Pirates Rumors

NL Central Notes: Brewers, Cubs, Reds, Pirates

By charliewilmoth | September 18, 2016 at 5:39pm CDT

Time will tell whether the Brewers can follow the Cubs’ path back to contention, but it would help if Brewers GM David Stearns ended up with Theo Epstein’s trade record, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. The Cubs acquired Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks and Addison Russell in a series of terrific trades. They’ve also added Jon Lester, Jason Heyward, John Lackey and Ben Zobrist via the free agent market, but the smaller-payroll Brewers won’t be able to depend on a similar infusion of talent. Here’s more from the NL Central.

The Reds are still hoping for the returns of several key injured players, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes. Zack Cozart (knee soreness), Billy Hamilton (oblique strain), Homer Bailey (biceps tenderness) and Cody Reed (back tightness) are all currently unavailable, but of the four, only Reed has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Bailey threw a bullpen session Sunday, and Cozart and Hamilton are both rehabbing their injuries. Of course, there’s little time left for them to return, and manager Bryan Price characterizes the likelihood of a Hamilton return as “improbable,” but he wants to keep the door open. “The easy thing is to shut down — that’s the easiest thing in the world is to shut everyone down,” says Price. “However, that’s not a culture that we really want to build here. … And unless these guys are deemed incapable of playing, they should be working hard to get back on the field and I think they are.”
The Pirates could still theoretically win a playoff berth, but if their remote postseason chances do evaporate, their distribution of playing time is unlikely to chance much, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. “Look at the at-bats that Adam Frazier and Josh Bell are getting, look at the innings that (Jameson) Taillon, (Steve) Brault and now (Tyler) Glasnow are getting, and (Felipe) Rivero is an anchor in our bullpen,” says GM Neal Huntington. “We don’t feel like we’ve got a veteran who’s taking innings or at-bats from a young player that necessarily we would change if we were to get eliminated.” Huntington does allow that Glasnow could get a turn in the Bucs’ rotation before the end of the season.

Latest On Ivan Nova, Pirates’ Offseason

By Connor Byrne | September 18, 2016 at 1:27pm CDT

The Pirates acquired Ivan Nova from the Yankees without much fanfare at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, but the right-hander has since turned into Pittsburgh’s latest successful reclamation project. Nova had a rough showing against the Reds on Sunday, but he entered the contest with a 2.41 ERA to pair with an even more impressive 0.52 BB/9 in 52 1/3 innings with the Pirates. As an impending free agent, Nova’s breakout might go down as a bittersweet development for the Bucs, who could lose him after the season.

“He has obviously changed the direction of his winter in the last six weeks,” manager Clint Hurdle admitted to Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Nova, 29, was back-of-the-rotation fodder in New York over the past couple seasons, but he’s likely to cash in soon as an appealing arm in a free agent market that will be largely devoid of them. It will also help Nova’s cause that the Pirates won’t be able to tender him a qualifying offer, which would force another team to give up a first-round pick to sign him. J.A. Happ, who was dominant with the Pirates after they acquired him from Seattle a year ago, also didn’t have a qualifying offer weighing him down when he hit free agency last winter. That, combined with his down-the-stretch performance in Pittsburgh, earned him a three-year, $36MM deal with the Blue Jays.

While many are quick to credit highly regarded pitching coach Ray Searage when an unheralded pickup fares well with the Pirates, Hurdle told Nesbitt that the team hasn’t had Nova make any significant changes since it landed him.

“There’s been no major overhaul,” Hurdle said. “For Nova, the downhill angle has been there, the strike-throwing efficiency has been there. It’s just been a couple things he has tightened up.”

In addition to Nova, the Pirates will have offseason decisions to make on other free agents, including reliever Neftali Feliz and a pair of position players – outfielder Matt Joyce and utilityman Sean Rodriguez – writes Nesbitt. All three signed inexpensive one-year deals with the Bucs last offseason, and Joyce and Rodriguez have been especially effective in 2016. As a result, they’re in line for raises. Joyce, who’s on a $1MM salary, has batted a stellar .248/.408/.481 with 12 home runs in 262 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from the .174/.272/.291 line and five homers he put up in 284 PAs with the Angels last year. Rodriguez, a $2.5MM player, has slashed a career-best .266/.349/.516 with 16 homers in 293 trips to the plate. Along the way, the 31-year-old has spent time at every position but pitcher and catcher.

Elsewhere on the roster, arbitration-eligible pitchers Juan Nicasio, Jared Hughes, Jeff Locke and Wade LeBlanc are potential non-tender candidates, per Nesbitt. Nicasio and Hughes have been superior to Locke and LeBlanc, both of whom seem likely to go. Locke will be due a raise over his $3.025MM salary despite having posted ugly numbers (5.49 ERA, 1.64 K/BB ratio) in 126 1/3 innings this year. LeBlanc, meanwhile, joined the Pirates on Tuesday after they picked him up in a trade with Seattle. The Mariners previously designated him for assignment in late August.

