A few notes for Monday (or, well, early Tuesday):
- Travis Sawchik explains the reasons for the Pirates’ changes to their outfield alignment. The Bucs’ decision to move Starling Marte to center and Andrew McCutchen to a corner probably seems straightforward enough from watching them both play, but it’s good to see the underlying numbers as well, which show that the slip in McCutchen’s defense paralleled that of the rest of the team, McCutchen is better at going to his right, and PNC Park’s right field is small.
- The Twins plan to release Byung Ho Park if they can’t deal him during his designated-for-assignment period, Ken Rosenthal reports. (If you’re a Twins exec, that seems like a really bad thing to let slip to a reporter.) Park, of course, was an object of fascination for Pirates fans just last offseason; his fall after just one MLB season has been steep.
- The Brewers announced today that they’ve outrighted old friend Rob Scahill to Triple-A Colorado Springs. They claimed him from the Bucs back in July, and he pitched well for them after a year and a half in the Pirates’ bullpen in which he was probably better than you imagine. He’s had a ground-ball rate above 60 percent in both the last two years in the big leagues, too. I’d expect to see him back in the big leagues at some point soon.