MAY 8: Roberto Perez may be facing a long absence, as a source tells Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link) that the catcher’s hamstring injury is “very severe.”
MAY 7: The Pirates have placed catcher Roberto Perez on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain. Catcher Michael Perez’s contract has been selected from Triple-A, to provide the Bucs with more depth in time for the nightcap of a doubleheader with the Reds. To open a 40-man roster spot, left-hander Sam Howard was designated for assignment.
Roberto Perez suffered the injury in Game 1 of the doubleheader, injuring his hamstring while rounding second base in the eighth inning. Perez was in obvious pain as he left the field, and his absence forced a rare “emergency catcher” situation since backup Andrew Knapp had been ejected earlier in the game. This forced Josh VanMeter behind the plate for his first professional game as a catcher, and having an inexperienced backstop surely played a role in the Pirates surrendering seven runs to Cincinnati in the bottom of the eighth.
The 33-year-old Perez signed a one-year, $5MM deal with the Pirates last winter, after the Guardians declined their $7MM club option his services for 2022. Known much more for his defense than his bat over nine MLB seasons, the two-time Gold Glover has also provided a bit of pop for Pittsburgh in the early going — Perez’s two singles in today’s game improved his slash line to .233/.333/.367 (109 wRC+) over 69 plate appearances.
Unfortunately, it now looks like the veteran will miss more than just 10 days, gauging by the apparent severity of his injury. This opens the door for Michael Perez (no relation) to get his first Major League action of the 2022 campaign. The Pirates claimed the 29-year-old Perez off waivers from the Rays in October, and it now appears that Perez and Knapp will handle the catching duties while the elder Perez recovers.
Howard has spent much of the season on the IL with a back sprain, only pitching two innings over three appearances. A pair of IL stints (most notably a six-week absence due to an oblique strain) limited Howard to 45 innings and 54 games in 2021. Control problems have limited Howard’s effectiveness over his 91 career MLB innings with the Rockies and Pirates, as despite a solid 27.2% strikeout rate, Howard also has a 14.1% walk rate and 5.34 ERA.
The best move the Pirates can make is trade Reynolds to the Braves for Duvall.
Yeah, the old Pirates regime made an indelible impression on fans of other teams. Just give away your better players
Last time I looked, Duvall was hitting .186. Maybe you can throw in a couple of used bats and a pine tar rag, too
You right. Include Ozuna as well (with his contract).
Reynolds for Ozuna, Duvall, used bats, and pine tar rag
Lol at some people not realizing you’re joking. And Duvall is far from the main problem. I have faith in him more then Demeritte. Their whole offense has been stinky garbage, it’s depressing as hell.
Unfortunately, that is who the Braves are. I have zero reason to believe it will change. They are homers or nothing offense with a bunch of strikeouts in-between. They have 4 good hitters in Acuna, Olson, TD, and Riley – but these guys also strike out a bunch. Then the rest of the offense is filled with bad hitters coupled with a terrible bench.
Ozzie?
Ozzy!
The pirates would be getting ripped off with that type of trade
You mean the Braves
Orioles fans, it’s he’s obviously trolling.
3- Orioles fans should only be trolling the Orioles as bad as they have been for five years.
Reynolds for your third baseman!
Nutting saves money by having two Perez’ to share jerseys
SSSH! Stop leaking the details of the Master Plan.
The game one loss made me want to jump off a bridge. I think that game was the very first time I can remember in my 21 years of life ever physically cringing and feeling sick at a baseball game. That’s really unfortunate for Crowe to have three earned runs charged to him when very clearly the communication between the pitcher/catcher was very disrputed.
Wow, either you’re very young or just a casual viewer. There have been many cringe-worthy performances over the years and yes, you see a great many things you won’t witness at a little league game. My fandom goes back as a little boy to the Forbes Field period of the late 60’s, so I’m not exaggerating when I say some of the Nutting and McClatchy teams literally put the game back 100 years.
I’m a very hardcore viewer and I have probably watched, listened to, or attended 90%+ of the Pirates games dating back to at least 2010. Trust me, I’ve been through the ringer as Pirates fan, but I cannot think of a worse performance that I’ve physically cringed at than Game one of today. I’ve watched us blow leads, I’ve been dissapointed beyond belief, I’ll never forget when Gregory Polanco literally tripped and fell, letting what would have been out 3 drop and let the winning run score in a game vs the Cubs back in 2015. I’ll never forget the pain and misory that was 2014 Madison Bumgarer or 2015 Jake Arrieta in the postseason. I literally traveled across the state to watch my college team lose by like 8 runs.
