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, despite having a very disappointing season in the eyes of many, have managed to work themselves to just one game back of the second Wild Card spot in the playoff race. Some of this has to do with the Mets falling off a cliff and the Cardinals and Marlins struggling against good competition. But it also has to do with the Pirates managing to stay out of losing streaks. While they haven’t been able to put together a good winning streak or truly take advantage of an easy part of their schedule, they also haven’t let losses snowball. So by hovering around the .500 mark in July and August, the Pirates have been able to stay in the playoff race.
We saw the Pirates make some interesting moves at the non-waiver trade deadline. But with the Pirates still in the chase, will they now choose to add before the waiver deadline at the end of August? They currently have a team payroll of about $102 million according to Spotrac, and we heard in the off-season that the team might have been willing to spend up to $110 million, and last season the team ended at about $105 million, so the Pirates certainly have the money to add a player or two. But where will they add to? What are their needs? We’ll get to that, but first, let’s give some updates on some injured Pirates.
Injury Updates
Chris Stewart, who has been out since the beginning of July, recently made a rehab start in an effort to try and return this season, which has seemed unlikely for weeks now.
Chris Stewart caught seven innings and went 1/2, BB, RBI in his first rehab outing for the @AltoonaCurve. #Pirates pic.twitter.com/Lt89QZhU7u
— Trey Wilson (@treywilson757) August 13, 2016
Stewart is electing, as of now, not to have surgery, and his return would be an improvement over Eric Fryer.
Tyler Glasnow has been on the disabled list since July 24th, and while he is eligible to return, he is expected to make a rehab start on Sunday first and then go from there.
Plan for Tyler Glasnow on Sunday in Altoona: 4 innings with a 65 pitch limit. #Pirates
— Sean McCool (@NotSoMcCool) August 13, 2016
There also may not be room for Glasnow on the major league squad considering how the Pirates’ rotation is rounding into form right now.
Minor Moves
Back on August 4th, the Pirates released Wilfredo Boscan. Boscan was then claimed this past Wednesday by the Braves. Boscan had not done well in the majors with the Pirates this season, as he held a 6.46 ERA in 15.1 innings of work. However, Boscan had pitched well with Triple-A Indianapolis with a 3.75 ERA in 84 innings pitched. His loss, however, won’t be a big one for the Pirates, who have Jeff Locke, Steven Brault, Trevor Williams, and others as better depth starting options.
The Pirates also traded Arquimedes Caminero to the Mariners last Saturday after he was claimed off waivers by Seattle. He was traded for a PTNBL and a conditional PTBNL. This was an interesting move to say the least, as Caminero had four years of team control left after this season, including arbitration, he has a dynamic fastball, and he had been pitching great since his poor start to the year. He could have truly helped this bullpen for years to come.
Pirates monitoring the waiver market
The Pirates, as expected, are indeed monitoring the waiver wire this month as they look to stay in the playoff race. They have saved money by trading away Francisco Liriano and Jon Niese, so they could potentially add a more expensive player if need be. They’ve also added via this waiver market in the past, so I could certainly see them doing so again this year.
Where can the Pirates improve?
Offensively, the Pirates seem to be set. Yes, I’m sure they would like to get better production from Andrew McCutchen and Jung Ho Kang, but that improvement will have to come from the players themselves and not from outside additions. The money both McCutchen and Kang make, and the upside for both players, is too much to give up on.
The biggest area offensively the Pirates could improve at is probably backup catcher. While Fryer has been decent offsenively, he’s not great defensively, and he’s probably performing over his head. I’d like to see Elias Diaz get a shot at the backup job, and Chris Stewart is trying to return at some point this season. With those two in the fold, I don’t see the Pirates adding a catcher externally.
As far as starting pitching is concerned, the Pirates may have their best five-man group at any point this season. Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon are the clear top two, and while the three at the back-end might scare a few people, they are all pitching well. Ryan Vogelsong has pitched very well as a starter since coming off the DL, the Pirates are undefeated in Chad Kuhl‘s five starts, and Ivan Nova has been decent in his two starts since becoming a Pirate. I could see the Pirates adding a more proven starter and moving Vogelsong to the pen, but I could also see the Pirates going with this five moving forward.
The bullpen is probably the area where the Pirates might want to improve the most. The back-end is fine, but the team might want to improve over either Juan Nicasio or Jeff Locke, or both. I feel like the Pirates will hold onto Locke at any cost, but maybe they want to improve over Nicasio. Bullpen pieces can surely be found via the waiver wire, and I would hope the Pirates add at least one, and ideally two arms. Who knows if they will though.
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