Outfielders Travis Snider and Jaff Decker will provide a lefty bench bat and maybe see a little OF time; Josh's return has pretty well staked out that fourth outfield spot. Elias Diaz got the call instead of Tony Sanchez; this may be Tony's last hurrah in the Bucco organization; the Pirates are deep in young catching prospects. Pedro Florimon is expected back, too, (he's technically not eligible for recall until tomorrow) and gives Clint one more glove-first infielder.
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| He's back... (photo: Charles LeClaire/USA Today) |
A couple of arms were added, too - LH reliever Bobby LaFromboise will allow for LOOGY match-ups and Radhames Liz, who looked sharp at Indy, will take a long-man role, same as earlier in the season. Rob Scahill was removed from the DL and added to the active roster to give the skipper another bridge option. We wouldn't be stunned to see Vanimal back, though he would require the FO to drop someone off the 40 man roster and may be a fallback only if AJ has a setback. At any rate, the Bucs want him to remain stretched out if they need another rotation add.
Snider, Liz, and later Florimon/Worley all need to be added to the 40 man roster. Today was easy as there was one vacancy and Casey Sadler was moved from the 15 day to 60 day DL. He joined Corey Hart, Andrew Lambo and Brandon Cumpton among those not counted against the roster.
AJ Burnett and Travis Ishikawa are on the 40-man & the DL, and they'll join the club sometime this month, too. Ishy can come off the DL on September 7th, and AJ is hoping to return by mid-September.
The one thing they almost all share is MLB experience, except for Diaz. So forget about Tyler Glasnow, Alen Hansen and Josh Bell; their time may be just around the corner, but the Bucs won't be starting their service-time clocks any sooner than necessary. (Heck, we'd have even taken Gift Ngoebe rather than Florimon, but not our choice. The FO values experience over all as this year is an America Cup race, not a break-in cruise.)
Clint told the press gang that he can handle a roster of up to 35, so there may be another move or two coming when Indy season's concludes. Stay tuned.
2 comments:
Gerrit wasn't anywhere near the top of his game tonight.
Why is it that the Cardinals come to win each and EVERY night while our Bucos look like they take a night off here and there. Losing two in a row to the Brewers and Rox is a head scratcher.
Time for Hurdle to bust some A$$.
Cincy
The Bucs haven't been a real solid team fundamentally all year, agreed. That's the other side of lineup flexibility; some guys are in for bats-only (Pedro, A-Ram); JHK is just OK when he plays short, and Josh has worn everything but a C/CF'er/1B mitt. As for batting approach, they seem to flip between aggressive & passive. But hey, Dave, it's what we got and how it's been all year. This team's saving grace is a rockin' pen and the mind set to play all nine innings. That's carried them to 28 games above .500 and the season is too far gone to change their field ethos.
As for Gerrit, that's the head scratcher to me. August has traditionally been a so-so month for him, with a bit of a September bounce back. Maybe he's missing the comfort zone Stew gives him, or maybe the innings/lack of a third pitch catches up. But if the Bucs are gonna make a run, they need Cole Train and Frankie to step it up this month.
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