Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call – Single digits to baseball

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

Only nine days separate the Pittsburgh Pirates from their Spring Training home in Bradenton.

Going into Florida, the club has an interesting mix of decisions and non-decisions to make regarding its roster makeup. Looking around the diamond, most slots are filled, save for a bit of murkiness in left field and third base. Colin Moran will have every opportunity to win the starting hot-corner job out of the gate, and the team will likely go with some combination of Adam Frazier and Sean Rodriguez at corner outfield slots.

I say ‘corner outfield’ as the team may still yet be tempted to try Gregory Polanco in left field again. Provided a potential transition goes much smoother than it did in 2017, that might make more sense for the club, as it would allow Rodriguez and Frazier to play in right, which is less of a challenge at PNC Park.

Of course, the preceding two paragraphs could all be moot, should the Pittsburgh Pirates sign someone like Melky Cabrera, who we extensively profiled previously.

On the bump, aside from the Joe Musgrove vs Tyler Glasnow fifth-starter debate, the main area of contention in the team’s 25-man construction is in the bullpen. Felipe Rivero, Daniel Hudson, Michael Feliz and George Kontos are the only locks in many’s estimation.

Regardless, Pittsburgh Pirates fans will have just nine days before the few questions the team does have start getting answered

Baseball talk on the web

• Baseball Prospectus released their annual Top 101 prospects list. The Pittsburgh Pirates placed three on the list, and I bet you’ll never be able to guess who.
• How will the NL Central champion Chicago Cubs do in 2017? Let’s check on their ZiPS projections.

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