OnlyBucs

Inflamed shoulder.



Jason Martin recalled.

I was a little surprised that Martin was recalled rather than Kramer.



Martin hasn't been hitting very well at Indy. Looks like Kramer can play (or at least fake it) everywhere but catcher.

Why do we need another OF. Agree that Kramer might have been the better choice as a super util guy.

Polanco was pulled from the Indy game today, and no reason was given. I wonder if he is going to meet the team in St Louis. If he does join the team, who gets removed from 25 man roster?

A reliever...like Escobar is my guess.

Polanco again is a problem. He looks the part, but he is open to numerous injuries and bonehead plays. Pittsburgh continues to pin its hopes that he figures it out, meanwhile it will cost the Bucs Dickerson in the end. I would rather have CD than GP moving forward.



Yes, Kramer would make sense, or Escobar. Martin ... just don't know why.

For all the issues people have, Polanco was one of if not the best hitter on the team last year before he got hurt.



https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PIT/2018.shtml

675559594D7F5C55585D5255340 wrote: For all the issues people have, Polanco was one of if not the best hitter on the team last year before he got hurt.



https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PIT/2018.shtml
That's true but it speaks to how bad the rest of the lineup was. Mercer and Harrison provided little. Moran and Bell were both disappointing. Cervelli was pretty ordinary but still had a better BA and OBP than Polanco. Dickerson and Marte were better hitters unless you only go by OPS which is heavily weighted by SLG which favored Polanco. This year is different with a strong lineup 1-8 and it's difficult to see who Polanco could replace with better results.

Like I've said before I think all four of the OFers bring something worthwhile, and I'm glad I'm not the one that has to decide which ones to keep.  It might well be that Dickerson goes but I don't think that automatically points to "nuttings are cheap" which is I'm sure what'll we'll hear.  The two arrived at it in different ways, and Polanco certainly didn't look great doing it, but they were about equally valuable if you look at things like WAR (which, no, I'm not absolutely sold on either but it's as good a measurement as any).  Offensively in fewer PAs Polanco was better than Dickerson in everything but batting average (even had a higher OPB due to the walks, despite hitting almost 50 points lower in BA). 

15272B2B3F0D2E272A2F2027460 wrote: Like I've said before I think all four of the OFers bring something worthwhile, and I'm glad I'm not the one that has to decide which ones to keep.  It might well be that Dickerson goes but I don't think that automatically points to "nuttings are cheap" which is I'm sure what'll we'll hear.  The two arrived at it in different ways, and Polanco certainly didn't look great doing it, but they were about equally valuable if you look at things like WAR (which, no, I'm not absolutely sold on either but it's as good a measurement as any).  Offensively in fewer PAs Polanco was better than Dickerson in everything but batting average (even had a higher OPB due to the walks, despite hitting almost 50 points lower in BA). 
I expect Dickerson and Cabrera to go and Polanco to reclaim RF for better or worse. It bothers me that I read the Pirates have "no interest" in signing Dickerson because I would hope they would at least be open to negotiating with him. But that presumes he'd be open to it too. There are different aspects to the "Nutting is cheap" story. We shouldn't simply assume that every player who didn't sign would gladly have done so if the money was right. We have no way of knowing if that enters into the Dickerson situation but IF it's true that the Pirates aren't even interested in a dialogue it is cause for concern. But we can't deny the overall policy of maintaining a very low payroll and that can effect whether a player they would like to sign chooses to do so. For instance, a player like Dickerson might prefer to go somewhere else where the owner is more likely to assemble a legitimate contender.



But back to Polanco: I think he's been miscast on this team as a difference maker because of the hype that preceded him. He a consistent .250ish hitter with some--but not great--power. But he can be a nice piece in a strong lineup that doesn't need consistent production from him. And right now, that's the Pirates' situation. As the roster is currently constructed for hitting, if he can bat 6th or 7th and hit his usual .250 with 20-25 HRs while other hitters can be more productive on a daily basis it would be a strong lineup.