been one of the most inconsistent pitchers I’ve seen. It’s one good start/one bad start, every other start so far this season. I want to see this kid suceed. I’ve been hyping him up to all my friends the last year, so I’m gonna stick to the upside on Keller as long as I possibly can.
The future looks bright. Right now, the major league team looks rough, but I’ve probably been following their minor league teams more right now than the major league team, aside from a couple of names like Reynolds, Stallings, Rodriguez, Moran and Hayes (when he was playing).
Hope Stallings isn’t out for more than a series or two. He’s been a huge help with the young pitchers. Always nice to have a veteran catcher with the kind of defense he brings when you have such a young pitching staff. Plus he has been pretty decent hitting this year. He came into today third in catcher wRC+, behind Carson Kelly and JT Realmuto.
The Pirates have overachieved this year and got lucky a few games.However,they have shown improvement,and are not the doormat of the last year and a half.
Losing Moran and Hayes have hurt them immensely.Their outfield situation has been a joke.But their starters,for the most part,have surprised,and the bullpen has generally overachieved.Even the defense seems better.
Their lack of power since Alvarez left has always been notable.
Their absolute Achilles heel has been losing Stallings.That would make the outfield mess a revelation in comparison.
I think that Shelton has done a much better job this year.They really are a scrappy crew.Their lack of talent and power will doom them this year.But,unlike teams like the Twins,Tigers,and Rockies,they are on the upswing,and,potentially,could be a force in two years if the youngsters can come through.The 2019 Hurdle/etc miasma seems to be a thing of the past.
lack of power…since ALVAREZ left?
Surely you jest good sir.
Alvarez was so pathetic, he made JOE RANDA (the second coming of, that is) look “wise” hy nature.
Alvarez was garbage from the get go. A waste of time.
I “get it” when someone opines for the days of “Dancin Andy or Starfish Farte” (they weren’t “all that’ either. Decent players. No more/no less. That’s all they were. But VASTLY more understandable the frustration-felt when they went “bye byes”.
For they were 20× the player that Whiffarez was.
(Which ain’t…sayin much. As McCutchen is washed up anyway).
But..at LEAST he (every once in a while…can CATCH a baseball. Pedro? Lol. He was his own “pinball machine”.)
And ANYONE (even you Mister Mendoza .215…can “hit one out of PNC Park. A monkey can THROW it out of “right field PNC Park”. Penn HILLS Park is deeper to RF than that “quasi-park”.
But you go RIGHT AHEAD. Keep apologizing and making excuses for The Pittsburgh Pirathetics.
It is your modus operandi.
They SUCK. Period. And they forever shall…UNTIL (if ever) that day comes where they actually SIGN some baseball players (not these wuss bag hasbeen/holdovers and whiny babies who couldn’t hit The JV Team from Canonsburg). But BALLPLAYERS.
Worry you not, good sir. When (IF) they are ever “looking like a baseball team” again…I will let YOU know.
Til then. Have fun at your party. (Am sure all the Pirates’ Lemmings attend it).
Jesus GOD almighty.
Same old song and dance since 1980, they sing.
“The VERY REASON that the Pittsburgh Pirates…STINK ON ICE…for decades?…is because its FANS permit it”.
Very sad.
Needs more all caps, my friend.
WILL DO.
THANKS FOR THE TIP, MY FRIEND.
😉
A force? Are you people collecting minimum wage paychecks from Bob Nutting like his newspaper employees and ski resort employees and yes, Pirates employees? A leopard doesn’t change its spots. The vicious ugly non-competitive cycle will continue through this collection of players. They will do the same song and dance when Hayes and others are dealt because they won’t give anyone a second contract. So go ahead keep drinking the Kool-Aid.
Time for lock down! Lights out. You will be evaluated more tomorrow but it doesn’t look good for you.
Mario,you are not a true troll,just a bitter negative poster who takes certain parts of the truth and spins them into an ugly yarn.
Of course he is not going to pay Cutch $50 M for three years of so so baseball.
Of course he is not going to pay Neil Walker $45M for three years of watching his back go out.
Of course he is not going to pay Albert Pujols $300M for five years of very good baseball then five years of nothing.
Every true Pirate fan knows Nutting is a businessman first and foremost.He is not Mike ilitch or Arte Moreno who want to spend their fortunes to win a WS so it can make guys like Mario Crosby happy.
Will Nutting spend if he has a good team-yes.Will he give a big contract for pitchers like Liriano who suddenly implode-yes.Does he have funny money to waste like the Phillies owner-no.Will he overpay for players on the downside of thirty-no.
Not sure who the one drinking the funny Kool Aid is.Nutting is not beloved now,nor never will be.But it is also his right in this free society,or whatever is left of it,to spend his money how he wants to do so without getting constant chirping from the negative crickets in the back of the room.
