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Gregory Polanco Cleared To Resume Workouts With Pirates

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After news broke last week that Gregory Polanco had tested positive for the coronavirus, Pirates manager Derek Shelton told reporters (including MLB.com’s Adam Berry) that the outfielder had been cleared to resume training with the club.  According to Polanco’s personal Instagram page, he has already working out at PNC Park in preparation for his 2020 debut.

No specific timeline was given for when Polanco might return, after missing roughly two weeks of training and on-field action.  “As soon as we feel or deem his body is ready to come back, then he will be able to come back, assessment-wise,” Shelton said.  “We’re going to make sure that he’s in a position where his body is deemed healthy.”

2018 seemed like a breakout campaign for the outfielder, though the shoulder surgery that Polanco underwent late that season ended up being a lingering problem throughout 2019.  Polanco played in only 42 games and hit a lackluster .242/.301/.425 over 167 plate appearances.

Assuming he can come back with a healthy shoulder and in anything close to his 2018 form, Polanco will provide a big boost to Pittsburgh’s outfield.  Polanco is slated to eventually take over in right field, with he and Bryan Reynolds flanking the center field platoon of Jarrod Dyson and Guillermo Heredia.

Predict The NL Central Winner

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With final roster decisions in the books and the 2020 season underway at long last, it’s time to make some predictions. We’ve started to poll the MLBTR readership on each of the game’s six divisions — starting with the AL Central. With plenty more teams primed to crack the postseason under the inclusive new playoff qualification system, let’s jump the pond and take a look at the NL Central.

Kyle Hendricks gave the Cubs an early lead in the division yesterday with a 2 1/2 hour complete game shutout of the Brewers. The Reds were right there with them in blowing away the Tigers. Many believe the Reds won the offseason, and their beefed-up lineup looks to bullrush the rest of the division. Matt Davidson took the Reds’ DH at-bats in game one, but newcomers Mike Moustakas and Nicholas Castellanos will cycle through as well. The pitching is underrated, and they’re going to be a force. The Brewers roll out two of the most impactful rostered players in the sport in Josh Hader and Christian Yelich, a dangerous pair of superstars in a short season. The Pirates are an organization in transition, and if they manage a string together a competitive 60-game season, it’ll be a surprise. Until a new champ is crowned, however, the Cardinals remain the toast of the NL Central. With Carlos Martinez back in the rotation and Matt Carpenter set to take a healthy slate of DH at-bats, the 2020 Cardinals are a slightly different shape, but no less formidable.

Which team do you think is the best of the bunch? (Poll link for app users.)

Blue Jays To Play Home Games In Buffalo

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The Blue Jays will play their home games for the 2020 season at their Triple-A site in Buffalo, reports Dan Connolly of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Jays have been searching for a home site since government regulations in Canada ruled out Toronto’s Rogers Centre. They thought they’d reached a deal with the Pirates to utilize Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, but the Pennsylvania Department of Health quashed that plan. The Blue Jays also explored the possibility of playing at Camden Yards in Baltimore, which the Orioles reportedly approved, but that arrangement was also pending government approval in Maryland.

All the while, the Jays have reportedly been working to upgrade their facilities at Buffalo’s Sahen Field, bringing the clubhouses lighting up to par with MLB standards (or at least as close as possible). The organization’s strong preference has been to play its home games at a Major League facility, but it seems they’ll instead settle in a familiar setting for many of the club’s young players.

The Jays have since officially confirmed the report, issuing a statement which indicates they’ll stage the “majority” of its 2020 home games in Buffalo. Said president and CEO Mark Shapiro within the release:

“This process has no doubt tested our team’s resilience, but our players and staff refuse to make excuses – we are determined to take the field on Opening Day today, and for the coming months, with the same intensity and competitiveness that our fans expect.”

Pirates Select Evans, Holland, Turley

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The Pirates have selected the contracts of Phillip Evans, Derek Holland and Nik Turley. They’ll all be a part of the team’s Opening Day roster.

Holland has long been expected to win a spot in the Pittsburgh rotation — and that was before Chris Archer underwent thoracic outlet surgery. The 33-year-old had a miserable season with the Giants in 2019 but enjoyed a strong year there the previous season when he logged a 3.57 ERA and 3.87 FIP with nearly a strikeout per frame in 171 1/3 innings. He’ll join Joe Musgrove, Trevor Williams, Mitch Keller and Steven Brault in the Buccos’ rotation to open the season. There’s some upside there, particularly with Keller, but the Pirates will need some breaks for that staff to function as an average unit.

The 27-year-old Evans has just 34 MLB games and 61 plate appearances under his belt — all coming with the Mets. He’s played all four infield positions and left field as a pro, but spent the most time at second and third base. Evans slashed .283/.371/.470 in 539 plate appearances with the Cubs’ Triple-A club last year, walking nearly as often as he struck out (10.7 percent versus 13.6 percent).

