Thoughts on the recent Padre and Dodger series

[JollyRoger]

I am fortunate enough to have friends that have had season seats for the Padres and Dodgers for over 30 years. Needless to say that the seats are awesome. They always invite me to the Pirate series when the Bucs are out here. I wasn’t going to go to Dodger Stadium because quite frankly I am tired of seeing the Pirates get man handled by the Dodgers. ( My Padre buddies refer to the Dodgers as the EEOTW- Evil Empire of the West). Decided  to go and took in all 6 games. Glad I did.



Some observations on these past 6 games:



Tucupita Marcano: I think he is ready for prime time. Looked very confident at the plate, made some excellent defensive plays and he provides speed and enthusiasm. Might be able to provide 10-15 HR potential. He crushed the HR’s at Dodger Stadium.



Cal Mitchell: He is a nice physical specimen. I like his swing and think the power will come. However he does not have a ML arm for RF. In the Padre series his throws were weak and tailed.



Rodolfo Castro: This guy has a ton of natural ability. Very inexperienced in his decision making. I like that he is a switch hitter. The bomb he hit at Dodger Stadium shows his power potential even for a smaller guy. He also exhibits the emotion and enthusiasm like Josh Harrison. I want to see more of him.



Diego Castillo: I think he is a diamond in the rough. He will only get better as the season progresses.



Jack Suwinski: I am not as high on him. Granted he has 5 HR and he does play a solid OF defense; but he strikes out too often on pitches I think he should be putting into play.



Yu Chang: WTF. Big guy looks to be in great shape but couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. May need more time to adjust to a new team but he looked awful against the Dodgers.



VanMeter: Everybody’s whipping boy but he is driving in runs at a greater pace than Reynolds. Obviously if the young guys perform he will most likely be DFA



Gore and Contreras are going to be rotation mainstays for the Pads and Pirates.



Chavis: Serious player. No fooling around. Probably our best hitter so far. Still susceptible to the slider off the plate. I wonder if his forearm is still tender. He made 2 awful throws to Hayes and Heinimen



Finally I think Heinimen played great and showed a lot of leadership especially in the Dodger Series. He should get the bulk of playing time over Perez who is hitting under .100



So nice to stick it to the Dodgers!!!

[Bobster21]

Agree with all of that. I've noticed Mitchell's soft lobs from RF. Maybe DH is in his future. Other than briefly this year, Suwinski did not hit for average in the minors. He's a good OFer and has power. Maybe some time in AAA (which he skipped) would help his overall hitting. If not, he is probably a 4th OFer type.

[DemDog]

All 3 of us agree. It is nice of your buddy to get you the tix for the 2 series. I also think the Suwinski needs to go back to AAA for more seasoning. As for Mitchel being a DH/4OF doesn't hurt us.

[fjk090852-7]

Great insight on several of the young Bucs. I am intrigued by Marcano he displayed some pop with the homers, and good defense. He has very good speed, so if teams shift bunt the ball down the third base side. He might be a spark plug which the team needs.

[MaineBucs]

Great that you could attend the recent games on the west coast and that you had an opportunity to witness the Pirates embarrassing the Dodgers in their own Park and in front of their fans.



I too have enjoyed watching a number of the younger players contribute to the Pirates' recent victories.



Pirates will soon have a lot of roster decisions to make when a number of veteran players are ready to return from the injured list. Vogelbach, Gamel, Tsutugo, and Newman could be ready in the next week to a month, and perhaps Marisnick. The team only has 13 position players and 2 of them include imposters as MLB catchers. While Vogelbach and Gamel could have some limited trade value at some point over the next 60 days or so, the others likely have none. I am really interested in watching how BC addresses the upcoming situation.



In hoping that the team can build on its humiliation of the mighty Dodgers I offer a few thoughts.



1. DFA Tsutugo when he is ready to return from the injured list and don't look back. Don't even send him to AAA if he makes it through waivers.



2. Despite Castro's heroics last night, send him back to AAA and bring up Cruz if (and only if) his ankle is okay. Castro has offered nothing at the SS position and perhaps Cruz can make some contributions. As we've seen on the west coast, HR's help win games, and Cruz offers potential power from a position where the Pirates have had none.



3. When Vogelbach is ready to return, DFA Chang (actually could DFA Chang today), and use him as a semi-regular DH with the hope that he can deepen the line-up and build up some trade value.



4. When Gamel is ready to return, temporarily return either Mitchell or Suwinski to AAA (I like Suwinski because he can play all 3 outfield positions and because he has some pop and appears to have good baseball instincts). Gamel can get playing time at first and in the OF. Gamel is an obvious trading chip and the Bucs should move him when the first decent offer is received. Lots of young OF options available between Mitchell, Suwinski, Bae, Swaggerty, and perhaps Allen.



5. Newman is a bit more problematic because he has been out so long and has not hit much at all over the last 2 seasons. Seeing as how he is in the dug-out, perhaps his return is far enough out that it doesn't really matter in the near-term.



6. Marisnick --- great defensive outfielder, but he shouldn't displace any of the younger players on the team. Marisnick should only temporarily be brought back if Gamel and Vogelbach are gone and the team needs a short-term bridge.



7. Unlike many on this Board, I am not that anxious to see Martin brought up. Chavis is performing well at first and Gamel can back him up.



So --- the roster for Friday.



C - The guys we now have until better scrubs can be found.



IF - Hayes, Cruz, Castillo, Marcano, Chavis and VanMeter (Short-term)



OF - Reynolds, Suwinski, Mitchell and Bae (Gamel at some point for a while)



DH - Vogelbach

[UtahPirate]

"Finally I think Heinimen played great and showed a lot of leadership especially in the Dodger Series. He should get the bulk of playing time over Perez who is hitting under .100."



In the games and innings I watched I thought the same thing. Glad to see some praise for him. I'd love to see Perez figure it out with the bat, but he's had a lot of time to do it. And Knapp was so bad. Maybe Heinmen isn't all that great - but he was working hard and I thought he brought both enthusiasm and intensity in the games he caught.

[rucker59@gmail.com]

Sounds like a plan coming together….