-- The Pirates finished 0-6 against the Padres. It's the first time San Diego has swept the season series in its 42 year history.
-- We might be wrong about Andy LaRoche becoming the next Bobby Crosby. Argenis Diaz has been practicing at shortstop, third and second base, and gotten some work in the outfield, and is auditioning for next year's super-sub spot.
-- Danny Moskos has had such a hard time adjusting to AAA hitting that the Bucs sent the lefty back to Altoona, tweets Jen Langosch of MLB.com. In 17 IP, he gave up 26 hits (.347 OBA), including 3 HR's, and walked 20. His record was 0-5 with a 10.38 ERA and a 2.56 WHIP. The only bright spot is that he K'ed 18.
--The Pirates signed 11th round draft pick Dan Grovatt, according to Jay Jenkins of the The Daily Progress. The junior outfielder hitt .324 over the past three years with 40 doubles, nine triples, 20 homers and 24 stolen bases. Grovatt was assigned to State College.
His bonus is unknown, but two factors that played into his signing were that the Pirates granted him time in the fall to complete his degree and his fear of the future after having a torn UCL this season.
-- Tim Williams of Pirate Prospects has been busy lately; now he's adding 2+2 and hoping it totals up to Jameson Taillon's signing being a done deal. Here's the post.
-- Chris Jakubauskas has resumed his Indy rehab assignment. He came back from the concussion last month and promptly pulled a groin muscle during his first rehab stint.
-- The Pirates, media favorites to land pitching prospect Luis Heredia, will have to cool their heels until the 18th or 19th to see where he lands. His team, Veracruz, controls his rights and wants to wait until the draft signing period is over to try to extract a little higher price for the 16 year-old, as they get the lion's share of the signing bonus.
6 comments:
Looks like the end of the line for Andy LaRoche, at least in Pittsburgh. A shame, as he seems a genuinely decent fellow as well as a player who was probably better than his statistics showed, but who was chopped down by a bad back. But he just didn't do enough to hold onto a regular spot in the lineup, and that's all there is to it.
He got every chance, Will. I think you're right that he's gone; my bet is that either Argenis Diaz or Pedro Ciriaco will be the spare infielder next year (unless they bring back Ramon Vazquez, lol)
his bat scares me. I'd rather see Cedeno as the infield backup, with Diaz at triple A for one more year to see if he can be coached up to at least major league mediocrity at the plate.
I really like Ciriaco. I think he's a Pat Meares before he got injured - type.
Interesting pair, Will. Diaz has the better glove, Ciriaco the better bat. So far, Diaz has done nothing to hurt himself in Pittsburgh, with an admittedly tiny sample.
But I do like the way they filled what was an organizational hole in the middle infield. Maybe now they're trying to find pieces instead of whatever sticks against the wall.
I do wish they'd get over their fixation on left handed hitters; we badly need a big bopper from the right side for a little balance.
Ciriaco's glove is reportedly very good, if not world class like Diaz's, and he has a little bit of pop and a little bit of speed. Nothing spectacular, mind you, but enough of an offensive game to clearly separate him from Diaz as a prospedct, at least to my mind. I hope they bring him up in September and give him every shot at the job next season. Diaz can definitely pick it, though, and I think if we ever get to the point where we have a stronger team, he would be a nice luxury to have around in late innings. Right now, though, in my view we need all-arounders at most every position rather than defensive specialists. At least for now, then, I'd rather see Ciriaco and Cedeno split the starts at SS, with the idea that Ciricao will gradually take over and Cedeno will gradually move to an infield utility role.
We'll see, Will. If there's one thing this team offers, it's opportunity.
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