NL Notes: Rockies, Pirates, Cardinals

By Connor Byrne | September 18, 2016 at 10:17am CDT

Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post doubts the Rockies will bring back manager Walt Weiss, whose contract expires after the season, but he argues that it would be hypocritical of loyalty-preaching owner Dick Monfort to let Weiss go. “It’s a bottom-line business,” said Weiss, with whom the Rockies have gone 279-355 since 2013. At 71-77, the Rockies are currently on track to post their best record under Weiss, who deserves a two-year deal, opines Kiszla. Colorado’s talent has clearly increased lately, as evidenced by 24-year-old right-hander Jon Gray’s complete game, 16-strikeout performance in an 8-0 win over San Diego on Saturday. Weiss agrees, telling Kiszla, “There’s more talent in the stable than in the past. With the horses in this stable, there are more thoroughbreds.

More from Colorado and two other National League cities:

The recent emergence of another talented Rockies player in his early 20s, Raimel Tapia, has added to an already crowded outfield, writes the Denver Post’s Nick Kosmider, who adds that the team will have some interesting offseason decisions to make because of it. Kosmider wonders if the Rockies will once again deal an outfielder to upgrade their weak bullpen during the offseason. Colorado tried that last winter, sending Corey Dickerson to the Rays for Jake McGee, but the left-hander has been part of the problem for the Rockies’ beleaguered relief corps this year. Among the Rockies’ outfielders is offseason signing Gerardo Parra, who inked a three-year, $27.5MM deal in free agency. Parra, like McGee, has been a major disappointment in his initial season with the Rockies, but the club does like that he has shown an ability to play first base. “How much time he gets over there in the future, I don’t know. But it’s nice to be able to have that,” general manager Jeff Bridich told Kosmider.
At 74-74 and five games out of a wild-card spot, the Pirates have gone backward this year after three straight playoff seasons. There are a slew of reasons for the team’s decline, as Travis Sawchuk of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review details. One cause has been the starting rotation, where low-ceiling offseason acquisitions Jon Niese and Ryan Vogelsong have contributed little this year. The Pirates traded second baseman Neil Walker to the Mets last offseason for Niese, who pitched to a 4.91 ERA in 110 innings with Pittsburgh before it sent him back to New York for reliever Antonio Bastardo on Aug. 1. Vogelsong, a buy-low signing in free agency, has recorded a 4.87 ERA in 68 1/3 innings. In previous years, the Bucs gambled on high-upside starters like A.J. Burnett, Francisco Liriano and Edinson Volquez, all of whom panned out and helped lead them to the playoffs.
Like NL Central rival Pittsburgh, the Cardinals have also endured a less-than-ideal season. The 77-71 Redbirds are two games behind the Mets for the NL’s second wild-card spot and are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2010. That’s thanks in part to team-wide baserunning issues, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Cardinals are the majors’ fifth-worst baserunning team, per FanGraphs, after ranking a more respectable 15th last season. GM John Mozeliak is now formulating a plan to improve baserunning throughout the organization, having already spoken with special assistant Willie McGee, scout Kerry Robinson and farm director Gary LaRocque, according to Goold. “You get so much performance training that maybe there are times you forget about the need to strengthen the baseball skills,” Mozeliak said. “Baseball skills are hitting, defense, and baserunning. What do we need to do to make sure focusing on doesn’t detract from the others?”

Injury Notes: Hamilton, Reed, De La Rosa, Anderson, Kazmir, Oh, Marte

By Steve Adams | September 16, 2016 at 11:04pm CDT

The Reds announced this morning that outfielder Billy Hamilton and left-hander Cody Reed have been placed on the disabled list due to a left oblique injury and lower back spasm, respectively. The moves are retroactive to Sept. 5, but given the fact that rosters are currently expanded, the DL placements likely end the season for the pair of promising young talents. Hamilton, who turned 26 a week ago, enjoyed what has been his best overall season at the Major League level in 2016, hitting .260/.321/.343 in 460 plate appearances. While those numbers certainly don’t stand out, especially not when considering Hamilton’s home park, the .321 OBP is a career-best and represents a marked step forward for a player that posted just a .285 on-base percentage from 2014-15. Of course, he’s also a top-flight defender (13 runs above average per both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating) and the game’s best baserunner (he easily leads the league with 12.9 runs above average on the basepaths, per Fangraphs). Though he’s dealt with some bumps and bruises this year, things are pointing up for Hamilton as he reaches arbitration eligibility this fall. As for the 23-year-old Reed, his debut campaign wasn’t quite what he might’ve hoped. He did manager to strike out 8.1 batters per nine innings, against 3.6 walks, but compiled only a 7.36 ERA over 47 2/3 frames in ten starts. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to earn a rotation spot out of camp for 2017.