I agree with a lot of what you are saying but if he would have opened the purse and resigned Happ we could have had another year of winning baseball. That was a negative turning point in Pirate baseball just like the acquiring of Burnett was a turning point in the positive direction.
Pan-There is a real arguement that can be said about the year 2016.I was OK with it at the time because of several negatives that were happening-(1)Alvarez was so bad at first base(2)Burnett was retiring,and had run out of steam at the end of the year(3)Morton was always hurt and did not seem to have his heart in it(4)Walker’s back(5) Melanchon’s impending free agency.
In hindsight,which is always 20-20,the Pirates could have gone for it one more year.What they did realize is that a small market team has a three year window.Their philosophy as you are aware was to trade off the veterans before free agency.That is what happened with Walker and Melancon.Many have debated that philosophy on this site for years,but it tended to stay away from the bottomless pit that they have become..
Happ is the one free agent that they could have signed,and coincidentally it would have been the same salary as Liriano.But Francisco,as he was apt to to do,bottomed out ,and yada,yada,yada,thatwas that.Remember That Happ had been a nobody until Uncle Ray worked his magic with him.I do not think that the Pirates wanted to spend the money to find out if he was the real thing or not.
I think that the Pirates can be rightly so criticized for 2016,but they were so stuck in the box that they could not or would not think outside of it.Would it have mattered-maybe,maybe not.To their credit,they had just given us three memorable years.
The Pirates have had 6,203 “negative turning points”…since 1973.
They are TOTALLY INEPT at baseball management…have laid claim to the WORST “owners” in the game’s history (Bing Crosby? Gal-GodzillaBreaths? McLatchey? LOL. And Nutter Butter?) The Pirates are a TAX WRITEOFF for those clowns. Always have been/always will be.
Re-sign HAPP? While I like “pie in the sky” dreams of “what the Pirates SHOULD have done/yet didnt”…it is only a matter of 12 seconds before the “this team literally PAID Lonnie SlipsNFalls (Chisenhall) AND Derek “Operation Shutdown” Bell AND Joggin George AND Steve Gimp Kemp AND Sixto (don’t call me “Ocho”) Lezcano…and lest ye forgetteth and notwithstanding that they ALSO paid Raul Mondesi, Todd Frazier AND Willie Montanez (just to name an “all star roster of names for the ALL TIME WORST PLAYER HALL OF FAME” ballot)…well, simply the notion that they would have an inkling of a functioning brainstem to KEEP JA Happ? Is something the ‘CroMagnon Pirates brain…err, stem that is” has not evolved into yet.
wrong…yet again. Come ON Pittsburgher. We are BORN with the inate ability to “sniff out BS when we see/hear it”.
To “get Pujols”…the Bucs would have had to “shell out” about 400k…for the REST of the whole year!.
Hell no…ya don’t “sign him for 3 more” (guy is a HOFer…but SO FAR from his prime…he may as well be “Pedro Alvarez” (if the jagoff ever HAD a prime)…by now.
BUT…on THIS team? The Pirates WOULD pay 1.1 MILLION to a garbage hack like Todd Frazier…yet NOT 400K to Albert Pujols?
Lol. THIS is exactly why the Pirates suck more than Jenna Jameson on a DATE.
Ya sign him. Then trade him (with Rich-The Reach-Rod) TO LOS ANGELES…aaaaaaat the Meadows Deadline (channeling my inner Roger Huston voice).
Pujols AND Rich The Reach Rod is worth a CATCHER and a PITCHER then.
(Bucs didn’t do that).
Why? Because they are stupid.
You trade a HOF bench bat AND a closer to a team going to the playoffs/and or…the World Series? You get back 2 VITAL pieces that you desperately-need. In an easy trade. So easy…even a “.215 Mendoza Hitter…could make it”.
They didn’t.
Yet NOW? Pujols is ALREADY a Dodger. They still goin to the WS. And the Bucs (again, stupidly) passed up a GOLDEN opportunity to make a huge trade…that could have benefited THEM for years to come.
(Then again? Since I am “no fun at YOUR Pirate Parties”…lol. I SHALL still remind you of a player that LOS ANGELES wanted…TWICE. And the Pirates did not trade (yet whom they STILL PAY).
Felipe Vazquez (or whatever the hell his name is anymore).
Bucs did NOT trade him…twice…at the deadlines of 2019 and 2018. Now? He is known as “The Nightmare…of Lolitaville”.
This sir…is WHY your Pirates suck. Big time.
You DUMP OFF that “closer” (that is not needed…at all…on a dead last team) and GET a Catcher/Pitcher/SS.
Again…Pirates did NOT do that. Twice. In a row.
