Arquimedes Caminero has 12 strikeouts and one walk in eight spring innings for the Pirates. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
BRADENTON, Fla. — In precisely two weeks, the Pirates will unpack their bags stuffed with bats, balls and burgeoning expectations in the Queen City, bracing for a Monday matinee against the Reds that will lead them to … well, one thing at a time.
“Yeah, it’s getting closer, and that’s plenty for now” Josh Harrison, the Cincinnati native, was saying with a wide smile this morning at McKechnie Field. “Believe me, I’ve got calls and texts coming every day for tickets. I’m going to need every minute.”
The same probably can’t be spoken for the club as a whole, though. Fact is, we’re in the midst of the annual dead zone of spring training, where pitchers feel their first fatigue and hitters are just plain bored, fully aware that this six-week exercise is scheduled almost entirely to stretch out all the arms.
So, while we all await the first pitch that really matters — Johnny Cueto to Harrison at 4:05 p.m. on the sixth of April — allow me to offer, after a week of observations in Florida, five issues the Pirates still have to address:
5. That blank card
My best guess, based on precedent and several discussions here, looks like this:
1. Harrison, 3B 2. Starling Marte, LF 3. Andrew McCutchen, CF 4. Neil Walker, 2B 5. Pedro Alvarez, 1B 6. Gregory Polanco, RF 7. Francisco Cervelli, C 8. Jordy Mercer, SS 9. Francisco Liriano, LHP
In fact, that’s a prediction and a hope. I kind of like it.
The 4-5-6 will present a string of lefties. That won’t matter against the great Cueto — amazingly, righties and lefties each batted .194 off him in 2014 — but it could spell trouble for others. Or, Clint Hurdle could flip Polanco and Cervelli to keep it less predictable for later innings.
“We have a lot of options,” Hurdle said. “I’m inclined to take advantage of those options.”
Otherwise, not much up there rates as a surprise. The top three are set, and Walker will be cleanup ahead of Alvarez if only because Alvarez … oh, you know.
Don’t expect Polanco to bump up until he does some solid convincing that he’s ready for it. Management and the coaching staff sound determined to makes things as simple and ‘comfortable,’ to borrow Neal Huntington’s term, as possible. The top priority is avoiding a repeat of Polanco’s second half in which he batted .213 with four home runs over 150 at-bats.
His own stance on that?
“I’m not worried,” Polanco said. “I know I can hit here. I hit here when I came up. I hit everywhere. I need to work hard, do what I do.”
Andrew Lambo has four doubles but only six hits in 33 at-bats this spring. — GETTY
4. Whither Lambo?
Andrew Lambo has a firm hold on the final bench spot, but the same was said at this point last spring, and he proceeded to go 4 for 42 with no extra-base hits and get relegated right back to Class AAA Indianapolis.
So now that he’s, uh, 6 for 33?
“It’s been different. It has,” Hurdle insisted this weekend. “I think we’re seeing better at-bats, a different level of confidence.”
That’s critical here, because that’s what went awry a year ago. Lambo beat himself up as much as any player I’ve seen in any spring with the Pirates, and it only grew worse with each 4-3 groundout. Nothing of the sort is visible this time, and I can attest to that from essentially taking his temperature so often he’ll soon bar me from approaching his stall … but with a smile.
“Everything’s good,” he said this weekend, showing all the teeth. “Look, still smiling.”
Moreover, Lambo’s struck out only three times, and four of his six hits have been doubles.
And he’s out of options.
And Neal Huntington absolutely loves him and wants to see him get a chance before he can go all Steve Pearce in someone else’s organization.
The rest of the bench will be Corey Hart, Tony Sanchez, Jung-Ho Kang and Sean Rodriguez, probably as enticing a group as the Pirates have had in recent years. If Lambo doesn’t make it, the most likely to supplant him would be Jaff Decker, but that’s yet another reason Lambo will make it. The Decker types can found all over the 4-A landscape. Not Lambo.
3. To stunt Holdzkom … or not
Not going to lie here: This one bugs me enough to be No. 1.
But let’s start with this: It’s wonderful that the Pirates have created a problem where they could send down a wholly legit back-end bullpen arm out of camp. As Mark Melancon, who’s at the very back end, observed this weekend, “Somebody who’s a really good reliever won’t be making this team. That says a lot about what we’ve got here.”
He’s right, but I’ll reserve the right to fret over John Holdzkom possibly being that guy.
When the baseball gods bestow upon you a blessing akin to an independent-league guy helping to carry your big-league team into the playoffs and he fans 14 batters in his first nine innings and he does so with a blazing, shifting fastball, that isn’t momentum that anyone should be eager to stunt.
