Camp Rolls On: Week's Games, Lauer Signed, First Cuts, Injury Report, Notes

Camp tightens up...

Week's Games: The Bucs opened the week with a 7-3 win over the Rays. Henry Davis, Jack Suwinski and Canaan Njigba-Smith homered, while it was Kid's Day on the hill. Luis Ortiz and Paul Skenes worked the first five innings, each giving up a run and whiffing three. They followed with a 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays, banging out three more homers while Jared Jones flashed the heat, topping 100 several times and Quinn Priester was solid. Wednesday was the first night game of the spring, and good thing since it rained during the afternoon. The bad thing is the O's won, 6-4; Mitch Keller had a rough start and his velo was still down. Thursday was the first open date on the Grapefruit schedule, and was followed by a split-team twin bill the next day.

Oneil Cruz - 2023 Topps Allen & Ginter

Weekend Games: In the Friday split twin bill, the Bucs topped the Twins, 6-3 in the main game. Martin Perez looked sharp, Roansy Contreras still has command issues, and Cutch & Ke'Bryan homered. The second game was a 6-6 tie with Atlanta with a mainly B roster. Marcos Gonzales was shaky while Canaan Smith-Njigba went deep. Motown whipped the Pirates 8-5; Paul Skenes was scheduled to go but was scratched due to an illness (nothing major). Luis Ortiz started slow and then revved it up while Colin Holderman got toasted. Henry Davis, Jake Lamb (wind-blown fly), Smith-Njigba and Abraham Gutierrez went long. The Bucs lost Sunday, 9-7, to the Phils. Quinn Priester faded badly after three frames and the Corsairs later gave up two unearned runs thanks to an Oneil Cruz boot (though two dingers made up) while the winning runs scored with two outs in the ninth on a Termarr Johnson error. Bryan Reynolds also bopped a blast; at least the homers keep coming.

Upcoming: The Pirates announced their roster for the Spring Breakout game on March 14th v Baltimore at LECOM Park. The MLB Spring Breakout is a new league concept to pump up some mid-camp interest by showcasing every team's young guns over four days. 20 of the Pirates Top 30 prospects are on the Breakout roster.

Notes 

•  LHP Eric Lauer, 28, signed a NRI deal with the Bucs, passed his physical and reported to camp on Sunday. He was solid for the Brewers in 2021-22 with a slash of  18-12/3.49, averaging 26 starts/140 IP, but last year the wheels fell off (4-6/6.56) with his velo down noticeably. Lauer attributed it to trying to work through injuries and the Pirates are hoping for a bounce-back campaign.
• The Bucs made their first cutdowns on Monday. IF Andrés Alvarez and pitchers Anthony Solometo, Thomas Harrington, & Bubba Chandler were reassigned to minor-league camp, while lefty hurler Jackson Wolf was optioned to Altoona. On Friday, RHPs Connor Sadzeck and Sean Sullivan were reassigned to minor league camp while RHP Mike Burrows was optioned to the minors (he's on the 40-man but recovering from TJ surgery, with a late summer return expected). C Abrahan Gutierrez, RHP Ben Heller and LHP Michael Plassmeyer were sent to minor league camp on Sunday.

Anthony Solometo - 2022 Topps Pro Debut

• Injury Report: RHP Dauri Moreta's elbow injury hasn't been pinpointed yet, but it involves his ligament and is expected to put him on the shelf for "an extended period," reported medical director Todd Tomczyk. C Yasmani Grandal has sat for a couple of weeks with plantar fasciitis, and is expected to return to game action soon per Shelty. RHP David Bednar (lat tightness) has begun playing catch this week and is progressing.
• Cutch and Josh Palacios are back in the lineup this week.
• Brent Maguire of MLB.com crystal-balled each team's HR leader for the coming season using Steamer projections. For the Bucs, he selected Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz with 25 bombs each, with a "keep an eye on" tag on Henry Davis. Jack Suwinski was the team leader with 26 long balls in 2023 while Reynolds had 24.
• Ben Cherington announced that Paul Skenes will start the year in the minors. Makes sense; they can work on a couple of toolbox issues and control his innings without limelight. It also allows the club to tweak when his service time clock starts, always part of the Pirates checklist. Here's hoping that his visit will be short...
• MLB Pipeline's trio of experts (Sam Dykstra, Jim Callis & Jonathan Mayo) picked the Pirates farm system as #9 in the MLB. The bad news - The Cubs are ranked #2 and the Brewers #3.