Turley, 30, hasn’t pitched in the Majors or minors since 2017 due to an 80-game PED suspension and an elbow injury. He posted brilliant numbers for the Twins’ Double-A and Triple-A clubs that season (2.15 ERA, 124-to-29 K/BB ratio in 92 frames) but was clobbered in the Majors. The Pirates have continued to try to get Turley into the mix since claiming him from Minnesota a couple years ago, and it seems he’ll finally get his shot in 2020.

Blue Jays Will Reportedly Play 2020 Home Games In Pittsburgh

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JULY 21: The Blue Jays will play “home” games at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park this year, Hazel Mae of Sportsnet reports.

JULY 20, 3:18pm: The Pirates issued a statement Monday confirming they’re in “active discussions” with MLB and the Blue Jays about Toronto playing in Pittsburgh.

1:00pm: The Orioles’ Camden Yards has emerged as a possible destination for the Blue Jays, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports. General manager Ross Atkins said Monday (via Dan Shulman of ESPN) that “our focus is on getting into a major league facility.”

8:24am: The Jays have sent operations people to Buffalo to assess Sahlen Field, Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets. They’d need “about a week” to repair lighting and clubhouse issues, according to Mitchell.

JULY 19: After the Canadian government denied approval for the Blue Jays to play games in Toronto this season, the Jays still don’t know where they still be playing just 10 days removed from their first scheduled “home” game, hosting the Nationals on July 29.

To this end, a number of different options are being explored, such as another Major League venue — Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.  Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Jays have “looked into playing select home games at PNC Park in 2020.”  As noted by Mackey in a follow-up tweet, the Blue Jays and Pirates only share seven conflicting dates for home games, with six of those coming after September 7.

If nothing else, a temporary move to Pittsburgh would give the Jays some time to spend the next six weeks getting another stadium up to Major League standards.  For instance, there has been some hint that Buffalo’s Sahlen Field (home of the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate) could undergo the clubhouse, lighting and overall infrastructure upgrades necessary to host MLB games, though nothing has been finalized on that front.

Talking to reporters (including Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi) yesterday, Blue Jays president/CEO Mark Shapiro was “confident that Buffalo is a viable alternative,” even while noting that a move to Sahlen Field is “not a done deal.”  By comparison, the Jays’ Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Florida is “100 per cent seamless right now and ready to go….but from a player-health standpoint has some challenges,” given Florida’s COVID-19 spike.

Looking at the most recent coronavirus data, Pennsylvania is doing relatively well in managing its COVID-19 cases, though its most severely-hit region is Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located.  Areas with large population centers will naturally have bigger COVID numbers than less densely-populated areas, of course, though it underscores the difficulty faced by the Jays since all adequate MLB-level facilities in major cities.

If the Jays are discussing a possible timeshare with the Pirates, it stands to reason they’re exploring arrangements with other teams as well.  Shapiro mentioned “other alternatives” besides Buffalo and Dunedin that were under consideration, and right-hander Anthony Bass told the Associated Press and other media that GM Ross Atkins prioritized finding a Major League stadium after discussions with players.

“I just said, ’Look, we want to play in a major league ballpark.  We feel that’s the best opportunity for us,’ and he agreed and said, ’I listened to you guys loud and clear and that’s what we’re going to do for you because that’s what the team wants,’ “ Bass said.

Pirates Select Contracts Of Robbie Erlin, John Ryan Murphy

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The Pirates have selected the contracts of lefty Robbie Erlin and catcher John Ryan Murphy, per the team’s transactions page. Both had been assigned to the alternate training site but will now join the 40-man roster.

These moves were obviously made with an eye to structuring the Bucs’ Opening Day roster. With thirty roster spots to fill, the rebuilding club has quite a lot of openings to tinker with. These two players — both of whom are 29 years of age, were selected in the early rounds of the 2009 draft, and debuted in 2013 — are among the beneficiaries.

There was an especially clear need behind the dish in Pittsburgh. Murphy has never fully established himself as a MLB-caliber hitter, with a cumulative .219/.265/.357 slash line over 674 total plate appearances. But he’s trusted to handle backstop duties, having appeared with four different organizations over the past seven seasons.

Like most teams, the Pirates are likely to dedicate much of their added roster availability to pitching. Erlin will join a number of other arms hoping for their names to be called in on the bullpen phone. He could end up functioning as a situational lefty and/or long reliever. The 29-year-old carries a 4.57 ERA in 313 total MLB innings, all with the Padres.

George Kontos Retires

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Longtime major league reliever George Kontos has hung up his cleats, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. The 35-year-old Kontos hasn’t pitched since the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate released him last August, but he will stay in baseball as an analyst with NBC Sports Bay Area.

