Welcome to the weekly Pittsburgh Pirates Rumor Mill, where we update you on all of the latest Pirates trades, signings, rumors, injury news, promotions, demotions, and the like from the past week.
Jameson Taillon sent back down to Triple-A
June is an interesting, difficult, and important month for the Pirates. Part of the intrigue of the month happened Wednesday night when we got to see Jameson Taillon called up, who could provide immediate starting pitching help for the Pirates. That is, if he comes back up:
The Pirates have optioned Jameson Taillon to Indy and recalled Kyle Lobstein. Bullpen help, and delays Taillon's clock a bit to be safe.
— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) June 9, 2016
So the Pirates decided to send Taillon back down after just one start. There are a number of possible reasons for this. For one, with the double-header on Tuesday and the extra-inning game on Wednesday, the team might need an extra bullpen arm with how much the bullpen has been used recently. That’s why Kyle Lobstein was called up. This move also protects Taillon’s service time, if the Pirates decide to hold him down for a couple more weeks. Maybe they want to see if Juan Nicasio‘s success in his most recent start could carry over into at least one or two more starts. And now Francisco Liriano has some extra rest as well. Whatever the case, I expect Taillon to be back up before July, maybe even as soon as next week, and he should help this Pirates’ starting rotation this season.
Could Justin Masterson help the Pirates in the near future?
Since the Pirates signed Justin Masterson not too long ago, it seems like his name disappeared from everyone’s radar. Well, he’s finally ready to pitch as a starter. After some relief work in the lower levels, Masterson filled in for Taillon in the Indianapolis rotation on Wednesday night, and his path could lead him back to the majors before long. Masterson still has some work to do, according to Neal Huntington, but I could see him helping the Pirates in the near future. He could be used as a middle relief option, as the Pirates have struggled mightily there, or he could take over for Jeff Locke in the rotation before Tyler Glasnow gets called up. In any case, it never hurts to have pitching depth at Triple-A.
Injury updates
The Pirates have been lucky so far this season in that they haven’t had many significant injuries to deal with. However, there have been some minor ones. Ryan Vogelsong was recently transferred to the 60-day disabled list, and his time with the Pirates certainly seems all but over. Arquimedes Caminero, who was placed on the 15-day DL back on May 26th, began his rehab assignment recently with an outing at Indianapolis.
Arquimedes Caminero made his rehab debut w/ Indy and gives up 3 BB before allowing a game-tying grand slam with 2 outs in the 9th #Pirates
— John Dreker (@JohnDreker) June 4, 2016
Yeah, it didn’t go too well. Like Vogelsong, Caminero’s time with the Pirates could be all but over as well. There are many other better relief options in the system.
Relief Pitching Market
Speaking of relief pitching, the Pirates’ biggest weakness this season, next to the back-end of the rotation, is easily the middle relief. Their middle bullpen has been a revolving door with no one able to hold down a spot, or guys getting injured. Even typically-reliable guys like Jared Hughes and Tony Watson have struggled at times. However, the Pirates could address this issue at the trade deadline this season, like they did last year when they acquired Joe Blanton and Joakim Soria. Both of those moves worked out well for the team.
Two names that stand out to me as trade options for the Pirates are Arodys Vizcaino of the Braves and Fernando Rodney of the Padres. Both pitchers are pitching very well on terrible teams, and both are making next to nothing this season. First, their stats. Vizcaino: 2.16 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 35/9 K/BB, 25.0 IP. Rodney: 0.00 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 20/10 K/BB, 21.1 IP. Vizcaino is making $897,500 this season and has three more years of arbitration eligibility. Rodney is making $1.6 million and is a free agent when the year is done. Rodney has been perfect this year and has been a reliable relief pitcher for the many years he’s been in the league. Vizcaino is 14 years younger than Rodney, and only has a one-and-a-half seasons of quality relief pitching under his belt. I don’t think either pitcher would cost a lot in terms of prospects, although Rodney could be courted heavily by many teams. Vizcaino could fly under the radar, but you wonder if the Braves would part with him. In any case, I expect the Pirates to trade for a relief pitcher if their middle relief doesn’t become more consistent before the trade deadline.
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