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Pirates Option Cole Tucker, Six Others

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The Pirates have optioned seven players, the team announced on Twitter. They include relief pitchers Geoff Hartlieb, Sam Howard, Edgar Santana and Yacksel Rios, as well as outfielder Jason Martin and third base prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes. But the most notable name in the bunch is shortstop Cole Tucker. The 23-year-old had been hitting well in spring training before the league-wide shutdown, putting up a slash line of .296/.387./.667, much better than his 2019 big league output of .211/.266/.361.

Tucker was a well-regarded prospect going into 2019, coming in at #83 on the FanGraphs Top 100 Prospects. He went on to have an up-and-down year, getting called up and making his big league debut on April 20 before being optioned and recalled twice more as the season wore on. He ended up getting into 56 games and producing a lackluster 61 wRC+ at the plate , but balancing that out with solid enough defense at short to break even in the WAR department with 0.0, according to FanGraphs. The numbers at Baseball Reference are slightly kinder, pegging him at 64 OPS+ and 0.2 WAR.

The shortstop position in Pittsburgh is currently occupied by Kevin Newman, who put together a very nice season in 2019, with a wRC+ of 110 and 2.4 fWAR. Erik Gonzalez should be slotted into the backup role, although JT Riddle could also play some shortstop in a pinch. It seems the team thinks the best path forward for Tucker is to get regular playing time in AAA and try to force his way into the picture. “We definitely believe in Cole as an every-day player”, said Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on Twitter. “He’s young enough where we think he should be playing every day still. Certainly see him contributing at the major league level really soon.”

Pirates’ Jason Martin Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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Pirates outfielder Jason Martin underwent surgery to address a left shoulder labral tear, Adam Berry of MLB.com was among those to report. Martin is likely in line for a four- to six-month recovery period, which could be cutting it close for the start of the 2020 season.

Next year will be the third in the Pittsburgh organization for Martin, whom the Pirates acquired from the Astros as part of the teams’ trade for right-hander Gerrit Cole in January 2018. As those who follow the game know, the Houston version of Cole has been a pitching demigod, someone who has a legitimate shot at a World Series title, AL Cy Young honors and a $200MM-plus payday in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, no one it received for Cole has come close to making a star-level impact. While righty Joe Musgrove has done respectable work from the Pirates’ rotation, third baseman Colin Moran has been merely a replacement-level performer, reliever Michael Feliz hasn’t developed into a late-game force and Martin has been almost nonexistent in the majors. An eighth-round pick of the Astros in 2013, Martin just wrapped up a difficult season divided between two levels. The 24-year-old hit .259/.312/.419 with eight home runs and nine stolen bases in 406 Triple-A plate appearances, leaving him with an 83 wRC+, and slashed .250/.325/.306 with a pair of steals in his first 40 PA in the bigs.

Despite his struggles in 2019, a healthy Martin could vie for a role next year in an outfield facing some uncertainty as the winter approaches. Rookie sensation Bryan Reynolds is sure to be back in 2020, while Gregory Polanco’s set to return after an injury-wrecked campaign. On the other hand, Starling Marte looks like a trade candidate and Melky Cabrera is on his way to free agency.

Injury Notes: Dyson, Cueto, Polanco, Dominguez, Morejon

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The Twins are waiting to see how reliever Sam Dyson responds to some time off to deal with recurring biceps soreness. Chief baseball officer Derek Falvey discussed the matter with reporters including Phil Miller of the Star Tribune (Twitter link). It’s an effort to “get out ahead” of things, says Falvey. The Twins need their most significant trade deadline acquisition at top form with a major postseason clash beckoning. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been himself since coming over. Dyson owns a 7.15 ERA in a dozen appearances in Minnesota.