There’s a difference between a painful loss where simple fundamentals like how to catch, throw, and hit a baseball just seem to completly leave a player’s mind, and where everything out of your control just goes wrong. Today was just an absoutley helpless feeling. Yes, I’m young at 21-years-old, but I’ve never, in my life, seen a more painful baseball game. Not only was it because everything that possibly could have went wrong, went wrong, but it was also against a 3-22 team. Even the 2011 game where Jerry Meals completley blew a 19th inning call wasn’t as painful as this. The subsequent collapse, and the collapse the following season in 2012 was not as painful as this to me.
Hey, they’re killing it in game 2. Better watch out, might not be able to wrestle that extra lottery ball from the Red Sox.
Nice division, Cubs, Pirates, Reds
Good one
i watch a lot of baseball. to say that the 7 runs the reds scored, had a lot to do with the catcher, is bull. he struggled, but he didn’t throw 58 foot breaking balls and continuous ball out of the strike zone. he didn’t miss the ground ball back to the pitcher. he didn’t miss play the ball hit to left field. they just lost, get off his back.
If you are looking for a sole player to blame for the loss, your in the wrong sport. Pitching and catching is a tandem and both can be at fault. In this case, it’s more true than not. I am not trying to discredit your opinion on VanMeter. Pirates/Reds tied up until the 8th inning. Perez goes down and VanMeter suits up. From there, you know what happens. It could be pitchers not comfortable with VanMeter or poor pitch selection from the clubhouse to VanMeter to pitchers. The fact they gave up 7 runs and commit errors (had 3 in a game)in the seventh inning, wasn’t just one player failure to execute. Every player got to relaxed and struggled to limit the damage. It was a poor team effort on every aspect. This is not a single players fault. If I was Ben Cherington, I’d have everyone including managers and coaches staff running 8 laps on the warning tracks around the field after the game. Then 10 push ups and sit ups for every run they allowed (managers and coaches included) in the 8th inning. But that’s me being too harsh
If you want to blame just one player for that game, blame Andrew Knapp. He got tossed out while sitting on the bench. His only job was to be available as backup catcher. And he failed.
Pirates are a young team and feared the catching depth if injuries occurred. If another catcher goes down, yikes. Davis isn’t ready for MLB yet and that may turn into the “need be”. At least the Pirates are not in the cellar so far this year. Brewers and Cardinals have proven to be better two clubs. Pirates have handled Cubs pretty well (and above them in standings). While we get a taste of the Reds now during an injury to catching, I think they can handle their own against the Reds. Pirates will struggle against tough opponents but will play fairly good against average and weak teams.
Doesn’t seem unreasonable that Knapp will be dfa and Michael perez will be the back up again after Roberto perez is back. Aside from being terrible, Knapp put his team in a bad spot in a game he wasn’t even in. I would think they split time for however long it takes with Knapp catching against lefties and perez against righties. Knapp will get some games against righties and it will end up being a 50/50 split
They need to give Blake Swihart a call. After he’s inducted into the Wall Mart Greeter Hall of Fame. I’m sure he can cover.
How are they able to put him on the 10 day – IL? I thought the new IL period is now 15 days or is that only for pitchers?
15 pitchers because of them not playing everyday.
The more you hear though seems Perez is going 60 IL and maybe season over
Derek Shelton needs fired immediately
He does some strange things, for sure. But I can’t think of any manager, living or dead, who could make this team competitive
I’m not talking competitive, everyone knows they are rebuilding. I’m talking about lineups. Pitching decisions. Too many veteran players who aren’t worth being on the team. I’d rather watch the kids lose than journeyman junkmen.
Yeah, agree 100%. There’s a fine line between giving kids time to refine their skills and allowing guys who shouldn’t be in an MLB uniform to take up space
Unfortunately, this looks like the Pirates methodology for the season.
