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 Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of Major League Baseball are less than one week away from the waiver trade deadline, which is one last opportunity for the Pirates to add a player or two that could help them for the stretch run and in the playoffs. Will GM Neal Huntington and the front office make any last minute moves to try to improve the squad? That remains to be seen.
Last week, we took a look at some bullpen options that could interest the Pirates. That is probably the biggest area of need for the team. The rotation has finally come around, and Jameson Taillon is emerging as a very good option if the Pirates end up in the NL Wild Card game. The offense has its issues at times, but it has a high upside, and there’s not much room to improve here, at least from an external perspective. And the bench is probably the best its been in years. If the Pirates are going to add to anywhere, it’d be the bullpen.
One way to do this is lay a claim on a player passing through waivers, or to talk to a team about a player that has already cleared waivers. Another is to add players internally from the minor league system. This becomes a real possibility once September 1st hits and rosters expand. The Pirates certainly have players they will use once this time arrives, and we’ll go over a few of them in a bit.
But first, let’s get to some injury updates.
Injury Updates
The Pirates have managed to stay relatively healthy for the past couple of months, but Jung Ho Kang recently was placed on the 15-day DL with a sore left shoulder. Here’s the latest on him:
Tomczyk says Pirates are "encouraged" by progress of Jung Ho Kang (L shoulder subluxation) — playing catch, fielding grounders, not hitting
— Adam Berry (@adamdberry) August 24, 2016
Having Kang back will be huge for the Pirates, even if it just strengthens the bench. He was getting hot right before he hit the DL.
Tyler Glasnow also remains on the DL as he continues to make rehab starts and get closer to his return. It’s unclear whether he’ll return to being a starter with the Pirates or work out of the pen, but it never hurts to have an extra arm. Here’s the latest on him:
https://twitter.com/RyanSheets_/status/768914854560149504
Hopefully he’s back within the next couple of weeks.
Lastly, Chris Stewart has been making rehab appearances as he hopes to return before season’s end. His return would be huge, not only as an improvement over Eric Fryer, but because of the effect he has when he catches Gerrit Cole. He’s slowly getting closer as well:
#Pirates catcher Chris Stewart played through a full game tonight for the first time on his rehab assignment with the Curve tonight.
— Trey Wilson (@treywilson757) August 21, 2016
Minor Moves
We all already know the moves the Pirates made over the past week, and they were both pretty major. Josh Bell returned to the Pirates as he makes starts at first base, and David Freese was inked to a contract extension. Both are great moves, and we should see a bevy of more moves made once September 1st hits as well.
Potential Internal Improvements
The biggest way the Pirates will improve as they embark on the final month of the season is internally. First, there are multiple players with room for improvement. Andrew McCutchen stands out among them, as he slowly tries to get better before the season ends. Gerrit Cole also has had a rough August, but he’s had fantastic Septembers before and could easily return to ace-form. Kang, Stewart, and Glasnow’s returns to the team will also be huge additions. With these improvements alone the Pirates could gain an extra win or two.
But there are also minor leaguers that could help the Pirates. Drew Hutchison could be insurance for the back-end of the rotation and an extra arm out of the bullpen. Alen Hanson‘s speed off the bench could be used. And let’s not forget about Jason Rogers, who doesn’t have a role on the 25-man roster at the moment but could be a big bench bat once rosters expand.
Final Waiver Deadline Predictions
I’d like to see the Pirates get another quality bullpen arm, one that’s proven and would be reliable come playoff time. I like Jeanmar Gomez and Brad Hand, and the Pirates are in the unique position of being in the middle of the pack in the NL, making the possibility of claiming a quality player higher than in past years. If I’m a betting man, I don’t think the Pirates add anyone. I think they rely on their minor league arms to strengthen their bullpen, and the return of Tyler Glasnow will also do that, whether he pitches from there or if he pushes someone from the rotation to the pen. This is a crucial month for the Pirates, and whether they add anyone or not, they certainly have the talent to make a run.
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