As you’ve likely heard by now, Clint Hurdle and Jeff Banister are the two finalists for the Pirates’ managerial opening. Despite Jon Heyman’s tweet, I’m sticking with what I’ve been saying for a while; that Banister is probably going to get the job.
Meanwhile there’s a bunch of roster moves to mention today: Wil Ledezma signed a contract to avoid arbitration and outrighted Brandon Moss, Justin Thomas, Sean Gallagher, Steven Jackson, and Jeff Clement to the minors. Thomas, Gallagher, and Jackson are ultimately not that all that interesting (Gallagher could maybe be useful in the bullpen, but the Pirates have plenty of arms that fit that bill at this point and he’s not really among the best). Moving Moss and Clement off the roster is significant, though: it goes a ways towards clearing up the four-corner logjam that’s been much-discussed over the last couple months.
It’s hard to argue with the choices, though. Moss didn’t perform terribly well in Triple-A after his demotion last year and Clement struggled with both injuries and a sloooooow swing. I’d much rather see guys like Milledge, Bowker, and Pearce stay on the roster than either of these two at this point. Moss can (and probably will) declare minor league free agency; Clement can’t quite yet, though I think he’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this year. With his injury struggles there’s a chance he’ll stay with the Pirates, which would be great, but I’m not sure the Pirates are losing something that they don’t already have if they do lose him.
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