Within about twenty minutes this afternoon, Charlie posted over at Bucs Dugout about how Jordy Mercer really deserves a shot with the Pirates this year, then 93.7's Dan Zangrilli tweeted this:
Hearing from sources that Jordy Mercer will likely be brought up from AAA… #Pirates @937thefan
— Dan Zangrilli (@DanZangrilli) May 3, 2013
Charlie's exactly right about Mercer and John McDonald, of course. McDonald is basically a luxury piece that lets you pinch hit for Clint Barmes and still get a reasonable replacement for his defense, but he creates a bit of a conundrum in that his very existence on the bench limits the number of viable pinch hitters that are available. Barmes has been wonderful defensively at shortstop these past two years, but he's only getting worse at the plate and that really says something. He's also a free agent at the end of the season and Mercer is the only person that even resembles a viable internal option. It's time to get Jordy Mercer some at-bats as a pinch hitter and maybe a once-or-twice-a-week shorstop. There's really nothing to lose at this point.
There's no word on the corresponding move yet. I'd assume that either McDonald will be given his walking papers or Neil Walker will be actually going on the disabled list after hogging up a roster spot for the last week.
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