Thursday, August 28, 2014

Call-Up Cheat Sheet, Pedro-Garvey, Notes On An Off Day...

Our sense of the upcoming call-ups, covered by about all of the Bucco blogosphere, is that there won't be many.

Among pitchers, Charlie Morton is one if he's able, Stolmy Pimentel, Casey Sadler and maybe Ernesto Frieri (although he has a 5.40 ERA at Indy with two homers surrendered in five frames) are on the 40-man and been in the show before Vin Mazzaro (4-3-4, 2.59) and Drew Oliver (3-3-13, 2.39) have tossed strong ball, but aren't on the 40-man and the Bucs have shown no inclination to add them so far this year, though  both could work low leverage innings.

Outside shots: big righty John Holdzkom, who has K'ed 42 in 33-1/3 minor league frames, and Bobby LaFramboise, who has nothing going for him except for being a lefty and on the 40-man roster.

As for position guys, sure shots are Gregory Polanco, Tony Sanchez, Andrew Lambo and maybe Brent Morel/Mike Martinez. They're both on the 40-man and with Pedro at first, the Bucs may bring one (or maybe both) up just to occupy a seat. Jaff Decker is a long shot - the Bucs have a zillion outfielders.

We'd expect the Pirates to set the roster at 35 players as our over/under
  • Charlie Morton is tossing tonight for Altoona to see if he can work through his herna
  • Pedro isn't traveling uncharted ground - Steve Garvey of the Dodgers journeyed on the same career path 30 years ago, per Tom Singer of MLB.com..
  • Buster Olney of ESPN has a piece on Cutch playing through the pain, but to get further than the lede you need to be a subscriber.
  • The KC Royals have claimed IF Jayson Nix off waivers from the Bucs.
  • Jon Heyman of Baseball Insider reported that the Brewers won the waiver claim on Justin Morneau, the current NL batting leader, but were unable to swing a deal with the Rox for him.
  • West Virginia Power SS Jacoby Jones, the Pirates' third round pick in the 2013 draft, was selected to the outh Atlantic (SALLY) League post-season All-Star team. He hit .292 with 22 home runs and 69 RBI this season.
  • Gonzo Buc outfielders - Houston 's (via Minnesota) Alex Presley (.252/.291.359 5 HR); Philly's Marlon Byrd (.271/.317/..468 - 24 HR) and the Indians' Chris Dickerson (>232/.318/.337 - 2HR).

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