It’s been easy to tell Holdzkom is handling this well, not least of which is through a solid spring.
“I haven’t proven myself, and I know that,” he said. “I’ve got to just keep working hard, doing what I do and making sure the cut fastball does what it can do.”
Look, I get that management is high on Arquimedes Caminero and his 98-mph heat just plucked from the Marlins, and that Caminero undoubtedly would be lost if waived. He’s out of options.
I also get — and fully support — that management signed Radhames Liz, another flamethrower, with the promise that he’d make the main roster.
But when rounding out the pen after Melancon, Tony Watson, Antonio Bastardo, Jared Hughes and Liz, it’s hard to fathom investing that final spot in the loser of the fifth-starter duel between Vance Worley and Jeff Locke, when neither has relief experience, rather than Holdzkom. And on top of that, Locke would add a third lefty to the mix, and a distant third at that.
None of that makes any sense. Which leads tidily into this next one …
2. Trade Locke?
Why not?
It couldn’t be much clearer at this stage that Worley will complete the rotation. That would leave Locke either in the pen or on the outs. And to repeat, he probably isn’t the best choice available for the pen.
Given that there are exactly 29 teams that would be willing to try out a 26-year-old lefty with a 4.00 career ERA, a clean bill of health, an All-Star appearance and a bulldog mentality, this seems like the perfect opportunity for Huntington to trade Locke for a prospect to keep his system stocked. Not nearly as many such opportunities arise while contending, but the need always remains great.
I don’t write this lightly, and I most certainly don’t write it because of Locke’s 9.00 spring ERA, but it might be best for all concerned if he’s moved elsewhere.
1. Will their caps still fit their heads?
Not in the Barry Bonds context, of course. I’m referring to the not-so-remote possibility that the Pirates could come north with collectively big heads if they’ve read any or all of the recent national predictions boasting, among other things, that they’ll have the greatest outfield in human history or that they’ll beat the Mariners in the World Series.
To their credit, most players handled the latter, a tweet by ESPN’s Buster Olney, with humor.
Lots of anemic bats at this point - need to see some crooked numbers put up for a couple of innings against a quality arm before we get too excited. Getting Cutch back on the field should help. I would also like to see Locke traded for his sake as much as anything - seems to be a nice guy who has earned the right to start somewhere - and with the depth the Bucs have sitting at Indy he is probably not part of the rotation beyond mid-season in Pittsburgh.
Do you trade Locke for a younger pitching prospect or do you to find talent behind the plate? Having a "game controlling" catcher in Russell Martin with this year's rotation would have been a great boost. let's hope Cervelli will hold steady for the duration...
A) The Bucs already have a catcher at AAA, Elias Diaz, that they really like and are hoping is ready next June or so. They also already have Stewart and Sanchez as backups on the roster, so there's no room at the MLB level.
B) While Locke is a bottom of the rotation upgrade for most teams and should certainly get some offers, everyone knows why he's being traded... He may very well be released in the next week if he isn't. That will likely hurt his value unless NH can get a bidding war going. You're talking about trading someone who looks like a 4th or 5th starter in the first place, so you aren't getting a top prospect for that regardless.
What would be ideal, IMO, would be a AAA pitcher with an option or two who projects as a bottom of the rotation starter. That way, the Bucs win as they get someone as that 6th starter they can send to Indy, and the trade partner wins with an upgrade at the bottom of their rotation. Might be asking too much though.
Steelkings
3-22-2015, 12:14 pm
I could be wrong but it seems that the Pirates had basically the same issue with starter over crowding last year and optioned Locke to the DL before coming north. Oblique strain or something silly like that. I wouldnt go as far as suggesting they are "Gaming the system", However there is still plenty of time for a strain or two in the last days of spring training. I am going to predict that Locke or Caminero will stay behind to complete some sort of a rehab assignment at the end of March.
I just think there are too many "scholarships" on the projected roster with Kang, Liz and Lambo.
Not in love with Locke, his second half splits stink. But I'm sure a lot of teams would like to have him. Just not sure he garners much in return.
I'm fine with Holdzkom going down. He's got 9 career IP. And not really a secondary pitch either. He will be up eventually.
Doesn't make sense to me at all that Kang isn't playing. They have really painted themselves in a corner taking AAA off the table as an option. Not sure how this guy learns to hit MLB pitching riding the pine in Florida and when the season starts.
