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Bill Brink's Pirates chat: 5.16.18
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Bill Brink
12:02
Good afternoon and welcome to this week's Pirates chat. Thanks for the questions, and keep them coming. Here we go ...
TrenchDavis
12:02
Do you (the Pirates) see Kang as a possible longer term replacement at SS for Mercer after this year?
Bill Brink
12:05
I think "possible" is the operative word here. He hasn't played shortstop in the majors since September 2015, when he got hurt on the Coughlin play. They're going to bring him back as a third baseman and go from there. It's possible he still has the footwork and range to eventually play short, but we're a ways off from knowing that. He's also in his final guaranteed year, although his 2019 option is cheap.
TrenchDavis
12:05
If Marte goes on DL (now or anytime this year), is it time for Meadows ML debut?
Bill Brink
12:06
If Marte goes on the DL for an extended period of time, it might be Meadows time. If it's a 10-day or two-week thing, my guess is no, because the Pirates won't want to bring him up, start him in four games and send him back down.
Dinasour
12:06
Marte and Cervelli are down today. Are they available off the bench?
Bill Brink
12:07
Director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk told reporters this morning they continue to evaluate Marte's availability, so we don't know, but it sounded like they weren't ruling it out. Cervelli more likely is available.
ALB
12:07
Bill, I just don't see where Kang can fit into this team now. Do you?
Bill Brink
12:08
They built the team under the assumption that he wouldn't be here, so now they're left with lots of third basemen. He can be a power bat off the bench at some point, but it's going to get crowded.
Dinasour
12:08
With Cano busted for PED’s/dietetics it seems that they a replacement at second base for the foreseeable future. Do you think JHay is on there radar and if so what would they have to offer to make this ball club better?
Bill Brink
12:08
He might be on their radar, but the Pirates are tied for first place so I don't see them making the trade, at least not any time soon.
BurghBall
12:09
Not exactly clear on what "choking up" on the bat does, nor why at 2 strikes...Joey Votto been doing it forever, now Dickerson, and Trevor last night. Please explain.
Bill Brink
12:10
It quickens the path of the barrel of the bat to the ball, allowing batters to wait longer on a pitch to ensure it's a strike before swinging. We're talking hundreths of a second, but that matters at the plate. If you're wondering why not just use shorter bats, like I was when I wrote about Dickerson doing it, hitters and coaches will tell you that the slight counterweight of the knob being on the other side of your hands can help whip the bat through the zone.
Dinasour
12:10
With Musgrove on the mend and Kingham pitching well in his 2 starts, it seems the rotation is getting crowded. Who is the odd man/men out?
Bill Brink
12:11
Probably Kingham. I know what his stats have been versus Kuhl, but the Pirates will probably defer to Kuhl's service time and experience in the rotation rather than move him to relief for someone with two major league starts.
Mike 9 mile Falls, WA
12:11
Who's the back up catcher today?
Bill Brink
12:12
We always guess about this and I don't think Hurdle has given us a definitive answer in recent seasons but in all likelihood, from a process of elimination standpoint, it's Rodriguez. David Freese has actually caught in a game, but that was in 2009, like four foot/ankle surgeries ago.
Sean Rodriguez, not Richard Rodriguez. That would be something.
Also we don't know for sure that Cervelli has been ruled out.
Dinasour
12:13
Does Hurdle and SRod have some sort of Bromance? I love SRod. I appreciate his versatility and what he brings to the clubhouse. But at what point does his 0.168 average keep him off the field?
Bill Brink
12:15
Hurdle very much trusts Rodriguez basically anywhere on the field, so when it's time to give another player a day off, Rodriguez gets the call. The offense hasn't been there, for sure. Hurdle is willing to take that hit in exchange for sure-handed defense.
Dinasour
12:15
I enjoyed watching Cutch return to PNC. I was happy for him that the fans showed up to support him and think the organization did a tremendous job with his return. Now with that out of the way what does the general managagent have to do to get the fans back? This team is far exceeding expectations early in the year as they 24-17 and currently sit atop  of the central. They are having fun and are fun to watch.
Bill Brink
12:17
Huntington has said some variation of "we need to put a winner on the field to regain the fans' trust and get them to come out" several times this offseason. So far the Pirates are winning, and winning is the surest cure.
Diamond Chick, NY
12:17
How talented is CF at Altoona Jason Martin? Keeper or valuable trade player?
Bill Brink
12:18
Quite talented. I talked to him Monday when I was out there writing about their rotation and Harrison, and I'll have a story on him here at some point. Off to a great start this year, with a .419 OBP and .631 slug, and I think there's enough separation between him and the majors that they don't have to worry about a logjam just yet.
IndyFan
12:18
Completely hypothetical, but let's just say at the end of the season, the Pirates clinched a wild card spot. Who do you go to, to start in a 1 game series? I would guess at this point, we would have to say Trevor Williams? Or do you hope you get the good Taillon?
Bill Brink
12:19
If the season ended today, and we know what we know? Those would be the two. Taking the cut on Taillon's finger out of the equation for the sake of argument, I'd probably go Taillon by a hair, but Williams has pitched well enough that it's very close.
Wayward
12:21
While I believe in Kuhl's potential as a SP, given the potential logjam at the 4/5 SP slots, does it make some sense to transition him into a RP/  He has the stuff to be an effective late inning guy.
Bill Brink
12:22
I understand the argument for it because I hear it a lot: He already throws hard, the velo would ramp up, control wouldn't be as big of a deal, he wouldn't have to turn the lineup over. At this point, I still disagree. The Pirates will get much more value out of him by helping him harness his stuff and become an effective starter than they will by turning him into a reliever.
What other questions do we have today?
PhillyJake
12:22
Late to the game.  I guess asking if Jacob Stallings is in town would be redundant!
Bill Brink
12:23
I'm not at today's game, but I asked Liz and she said they didn't see him in the clubhouse, which doesn't mean he wasn't, so there's that.
PhillyJake
12:24
Does Liz crank the Classical music in the press box?
Bill Brink
12:25
Probably, but she's got those big noise-canceling headphones, so who knows. I'm good with classical music. Used to play the cello in middle school.
Wayward
12:25
Is Glasnow getting enough work to continue his development? Is the time spent working Searage more beneficial than the extra innings at the lower level?
Bill Brink
12:27
It's going to have to be enough work because I don't think, and I think the Pirates also don't think (that was quite a sentence) that there's much for Glasnow to learn at triple-A. He needs to learn how to get major league hitters out. He showed last year that he can retire minor league batters while pitching the way he would if he were in the majors. Now it's gotta happen here.
IndyFan
12:27
Was at the game Saturday and Musgrove really had his stuff together and looked great. But why not just use him out of the bullpen, like the Astros did last year? I know all along the Pirates have said they plan to use him as a SP, but that was before Nick Kingham really blew us away.
Bill Brink
12:29
The Pirates believe in Musgrove as a starter and he's shown he can do it in the major leagues before, in 2016. One rough outing skewed his ERA, but he was an effective starter his rookie year. They believe they can get him back to that. As good as Kingham was, it was only two starts, a small sample size.
OHIO412FAN
12:31
Are the Pirates heating up? Seems to me they are starting to play more consistent baseball.
Bill Brink
12:34
They are. They rebounded nicely from their sweep in Washington. This month, they have hit 20 home runs, tied for fifth in the NL. Their .343 OBP ranks third, their 66 runs rank fourth and they've got a plus-10 run differential.
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