The Pirates are placing rookie third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes on the 10-day injured list due to left wrist inflammation, Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic and Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette were among those to relay. Infielder Wilmer Difo will be added to the active roster. Difo is not yet on the 40-man roster, so his contract will need to be formally selected.
Additionally, right-hander Kyle Crick has cleared COVID-19 intake protocols and returned to the team after the birth of his child, per a club announcement. Wil Crowe was optioned to the alternate training site to clear active roster space for Crick. Crick’s return filled the Pirates’ 40-man roster, so a corresponding move to clear space for Difo is forthcoming.
Hayes left yesterday’s game after injuring his wrist diving into a bag on a pickoff attempt. X-rays came back negative but an MRI revealed some inflammation. Hayes had issues squeezing his glove this morning so the Pirates elected to shut him down for the time being. There’s no indication at this point his absence is expected to last especially long.
The rebuilding Pirates have plenty of reason to play things cautiously. There’s arguably no more important player in the organization than Hayes, a top prospect who tore the cover off the ball in his brief MLB debut in 2020. Wrist injuries, in particular, can sometimes have a lingering impact on a player’s power potential, so it behooves Pittsburgh to be especially careful.
In Hayes’ absence, Erik González, Phillip Evans and Difo could pick up some extra playing time at third base. Difo was once a frequently deployed utility player for the Nationals, but struggles at the plate caused his playing time to dwindle and ultimately led Washington to cut him loose. The 29-year-old signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh over the winter.
Pain
cant have fun as a Pirates fan
To all Pirates fans I’m sorry……well you guys can watch Anthony Alford!
Why are they not adding Todd Frazier? Instantly becomes the biggest power threat, still decent in the field and a veteran.
I can give you $500,000 reasons.
Because they are carrying limited ben h players and Difo allows them to use him all over the infield plus outfield. Frazier is 1st and some 3rd.. It would be different if the Bucs were contending this year and the power would make a difference. Difo,was,hitting for good average with some pop all spring.
The fact that the pirates are not contending is the perfect reason to bring up a veteran.The team is full of Difo like players; singles hitters with occasional gap power. Versatility is important but way overplayed.
Breathed a sigh of relief when his x-ray came back negative.
Bet you did, @mlb1225.
I honestly think we all did, man.
Hard to not want to see some decent things happening to that team & their fans. Dude put up damn near 2 WAR in just 95(!) trips to the plate. Mercy. That is…extra studly.
Call up the Toddfather
Evans !!!
All part of the tank plan.
there went pit ws chances.
in all seriousness hope the kid a speedy recovery i don’t know much about him but he looks like a kid to pay attention to.
Is this an acceptable topic to comment on? I won’t know until I hit post!
Hopefully not a long-term IL. Wrists can be tricky.
Unacceptable!!!!! Delete, delete, delete!!!!
Ahhhh
This sucks; no insult intended here, but knowing the Pirates were not going to compete, this is one of the main reasons to watch – dudes with uber-talent like Hayes.
Hope this isn’t something nagging him the whole season.
It’s threads like these that impress me with my fellow posters. Sure. We’re a bunch of dumb/old jocks or whatever.
But everyone is being classy & compassionate.
Isn’t much – I know – but it makes me feel good to see it.
@ducky only a real $h1thole wishes for player injuries especially when it’s a player that can be a dynamic player.
Ain’t that the truth, @brodie.
My personal theory is that those are guys that never played. So they don’t realize that’s unacceptable.
It was just good for me to see something (anything) positive. Don’t take much for me. I want to believe good things & see the best in others.
Probably lame, but I’m good with it.
Happy Easter to you & yours, man.
Yeah, blood boils to see wishing for another player to be hurt. That’s just….. wrong. I don’t give a damn if it’s our arch nemesis, and the key player to winning; fine let it be. Don’t root for someone’s injury.
Anyway, is it me, or have these smaller injuries become more of a concern of late? It’s like whenever I see “mild strain” or “bruise” or something that minimizes the injury, it’s a long-term IL stint. Hopefully that’s not the case with this kid. He was roommates with the Yankees 3b coach, Phil Nevin’s, kid. He’s a good kid. I wish him the best.
back at you ducky happy easter, honestly those here that wish for injuries are just trolls and just true pos’es. only time it’s ok imo to cheer for an injury is if the player is a pos and try’s to injury players.
Yee-up.
That shows something intrinsically human is missing from their basic human equipment. But it certainly brings out the worst in me.
It seems so.
I get being cautious but…
Don’t know much about him other than the name & pedigree. But on principle I gotta root for him.
Thank you.
I don’t know if you played football?
But a handful of times I played against someone who would actually try to hurt people.
& as a tall, skinny, trash talking WR who was arrogant enough to wear #1, I found myself in their cross hairs a time or two.
What I know about that is, paybacks are a female dog.
@ducky i did play hs fb wasn’t great but still played, and i’ll admit we cheered on the sidelines when we took the trash talkers out for a few plays or went after a guy’s injury. same time we weren’t trying to end a guy’s “season or career”.
I get it.
Look a hard hit is one thing. & what happens on the bottom of the pile is…well you know.
But I can only think of a handful of instances where someone was actually trying to injure others. Those dudes are probably in prison today because something was wrong with them.
