Notes and a Few More Names To Consider...

Off day tidbits:

• Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports opines that "It may be wise for general manager Neal Huntington to check into (Ricky) Nolasco, fellow rental Matt Garza or longer-term option Bud Norris," especially with concerns about the health of Wandy Rodriguez. 
• Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says on his Full Count vid that the Pirates need RF help and  Alex Rios would be perfect except that he makes $12.5M in each of the next two years. Plan B could be Michael Morse or David DeJesus, though both are on the DL now. Pittsburgh is in a tight spot because they want to improve the club but don't want to disrupt their chemistry (there was clubhouse grumbling last year at the deadline) or their burgeoning farm system.
• Mike Axisa of CBS Sports thinks the Pirate could use 1B/OF help (depending on where Garrett Jones plays) and thinks Kendrys Morales would be "a fantastic fit." He adds that another bullpen arm to ease the workload of Jason Grilli and Mark Melancon would be a welcome tweak, too.
• Jeff Locke was warming up in the bullpen yesterday in case he had to work the 15th inning, and that little bullpen session pushed back his scheduled Tuesday start, which is now TBD.
• OK, forget the cortisone. Now Wandy Rodriguez may, though it's not certain, receive a platelet-rich plasma injection an attempt to speed up the healing in his strained left forearm.
• So far, this season's yo-yo award goes to Josh Harrison, who is in his fourth call-up appearance.
• Elias Sports Bureau: Since the MLB went to a 162 game schedule in '1962, 57 teams have been 21 or more games over .500 through 81 games. None finished under .500.
• Since 1900, the Pirates bullpen has never thrown 12 or more scoreless innings in a game until yesterday.
• The Bucs have won their last nine one-run games at PNC Park, the franchise's longest home string since they won 13 consecutive one-run games in 1977 at TRS. 
• The Tribe's Andrew Lambo was named the International League Batter of the Week. He led the IL with three HR and a 1.056 slugging percentage this week while finishing second with a .500 BA and a .609 OBP.
• Marc Hulet of Fangraphs, when asked if the Pirate farm system was top-heavy but thin otherwise, answered "They had one of the better drafts in 2013 and have actually drafted well over the past few years so I’d say it’s a fairly deep system. Pittsburgh has a really fun system to watch." He added that he thought Gregory Polanco was a potential 20-20 guy, he likes Alen Hanson, Jameson Taillon is close to being ready for AAA ball, Tyler Glasnow has #2 starter potential and that Josh Bell has looked really good.
• The Bucs signed three more draft picks. They are OF Nick Buckner (14th round - North Shore HS, TX), who was named the top baseball player in the state of Texas by MaxPreps. RHP Billy Roth (16th round  - Vista HS, CA), who hits 92 with his heater, and LHP Will Kendall (30th round - Auburn) who had a strong 2012 but was injured for much of this season. Buckner and Roth were prep upside picks, and were thought to be tough signs for the Pirates.