A bit contradictory is it? Holdzkom doesn't get sent down if they trade Locke. They don't need Locke, I'll take my chances with Liz, Sadler, or Richards in event of injury. Everyone seems to be in a panic without Cumpton, yet forget Cumpton 2014 was not nearly as good as Cumpton 2013. Locke has no chance of making this team in 2015 with all the young arms on the cusp, don't weaken this years team holding on to him just in case.
bpn8pitt
3-22-2015, 1:39 pm
Just not sure what you get for Locke. But your right, maybe Richards makes him expendable.
Liz has a strange contract from what I've seen on a couple local baseball blogs. Wherever he is, it's 1 million guaranteed. I don't know what the market was for him, but I guess maybe someone would claim him if they optioned him to Indy. That to me is the optimal place to stretch him out. But I guess he's in the bullpen for now.
I'm not in love with Locke. I just think moving him is more delicate than people think. He wasn't an integral part of the team, but he did some good things. Not sure how the clubhouse would feel. And I'm not sure he brings something valuable back. Might be better off hanging on to him at least short term.
I don't know. Good problems to have.
bpn8pitt
3-22-2015, 1:41 pm
Hell, Charlie isn't helping at all making me think they got all this pitching. Lol
VABurgher
3-22-2015, 4:26 pm
Something I thought about earlier in the spring leave Morton in extended Spring Training for rehab make sure he's ready. Let Locke come North until Morton has answered any questions.
Matt in AZ
3-22-2015, 1:07 pm
My prediction for the lineup at the end of April:
1. Harrison
2. Walker
3. Cutch
4. Alvarez
5. Marte
6. Polanco
7. Mercer
8. Cervelli
I truly believe Marte is going to light up the NL this season and become a great, not just very good, player. His bat will be moved to take advantage of many more RBI opportunities. I also believe Alvarez will reclaim his 2013 season and hit 30-35 HR. No matter how you stack it, I think this will be a formidable lineup.
Alvarez will not sniff the cleanup spot. Hurdle essentially said as much.
VABurgher
3-22-2015, 1:17 pm
I'm a little surprised there isn't more debate on Rodriquez. Lambradozi is out playing him this spring and has a similar resume and position flexibility, yet Rodriquez seems untouchable. Is it because they gave up a solid prospect for him?
I think give it a little time. Eventually it will be realized that wasn't a great trade in terms of offence. Defense is what Rodriguez is more known for with a hope he'll bounce back offensively. If not, management will have to do what's necessary since he's a bench player. Just like resigning McLouth or signing Diaz or others who just didn't perform. I don't think Rodriguez has options any more either.
NMR
3-23-2015, 7:33 am
No, it's because Sean Rodriguez is a better baseball player. Simple.
VABurgher
3-23-2015, 7:43 am
WAS a better player he hasn't been for 2 years
NMR
3-23-2015, 7:47 am
Not even close to being accurate.
Groat2Maz2Strangeglove
3-23-2015, 2:10 pm
I like Steve Lombardozzi very much. I am excited that Pirates picked him up as insurance.
However, Sean Rodriguez in a much more consistent ballplayer, is very, very solid at short on defense, and will probably play the role of JHay this season.
There's a reason Lombardozzi is not on the 40-man. There's a reason he doesn't have to be.
Sean Rodriguez is a supreme upgrade over Clint Barmes as middle infielder.
JAL
3-22-2015, 1:35 pm
It's a good problem to have, in the past it would be the pirates picking players off waivers, now it other teams picking Pirate players off waivers. It would be nice to stash players at Indy but that is not very likely. The one they could probably get through waivers is Pimentel
DK,
I've consistently seen baseball guys predict that Nick Kingham as a 3rd or 4th starter behind Cole, Tallion, Glasnow. Does his good spring, in addition to the presence of Richards and the like, make Locke more expendable? If he goes to the bullpen they will have to pitch him semi regularly in order to keep his arm stretched out and I would rather see Holdzkom throwing 98 than Locke nibbling at the corners.
If the PBC goes by the logic of bringing up the best guys from spring then Holdzkom is deserving of that.
If Locke does not make the club, but he most likely will to be used as trade bait. His days of being in the rotation are over, especially with one of the young arms making it up sometime around June.
Does Jeff Locke really have much trade value? This isn't 2005, 4.00 ERA in the NL in a pitchers ballpark isn't great, his ERA- is 110 with the Pirates even the last two seasons it is 103.
I guess the Reds could use another starter but the return is going to have such a low success rate that I don't see how this makes sense given the very real likelihood of injury given the members of the Pirates rotation. Jeanmar Gomez is replacement level pitcher but gave the Pirates some quality innings filling in after the Sanchez implosion in 2013.
