Ben Cherington was a guest on 93.7 The Fan on Sunday afternoon. He gave an update on right-handed pitcher Mike Burrows, who left yesterday’s game early in Indianapolis.
Cherington noted that Burrows felt something in his forearm, which led to the visit from the trainer and his removal from the game in the second inning. His elbow felt stable after the game according to Cherington. Burrows will be checked out early in this upcoming week, and they should know more then.
Burrows had a chance to provide early-season depth for the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation this year, which was already down one pitcher with JT Brubaker out (there should be an update on him within the next week according to Cherington). Burrows and Luis Ortiz were the top options if a starter was needed. For at least the short-term, Ortiz is the only option on the 40-man roster.
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.
Sounds like one of them shot and time off!
The Pirates have 5 million rea$ons to give Hill a longer leash than Velasquez but, in any event, Bucs clearly aren’t making any starting rotation changes this month absent injury. Come May, however, I would piggyback Hill with Crowe; call up Ortiz for rotation; send down DeJong; and use Velasquez for that hole we have as a 6th inning transition to Moreto/Holderman/Bednar. VV can be very effective in that spot.
Oviedo was an accident — he’d be blocked right now if Bru were healthy. So let’s not make same mistake with Ortiz