Here are some more injury notes from around the game:

It had seemed that Diamondbacks righty Rubby De La Rosa would be shut down for the year due to ongoing elbow soreness, but that may no longer be the case. As Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets, manager Chip Hale says there’s still a chance that De La Rosa could return at the tail end of 2016. He’ll throw side sessions and perhaps even sim games while the team assesses both the health of his elbow and his command, per the skipper. “Maybe the last week of the season we get him in a game to see what he looks like,” said Hale.
The Dodgers put Brett Anderson on the hill tonight in the Triple-A playoffs and he provided five solid frames, as MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick reports. He is working back from a blister, and showed well with five strikeouts and zero free passes while allowing just one run on three hits. With the victory, Triple-A Oklahoma City stayed alive, meaning that fellow southpaw Scott Kazmir will take his own turn at a rehab outing, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). Kazmir has been battling thoracic spinal inflammation, and his timeline has remained murky. It’ll be interesting to see whether either or both starters play a role down the stretch or in the postseason for the Dodgers. Kazmir is likely not to opt out of his contract regardless, but Anderson will be looking to show that he’s at full health entering another run at free agency. Still just 28 years of age, back issues have limited Anderson to just a pair of major league outings thus far — neither of which went well at all.
Cardinals closer Seung-hwan Oh is back in action after resting a groin injury, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets. Oh has been a tremendous find for St. Louis, providing 72 1/3 innings of 1.87 ERA ball on the year, and his return will be critical with just two weeks to go. His 2017 option is already guaranteed — he has accumulated exactly the thirty games finished that he needed — but the team was already surely excited to pick it up at just $2.75MM.
The Pirates are still awaiting the return of outfielder Starling Marte, who has dealt with back spasms. Skipper Clint Hurdle says that he believes Marte will be ready to go tomorrow, as Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets. Unfortunately, it’s likely too late for the talented outfielder to impact the team’s postseason chances; Pittsburgh sat 5.5 games out of Wild Card position entering play today. The multi-talented 27-year-old has turned in another high-quality campaign, with a .311/.362/.457 batting line, nine home runs, and 47 steals, and his extension continues to look like an outstanding investment.

NL Notes: Wright, deGrom, Matz, Kang, Padres Prospects

By Jeff Todd | September 14, 2016 at 12:46pm CDT

A trip to the doctor resulted in generally positive news for Mets third baseman David Wright, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports. Wright’s surgically-repaired neck is said to be healing as hoped, though Wright will not even be able to do full-scale workouts until next spring. Still, it seems that he and the team have reason to hope that he’ll be able to attempt a comeback for 2017.

Meanwhile, the Mets are considering an interesting way of working injured starters Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz back into the major league mix, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo was among those to report. If both are ready to pitch, but not handle a full starter’s workload, then the pair could work in tandem in a single outing, skipper Terry Collins suggested. With wins at a premium, that ought to represent a potent one-two punch, especially since the righty/lefty combo would be hard to match up against.
It doesn’t appear as if the investigation into sexual assault allegations against Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang is progressing much, as Andrew Goldstein of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The Chicago police who are looking into the claims say that they are not having success in making contact with the woman who says she was assaulted by the Korean star. At this time, though, it appears that it still remains an open matter. The police “are seeking clarification on several items to corroborate the allegations made,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has stated that the league will not take action on the matter until the investigation has progressed.
Four significant Padres prospects have notably yet to receive major league promotions this year, as Jason Martinez of MLBTR and Roster Resource recently explored. The organization has preferred to keep those players together for the Triple-A playoffs, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell writes, with manager Andy Green saying that more call-ups are expected once the PCL campaign has wrapped up. Catcher Austin Hedges seems to be an easy call now that a promotion won’t cost the team a year of control, as he’s already on the 40-man and the team just lost Christian Bethancourt. Manuel Margot is also on the 40-man, but the team may wish to watch his service time. Meanwhile, a bump for outfielder Hunter Renfroe and/or infielder Carlos Asuaje could make sense since both need roster spots this winter for Rule 5 protection.

Pirates Shut Down Gerrit Cole For Remainder Of Year

By Jeff Todd | September 13, 2016 at 3:49pm CDT

The Pirates have shut down star right-hander Gerrit Cole for the rest of the season, as Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first suggested on Twitter. It does not seem as if there is any concern about a significant injury, with the team likely deciding that it isn’t worth continuing to press a critical piece of the team’s future rotation.

