Monday, June 20, 2011

Notes

Jake Arrieta and Charlie Morton will work the opener of the Oriole-Bucco series. The 7:05 PM game will be shown on Root Sports.

The lineup: Jose Tabata LF, Josh Harrison 3B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Garrett Jones 1B, Neil Walker 2B, Xavier Paul RF, Ronny Cedeno SS, Mike McKenry C, Charlie Morton P.

Hey, guess who's playing first? Yep, Jones is back playing the infield. McCutch is back to the three hole and CF, and Xavier Paul has apparently been eating his Wheaties - he's batting fifth tonight.

  • Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors thinks the Bucs - and some others - should be eyeing up Jamey Carroll of the Dodgers if they want a rental guy. Carroll isn't real costly in terms of salary or return, is in his walk year, and he's a big upgrade over Pedro "El Hombre Invisible" Ciriaco. The vet has got no pop, but is a lifetime .278 hitter who's batting .308 this year, and can hold down SS until Chase d'Arnauld is ready. Houston's Jeff Keppinger is the same type player, as long as we're throwing names around, but he'd probably fetch a higher return. He has an added year of team control remaining through arbitration. 
  • The Bucs will honor the members of the 1971 World Series championship squad tomorrow night in a pre-game ceremony.
  • Cory Giger of the Altoona Mirror was the first to report yesterday that RHP Bryan Morris, the last player left in the Pittsburgh organization from the Jay Bay trade, has been switched from the Class AA Altoona Curve's rotation to the bullpen. That explains Philip Irwin's call-up from Bradenton. The 24 year old Morris had been ranked as the #6 prospect in the Bucco system, but as a reliever, his value will take a sharp dive.
  • Fireballing RHP Stetson Allie, last year's second pick behind Jameson Taillon, will get his first pro start tonight for the State College Spikes. A record 5,836 fans watched the Spikes win their home opener last night 3-0 over Williamsport.
  • Jim Callis of Baseball America compares the machinations behind the Pirate selection of Josh Bell with last year's Dodger pick Zach Lee (no comparison, he finds, although the end result is likely to be the same) and gives a little more insight on Bell.
  • As reported by several sources, Albert Pujols will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken forearm. Pity; it looked like an innocent enough play; Sir Albert contorted to go after an errant toss to first and Wilson Betemin bumped into him. It's been a tough season for the Card superstar so far; walk year, slow start, playing third base, now a broken arm...

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