P3 Episode 9: What To Do With the Rotation When The Starters Return?

Episode nine of The Pirates Prospects Podcast can be downloaded or streamed below. This episode includes analysis from Tom Bragg (@TomBraggSports) and James Santelli (@JamesSantelli) on the Pirates. Highlights of the show include:

**Tom and James, who were both covering the start, gave their reactions to Gerrit Cole’s major league debut.

**Pitching depth has been funny this year. We recorded this on Thursday, when it looked like the Pirates were a week or two away from having 7-8 starters to choose from in the majors. Most of what we discussed was what the Pirates should do with those tough decisions. A few hours after recording, A.J. Burnett went on the disabled list, leaving the Pirates short a starter this weekend. Despite the short-term need, the Pirates will still have decisions to make in a week or two when James McDonald, Jeanmar Gomez, and Wandy Rodriguez return.

**James thinks the Pirates need to think outside the box this year more than previous years (6-man rotation? Piggybacking?).

**Fans are down on James McDonald, but he shouldn’t be cast off and forgotten. It was only a year ago that he was considered an All-Star and a potential top of the rotation guy.

**The Pirates are on the opposite side of where they’ve been the last few years. A few years ago the Braves waived Chris Resop because they had too much pitching, and the Pirates benefitted. Now if you want to keep Wandy Rodriguez, Jeanmar Gomez, and James McDonald, you’ve got to get rid of Vin Mazzaro.

**Tom and James would keep Gerrit Cole in the majors when everyone comes back. I disagree, which leads to a long debate between myself and James on the subject that escalates quickly, and leads to Tom killing a guy with a trident.

**Off-topic conversation: Tom talks about looking forward to “Man of Steel”. James wants to see “This is the End”. I realize that I’m out of the loop with upcoming movies, partly because of the recent draft, and partly because my college job spoiled me forever with movies. Somehow the discussion morphs into a discussion of Leonardo DiCaprio being one of the best actors these days, which morphs to a discussion of 90s male heart throbs. You read that right. Three guys talking about people like Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Hanson. Just typical guy talk.

Click here to download the show (right-click and “Save Link As”) or stream it below.