Thursday: Bucs @ Bosox, Hutch v Steven Wright, Lineup, More Cuts, Notes

Today: The Pirates are on the road visiting the Red Sox at JetBlue Park at Fenway South, Fort Myers. The game starts at 1:05 and will be webcast (audio) by pirates.com.

Lineup (starters): Jordy Mercer SS, Starling Marte CF, Gregory Polanco LF, David Freese 3B, Fran Cervelli C, Jose Osuna RF, Josh Bell 1B, Alen Hanson 2B & Hutch P. Except for the absence of Cutch and J-Hay, looks like a potential Opening Day lineup. The order seems a bit peculiar to us, but hey, Clint is sometimes a manager of mystery.

Hutch looking to impress (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Pitchers: Drew Hutchison, Tyler Webb, Jared Hughes.

Notes:

• Nine guys met the Turk today. C Elias Diaz and IF Max Moroff were optioned to Indy while assigned to minor league camp were OF Eury Perez; P Brandon Cumpton, P Jason Stoffel, P Edgar Santana, P Dan Runzler, IF Eric Wood and 1B/OF Joey Terdoslavich. No tough decisions among that group in paring the roster down to 38 players. 
• Neal Huntington had a longish interview with MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, covering a lot of things including how he navigates in a small-revenue environment.
• Alec Brzezinski of The Sporting News has a concise 2017 Pirates preview.

Andrew has a new trophy to add to the collection - 2014 Topps Opening Day

• The USA took the WBC crown last night with a convincing 8-0 win over Puerto Rico; Cutch knocked in a couple of more runs. They beat the best with do-or-die wins over the DR and Japan to reach the gold medal round. Manager Jimmy Leyland said after the game that he was hanging up his jersey; pretty sweet way to end a career. IF Josh Harrison and coach Rich Donnelly were also on the championship club.