5/5 game. Kuhl back from injury

[Bobster21]

1. Josh Harrison (R) 3B

2. Josh Bell (S) 1B

3. Andrew McCutchen (R) CF

4. Gregory Polanco (L) LF

5. Francisco Cervelli (R) C

6. Jose Osuna (R) RF

7. Alen Hanson (S) 2B

8. Jordy Mercer (R) SS

9. Chad Kuhl (R) P



Hurdle seems to be channeling Lloyd McClendon with his constant lineup shuffles. He's repeated the same starting infield only once since April 21. Duing that time there's been only 1 repeat of the 2B-SS combo. I realize there are no clear cut choices at this point but there's something to be said for consistency when infielders can play along side one another but Hurdle doesn't give anyone the chance to do that.

[rucker59@gmail.com]

Pirates do a great video tribute to Jared. Too bad the rain delay emptied the park.

[Bobster21]

Kuhl and LeBlanc were sharp. Long HR by Bell. Bell and Polanco each with 2 hits and an RBI. Hughes pitched 1 scoreless inning for Brewers while giving up a hit and walk (similar to last season). Interesting comment from Hughes per the Trib:



Hughes, who signed a $2.825 million contract last winter, wasn't caught off guard when the Pirates cut him.



“I had a terrible spring training,” he admitted. “Before spring training started, (general manager) Neal Huntington said, ‘There might be a crunch at the end of spring. You make a lot of money, so we might not want you on the team.'

http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1226 ... -emotional

[dogknot17@yahoo.co]

Hudson with a scoreless inning.

[Ecbucs]

4F626F7E79687F3F3C0D0 wrote: Kuhl and LeBlanc were sharp. Long HR by Bell. Bell and Polanco each with 2 hits and an RBI. Hughes pitched 1 scoreless inning for Brewers while giving up a hit and walk (similar to last season). Interesting comment from Hughes per the Trib:



Hughes, who signed a $2.825 million contract last winter, wasn't caught off guard when the Pirates cut him.



“I had a terrible spring training,” he admitted. “Before spring training started, (general manager) Neal Huntington said, ‘There might be a crunch at the end of spring. You make a lot of money, so we might not want you on the team.'

http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1226 ... -emotional


Hughes does make a lot of money since it wasn't guaranteed. He doesn't make much compared to Bastardo or Hudson. For team to be successful those guys have to pitch well or the Bucs need to find other pieces for the bullpen. Great win, nice to get a shutout.

[rucker59@gmail.com]

614746514757240 wrote: Kuhl and LeBlanc were sharp. Long HR by Bell. Bell and Polanco each with 2 hits and an RBI. Hughes pitched 1 scoreless inning for Brewers while giving up a hit and walk (similar to last season). Interesting comment from Hughes per the Trib:



Hughes, who signed a $2.825 million contract last winter, wasn't caught off guard when the Pirates cut him.



“I had a terrible spring training,” he admitted. “Before spring training started, (general manager) Neal Huntington said, ‘There might be a crunch at the end of spring. You make a lot of money, so we might not want you on the team.'

http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1226 ... -emotional


Hughes does make a lot of money since it wasn't guaranteed.  He doesn't make much compared to Bastardo or Hudson.  For team to be successful those guys have to pitch well or the Bucs need to find other pieces for the bullpen.  Great win, nice to get a shutout.




The thing that strikes me is Neal telling Jared.  No wonder he had such a crummy spring.  Meaning - did the Pirates try to make sure their penny pinching was "justified" by helping Jared pitch poorly?    In the end his performance is solely upon himself, but I think that would be pretty jarring to anyone.  Why would any GM say that to a player? 



Unless such a conversation before ST is std throughout MLB, all I can say is, the more I hear about the way the Pirates are run the more I'm getting completely turned off.

[Bobster21]

What I find distressing is that NH talked about a [payroll] "crunch" when they had just lowered payroll from 2016 and maintained one of the lowest in MLB! How is that "a crunch?" But it's consistent with John Perrotto's comment that Nutting ordered NH to lower payroll because attendance was down in 2016.

[DemDog]

I appreciate NH giving Hughes a heads up on is possible release. As for the money aspect I know it looks bad for the Pirates but being realistic Hughes was not getting the job done and many of us were calling for his release before it happened. So they found someone who could do better for less money and they did what they had to do.

[rucker59@gmail.com]

5C7D755C777F180 wrote: I appreciate NH giving Hughes a heads up on is possible release.  As for the money aspect I know it looks bad for the Pirates but being realistic Hughes was not getting the job done and many of us were calling for his release before it happened.  So they found someone who could do better for less money and they did what they had to do.


That's fine as long as this is a way of "protecting" the player. If not, I have to wonder the intent of the conversation. It clearly unsettled him.



I just like thing that are done the right way. Maybe this was. But there's enough going on with the Pirates to make me wonder, unless we hear more.

[dogknot17@yahoo.co]

It sounds like the crunch was because there were so many pitchers battling for a spot. The money came into play as if he didn't perform he would be the one to go. Or if he performed just like everyone else, he would lose due to his salary. Sounds like Huntington was helping him and trying to motivate him to do well in Spring Training.



Hughes is a nice guy, but it doesn't seem he took it as he will be cut because of money. He was cut based on his performance. And he realized that.