Should the Pittsburgh Pirates Shutdown Their Young Arms?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a difficult decision to make. Are they in it or are they out of it?

Coming off two consecutive wins that followed eight straight losses, the Bucs find themselves in a tough spot. They mathematically still have a chance at a fourth consecutive postseason appearance. This presents a tricky situation for the team. How do they manage their young arms down the stretch?

The Pirates announced yesterday that Taillon and Kuhl next turn in the rotation would be skipped. That is a smart move for a team planning on sitting out the postseason and putting a priority on protecting their young arms.

However, the next nine games against the likes of the Reds, Phillies, and Brewers. This gives the Pirates a chance to make up ground in the Wildcard race. The Pirates will have to do this without two of their best young pitchers getting a turn in the rotation.

While neither Taillon nor Kuhl threw the ball particularly well last time out, the Pirates need to decide what kind of team they are for the rest of the season. Are they a contender or pretender? You can’t have it both ways.

Similar to the way you can’t be effective by both being a buyer and a seller at the trade deadline. Cole and Taillon will be at the top of the Pirates rotation next season. Neither guy has been particularly durable the past couple of years, so does the risk outweigh the potential reward by continuing to run them out there? Cole has been injured three times this season dating back to spring training and the results have been that he never got into a rhythm and hasn’t been at his best.

Being that the Pirates have four games and two teams (three if you count the Giants) separating them from the playoffs, do they really want to risk further injury to Cole by continuing to run him out there every fifth day.

Sure it would be like waving the white flag, but many Pirates fans think they did that already.

The same goes with Taillon. He’s the one the Pirates need to be extremely careful with. Granted he has been one of the club’s best pitchers the past few months, but he missed the past two seasons with injuries. He also has thrown 149.2 innings between Triple-A and the Pirates this season. That’s more than he threw during his last healthy season back in 2013. While he has a 3.27 ERA in his 15 MLB starts, the Pirates would be wise to treat him with extreme caution and shut Taillon down for the season.

The same can be said for Kuhl, who looks like he should have a rotation spot of his own next season.

Kuhl has thrown 134.2 innings this season, has reached 150 innings during the last two minor league seasons. But he has had a heavy workload of late and appears fatigued.

Haven’t the Pirates seen enough out of Cole, Taillon, and Kuhl to know what they have in place for next season? They haven’t, however, seen enough of guys like Steven Brault, Drew Hutchinson, Tyler Glasnow and Trevor Williams.

One option the Pirates should consider is to shut down Cole, Taillon, and Kuhl for the rest of the season. Then give the four guys mentioned above the ball every fifth day the rest of the season.

There is no real need for Ryan Vogelsong to get another start. You might as well see what the young guys have. Glasnow may not be MLB ready as of yet. It still can’t hurt to give him a few starts down the stretch. Four games and two teams to jump isn’t going to be easy in three weeks.

Major league experience though for some young arms can be extremely valuable going forward. As is the protecting the young arms from potential injury. The tricky part is what happens if the Pirates get hot again and close the gap to one or two games?

Clint Hurdle and Neal Huntington are going to have some decisions to make. They can’t have it both ways. Winning this season is the goal or you are playing for 2017.

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