There have been some completley incompetent decisions by Shelton this year. Blew a game earlier this year against the Brewers because he refused to let Bednar pitch two innings after he needed just 10 pitches to get through the 8th and was on 3+ days rest. Sat out Hayes in the last game of the weekend series this week even after we had a day off on Thursday and a rainout on Friday. He keeps starting VanMeter and Cole Tucker. Tucker has a 13 wRC+ and VanMeter has a 31 wRC+. The difference between Tucker and a league average wRC+ is the same difference as Ted Williams and a league average wRC+. The difference between VanMeter and a league average wRC+ is the same difference as Mickey Mantel and a league average wRC+.
It’s not like the Pirates don’t have options. If you don’t want to call-up Cruz yet, fine, but get Diego Castillo in there every day. Promote Rodolfo Castro. You had Tucupita Marcano here for like two days and sent him back to the minors. Ji-Hwan Bae absoutley should have Tucker’s spot.
At least Shelton is using Bednar to close now.Stratton is no more than a setup man.
Van Meter will be gone after they figure out who is the emergency catcher to replace him.
Tucker needs to play SS,but he will probably prove that he cannot hit ML pitching.
They should release Hoy Park off the 40 man roster when they need a spot.
Oneil,187,Castro 241, Bae 261.I do not see any Mantles not Williams there.They need to prove that they can hit AAA pitching first.
Marcano just needs to play AAA to see what he can do there.
Castillo and Chavis need to regularly play to see what they can do on a consistent basis.
I think that Shelton May be gone after this year if they do not show real progress from 61 wins.
Bae and Castro have decent numbers outside their batting averages. I’m not worried about them. Cruz has been heating up recently, so I’m not worried about him either. Never said there was any Mantels or Williams within this group. Just saying the difference between a league average hitter and Tucker/VanMeter is the same between a league average hitter and Mantle/Willams
I would give him a F so far for this season.
MY point is that I would rather see these guys get AAA experience and prove that they deserve a look.
The ML impostors will prove themselves soon enough,if they have not already done so.
Yeah, I don’t understand why suwinski is there. My guess is because they only have 3 real OF? That’s their own stupidity. I would rather him get the full minor league experience. He should be good enough to be at least a 4th OF, IF not when, they are good eventually. They bring up Marcano and he sits on the bench for a week after they paid San Diego to get him. Same clown show, just different clowns.
I think that they like to give these guys a cup of coffee to spur them on.I think that that is smart.Suwinski was hitting very well albeit in AA.He needs to spend time in AAA but he has not embarrassed himself with the Pirates.
That is not a difficult thing thing to do,however,with their outfielders.
Marcano will get his chance.
It is coming time though that they have to start picking and choosing who will be the starters and stop messing with these guys.Only with consistent playing time will they show what they really have at the ML level.
I suppose with the expanded roster and doubleheaders it was good suwinski got some time. The longer he stays though, the more I’ll think it’s because of the sheer lack of true OF they have. Like you said he hasn’t embarrassed himself, but definitely needs more time in the minors. Marcano being here for that week at the end of April and sitting on the bench for just about the whole time was ridiculous.
I’ve been a bucco fan for 56 years. By far Shelton is a complete failure. They don’t need a younger manager. Best bet is for an older in one. Sort of a father figure for the youngsters. And this crap of 15 pitchers, is pure stupidity. This is the new way of managing. Let the starter ho 5 and yank them. Blew it yesterday. The worst team in baseball and Shelton loses 2 out of 3. Alarm bells. He’s nothing but a younger Hurdle
The pirates have 6 #5 starters.
I’m not surprised they’re where they are. They don’t have a guy in that rotation who can consistently give you more than 5.
A catcher with a severe Hamstring injury isn’t a good equation.
Based on the Team’s poor performance there may be more players pulling their hamstrings to not have to watch this embarrassment of a MLB Team with so many journeyman and hasbeens and won’t bees. Play the prospects and let them get some experience in the Bigs. Why do the Pirates take so long bringing their prospects to the Big League Team??? These guys continue to come up at 24-25 and other MLB are letting them play in the Bigs at 18-22???
I agree. The pirates have one of the best farm systems. It’s bull that they delay the development of the younger guys. No excuse. I’ll bet 90% of the fans agree to play the rookies, instead of journeymen junkmen
Tonight’s lineup against dodgers has Hayes leading off and Reynolds batting second. Two best hitters at top of lineup.
Shelton had to be fired immediately