Ask BD: What if Tyler Glasnow succeeds in the ‘pen?

First installment:

If Tyler Glasnow proves pretty damn effective in the bullpen, do you think the Pirates leave him there?

Posted by Scranton

Not long term, no. I imagine how long he stays there will depend on the five guys in the rotation, but if he’s pitching well in the bullpen when a need arises, I’d guess he’d be the first choice to fill it.

IMO, that’s how it should be. The Pirates have lots of more or less solid players. What they lack are the potential difference makers they’d need to be real contenders. Among their possible starting pitchers in the upper levels of the organization, the three with that potential are Jameson Taillon, Mitch Keller and Glasnow. They can’t afford to give up easily on the possibility of any of those three developing into outstanding starters. They’re not going to beat a team that can run out Lester/Darvish/Hendricks/Quintana with a bunch of 4th and 5th starters, even pretty good ones. So I think they have to keep giving Glasnow chances to make it as a starter, just like they have to give Austin Meadows a lot of opportunities once he arrives.

Barrett Barnes

When Harold Ramirez was traded in August 2016, Neal Huntington said: “We have other outfielders that we like either at a similar level, or more than Harold.” Do you think that included Barrett Barnes at the time?

Posted by Alleghenys

I don’t specifically remember him saying that, but then with a few exceptions I put about as much stock in Huntington’s public statements as I do in the “We value your business” recordings I get when I’m on hold. At a guess, the team was probably less than enthused about its outfield prospects, Ramirez or otherwise. Apart from Austin Meadows, the Pirates didn’t have much back then. They did have Willy Garcia, whom they liked well enough to place on the 40-man roster but who had obvious issues. And they had Jordan Luplow, who hadn’t broken out yet. Barnes at the time was in the middle of a huge two-month stretch at Altoona — he’d just batted .404 in the preceding month -- and he’d always gotten good reviews from scouts. The Pirates didn’t, however, put Barnes on the 40-man roster a short time afterward.

So Huntington may have been saying more about Ramirez than about their other outfield prospects. It was around that time that prospect commentators started pointing out that Ramirez was (and is) an extreme groundball hitter who couldn’t run any more. There’s always a lag, sometimes quite a large one, before the scouting info starts appearing in the prospect writeups. (As an example, Braeden Ogle scrapped his curve for a slider before he was drafted, yet I still see some prospect writers referring to his curve.) The Pirates wouldn’t have that lag, so they’d probably decided by then that Ramirez was a potential pinch hitter at best in the majors.

The Pirates’ farm system seems to have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but right now the outfield situation looks dramatically different, certainly enough so to forget Ramirez and Barnes. It looks to me like they have potential major league players at almost all the outfield positions on their full season teams, based on what I understand to be the initial assignments:

Indianapolis: Meadows, Luplow, Chris Bostick

Altoona: Bryan Reynolds, Jason Martin, Logan Hill

Bradenton: Jared Oliva, Bligh Madris

West Virginia: Lolo Sanchez, Calvin Mitchell, Fabricio Macias

Aaaaand the lightning round . . . .

How worried should we about NH intentionally sabotaging Lolo Sanchez’s career to shine up Brian Reynolds and Jason Martin?

Posted by pedropower

Many people are saying that Neal Huntington doesn’t want the Latin American prospects to succeed. Not me, but many people are saying that.

Over/Under 6? Number of games played for Sean Rodriquez in the first 10 games?

Posted by Chiburgh

9 1/2.

Which player does better in his new environment?

Cutch on the Giants

Cole with the Astros

Moran on the Pirates

Posted by Yung-Han

Cole, and I have a bad feeling it won’t be close.

Opening day 2019

We know who’s on first. Who is on second? Who is at SS and 3B?

Posted by SpankySlaught

C: Francisco Cervelli
1B: Josh Bell
2B: Kevin Kramer
SS: Kevin Newman
3B: Colin Moran
LF: Austin Meadows
CF: Starling Marte
RF: Gregory Polanco
SP: Jameson Taillon
SP: Mitch Keller
SP: Tyler Glasnow
SP: Joe Musgrove
SP: Trevor Williams
CL: Felipe Rivero

Give me the percent chance

these guys play for the Pirates at some point this season?

Ryan Lavarnway

60%. Elias Diaz actually isn’t injury-prone. He just had the one year when he needed his elbow cleaned out. Jacob Stallings has no injury history.

Kevin Kramer

90%. He’s not on the roster, but should at least get a September callup if he has a good year.

Kevin Newman

95%. With Mercer a soon-to-be free agent, he’ll have to play his way out of a September callup and could earn one sooner.

Todd Cunningham

50%. When Marte gets hurt, they’ll want another center fielder on the roster. Hopefully, Austin Meadows will be showing enough by the time that happens.

Daniel Nava

90%. Unless he’s not healthy, he’s close to a lock to get called up to pinch hit in September, if not sooner. Unfortunately.

Mitch Keller

80%. By mid-season, I think he’ll be in AAA and pitching well.

Tyler Eppler

0%. Not a fan.

AJ Schugel

50%. Health is an issue, but I think there’s going to be a lot of bullpen shuffling.

Nik Turley

20%.

Casey Sadler

40%.

Tyler Jones

20%.

Curious about everyone’s opinions on these guys.

Posted by battlingbucs