And Alvarez shouldn't be batting any higher then 6th, he makes too many outs to bat higher, in Polanco's not so great start he had .307 OBP which equals Alvarez's career average.
Absolutely agreed on Locke. Nobody is giving anything of value for him in 2015.
Alex
3-22-2015, 3:19 pm
I'm on the trade Locke bandwagon too. There are enough teams that could use a 4 or 5 starter that would love someone like him. What do you get back though? Anything to replenish the farm system. Clearly there is not a need for anyone ready tomorrow.
However, my other beef is that for years I have believed Morton has also taken up space for too long in the rotation. Great stuff when on. Lots of pitches to work with. But he's never going to amount to a top of the rotation guy. Over the years, I've watched too many games were he falls apart in the 6th changing the balance of the game. I've always felt he gives up too many home runs. Unfortunately, he was given a ridiculous contract and will be in the rotation for at least this year and next because a trade is so unlikely nor does anyone have a thought to trade him.
I would also go the route of trading Moron, I mean Morton.
Seriously nothing against the guy but I believe in lefties in PNC and Morton just seems to quickly lose it in games in innings. You never know when it will happen, but in invariably does.
aglebagel
3-22-2015, 4:17 pm
DK, how much more animated would Cutch have been if your name was Tim Kurkjian or Brian Kenny or Buster Olney?
"...before he can go all Steve Pearce in someone else's organization." Bless you, DK. Best laugh of the weekend. I remember years ago when you mockingly referred to someone "going all Eric Byrnes" by unnecessarily diving after uncatchable balls just to make highlight reels.
Between the Melancon quote and the Walk quote from earlier this weekend, I am in spring training nirvana. I am still so ridiculously appreciative of the fact that the Bucs are at this place after suffering through the dark decades and thinking at times that they'd never be good again.
I understand the "folk hero" status of John Holdzkom———I am enchanted with the story as well———but the truth is that he has less than one season of success AT ANY LEVEL OF PRO BASEBALL.
I do not bat an eye over keeping Hughes over Holdzkom. I keep Holdzkom only if there's room, but certainly not at another valid pitcher's expense.
March 22, 2015
Column: Pirates aren’t sprung free yet
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Pirates
Arquimedes Caminero has 12 strikeouts and one walk in eight spring innings for the Pirates. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
BRADENTON, Fla. — In precisely two weeks, the Pirates will unpack their bags stuffed with bats, balls and burgeoning expectations in the Queen City, bracing for a Monday matinee against the Reds that will lead them to … well, one thing at a time.
“Yeah, it’s getting closer, and that’s plenty for now” Josh Harrison, the Cincinnati native, was saying with a wide smile this morning at McKechnie Field. “Believe me, I’ve got calls and texts coming every day for tickets. I’m going to need every minute.”
The same probably can’t be spoken for the club as a whole, though. Fact is, we’re in the midst of the annual dead zone of spring training, where pitchers feel their first fatigue and hitters are just plain bored, fully aware that this six-week exercise is scheduled almost entirely to stretch out all the arms.
So, while we all await the first pitch that really matters — Johnny Cueto to Harrison at 4:05 p.m. on the sixth of April — allow me to offer, after a week of observations in Florida, five issues the Pirates still have to address:
5. That blank card
My best guess, based on precedent and several discussions here, looks like this:
1. Harrison, 3B
2. Starling Marte, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Neil Walker, 2B
5. Pedro Alvarez, 1B
6. Gregory Polanco, RF
7. Francisco Cervelli, C
8. Jordy Mercer, SS
9. Francisco Liriano, LHP
In fact, that’s a prediction and a hope. I kind of like it.
The 4-5-6 will present a string of lefties. That won’t matter against the great Cueto — amazingly, righties and lefties each batted .194 off him in 2014 — but it could spell trouble for others. Or, Clint Hurdle could flip Polanco and Cervelli to keep it less predictable for later innings.
“We have a lot of options,” Hurdle said. “I’m inclined to take advantage of those options.”
Otherwise, not much up there rates as a surprise. The top three are set, and Walker will be cleanup ahead of Alvarez if only because Alvarez … oh, you know.
Don’t expect Polanco to bump up until he does some solid convincing that he’s ready for it. Management and the coaching staff sound determined to makes things as simple and ‘comfortable,’ to borrow Neal Huntington’s term, as possible. The top priority is avoiding a repeat of Polanco’s second half in which he batted .213 with four home runs over 150 at-bats.
