After Justin Wilson and Kyle McPherson gave the Pirates three solid innings of relief last night, the Bucs sent both pitchers down this afternoon to make room for Chad Qualls’ return from the bereavement list and Daniel McCutchen’s return to the Major League team. Literally nothing about this makes sense to me; Qualls has been awful for everyone he’s pitched for in 2012 (Pirates included) and he hasn’t really been a good pitcher since 2008. McCutchen hasn’t pitched for the Pirates this year, his early season success last year seemed like a bit of a mirage and with Indianapolis this year and while he’s been OK with Indy this year, he hasn’t been better than Bryan Morris, Justin Wilson, Chris Leroux, or even Tim Wood.
Normally when Neal Huntington makes moves I don’t like I can at least find some kind of logic in them so that I can say, “I’m not sure this is a great move, but I get why the Pirates are doing this.” The Pirates are now entering the end of August with a bullpen that includes Chad Qualls, Daniel McCutchen, Chris Resop, and Tony Watson. I get not wanting to throw Morris or Wilson straight into the fire and risk having an untested rookie blow a lead, but keeping guys like Qualls and McCutchen around with Morris and Wilson in the minor leagues is borderline criminal. It will cost the Pirates games in the next two weeks. It makes no sense at all to me.
