The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Saturday afternoon that right-handed pitchers Dovydas Neverauskas and Tyler Glasnow have been optioned to Indianapolis. They haven’t announced the corresponding moves, but we reported here last night that right-handed pitchers Edgar Santana and A.J. Schugel are on their way to Pittsburgh. A move will have to still be made to open up a 40-man roster spot for Santana before he can be added to the active roster.
Glasnow has struggled in the starting rotation this year, including a poor performance last night against the Miami Marlins. In 12 starts, he has a 7.45 ERA and a 1.91 WHIP, while allowing 12 homers and 29 walks in 54.1 innings. Opponents are hitting .326 against him. The 23-year-old Glasnow had some difficulties in his limited time in 2016 as well, posting a 4.24 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP, while dealing with high pitch counts that limited his innings.
The Pirates got good use out of Neverauskas this time up, going to him twice in two days, including two innings last night. He will be back at some point this season, but he still has some command issues to work on before he’s a regular in the bullpen. The addition of Santana and Schugel will help a bullpen that has been overused this season due to poor starting pitching. Santana should be considered a permanent move, while Schugel could be here just for the weekend, as Jameson Taillon is now scheduled to start on Monday for the Pirates.
UPDATE 2:15 PM: The moves have been made official. Pat Light was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Santana. Light has a 3.76 ERA in 26.1 innings over 22 appearances, with 20 strikeouts, a .242 BAA, a 1.44 WHIP and a 1.89 GO/AO ratio.
Santana has a 1.93 ERA in 32.2 innings, with 31 strikeouts, a .220 BAA, a 1.01 WHIP and a 1.33 GO/AO ratio. More on his career soon on the site.
Schugel started off rough this season, but has rebounded recently with a 1.20 ERA in his last ten appearances. On the season he has a 4.20 ERA in 30 innings, with 29 strikeouts, a 1.33 WHIP, a 1.60 GO/AO ratio and a .261 BAA.
+ 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.
Bottom line is Tyler Glasnow is a 94 mph pitcher without control. Kuhl and Cole both hit 98-99 and I thought TG was suppose to be faster than the others.
no, not faster….never faster. But a “better” fastball…..downhill plane, more movement, because of his stride, it plays faster as well.
I would guess Light does not get through waivers.
wouldn’t it be a hoot if Hutchinson came up and was better then the kids in the minors?
Light DFA’d….and this site put him in the Pirates top 30 list, even though he was let go by Boston. He never deserved to be there.
Have you considered starting a rival baseball blog to PP?
You seem pretty knowledgeable
If I could, I’d consider it….but the Pirates brass would not like it very much, because I wouldn’t kiss their butts just to gain access…I have always been blunt in my sincerity and honesty – I am not always right, but if there are things to be critical of I say them. NH and his management team have provided a lot of material to be critical of.
This franchise needs a GM with better instincts in regards to evaluating talent and an owner who wants to win above all else, and not just settle for being profitable. Pirates fans deserve more…
Oh, so you need the PBC’s blessings to start a blog?
Interesting
Yes, you must get all your talking points from the front office, including an incorrect prospect list, for some reason. Its interesting how pp goes from inept/wrong to insider shills from one post to another.
Why send down Neverauskas and bring up Schugel? Schugel is a AAAA pitcher at best. Hard to believe this team won 98 games just 2 years ago….now, total train wreck. Great job NH and the rest of Pirates management.
Bullshit!!!! If 2017 is a train wreck as you put it, it is due entirely to Kang and Marte. Their absence from the lineup has caused a huge effect on this team.
Schugel pitched just fine last year, and is rested….
I understand that they are more “stressful innings” in the majors, but I’ve never really understood how calling up relievers helps a tired bullpen – it’s not like those relievers haven’t been pitching in their own games
Also, it’s about the tired Pirates bullpen. As Ken pointed out, both haven’t played the last few days in Indy. The end game is to make the MLB bullpen formidable and readily available, everything after that doesn’t matter.
It helps a tired bullpen in this way. The Bucs send out Neverauskas, who would not have been available today, and they bring up two rested relievers. Schugel has had 4 days off and Santana 2 days off – so both will be available to throw multiple innings over the weekend. They were likely held out of games for the past couple of days so they would be rested in case of a call-up.
It’s not difficult. As ken said both have had rest in aaa.
Who is out of the AAA rotation? I hope it is Hutchison but will see.
Glasnow should be. Every member of the Indy rotation could conceivably pitch better at the major league level than Glasnow has. I no longer give a crap about his potential, he’s not going to reach it. I am at the point that I hope he can reach his floor, which is as a dominant reliever. It is a good spot for power pitchers with poor control.
He’s still a top 50 prospect and that has a LOT of trade value…..but not if you don’t even put him in a AAA bullpen. You have no idea how to run an organization
First, I am not running an organization. Second, I said to put him in the AAA bullpen. Third, he is no longer a prospect, he is a rookie. Fourth, if he were still a prospect, I am not sure he would be in the top 50.
He’s still a *pre-season* consensus top 50 prospect.
First, if you aren’t running an organization, hypothetically, then why are you saying what you would do or what the pirates should do? Second, Putting him in the bullpen ruins his trade value, as I stated. Third, whether he is a rookie or a rookie prospect is irrelevant for his valuation. Fourth, whether or not that’s true, literally anyone that works for Pirates prospects could confirm in a 1 line statement, that putting him in the AAA bullpen would only hurt his value- whatever it is currently.
Taillon I don’t imagine Lindblom being a starter for awhile
Taillon was only in Indy on rehab. Brault, Kingham, Eppler, Holmes and Hutchison are in the rotation now. One will have to go to make room for Glasnow. Defenitely will not be Brault or Kingham. Eppler has pitched really good so far this year and Holmes has been up and down but has way more upside than Hutchison, who has been average at best.
Goodbye eppler
Forgot kingham good call after hutch I’d say Eppler
Read elsewhere that Lindblom has been DFA’d. That doesn’t open a roster spot though.
Either someone jumped the gun on the DFA or retracted it or my imagination got the best of me.
I know it’s been rough to watch Tyler but I did enjoy his games and baby step growths. One thing I noticed was that he either issues walks or becomes very hittable. Hopefully he’ll find the good balance between strikes and balls. I still have high hopes of him.
This team has many problems and they are great.
Good. Using up Glasnow’s service time is not smart at this time.
That would only matter if they’re able to get another season out of him by keeping him down long enough, otherwise he’s just going to end up with a partial year and six full seasons. He had 66 days last year due to the DL trip, so they would need to keep him down until at least August 28th to get another full season. It’s possible and something they should consider regardless of his performance, just to help them down the line
I dunno, it just seems to me service time with Glasnow shouldn’t even be an issue right now. Just do whatever necessary at either major or minor league level to make him a serviceable option for Pirates down the road.
It will eventually be an issue and if he does turn things around at Indy to the point they are thinking he can help the Pirates, then it makes sense not to lose a year of service time over a few days. He’s going to make multiple starts regardless of his results. It just matters how quick it is that he looks like an option. Might not even be this year, but you could still call him up in September to get more MLB time and not worry about service time at that point.
By the time his next start rolls around he’ll only have about 2 and a half months till Sept callup, which nicely coincides with your Aug 28 date.
Considering how well Brault is pitching I dont think Tyler would even be the next man in line to come back up. IF he looks repaired by then he can come up in Sept.
He just cost himself a year of free agency IMHO.
If he doesn’t work out his issues who cares how many controllable years he has.
Nor using up his gas can.