(Tell me again…please…how YOU would not want me “at your parties”? I love to hear that. Why? Can’t handle it? Well…your GUESTS could.
Leave with YOUR date, I would. Because you sir…dont know your arse from a HOLE…in the ground”.
Learn…thy Bucco History.
Then come back and try…again. Mister”Big fish/small pond” thou art”.
He got nuttin.
Next case
Even if you think Moran is the first baseman of the future, he’s still going to need a right-handed partner, and this year gives the Bucs an opportunity to see if Evans or Craig can fill that role; once Evans is off the injured list, the club should DFA Polanco, who shouldn’t be part of their present and certainly has no part in their future.
Even IF they “think Moran is the 1B of the Future” (lol)…then the Pirates better trade Rich Rod ASAP to Roger Corman…to see if they can get one of those nifty “jet pack-rocket booster thingys” back in trade.
Because Moran runs (well…kinda/sorta”)…as if he is pulling a tank behind him.
Come deadline? (And IT SHOULD BE BEFORE)..He gone too.
(Makes Adam LaRoche look like a “hustling ball player” he does).
.245 hitter w some “pop”
Send him to the AL where he belongs…and won’t have to belabor the world trying to run.
(Only thing SLOWER than the way “Bob Walk pitched”? Is how Moran the “not quite bionic man”…runs. (Although to hear Bob Walk “tell it”…he CAN tell us all “how fast he worked when he pitched, batter by batter/pitch by pitch…WITH added anecdotes as to how hot Joel Youngbloods wife was at the time”…before MORAN can even run to first base.)
Colin Moran? Bye
On another Planet…’The Toddscrubber” opts for Free Agency.
Lol. Mark Madden NAILED this one.
Todd…Frazier. ‘Free Agent’.
Can Plunko begin to ‘Bunko’ with ToddFather Stinko” here?
Together? They MAY singlehandedly combine to bat higher than “Saint Sean De Rodrigue” (that Steller batsman was he).
Sad to know the Pirates could DFA HALF the entire current roster…and not miss a beat.
Then again…Que Sera Sera. Same ol Succos
Bald Phoenix-You must be a lot of fun at parties with that optimistic approach of yours.
Loads of fun.
Just not a “homer lemming”.
Like you.
Pirates are a COMPLETE REBUILD (again. What is that? 13th time in 25 years?)
If that ain’t fun at “your party”…then I shall stick to mine.
Next case.
HMU when you wanna have a REAL party.
Not a “Marte Partay” (as he sucked too)
Next case.
Here is wisdom.
The very MINUTE the “Pirettes” stop being complete gutter trash?
Is the very MINUTE you lemmings whom abide it…STOP abiding it.
You accept sub-mediocrity? Fine by me. Makes my job easy.
Cause that is ALL you gonna get from that team.
Nuff said
If I want wisdom I won’t be going to someone named “The Bald Phoenix”.
Yogi Berra brought much more of that with his yogiisms than you will in a million years.
True Pirate fans know what Nutting is about.He is what he is.
You have no clue as you obviously do not deal in reality.
As for me,your fractious rants entertain no one but yourself.
Nuff said.
Lol. “Fractuous rants”.
Please tell me “mister 215 Mendoza Line (guess “200” was already taken? Lol. Quite original thou arent).
But I digress. If my rants are “fractious”…then why aren’t YOUR PIRATES in 1st Place?
I mean…you apparently “know all them innerds” bouta dem Buccos…you do. You must roll over each morning and say “GOOD MORNING Bob Nutting…what IS on the agenda for the day? How can I blow…err, I mean defend your honor, sir? Because I…215 Mendoza…know all/tell all…sir?”
Dude. You are “old hat”. There is more originality from a “Bucs Defender” on their homepage on “FakeTakeAKneeBook”.
You can insult me all ya wanna. But BE INTERESTING and QUIT BORING ME.
Your defense of this team is more boring than “Donut King of Slickville” it is.
“True Pirate Fans” eh?
Like you?
Whom seems to spend ALL his/her time on here “talkin bout the Bucs”.
So glad to know you are “time well spent”.
Yogi Berra couldn’t even pronounce Mazeroski’s name.
But you do what you do (lemming/Piratapologist) and I shall do what I do.
Fair?
Or I can rebut you into the ground some more.
You and your .215 average for “The Mendoza Line”.
Lol.
It’s .200 you people.
Something HALF your Pirates cannot hit.
But as you will.
Your turn.
Go rights aheads. Me LOVES it!
Bald-Do you think anyone has time to read the details of your prodigeous rants except you?
I will give you credit,what I can skim off the top(inasmuch as I do not have the fifty years necessary to read and try to understand them) is that you are one artful Dodger.
I did want to educate you ,though,on a couple of points as you do at least seem to have at least a small bit of innate intelligence.