More injury updates from around the game …

  • Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto, on the mend from 2018 Tommy John surgery, experienced a setback in his most recent rehab outing, tweets Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News. He’ll be reevaluated in the next few days but won’t be an option for the team as soon as originally hoped. Manager Bruce Bochy had previously put a tentative date of Sept. 8 on a return for Cueto, but that no longer appears to be a plausible timeline. Back tightness, rather than arm issues, has caused the revised timeline. While there’s still hope that Cueto will make it back to the big-league bump this season, the organization will surely avoid any unnecessary risks.
  • A few Pirates outfielders won’t return to action this year, as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Twitter links). Gregory Polanco will receive platelet-rich plasma injections in a bid to spur healing in his troublesome shoulder. That’ll be a key situation to monitor in the offseason for the Pittsburgh organization. Jason Martin now has his own shoulder malady to deal with: a separation suffered yesterday. He’s expected to miss the rest of the year. Infielder Kevin Kramer will come up to the active roster due in part to Martin’s absence. Though Bucs righty Mitch Keller was hit in the wrist with a batted ball yesterday, he was able to play catch today. his timeline isn’t clear, but that certainly seems like promising news.
  • The Phillies got some promising news on righty reliever Seranthony Dominguez, who has at times seemed destined to miss the rest of the season. Despite a recent scare, he has shown enough progress in his elbow health to resume throwing, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters including Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philly (via tweet). It’s still not clear that Dominguez will have enough time to ramp up and return to active duty, though perhaps there’s still an outside shot.
  • Padres southpaw Adrian Morejon will not make it back to the bigs in 2019, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. That’s not to say that the widely hailed 20-year-old isn’t making progress. His injured shoulder is in good enough shape to allow Morejon to resume throwing. Though he struggled quite a bit in limited MLB action, Morejon has generally shown all the skills that made him a consensus top-100 leaguewide prospect. He’ll likely again factor into the San Diego plans next season, though he’ll do so without much of an innings base to work from. Morejon has not yet thrown more than 65 1/3 frames in a given campaign and fell shy of that mark this year.

Pirates Select Steven Baron

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The Pirates have selected the contract of catcher Steven Baron, per a club announcement. Also heading onto the active roster are outfielder Jason Martin, righty Yacksel Rios, and infielder Cole Tucker.

While the Bucs have plans to pursue upgrades at the catching position in the long run, the club needs to stay afloat at the position for the meantime. The Pittsburgh organization recently bid adieu to veteran Francisco Cervelli, leaving a timeshare situation with Elias Diaz and Jacob Stallings.

Baron, 28, has twice previous received brief MLB stints but has managed only one hit in 16 plate appearances. He was hitting a paltry .180/.264/.248 in 149 trips to the dish this year at Triple-A. Baron is a former first-round pick of the Mariners.

Pirates Place Gregory Polanco On 10-Day IL

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The Pirates have placed outfielder Gregory Polanco on the 10-Day IL with left shoulder inflammation, the team announced. Outfielder Jason Martin has been recalled in his place. It’s the same shoulder on which Polanco underwent major surgery in the offseason, resulting in a month-long absence at the season’s outset. The move is retroactive to Wednesday, however, so it may just be a minor setback for the 29-year-old.

The lefty has struggled in his first 42 games for the team this season, slashing just .242/.301/.425 (89 wRC+) with an easily-career-high 29.3% strikeout rate. Polanco’s (left) throwing arm has graded out as subpar for the first time in his six-year big-league career thus far, so it’s certainly possible the shoulder is still giving him issue.

Martin, 23, was acquired from Houston as part of the Gerrit Cole deal, but has not been good after a midseason promotion to Triple-A in 2018. He boasts identical 65 wRC+ marks at Indianapolis both this season and last, and a 17-game cameo with Pittsburgh earlier in ’19 did not go well, as the rare lefty hitter/righty thrower slashed just .229/.289/.286 in limited action.

Rookie Bryan Reynolds has been a godsend for a beleaguered Pirate outfield thus far, but the team’ll need plenty of help elsewhere if it’s to overcome the six-under-.500 hole in which it currently sits.

Pirates Place Kyle Crick On 10-Day IL, Recall OF Jason Martin

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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.

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