How will the Pittsburgh Pirates arrange their second half rotation?
Suddenly the Pittsburgh Pirates have a problem.
Usually having too much talent is a good problem to have, but when it comes down to the Pirates starting rotation, the organization will have to be very smart with the five guys it chooses to use following the All-Star break or the team could risk losing any momentum they gained over the course of the past few weeks.
The Pirates logjam on the mound features Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, Jon Niese, Jeff Locke, Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow, Chad Kuhl, and Steven Brault.
You can even throw the rehabbing Ryan Vogelsong into the mix as an option if needed.
Coming out of the All-Star break, it is close to a miracle that the Pirates are not only over .500, but in contention for a fourth consecutive playoff appearance. The miracle part is because the Pirates starting pitchers rank 23rd in all of baseball with a 4.83 ERA.
The Pirates also rank 23rd in baseball in innings from their starters at 484.1. That’s an average of just over five innings per start.
Being just 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot to start the second half of the season when three of your regular five starters carry ERAs over five is a testament to how good the team has been in other aspects of the game.
So, what should the rotation look like coming out of the break?
It’s almost too easy to say give the ball to the young guys.
The rotation of the future, which could be Cole, Glasnow, Taillon, Brault, and Kuhl isn’t going to be the five-man rotation Clint Hhurdle will lean on the rest of the way.
Even though the youngsters helped spark this team over the past few weeks and many Pirates fans want to see them go with the youth movement, there are 25.7 million reasons why that won’t happen.
That just happens to be the combined 2016 salaries of the three pitchers with ERAs over five in Liriano, Locke, and Niese.
It’s also not as simple as saying just move Locke or Niese to the bullpen.
With the way the pen has pitched over the past few weeks, there just isn’t any room down there to move a couple of struggling starters to the pen. I’m just not willing to sacrifice a guy like A.J. Schugel or Juan Nicasio to make room for Locke or Niese.
The good news is that Cole should likely be back this weekend to be the anchor.
Liriano will also continue to hold his spot and he has been better as of late. While he leads the National League in walks, Liriano is still striking out batters at a rate of almost nine per nine innings. He also hasn’t allowed a homer in his past four starts and his FIP in that span is down to 3.90, compared to the 5.31 mark he has put up on the season.
The facts are that the Pirates are going to need Liriano to figure things out and he is going to get the ball every fifth day. They will sink or swim with him.
Niese and Locke are going to hold down the third and fourth spots in the rotation coming out of the break, unless one of them is moved. That guy most likely could be Niese, but there likely won’t be much of a market for him.
A DL stint for Niese could open the door for Glasnow, but it also isn’t likely.
As for the fifth starter, that job likely goes to Taillon when he comes off the DL.
That is also a luxury for the Pirates as they don’t need a fifth starter until July 23rd and won’t need one again until August. Being that they are going to have Taillon on a strict innings count, he will slide in nicely to the role for the time being.
As for Glasnow, Kuhl, and Brault, while many feel they should be in the major league rotation, especially in the case of Glasnow, they all likely will head back to Triple-A.
Glasnow could get the call back up is Niese is moved, but for now, the youngsters will all likely join the Indianapolis Indians rotation for the time being.
The simple math is that eight pitchers can’t hold down five rotations spots.
Will the Pirates go forward with the wrong five guys?
That is likely going to be the case.
As for the rotation of the future, sadly for guys like Glasnow, Brault, and Kuhl, that future is not going to be right now.
But as we saw in the first half of the season, they likely will be called on again.
Hopefully for the Pirates it won’t be too late.
Image Credit – Daniel Decker Photography
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