The reason that my moniker comes up with 215 is because that is my lifetime average.I realize that you try to say sooooooooo much in every rant that it is impossible to check facts.
The lemmings that you refer to do not naturally act in the manner that you imply.The scene was invented in the late 1950’s for some sort of documentary I believe.They were forced off their perch and caused to swim over a bed of water I believe to their deaths.Animals WERE harmed in that video.
Quite frankly,I am amused at your voluminous retorts.I am hardly a Nutting advocate but do realize that he is not obligated to spend his money foolishly as you would have him do.After all,it is not YOUR money,is it?As a small market team they only have so many options.
Bald-I eagerly await how you can amuse me with your angry retorts.Your creativity is second to none.
Where in any way did I state ‘spend more’?
Not me sir. My primary function…is getting YOU Bucco Fans…to READ.
On that note…thank you. You did and I appreciate that. (You have deep wisdom. But it is being spent on “Nutting Needs To Spend More” nonsense. No way Jose. They (The Pirates) need to AXE the entire roster of anyone whom is “over age 27. Period”
I get where you are coming from sir, and AHHHH…”the Arch-Ful Dodger” (of Anything Resembling a Pitcher) (that would be Chris Archer)…VERY GOOD and VERY ASTUTE you are sir.
(You must be reading elsewhere to get that one good sir).
A long long LONG Suffering ‘Pirettes” Fan here sir.
They “ainta gonna winna itta inna my lifetime”…but am hoping that maybe my KIDS or Grand Kids lifetime? But they are LOST.
Or…actually…were. I like the new GM.
He is unafraid to make a weird move. Get rid of a scrub. Release a has been or make some strange roster move.
Good. (For he cannot do any worse than they have been doing…since 1980).
So it remains to be seen.
But PITCHERS…miles and miles of em…is the key.
Peace brother. You’re a cool cat.
Bald- If you are a long time Pirate fan,God bless you.
I can see how you ended up being how you are.
It has happened to all of us as our actual Individual DNA has been changed.
We had rose colored glasses on throughout the 1970’s and thought that “Those were the Days My Friend”.Some believed that Pittsburgh was indeed the City of Champions.
Then our glasses dropped and broke,and John Galbreath and Joe Brown and Danny Murtaugh left us,and,voila,we were left with owners that make Bob Nutting seem like a genius.
My DNA was changed four years on this site when a poster basically explained to me why the Pirates had a snowball’s Chance in Hell of ever winning a WS again.I did not believe it at first but then realized through my education that unfortunately it is true.Well not quite.It is about one half of one percent each year.It is because small market teams are at such of a disadvantage because of the makeup of MLB.
It brought the Kool Aid sales pitch into focus.
That does not mean that these owners will not try to compete when they can,and even spend money doing so,but that,generally they realize the odds better than almost all of the fans.
So a fan has a choice,continually rant,drink the Kool Aid,or hope for the best in between and at least try to be competitive for a playoff spot like Pirate ownership wants.
That is about the best that the present day MLB gives us.
Hopefully we do finish in last place. And get another #1 overall pick.
I’m a big fan of Jack Leiter and don’t know how u can pass up on him for a HS SS.
Leiter will be a top of the rotation SP in 2 years. At worst. And at best Walker Buehler. You can’t pass up his floor with no consensus #1 pick this year.
He fits the Pirates window too.
1B-Mason Martin
2B-N.Gonzalez
SS-K.Newman
3B-K.Hayes
CF-T.Swaggerty/J.Oliva
LF-B.Reynolds
RF-Oneil Cruz
Bn-C.Tucker,J.Oliva,Cal Mitchell,R.Castro/J.Bae
SP-J.Leiter, M.Keller, Jt Brubaker, S.Brault, W.Crowe/M.Yajure/C.Bolton/M.Kranick
With Q.Priester, C.Mlodzinski, T.Thomas, B.Malone, R.Contraes, N.Garcia, B.Ashcraft all coming up right behind them.
And L.Peguero, H.Head, S.Sanni, A.Mojica, R.Nolasco, E.Rodriguez, Shalin Polonco and any HS players or International signings we make in the next 2 years, position players still in our minor league system.
Acouple Free Agent signings and that’s a young play-off team. Especially if K.Hayes turns out to be the perineal All-Star like he looks like.
BTW: I’m a believer in S.Brault. I think hes turned it around and found something last year.
Sometimes it takes Pitchers until they are his age(28 years old) to be really good and live up to their potential. Like Charlie Morton.
And you need a LH SP in your rotation to break up all the right-handed fastball throwers. And you need a good clubhouse vet in the rotation like AJ Burnett was. I think S.Brault is that guy. Give him a good defense and some run support and he’s gonna be a really good 4th-5th SP, on a winning team.