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Bill Brink's Pirates chat: 5.30.18
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Bill Brink
11:42
Good morning and welcome to this week's Pirates chat. We'll get going at noon. You can begin submitting questions now and I'll get to them as I go.
12:01
Thanks for the questions, guys, and keep them coming. Here we go...
Old School
12:01
Hurdle not protecting his players and ordering a bean ball to Rizzo is unacceptable.  Maddon and the Cubs abused and embarrassed the Pirates this series. Not only is Hurdle a terrible game manager, he is a terrible leader.
Bill Brink
12:05
Hurdle's point: To get Rizzo out, you have to pitch him inside because he stands with his toes on the inside corner. When you do that, you're going to hit him from time to time. Hurdle didn't explicitly say this, but you can infer it: If you retaliate, then hit him again accidentally, possibly with warnings issued, your pitcher's tossed and now Lester or Hendricks might come after one of your guys. I noted to him afterward that retaliating was the way it was done for a long time, and he said there are a lot of things that used to be that aren't anymore. And remember, Nova drilled Shuck with the first pitch he threw after Harrison got hit, so it's not like Hurdle is anti-retaliation. This speaks more to the slide and the person who slid.
Jung-ho Kang
12:05
How's my spring training going?
Bill Brink
12:06
Hi Jung Ho. You're still in extended spring training games, playing on the left side of the infield. You hit a home run not that long ago, so you can still swing it, but we don't have the stats for the EST games.
Gregory Polonco
12:06
Do I finish the year with the Pirates? I'm a nice oi
I'm a nice piece to bring in some young arms
Bill Brink
12:07
Gregory, you'd have to get back on track for the Pirates to be able to trade you for anything of value, and if you get back on track, I think the Pirates will want to hang onto you. So yes, you finish the year with the Pirates.
pierogies
12:07
Hi Bill, seems like it's time to shake the BP up a little bit.  Neverauskas has been pitching well, do you think he gets a shot?  If so, how would be sent down?
Bill Brink
12:12
If Neverauskas' Instagram story is to be believed (journalism in 2018, hello) he was in Pittsburgh recently, likely for a possible taxi squad situation if Vazquez's forearm acted up. Since he got sent down he has an 0.90 ERA, a .411 OPS allowed and 29 strikeouts in 20 innings, so he'd be a good candidate. Michael Feliz has allowed a run in his past four outings, but I don't know i the Pirates would option him.
Austin Meadows Stan
12:12
At what point does Meadows cement his location in the 2 spot?
Bill Brink
12:15
Not quite yet. I don't think he'll hit .439 forever and he has yet to draw a walk, but he's as locked in as you can get. The quality of the at-bats has been excellent (two great ones last night, the Lester homer and the single against Morrow) and his swing is in a good place. So I think when he's in the lineup, he'll hit there, but if he slumps I don't think he has cemented himself as the No. 2 hitter.
mrbst23
12:15
How does the bullpen get back on track?
Bill Brink
12:16
Vazquez needs to pitch like he did last night, like we saw him last year. Feliz needs to get his control back. Santana had been great for a month before last night, so that could be more a poorly timed one-game hiccup.
Jud
12:16
Do you get the sense the Bucs will be aggressive in trade market for a frontline starter? Or an upgrade at SS? Or some BP arms?
Bill Brink
12:18
Bullpen arms are the most likely avenue as of now. I could see a scenario where Kevin Newman comes up to help with shortstop, and if Musgrove is good and Kuhl is good, they might have a hard decision to make with Nova.
IndyFan
12:18
Sorry about that, is it Newman's job temporarily until Cole Tucker is ready? How do you see that whole middle infield situation filling out?
Bill Brink
12:18
Too soon to tell on that one. We don't have any triple-A data on him yet. But at that position, it's good to have multiple options.
Geoff
12:18
Anyone who thinks the Pirates should have retaliated violence with violence are part of the problem. Why anyone would advocate potential injury is beyond me. It's archaic baseball thinking, and it needs to stop. Yet Brown and Blass couldn't stop gushing over the "good 'ol days" in which players routinely were injured and retaliation was a plenty.
Bill Brink
12:20
The school of thought is changing. Used to be, runners would bowl over catchers, shoulder first, and Gibson would retaliate by hitting two guys, the second guy to make sure you knew he meant the first one. Now teams have realized how valuable keeping players on the field is, both in terms of victories and losses and revenue. Pitchers throw harder than ever. If you could guarantee the pitch would hit the guy in the hip and he'd walk away with nothing worse than a bruise, that's one thing, but if you miss and hit him in the hand or head, now you're talking a serious injury.
Missing Persons Report
12:21
Is anybody really sure what happened to Kevin Siegrist?
Bill Brink
12:22
I don't believe so. I expect him in a Bridgeport Bluefish uniform any day now.
12:23
What other questions do we have today?
CBA!
12:24
You seem pretty in tune with baseball minutia. Any idea if when a player is optioned to minors, he is paid pro-rata for 186 ML days, or whatever their minor league day schedule is?
Bill Brink
12:26
You are correct! ... except this has always been a blind spot. A player who was promoted, then sent down, got a higher salary in the minors because he has major league service time. So if you make roughly $43,000 in your first year on the 40-man, then get promoted and make major league minimum $545,000, then get sent down, you make something in between. What that is or how that's calculated, I don't know. I will find out. Come back next week and remind me.
Austin
12:27
I asked a little while back. Were you ever able to find out if switch hitters use different bats for the side of the plate they hit from?
Bill Brink
12:28
Look at me, telling someone to come back next week and I'll have the answer and someone else comes back and I don't have the answer. I'm sorry, I lost track of it. I will write both down and find out in St. Louis and get back to both of you next week.
JT
12:28
Wish Pirates played the game like Rizzo.
Bill Brink
12:30
And this is a good point: Nuance is hard these days in the age of Twitter, but there is a viewpoint to be had where Rizzo's slide was simultaneously a clean, hard baseball play and also in violation to the revision to Rule 6.01.
CBA!
12:30
I've wondered that...for example, Dovydas Neverauskas started last year on 40-man making the $43,600, got called up making minimum, but when he gets sent down he now has ML service and would make $87,200, but is still on first contract. You're saying there's a place in-between?
Bill Brink
12:30
Players have told me that, but that does not mean it's totally accurate. I'll find out for sure.
12:32
Like, actually this time. (Sorry Austin.)
IndyFan
12:32
In my best Dennis Green voice, are the pirates who we thought they were?
Bill Brink
12:33
I don't think necessarily only because they're so streaky. It's tough to tell who they are because the level of play varies so much from week to week, series to series. The bullpen got on a roll and now it's Statcast exit velos are off the charts. The offense raked and then couldn't hit the ball with an oar. I still think they're better than we thought in spring training but maybe not the first-place team we saw for a bit there.
12:34
Lightning round. Go.
Sal
12:35
Any chance Nova is traded?
Bill Brink
12:36
There's a chance, but the way he's pitched and with him currently on the DL, it would be the type of trade to clear a rotation spot and salary so they wouldn't get much back.
Hippo
12:38
Why does Hurdle keep starting Sean Rodriguez all the time? Forget this defense mantra the guy can't hit and shouldn't be in the lineup except in the rare occasions.
Bill Brink
12:40
Last night was another example of it, right? Dickerson has actually hit lefties well this year. I understand the desire for defense and a day off for guys here and there, but the offense is not allowing for this much playing time.
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