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Morning Report: The Pirates Have Made a Lot of Player Changes in a Short Time

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I watched a few minutes of the Pirates broadcast last night, literally. I spent my night watching Indianapolis play and talking to some minor league players. I watched (fast forwarded through) the replay for the Pirates because wanted to see the mention that Sean McCool got for his video of Ryan Vogelsong batting in the minors, when the pitcher brushed him back on a bunt attempt. Something similar happened while he was with Indianapolis as well. Then shortly afterwards Vogelsong was hit by a line drive on his thigh, so it wasn’t the safest rehab for him.

Anyway, I noticed the video that ROOT showed of the Pirates clinching the playoffs in Atlanta on a 3-6-3 double play off the bat of Freddie Freeman. There were a lot of faces in that video of players no longer around. That got me thinking about the turnover in players there has been since the Pirates first started winning. If there seems like there has been a lot of change, well there has been.

I’ll go with the most recent first. The 2015 Pirates used a total of 46 players to win 98 games. Of that number, only 18 are still with the organization. That includes Casey Sadler, who is out all year and reaches minor league free agency at the end of the year. It also includes Antonio Bastardo, who obviously wasn’t with the team all this time.

The 2014 club used 45 players to compile their 88 wins. Only 12 players are still around from that team and that includes the aforementioned Casey Sadler, as well as Brandon Cumpton, who is in the exact same situation. He’s not playing this year and the Pirates will need to re-sign him if they want him back.

Back to the first playoff team in 2013, and they used 49 players to win 94 games. Whenever you have some free time, try naming all of the players from this team. Even the biggest fans would likely get stuck at 40 or less. As for remaining players, I’ll name them this time. For pitchers, you have Jared Hughes, Tony Watson, Brandon Cumpton, Gerrit Cole and Jeff Locke. For position players, there is Andrew McCutchen, Josh Harrison, Starling Marte and Jordy Mercer. Nine players total and one has been injured for two years.

How about going back to the 2012 club, the last club from “the streak”. You just get to subtract Cole and Cumpton from that list. You can add Eric Fryer if you want, but he obviously hasn’t been around for much of the last four season.

Just for a fun comparison sake because I like history. I thought I would see how that stacks up to the 1925 club and the 1928 Pirates. In both 1925 and 1927, the Pirates made it to the World Series. They won it all in 1925 and then in 1927, they finished second in that series. I’ll point out that the Yankees finished next to last in that same series, so I’m not sure why people consider them the best team ever.

That 1925 club used 28 players total. Imagine a team now doing that, and they even had expanded rosters at the beginning of the season. So comparing the 1925 club to 1928 is basically the same (time-wise) as comparing the 2013 club to the 2016 team. Those recent teams have nine out of 49 players in common, while the 1925 and 1928 clubs had just eight players in common. Obviously a high percentage, but also one less player around just three years later, with two World Series appearances.

Feel free to try it with other teams that made three straight playoffs, meaning a comparison between the 1990 and 1993 clubs, or the 1970 and 1973 teams. Let me know how they stack up. I’m sure someone will also want to know how other teams around the majors compare from 2013 until 2016. Feel free to let me know the answer to that as well.

PLAYOFF PUSH

Indianapolis is in second place in their division, trailing by five games. They trail by 11.5 games for the lone wild card spot.

Altoona leads their division by 1.5 games. The top two teams in the division go to the playoffs, with the first place team getting the home field advantage in the first round.

Bradenton won the first half title. They have home field advantage in the playoffs.

West Virginia is in sixth place in their division, trailing first by five games.

Morgantown is in fourth place in their division, trailing first place by 12 games. They are seven games back for the lone wild card spot.

Bristol is in fourth place, trailing by 6.5 games. The top two teams in each division go to the playoffs.

The GCL Pirates lead their division by one game. This is the only league where you have to win your division to make the playoffs.

The DSL Pirates trail their division by 18.5 games. They trail in the wild card by 17 games.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates lost 5-2 to the Braves on Thursday night. They now return home where they take on the Cincinnati Reds for three games. Jameson Taillon will be on the mound, making his ninth start for the Pirates. He has gone six innings in each of his last four starts, allowing three earned runs or less each game. Taillon has not walked a batter in any of those starts. The Reds will counter with Anthony DeSclafani, who has a 2.93 ERA in 61.1 innings, with 52 strikeouts and a 1.22 WHIP. He faced the Padres on the road in his last start and allowed one run over six innings. His previous start was in San Francisco, where he gave up five runs over five innings.

In the minors, Gage Hinsz goes for West Virginia. He allowed one run over 5.1 innings in his last start, picking up eight strikeouts. In his previous game, he threw six shutout innings. Trevor Williams threw six shutout innings in his last game, but he did it while walking five batters. In his previous start he walked three and allowed three runs in just 2.2 innings. He was the Pirates Prospects Pitcher of the Month for July. Max Kranick is scheduled for the GCL Pirates.