His own stance on that?
“I’m not worried,” Polanco said. “I know I can hit here. I hit here when I came up. I hit everywhere. I need to work hard, do what I do.”
Andrew Lambo has four doubles but only six hits in 33 at-bats this spring. — GETTY
4. Whither Lambo?
Andrew Lambo has a firm hold on the final bench spot, but the same was said at this point last spring, and he proceeded to go 4 for 42 with no extra-base hits and get relegated right back to Class AAA Indianapolis.
So now that he’s, uh, 6 for 33?
“It’s been different. It has,” Hurdle insisted this weekend. “I think we’re seeing better at-bats, a different level of confidence.”
That’s critical here, because that’s what went awry a year ago. Lambo beat himself up as much as any player I’ve seen in any spring with the Pirates, and it only grew worse with each 4-3 groundout. Nothing of the sort is visible this time, and I can attest to that from essentially taking his temperature so often he’ll soon bar me from approaching his stall … but with a smile.
“Everything’s good,” he said this weekend, showing all the teeth. “Look, still smiling.”
Moreover, Lambo’s struck out only three times, and four of his six hits have been doubles.
And he’s out of options.
And Neal Huntington absolutely loves him and wants to see him get a chance before he can go all Steve Pearce in someone else’s organization.
The rest of the bench will be Corey Hart, Tony Sanchez, Jung-Ho Kang and Sean Rodriguez, probably as enticing a group as the Pirates have had in recent years. If Lambo doesn’t make it, the most likely to supplant him would be Jaff Decker, but that’s yet another reason Lambo will make it. The Decker types can found all over the 4-A landscape. Not Lambo.
3. To stunt Holdzkom … or not
Not going to lie here: This one bugs me enough to be No. 1.
But let’s start with this: It’s wonderful that the Pirates have created a problem where they could send down a wholly legit back-end bullpen arm out of camp. As Mark Melancon, who’s at the very back end, observed this weekend, “Somebody who’s a really good reliever won’t be making this team. That says a lot about what we’ve got here.”
He’s right, but I’ll reserve the right to fret over John Holdzkom possibly being that guy.
When the baseball gods bestow upon you a blessing akin to an independent-league guy helping to carry your big-league team into the playoffs and he fans 14 batters in his first nine innings and he does so with a blazing, shifting fastball, that isn’t momentum that anyone should be eager to stunt.
It’s been easy to tell Holdzkom is handling this well, not least of which is through a solid spring.
“I haven’t proven myself, and I know that,” he said. “I’ve got to just keep working hard, doing what I do and making sure the cut fastball does what it can do.”
Look, I get that management is high on Arquimedes Caminero and his 98-mph heat just plucked from the Marlins, and that Caminero undoubtedly would be lost if waived. He’s out of options.
I also get — and fully support — that management signed Radhames Liz, another flamethrower, with the promise that he’d make the main roster.
But when rounding out the pen after Melancon, Tony Watson, Antonio Bastardo, Jared Hughes and Liz, it’s hard to fathom investing that final spot in the loser of the fifth-starter duel between Vance Worley and Jeff Locke, when neither has relief experience, rather than Holdzkom. And on top of that, Locke would add a third lefty to the mix, and a distant third at that.
None of that makes any sense. Which leads tidily into this next one …
2. Trade Locke?
Why not?
It couldn’t be much clearer at this stage that Worley will complete the rotation. That would leave Locke either in the pen or on the outs. And to repeat, he probably isn’t the best choice available for the pen.
Given that there are exactly 29 teams that would be willing to try out a 26-year-old lefty with a 4.00 career ERA, a clean bill of health, an All-Star appearance and a bulldog mentality, this seems like the perfect opportunity for Huntington to trade Locke for a prospect to keep his system stocked. Not nearly as many such opportunities arise while contending, but the need always remains great.
I don’t write this lightly, and I most certainly don’t write it because of Locke’s 9.00 spring ERA, but it might be best for all concerned if he’s moved elsewhere.
1. Will their caps still fit their heads?
Not in the Barry Bonds context, of course. I’m referring to the not-so-remote possibility that the Pirates could come north with collectively big heads if they’ve read any or all of the recent national predictions boasting, among other things, that they’ll have the greatest outfield in human history or that they’ll beat the Mariners in the World Series.
To their credit, most players handled the latter, a tweet by ESPN’s Buster Olney, with humor.
“Seattle? Really?” Melancon joked. “Come on.”
I raised this with a couple other guys, too:
Cap sizes can expand. Nice problem to have.
Somebody bring on the real games already.