It’s been pretty obvious since Josh Harrison was recalled when Derrek Lee went on the disabled list, but the corresponding move to Jose Tabata’s activation off of the disabled list tonight is Pedro Alvarez being demoted to Triple-A. I’ve tried to write about Pedro for the last week or so, but I’ve had a hard time hitting the tone I’ve wanted and so I’ve kept it unpublished. I’m really quite worried about his future after the way he’s hit this year coupled with his slumps last year, but it’s still way, way too soon to give up on the guy.
I was one of the people that thought that he was ready to come back after his short stint in Indianapolis after his injury, but I was pretty obviously wrong there. He needs to work on his approach at the plate on a daily basis, and he needs to do it somewhere where he won’t have to face big league breaking pitches and LOOGYs. It’s hard to see what value there was in having him strike out in almost one of every three plate appearances, because it’s pretty hard to learn with that sort of negative reinforcement. I can’t believe I’m about to type this, but I’m much more interested in seeing Brandon Wood play third base every day in his absence than I am in watching Josh Harrison’s awful, awful plate patience. I suspect that Harrison’s scrappiness and age will earn him a large share of the starts, though.
Tabata’s comeback is the more important news here, though. I think the Pirates are going to have to trade one of their speedy young outfielders this winter and while I currently think that selling high on Alex Presley is the best idea (this is obviously its own post at some point in the future), I think they really, really need to know what they have in Tabata as they go into the winter. His added plate patience this year is a big boon to his future as a leadoff hitter and his early-season power surge was promising, but it’d be great to see him close the season out with a strong six weeks.
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