MLB: Pittsburgh (53-53) vs Reds (44-63) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (3.52 ERA, 5:37 BB/SO, 46.0 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (57-56) vs Toledo (51-62) 7:15 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Trevor Williams (2.88 ERA, 23:42 BB/SO, 75.0 IP)

AA: Altoona (61-49) @ Reading (74-37) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (6.89 ERA, 17:33 BB/SO, 49.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (56-52) @ St Lucie (56-50) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD

Low-A: West Virginia (54-55) @ Delmarva (58-51) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (3.26 ERA, 11:41 BB/SO, 60.2 IP)

Short-Season A: Morgantown (20-26) vs Mahoning Valley (21-24) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: James Marvel (4.40 ERA, 14:31 BB/SO, 43.0 IP)

Rookie: Bristol (16-24) @ Greeneville (23-18) 7:00 PM (season preview)

GCL: Pirates (16-20) vs Phillies (24-11) 12:00 PM (season preview)

DSL: Pirates (19-33) vs Yankees1 (26-25) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is a walk-off home run from Edwin Espinal from Wednesday night. He also had the walk-off sacrifice fly on Thursday night.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

8/4: Ryan Vogelsong activated from disabled list. Max Moroff optioned to Indianapolis.

8/4: Pirates release Wilfredo Boscan.

8/4: Kelvin Marte placed on disabled list.

8/4: Henrry Rosario promoted to Bristol. Sam Kennelly assigned to GCL Pirates.

8/3: Chris Harvey promoted to Indianapolis. Trey Haley sent to Altoona.

8/3: Elvis Escobar promoted to Altoona. Justin Maffei assigned to Bradenton.

8/3: Erik Lunde assigned to Bradenton. Jose Regalado activated from disabled list.

8/2: Wilfredo Boscan placed on disabled list.

8/2: Tomas Morales assigned to Altoona. Chris Diaz activated from temporary inactive list.

8/1: Pirates trade Francisco Liriano, Reese McGuire and Harold Ramirez for Drew Hutchison.

8/1: Pirates acquire Ivan Nova from New York Yankees for players to be named later.

8/1: Pirates trade Jon Niese to New York Mets for Antonio Bastardo and cash.

8/1: Blake Cederlind placed on disabled list. Evan Piechota assigned to Bristol.

8/1: Edgar Santana promoted to Indianapolis.

7/31: Pirates recall Max Moroff. Steven Brault optioned to Indianapolis.

7/31: Erik Lunde assigned to GCL Pirates.

7/30: Pirates trade Mark Melancon to Washington Nationals for Taylor Hearn and Felipe Rivero.

7/29: Pirates recall Steven Brault. A.J. Schugel optioned to Indianapolis.

7/29: Austin Meadows assigned to Morgantown on rehab

7/29: Jin-De Jhang sent to Altoona. Tomas Morales assigned to Bradenton.

7/28: Frank Duncan activated from disabled list.

7/26: Eric Fryer reinstated from paternity list. Elias Diaz optioned to Indianapolis.

7/25: Ke’Bryan Hayes placed on the disabled list.

7/24: Tyler Glasnow placed on disabled list. A.J. Schugel recalled.

7/23: Tyler Glasnow recalled. A.J. Schugel optioned to Indianapolis.

7/23: Eric Fryer placed on paternity list. Elias Diaz recalled.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note and a first in baseball history that involved the Pirates. First the trade and on this date in 1980, the Pirates sent two minor leaguers to the San Diego Padres for infielder Kurt Bevacqua and pitcher Mark Lee. The Pirates got 25.1 innings out of Lee and 51 games from Bevacqua, but they gave up Luis Salazar, who ended up spending 13 years and 1,302 games in the majors.

The players born on this date include 2009 outfielder Eric Hinske, 2007 pitcher John Wasdin, 1980 pinch-hitter Bernie Carbo and 1971-73 pitcher Nelson Briles, who threw a complete game shutout over the Orioles in game five of the 1971 World Series. He won 36 games in his three years with the Pirates and had a 2.98 ERA. After the 1973 season, Briles was traded to the Royals in a deal that included Kurt Bevacqua making his first trip to Pittsburgh.

On this date in 1921, Harold Arlin announced the first radio broadcast of a baseball game over the radio. On KDKA, he called the 8-5 win by the Pirates over the Phillies at Forbes Field. The game lasted 1:57 and the Pirates went down 4-2 early, before reliever Jimmy Zinn came in and allowed one unearned run over six innings for the win. Philadelphia’s Cy Williams hit the only home run that day and Pirates’ right fielder Possum Whitted scored three runs. You can view the boxscore here.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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