The Pittsburgh Pirates have officially placed third baseman Brandon Inge and pitchers Jeff Karstens, Francisco Liriano and Charlie Morton on the 15-day disabled list. With these moves the 25 man rosters is officially set for Opening Day tomorrow. The Karstens move is retroactive to March 22nd, while Inge is retroactive to March 26th. The Pirates are hopeful that Liriano and Morton will be back around the 1st of June.
+ postsJohn 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.
I presume this means they didn’t have to lose Clint Robinson, right?
With Morton’s timetable, there is no reason he couldn’t have been put on the 60 day DL, so no they didn’t have to lose him. I would say at best, they get an extra 1-2 weeks out of Morton now without putting him on the 60 day DL. The loss of Robinson could very well mean nothing in the long run, but you won’t know now what he could do here. They have plenty of other similar options in the minors (Hague, Sands, Curry, Dickerson), but still, if they don’t expect either Morton or Liriano back anytime soon, why lose a player over a possible 1-2 weeks. Pick who is further behind with those two in their progress, and put them on the DL.
It could be possible they just didn’t think highly of him after they saw him. Robinson was a very early Spring Training cut and he plays a very crowded position for them, with zero major league success. Even in the majors, his spot is crowded. I could see why they wouldn’t feel they have a need/place for him, but I can also see they gave him up for almost no reason. It’s double-sided. I don’t mind losing him, but give me a better reason. I’m also not big on Inge being with the team, so that part is a little hard to grasp too. He seems like he is done as a player and it doesn’t help that he is currently injured