“I did have some inclinations from early on when I was a player in San Francisco that one day this might be the route that I would take,” Kontos told Pavlovic on the Giants Insider Podcast. “It’s definitely nice to be coming back to the black and orange and being around San Francisco again.”

The right-handed Kontos was a fifth-round pick of the Yankees in 2006, but the majority of his work as a big leaguer came as a member of the Giants. He notched quality results with the club from 2012-17 – a 309 2/3-inning span in which he logged a 3.05 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 2.06 BB/9. Kontos was also part of a pair of World Series-winning Giants teams.

Along with the Yankees (with whom he debuted in 2011 and spent time with again in 2018) and Giants, Kontos saw major league action with the Pirates and Indians. All told, he amassed 357 innings of 3.10 ERA ball in the bigs over parts of eight seasons. MLBTR congratulates Kontos on a successful career and wishes him the best in his new role.

Ke’Bryan Hayes Tests Positive For COVID-19

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Star prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes hasn’t participated in the Pirates’ camp, and manager Derek Shelton revealed today (with Hayes’ permission) that the 23-year-old has tested positive for the coronavirus.  Shelton told MLB.com’s Adam Berry and other reporters that Hayes was still in quarantine, though gave no hint as to when Hayes could be ready to participate.  Since Hayes never arrived at camp, it can be assumed that he tested positive during the initial round of intake tests.

Hayes is seen as both Pittsburgh’s top position player prospect and one of the more intriguing minor leaguers in the sport, featuring highly on top-100 prospect lists.  Prior to the 2020 season, Fangraphs was the most bullish on Hayes with a #30 ranking, while Baseball Prospectus’ 63rd-place ranking was the third baseman’s lowest showing.  Picked 32nd overall in the 2015 draft, Hayes has already drawn raves for his fielding ability at third base, while his bat has shown promise (.279/.354/.399 over 1991 minor league plate appearances) but was still something of a work in progress.

Hayes was seen as a lock to debut sometime in 2020, and presumably could still be in line for some playing time at the MLB level should he recover relatively soon.  Depending on how long Hayes is out and how long it would take him to prepare in a training camp scenario, however, the Pirates could decide to hold off on starting his service time clock until the 2021 season.  Beyond the contractual control logistics, the Bucs also naturally want to be as safe as possible with their star youngster, and bring him along in a way that doesn’t impede his development.

Pirates’ Luke Maile Undergoes Finger Surgery

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After being hit by a pitch on Thursday, Pirates catcher Luke Maile suffered a fractured right index finger that required surgical repair, according to team press release.  Maile underwent the procedure yesterday and will be kept out of baseball activities for the next 10-12 weeks, effectively ending his 2020 season.

Maile signed a one-year split contract with the Pirates last December, and the unfortunate injury news will now keep the 29-year-old backstop from participating in what would have been his sixth big league season.  Maile has a .198/.252/.304 career slash line over 657 plate appearances with the Rays and Blue Jays, and was non-tendered by Toronto over the offseason.  Despite his lack of offense, Maile has been a pretty solid defensive catcher, and he had been tabbed as the top backup choice behind Jacob Stallings in Pittsburgh.

Stallings and John Ryan Murphy were the only other catchers with the Bucs’ initial Summer Camp player pool, so Murphy is now the favorite for backup duty.  Like Murphy, Andrew Susac is also in the organization on a minor league deal, and Rule 5 pick Christian Kelley is on hand for further depth.  With Maile now out of the picture, it seems likely the Pirates will be on the lookout for any veteran catchers who become available as teams make roster cuts in the coming days.

Gregory Polanco Tests Positive For Coronavirus

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Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco has tested positive for the coronavirus, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic was among those to report.

Polanco has been out of Pirates Summer Camp for almost the entire week, making this an unsurprising development. However, it’s unclear whether he’s dealing with severe symptoms or whether he’ll be able to return in short order. The same goes for two of his teammates, reliever Keone Kela (whom the team placed on the injured list Friday) and third base prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes. They’ve also been absent from camp.

From an on-field standpoint, Polanco is one of the Pirates’ most important players. He was a solid producer as recently as the 2018 season, in which he batted .254/.340/.499 with 23 home runs and 12 stolen bases in 535 plate appearances. But Polanco couldn’t build on that during an injury-plagued 2019 that saw him take just 167 PA and bat .242/.301/.425 with six HRs and three steals.

Now, as Jason Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote Thursday, the Polanco-less Pirates could turn to any of Guillermo Heredia, Socrates Brito, Adam Frazier or Jose Osuna in right field. Bryan Reynolds figures to start in left, while Jarrod Dyson should occupy center.

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