Each day during spring training for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pirates Breakdown will give you game recaps, news updates, and video of player and coach interviews, highlights, and more from the day.
The Pirates haven’t gotten off to the best start in spring training, but let’s not fret; we all know how meaningless the outcomes of games are this time of year. The Pirates lost their second consecutive game to the Phillies, this time 4-2, totaling two runs scored between the two games. The Pirates are now 2-5 in Grapefruit League play, tied for the second worst record in the league. However, let’s also note that the Orioles, Yankees, Angels, and the almighty Cubs have the same or worse record than the Pirates, each of whom expects to also contend for the playoffs this year.
The Pirates’ offense continued its Jekyll and Hyde act, this time only managing to score two runs on four total hits. The team has scored at least eight runs three times, but also has scored two or fewer runs three times. The story of this game had to be Jon Niese, whose rough spring continued into his second start. Niese allowed four runs in three innings of work; he also allowed four runs in his spring debut. However, individual performance is almost as meaningless as spring performance, especially for guys like Niese who are already assured of a roster spot. As long as he is able to pitch comfortably and be confident heading into Opening Day, there’s nothing for Pirates’ fans to worry about.
On the offensive side, no player managed more than one hit on the day. Two of the hits came from star prospects Josh Bell and Harold Ramirez. Ramirez is an outfielder quietly on the rise, as he began to breach some MLB top 100 prospect lists this off-season. Andrew McCutchen is having a slow spring so far, as he’s only 1-10 from the dish.
Tomorrow, the Pirates return to McKechnie Field to continue the home-away-home-away schedule they have this spring when they face the Boston Red Sox.
In other news, former Pirate slugger Pedro Alvarez signed with the Orioles last night, as first reported by Dennis Lin, a beat writer for the Padres:
Non-Padres, but I hear Pedro Alvarez has reached a deal with the Orioles.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) March 8, 2016
The financial terms were disclosed by Joel Sherman of the New York Post:
Alvarez will receive $5.75M from #Orioles with about $1.5M available in performance bonuses
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) March 8, 2016
I only add this because it’s good to see Alvarez get picked up in a role that will work well for him, as a DH. From all accounts, he’s a good teammate and a good man, and I wish him nothing but the best in Baltimore.
In other former Pirate news, Charlie Morton finally spoke on what it felt like to be traded:
Charlie Morton on trade to Philly: "It’s hard. Coming from an org. where we went through so much really bad to good …you make friends."
— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) March 8, 2016
Morton: "It becomes personal. It has to be. That’s the culture in the clubhouse. Things are personal."
— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) March 8, 2016
Morton certainly didn’t seem to take the trade well, and I don’t blame him. Going from a winning team in Pittsburgh to the worst team in baseball in the Phillies is probably not that satisfying. But that’s the nature of the business. If he had pitched better last season, he’d probably still be with the team. And if he manages to pitch well in Philly, they might flip him to a contender at the trade deadline.
Now for a few more tweets from the day to keep all of you held over until tomorrow:
Clint Hurdle figures Jon Niese is “over-competing” a little at this point. “He's amped up. He's definitely got a lot of adrenaline flowing."
— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) March 8, 2016
Neal Huntington told the #FanMorningShow that a good spring could land Hanson in Pittsburgh: https://t.co/RJ9iiITo3D https://t.co/CzU18F1yTf
— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) March 8, 2016
First time #Pirates' first-stringers have played into the sixth this spring. Harrison leads off down 4-0
— Matt Gajtka (GITE-kah) (@MattGajtka) March 8, 2016
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