Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Pitching-Related Questions For The Second Half
By Larry Snyder
You know the story. Sometimes the pitcher is suffering from fatigue. Sometimes his elbow, back or knee hurts. Sometimes, as the experts say, the mechanics are out of sorts. It is the reason for the old baseball adage that you can never have too much pitching.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are at a point where they may need to consider whether they have enough arms on the hill to continue a playoff push this summer. I think there are three questions to consider here in the middle of July.
1. Should the Pittsburgh Pirates, as baseball insider Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com suggested, be in the hunt with the Angels, Orioles and Giants for San Diego relief pitcher Huston Street?
Clint Hurdle‘s Shark Tank bullpen had the second-most blown saves in MLB with 14 going into last weekend, when they added their 15th blown save on Friday against Cincinnati. They have also given up the fourth-most home runs with 27.
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Huston, a 6-foot righthander from Austin, Texas, has a 1.13 ERA, 23 saves and a 0.78 walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP). Street would add depth to the bullpen and give Hurdle an option to move Mark Melancon back into the setup role, where he has had success for the Bucs.
2. On the other hand, should Bucs general manager Neal Huntington be looking to beef up the starting rotation with someone like right-hander Jake Peavy of the Boston Red Sox?
There were rumors over the last few weeks talking about the Pirates being interested in Brandon McCarthy of the Diamondbacks before he went to the Yankees or perhaps bringing back A.J. Burnett from the Phillies.
For now, Hurdle and his coaching staff are going to go with Francisco Liriano, Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke, Edinson Volquez and Vance Worley as the team’s rotation coming out of the all-star break.
3. Last but not least, should any deal to get an extra arm for the second half of the season include oufield prospect Josh Bell?
The Irving, Texas native completed his stint with the Bradenton Marauders of the Florida State League with a .333/.380/.495 line in 327 at-bats. He is now headed to Double-AA Altoona to play for the Curve.
The 6-foot-3 Bell played in the All-Star Futures Game and is ranked at No. 59 on MLB.com’s Top 100 Prospects List.
With a starting outfield of Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco at PNC Park through at least the 2018 season, the question is should Bell be the trade bait Huntington dangles in front of his fellow general managers?
Time will tell on what it will take to shore up the pitching staff this season.