Last week when I looked at the schedule, I saw the opportunity to cover six games in three days. I didn’t have to cover six games. I could have taken a break from the minor league coverage for three days while the Pirates were in Tampa. But it sounded like fun, and almost a reminder of the first few years running this site, when I would go on a season ending tour at the end of the year, stopping in a different minor league city each night.
Today ended up being a pretty busy news day, plus there were the final two games to cover. The coverage for the games doesn’t just involve watching them. It involves showing up a few hours early, doing interviews, generating story ideas, and writing, of course. As a result of the last few days, I’ve got a lot of great article ideas lined up for the next few days and the next week. But also as a result of today’s busy day, and getting those articles ready, I don’t really have it in me to think up something new tonight. So we’ll go with a “thoughts” column, recapping all of the stories from today.
**Prospect Watch: Harold Ramirez and Josh Bell Extend Their Hitting Streaks. I’ve got a live report here on Orlando Castro, which I’ll expand on in the next few days.
**Tyler Glasnow is Somehow Repeating His 2013 Success at a Higher Level. One of the games I covered this week was Glasnow’s start on Tuesday. I recapped that start here, along with pointing out how dominant Glasnow has been this year. I’m guessing he’ll have just a few more starts in Bradenton before moving up.
**Prospect Highlights: Video of Tyler Glasnow and Nick Kingham From Tuesday. Here was video of Glasnow’s sixth inning, along with a video from Kingham’s start on Tuesday.
**Pirates Still Discussing Extension With Gregory Polanco. A report from Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes. It makes sense for anyone who doesn’t believe that an extension is dead after the initial offer is rejected.
**The Mystery Surrounding Alen Hanson’s Time Off. A “he said, she said” situation here. I really don’t think this matters in the long run, as long as Hanson is better off at the end of the day.
**Gerrit Cole Will Return From the DL and Start For Pirates on Saturday. I think Brandon Cumpton should be the odd man out in the rotation. He deserves to be in the majors, but (surprisingly) the Pirates have a lot of good pitchers in the big leagues right now.
**Starling Marte Clears Concussive Tests. No word yet on when he’ll return. He’s also dealing with a swollen finger.
**Minor Moves: Pirates Acquire Minor League Pitcher John Holdzkom, A.J. Morris to the DL. Information on the new guy, and not encouraging news on Morris, who was having a nice season.
**Minor League Schedule: Luis Heredia Has Struggled on the Road This Season. Heredia hasn’t been having the best year, and didn’t have a good outing the last time out.
**Just a random thought, with no article attached (yet), but I’m starting to think the Pirates aren’t so desperate for pitching. I’ll be writing more on this later (and I’ve already written a bit), but I think Jeff Locke and Vance Worley are the real deal. They’re not top of the rotation guys, but with the way the Pirates’ offense looks, I don’t think they need a rotation full of top of the rotation guys. They just need a rotation with guys who constantly give you a chance to win, and it’s looking like they’ve got that now — especially when Cole returns.