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.
The waiver trade deadline has now passed for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of the league, and the Pirates did not make any significant moves, as expected. In fact, the deadline was rather quiet around the league as a whole. The Pirates did make one move when they traded reliever Kyle Lobstein to the Orioles for 29-year-old reliever Zach Phillips. The Orioles almost immediately designated Lobstein for assignment, however, which is interesting.
We were also informed that the two prospects sent to the Yankees in the deal for Ivan Nova were outfielder Tito Polo and lefty starter Stephen Tarpley. I don’t think this is too high of a price for Nova, especially considering how well he’s pitched for the Pirates so far. And lastly, we also recently found out the two prospects the Pirates received in return for Arquimedes Caminero, who they sent to Seattle in early August: lefty reliever Jake Brentz and righty starter Pedro Vasquez. Brentz was a top-30 prospect in Seattle’s system.
But that was about the extent of the moves from the past week for the Pirates, at least from an external perspective. If the Pirates are going to make a run in September, the reinforcements are going to come from within. The team has a few players returning from the disabled list, and some prospects and minor leaguers that can be called up now that rosters are expanded. And theses players can certainly make a significant impact on the team over the next month.
Let’s start with the injured players set to return, and a couple major players still a little ways off.
Injury Updates
Tyler Glasnow is set to return any day now, as he was recently activated from the disabled list and optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Last night, Pirates activated Tyler Glasnow from the DL and optioned him to Indianapolis. https://t.co/Dlj8rgPoA4
— Bill Brink (@Bill_Brink2) August 29, 2016
Glasnow will likely take over Steven Brault‘s spot in the rotation when he returns. That is, until Gerrit Cole is back, who was recently placed on the DL. Cole hopes to return before the season ends.
Gerrit Cole expects to pitch again this season. He will play catch either today or tomorrow.
— Adam Berry (@adamdberry) August 30, 2016
Cole doesn’t seem to have any structural damage, which is a good sign.
Jung Ho Kang made a rehab start with Indianapolis yesterday as he inches closer to returning to the Pirates. He is not eligible to return until early next week.
Jung Ho Kang is rehabbing in Indy, but has not started a rehab assignment.
— Bill Brink (@Bill_Brink2) August 29, 2016
Lastly, Chris Stewart is expected to be back with the Pirates any day now. He will certainly be an upgrade over Eric Fryer.
Minor Moves
There will be a lot of moves over the next few days and over the course of the next month as rosters are now expanded and the Pirates have a wider selection of players to use on their major league squad. The two prospects the Pirates acquired in the Caminero trade, Brentz and Vasquez, are low-level prospects, so they won’t impact the major league team this year. Kyle Lobstein also seemed to have fallen out of favor with the Pirates, so he wasn’t going to return to the bullpen in the majors for the Pirates.
However, a few days ago the Pirates called up Alen Hanson and lefty pitcher Kelvin Marte, while optioning down Jameson Taillon and Steven Brault to Bristol (the latter were purely paper moves). Personally, I’d like to see what Hanson can bring to the table over the next month.
Expect more moves in the days ahead.
Prospects Gained and Prospects Lost
I wanted to take a look at the two prospects the Pirates lost in the Nova trade and the two they gained in the Caminero trade a little bit more. First, I don’t think that Tito Polo is much of a loss for the Pirates. He wasn’t a top-30 prospect in the Pirates system, and while he’s been an above-average minor league outfielder in his career, the outfield for the Pirates is clearly blocked for years to come. Tarpley, on the other hand, could have been good starting pitching depth in the future. We’ve seen how the Pirates frequently have used their Triple-A starters as depth for the major league squad in recent years, and how important it’s been, especially this year. But you have to give to get, and Tarpley hadn’t advanced past High-A yet, so I don’t mind losing him.
I don’t know much about the prospects the Pirates got from the Mariners and, quite frankly, I still don’t understand the Caminero trade, but the return was two young pitchers, which the Pirates have an affinity for. Brentz has a 4.88 career minor league ERA, and while he strikes out a lot of batters, he also walks 6.5 batters per nine innings, which is very high. Vasquez, on the other hand, has a 2.16 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP in his two minor league seasons, and only walks 1.1 batters per nine. He’s an intriguing prospect to keep an eye on.
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