Week #2 of camp:
Notes:- Pittsburgh picked up IF/OF Josh VanMeter, 27, from the Arizona Diamondbacks (he had been DFA'ed) for minor league RHP Listher Sosa, 20. It'll be interesting to see where the FO thinks he fits in. VanMeter is a lefty batter, as are Yoshi Tsutsugo and Daniel Vogelbach, if they planned on DH'ing him and the Pirates have an infield jam even without him. That leaves a bench UT/PH role for a guy who's out of options. VanMeter has been a terror in AAA and maybe the Bucs think it'll finally translate. To clear a roster spot, OF Jared Oliva has been DFA'ed.
- RHP JT Brubaker will start on Opening Day, April 7th, at Busch Stadium against the Cards. JT Brubaker is the seventh different Opening Day starter in the last seven years for the Bucs, after Chad Kuhl (2021), Big Joe Musgrove (2020), Jameson Taillon (2019), Ivan Nova (2018), Gerrit Cole (2017) and Frankie Liriano (2016; also 2015, 2014).
- Ben Cherington told the AT&T SportsNet gang that the Pirates were considering carrying a split active roster of 14 pitchers/14-position players to begin the season.
- CF Bryan Reynolds was ranked as the #4 center fielder in baseball by MLB Network.
- Ke'Bryan Hayes is hurt again, this time suffering a sprained ankle. It's not severe and he's day-to-day, and appears to be on track to make Opening Day.
- OF Greg Allen, who's had a nice spring, pulled up with hammy "discomfort" on Sunday, the extent of the injury yet TBD.
- OF Anthony Alford has a right hand injury and has been out for over a week. He could open the year on the IL.
- SS Oneil Cruz was optioned to Indy, a move many assume was made to curtail his service time and keep him under team control a little longer; that may or may not be a good thing, depending on your POV. Also sent to AAA was RHP Adonis Medina. LHP Cam Alldred and RHPs Chase De Jong, Eric Hanhold, Beau Sulser & Austin Brice were assigned to the minor league camp.
- MLB Pipeline has the Pirates Top 30 Prospects; you should pretty familiar with most of the names. They rank the Bucco farm as #7 overall.
- The Pirates have made a long-term offer to Ke'Bryan Hayes; it was thought that earlier efforts were rejected but the process continues... No word whether CF Bryan Reynolds is getting any new numbers tossed at him, only trade rumors floating around.
- RHP Chris Archer, 33, signed with Minnesota as a FA. Archie gets $2.75M this year and $10M/$750K buyout in 2023, both bulked up by bonuses. He's barely worked the last two years, suffering from thoracic nerve damage with the Bucs in 2020, then a forearm followed by a hip injury with Tampa Bay last season.
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| Archie - 2019 Panini Prizm |
- IF Brock Holt, 33, who carved out a nice career in Boston, has asked for and been granted his release from Atlanta, where he was an NRI. He started out with Pittsburgh in 2012 before being traded, but has been with three teams in the past two seasons after his Red Sox run.
- LHP Wade LeBlanc , 37, retired. Frenchy spent last season with the Cards, injured his arm in September and went unsigned this year. The 13-year vet spent part of 2016 and all of 2017 in Pittsburgh with a line of 6-2-2/3.94 in 58 outings.
- Umps will announce all review decisions over the stadium PA this season, much like football zebras do now, to help keep the fans in the know.
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