A lot of roster moves and the Brewers
The Pirates were pretty busy for a Friday afternoon in August today; they sent Daniel McCutchen back down to Triple-A and brought Jordy Mercer back from paternity leave (this brings the roster back to 13 position players and 12 pitchers, which makes sense given that the Pirates were both off yesterday and will be off again next Thursday), they sent Yamaico Navarro down to Triple-A for Jeff Clement, and they claimed Hisanori Takahashi off of waivers. Clement will presumably be with the club in Pittsburgh tonight and they'll have to make another move when Takashi gets into town whenever that may be.
There were a lot of Pirate fans clamoring for Clement to get called up, but my interest in him has waned quite a bit since the Pirate offense came to life in June. The reality is that Clement is 28 and he's not even matching his Triple-A numbers from 2003. It's a cool story that he's come back from so many injuries to have a big league career again, but I don't think he's any more likely to help the Pirate offense right now than Yamaico Navarro was. Takahashi, meanwhile, seems like a decent claim. He's a lefty, which the Pirates need in the bullpen if they're not planning on calling Justin Wilson up (which ... next topic), and he had a 4.1 K/BB ratio before being demoted by the Angels for his 4.93 ERA. At the very least, that K/BB ratio may indicate some hidden value, though he does tend to give up a bunch of homers and that makes him like the lefty the Pirates already have in the bullpen in Tony Watson. I don't know who the Pirates will remove for Takahashi, but I do know that if it's not Chad Qualls that I'll be pretty upset.
The Pirates are back at PNC tonight to play the Brewers. Wandy Rodriguez looks to make his first good start as a Pirate. Mike Fiers goes for the Brewers. He's given up 12 runs in seven innings over his last two starts. First pitch is at 7:05.
TomBrenholts hits the nail on the head. The Pirates went from a team that finds a way to win to a team that finds a way to lose. Very depressing.
Also, Pey-Pey is going to shred the Stillers secondary.
Horrible fundamentals as of late. A team full of guys doing nothing offensively. A waivers pickup of a guy 37 year old with a high ERA for a reliever that was DFA'd by a team in contention. The addition of Jeff Clement who is batting under .200 in AAA. What exactly do I have to be excited about? Is this a M*effen joke?
@MattWitkowski Tomlin says the starters are going to play the first half tonight, that should be interesting.
I have to take some time off from the Bucs. Earlier this year, we would have won that game. One of the three sluggers would have lashed a double into the gap, two runs would have scored, and it would have looked like real baseball, instead of looking like a bunch of guys in baseball uniforms doing baseballish things.
So, do you think Manning will be able to throw effectively against our starting defense? I can't stop being a Bucs fan, but l can ease the pain by not caring, like miniplen. This team might not even break The Streak.
I just noticed from the box score, 13 Ks from our lineup. It's becoming absurd and obscene how many times our guys are striking out. Is this just an accepted fact and they just go about their business like everything is hunky-dory?
I'm hoping to see Alvarez moved this coming offseason and if they can get a nice deal for G. Jones I'd do that too. Jones trade value will never be higher.
Will this squad continue to fold and make it exciting (how miserable to suggest) to see if they can make it to 82 wins?
It has reached that point where I am still watching all the games, and I am still hoping for the best, but I am not caring. A couples of weeks ago, I would have been livid at Barmes incredibly shitty play during the first inning. Now it is just something on the TV. Please start playing well enough to give me a reason to care.
