Although towering right-hander Tyler Glasnow has gotten off to a slow start this year, the Pirates aren’t considering demoting the starter to Triple-A, writes Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. While Clint Hurdle told Biertempfel that Glasnow must earn the right to stay in the majors, the manager is “a firm believer, as I believe everybody else is, that the greatest opportunity for growth is for him to pitch at this level and meet the challenges of the game at this level — and to understand the consequences of not being able to do the things you need to do at this level. You feel a lot more here than you do at Triple-A. There are games in the minors that nobody knows about. You don’t care. Up here, there’s a different care.” Glasnow had control problems in the minors last season, but the star prospect nevertheless dominated at Triple-A. The majors have been less forgiving for the 23-year-old, whose control issues haven’t dissipated since he debuted last season. So far this year, Glasnow has allowed nine earned runs on 10 hits and seven walks in 6 2/3 innings (two starts).
A few more notes from the National League…
- Cardinals brass spent the offseason preaching defense, but Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wonders where the improvements are. The Redbirds rank among the majors’ bottom five in both errors (10) and Defensive Runs Saved (minus-14), and, in Ortiz’s estimation, have relied far too heavily on Matt Adams in left field (FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron echoed a similar sentiment Friday). Adams slimmed down during the winter, but he still entered the season as a first baseman with no outfield experience, which has been obvious to those who have watched the Cardinals in the early going.
- The Diamondbacks’ usage of fledgling super-reliever Archie Bradley has been suboptimal thus far, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic suggests. Bradley has been stellar out of the bullpen, having thrown 6 2/3 shutout innings and struck out 10 (against four hits and two walks), yet the Diamondbacks were on the wrong end of blowouts in two of his three appearances, as Piecoro points out. Manager Torey Lovullo has left open the possibility of Bradley becoming more of a high-leverage reliever, which makes sense for a team whose bullpen hasn’t been great. “We may change the inning based on what he’s doing,” Lovullo said. “We’re very well aware of what you’re saying. We know he’s had some quality outings and we want that to continue. It’s just going to be in any format possible to help us win a moment.”
- Nationals shortstop Trea Turner, on the shelf since suffering a hamstring injury April 8, doesn’t expect his stay on the disabled list to last beyond the 10-day mark, per Jamal Collier of MLB.com. Turner could return as early as Wednesday, though that will depend on how he fares while testing out his hamstring before then. The speedster showed progress when he ran sprints, took batting practice and fielded grounders prior to the Nats’ game against the Phillies on Sunday. He’s one of two Washington shortstops dealing with hamstring injuries – Stephen Drew is the other – which has left the position in the hands of Wilmer Difo.
I don’t understand why the Cardinals insist on putting Adams in LF, I’d rather put Carp out there or Peralta if they really want to get Adams in, put him at 1B where he belongs.
They’re trying to sell him and no one’s buying first basemen/DH’s these days.
and him playing terrible defense in lf is helping that….how?
Tough to sell below the Mendoza line
Birds have no star and need to sell this summer. It’s pretty simple, there isn’t a solid team in MLB without a solid #3 hitter. I can’t understand the infatuation with Adams. Is there a reason to get him in the lineup? Does one decent year qualify? Carp should be at 3rd and Martinez at 1st. Adams, Perallta, Wong need to go.
They aren’t gonna sell.. Even it they bottom out in 2017 Mo will not gut the franchise. Peralta, Broxton,Adams,Lynn are all proly gone after this year.
I could see them trading Carp in the right deal. But he isn’t making a ton of money now or in future.
Best move Mo culd make is to fire MM. imo. it’s coming his team’s aren’t so lacking talent.. may not have star power but there is no reason for the type of play they have displayed over last 2 seasons.
They will try to bring Lynn back.
The pirates should let Glasnow be in the bullpen. He’s a great young pitcher with a lot of upside but he needs to get control.. Imagine that rotation when all three are dominate
Cole
Taillon
Glasnow
then add Nova
carpenter need to bat leadoff, since that’s the only place in the lineup he does o.k. leadoff hitters only get one guaranteed at bat to begin an inning, so i don’t know why he is mentally and physically challenged. adams needs to play first. , wisdom, at third. cardinal players aren’t hungry, except for garcia. diaz just hits. trade carpenter, while he has value. package him with grichuck, peralta, and wong. call up wisdom, bader and sierra.
It’s a different approach at the plate based on where you’re stationed in the lineup. Lead off guy has a different role than a 3-hitter. Also, having 2-3-4 behind him in that lineup is much, much different than having 4-5-6, potentially with 2 outs already.
it’s all in carpenters head
dyslexic fowluper was a terrible signing.
The Pirates are a weird team. Swept by the Reds at home. Sweep the Cubs at Wrigley.
Yesterday’s outing was ugly on paper for Glasnow, but it was actually his most encouraging start by far…for one reason. He finally used his change up and it was effective. He’s now a legit 3 pitch pitcher, which he wasn’t 3 days ago.
The thing about Glasnow is he can basically “bust” 3 times before he’s actually a bust.
If he “busts” as a SP, he can still be a DOMINANT reliever.
And if he “busts” as a high leverage late inning type, he can still be an effective middle relief arm. And his success or failure will keep his price appropriate to his value.
There is zero reason to not be patient with him.
If you can’t throw the ball over the plate, you’re a bust no matter where they use you.
Only one walk on Saturday. Very encouraging progress.
Like Andrew Miller was as a starter?
People need to calm down just a bit. I think we win the same number of games as last year, which was not quite good enough for the playoffs unfortunately. Only Matheny is in mid season form as always making horrible decisions that cost the team wins. As long as ownership puts up with his never changing/learning/adapting style, we will always be a mid tier team. Also need to just release Adams so Matheny can’t play him. He should not bat clean up for any team that is not beer league softball. He just cant hit. Apparently learning a new position in real games is making him struggle even more. We really need a real #3 and/or #4 hitter in our lineup. We are going to have to trade for one but it won’t be all of our garbage (Peralta, Broxton, Wong) for someone’s treasure like people are suggesting.