Cole is continuing to deal with discomfort and inflammation in his right elbow, Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. Specifically, per a club announcement, “posterior inflammation” is the reason that Cole will end his year on the 60-day DL.

Things didn’t go well for Cole in his recent outing, as he tried to return from brief rest. While the big righty was working in the mid-to-upper nineties, he surrendered five earned runs on four hits and four walks in just two innings of work.

Pirates Acquire Wade LeBlanc

By Jeff Todd | September 13, 2016 at 3:10pm CDT

The Pirates have acquired southpaw Wade LeBlanc from the Mariners, the teams announced. Seattle will receive a player to be named later or cash considerations in the deal.

LeBlanc, 32, was outrighted after his fifty-inning big league run for the M’s this year. He worked to a 4.50 ERA in that span, with a useful 7.4 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9.

Pirates Activate Gerrit Cole

By Jeff Todd | September 12, 2016 at 5:25pm CDT

The Pirates have activated righty Gerrit Cole to take the ball tonight, per a team announcement. That certainly represents the best case scenario for the staff ace, who hit the shelf about two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the tide has turned quite a bit in the mean time. Pittsburgh sat just a half game out of Wild Card position when Cole went on the DL, but is now buried a full six games out of the postseason picture.

Even if the playoffs are no longer particularly realistic, there’s still plenty for Cole to pitch for. The righty, who turned 26 during his DL stint, is filling out a stat sheet before his first trip through arbitration this winter.

The 2016 hasn’t been as productive as the one before it, though Cole still carries a 3.55 ERA. From an arb perspective, his 114 frames to date will limit his earnings. Of greater concern from an on-field perspective is the decline in Cole’s strikeout ability (from about 10% swinging strike rate to 8.4%). Cole has received mixed reviews from ERA estimators, with a 3.16 FIP but only a 3.94 xFIP and 4.16 SIERA.

Josh Harrison Out Remainder Of Season Due To Groin Strain

By Steve Adams | September 12, 2016 at 2:50pm CDT

The Pirates have issued a press release announcing that infielder Josh Harrison has suffered a right groin strain and is projected to require four to six weeks in order to recover, thus ruling him out for the remainder of the regular season. Should the Pirates make a last-minute surge and find themselves in the postseason, Harrison could potentially return in mid-October if his recovery period proves to be on the shorter end of the spectrum provided by the team. Harrison tells MLB.com’s Adam Berry that he’ll perform his rehab with the team and continue to travel with the club (Twitter link).

Harrison, 29, will see his regular season come to a close with a .283/.311/.388 batting line, four homers and a career-high 19 stolen bases on the year. Though he’s capable of playing all over the diamond, Harrison has served as Pittsburgh’s primary second baseman this season, with David Freese manning third base in the lengthy absences of Jung Ho Kang, Jordy Mercer handling shortstop and Sean Rodriguez filling in at three infield spots and both corner outfield positions.

Harrison is in the second season of a four-year, $27.3MM contract extension that was signed early in the 2015 season and called for him to earn a reasonable $5MM in 2016. He’s guaranteed salaries of $7.5MM and $10MM in each of the next two seasons, and the Bucs have club options that are worth $10.5MM and $11MM, respectively, for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. While Harrison hasn’t played up to the standard that earned him that contract — he batted .315/.347/.490 with a career-best 13 homers in 2014 — he’s been a useful piece for the Pirates in each of the past two seasons and figures to continue to operate as such moving forward. The power he displayed in 2014 always seemed a bit dubious — six of his homers that year were of the “just enough” variety, and he’d never topped seven homers in a previous professional season — but Harrison has maintained his excellent contact skills (14.6 percent strikeout rate this year), delivered consistently above-average value on the basepaths and provided perennially above-average defense at second base.

NL Notes: Pirates, Rockies, Phillies, Reds

By Connor Byrne | September 11, 2016 at 2:20pm CDT

Since the Pirates acquired Ivan Nova from the Yankees prior to the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, the right-hander has unexpectedly performed like a top-of-the-rotation starter. In seven starts and 46 1/3 innings with the Bucs, Nova has recorded a 2.54 ERA while tossing two complete games and amassing 32 strikeouts against a paltry two walks. Part of the reason for Nova’s success is the Pirates’ stadium, PNC Park, he told Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “It’s not like pitching in Baltimore or Boston, Toronto, where the ball flies, or New York. A fly ball, (and) it’s a homer,” said Nova, whose new venue has the largest left field in the majors, per Sawchik. Yankee Stadium, on the other hand, has the league’s shallowest right field and is among its most home run-friendly venues. The change in parks has been timely for Nova, a free agent-to-be who is likely pitching his way to an appreciable raise over his current salary of $4.1MM.

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