@Ducky, that was why I originally was on RAB going back to 2007. Great content, but the comments were also excellent. Unfortunately, as the years went along, the comment section degenerated, in some ways the blog became a victim of its success. I’m sure that contributed to Mike’s exit. At least I still get RAB-lite with his Patreon blog. Twice a week is better than zero!
Whoa.
’07? That’s pretty Olde Schoole.
What name did you post under?
I posted probably the first three, maybe four years. I then switched to purely read-only mode around 2010/11, not because the comment section was an issue then, but because of some chaos in my personal life. I decided I only had time to read, not compose. I used multiple screen names, although early days I was simply MikeD. Although we didn’t interact over there as you showed up after I stopped commenting, I used to see your posts. You were one of the sane ones, along with Jorge, Retro, vicki, Preston, etc. Many dated back to those early years. I think Mustang might have been the first person I interacted with. He was here on MLBTR for a short while. Haven’t seen him in a bit.
“& I get respect…”
Good name for lot of reasons.
I would subscribe to a blog run by Preston, serious. He always had the perfect take, man.
I guess by the time I got there, it was already kind of a cesspool.
But there were a lot of great posters over there. I run across some of them here & there on the internet. I would like to find somewhere like that again. Probably won’t be able to be replicated.
Oh, there were tons of great commenters and posters, all the way to the end. More than on any other blog I’ve seen, including the big sites. It’s just that as volume increased, so did the nonsense. I do think he missed an opportunity to do what he’s doing with Patreon and simply could have turned RAB into a pay site. He still could do that. He then would know the troublemakers and could have turned them off easily. He does have a full time job writing for CBS though, and the Patreon blog allows him to manage his time better.
I’d pay to join if he started back up.
No problem. & it would probably weed out most of the chaff.
I’d would join as well I don’t mind heated discussion or trash talk along as it’s bb related. Tbh I don’t mind trolling as long as it’s trolling due to homerism I.e. your team sucks cuz there team x, not your team sucks because I’m gonna platform on issue x that player y hates.
Ducky, if you find one, please let me know and I’ll reallocate my payments there. Love to have open bb discussions without all the extra….. stuff. But jokes every now and again? Man, we gotta laugh too. This site has just been…..so dedicated(?) to shutting people off from independent thought.
Baseball is at a crossroads, and a good site, with popular posters, would help the game. Why? At some point, someone will be paying attention and know the voice of the silent majority. Maybe it would facilitate the directional 180 of baseball – one can hope, eh?
@yc I’d go Evan further that mlb needs to get more into streaming services and offer teams a cut because that’s where the future is. I can’t tell you how many people I know have “cable” just so they can watch there team, me personally I would love to have a paid service like the “free sites” I go to so I can watch a game (even with cards games even thou I pay for cable but because I wasn’t on my home network I had to illegally stream a game I’m paying for) I wouldn’t mind watching an out of market game if my team has a day off and engaging in fans in good bb convo during a good game.
I will.
Look.
There are a bunch of Yankee blogs. We could all just choose one. In essence, that’s what happened with RAB, man. Lohud changed their format or something & all the posters agreed to go to Mr Axisa.
There’s a precedent.
I’ve been looking around.
LoHud shut down comments, which then forced that community into RAB. I watched it unfold without commenting. It took a bit, but the two communities blended, even if painfully. I think the real issue occurred when Mike moved to Disqus, which they used to use here. That brought in a large influx of people who weren’t part of either RAB or LoHud. 314, where I do post, was a logical successor, but the writers there seemed to have purposely adopted a less-than-ideal commenting system, and really did not keep up with articles. They’ve gotten better, but still needs work.
As a Yankees fan, the trolling gets old sometimes, @brodie.
It’s incessant towards us.
It’s not even viewed as trolling lol. Rather it’s somehow viewed as an honorable action. In my entire time here there has been one good Yankee troll.
@Clip may recall him.
The guy that was all over the place with Gleyber’s defensive stats. He was good!
You had to really be on your game with him.
& he had a great little wry sense of humor on top of it.
So much more fun than the usual: “da YankEEs do Awl da SteROIdZ” that we pretty much see every day here. That’s so stupid & played out. But every single Yankee thread, man.
It does tie the Yankee guys together pretty strongly, however. But it’s hard to just talk with your guys when there are dozens of posts like that clogging up the thread.
I take this old timer out waterfowl hunting a few times a year. He got me trolling for walleye on the way back to wherever I launched from. So it’s kind of a side hustle or whatever. I’m really there for ducks or geese, etc.
But I’ll take a few fillets in my spare time.
That’s a good analogy for how I post. Occasionally, I’ll throw a line in the water. It’s just far from my main activity.
Wait.
What’s “314”?
@YankeeClipper, I get why they shut down certain comment sections, but they’ve become overly aggressive, IMO. Legitimate topics are shut simply because they don’t like the tone. Worse, sometimes they’ll take a non-controversial topic and toss it in with a Covid issue, which means fans can’t comment.
ViewsFrom314ft.
Noted.
Alright if I check it out?
@ducky i get it i used to work in downtown chi and opening day in 14 sucked for me (grated i brought a lot of heat on myself wearing a 06 ws chip coat but i’m from stl and there my team) at the same time i kinda enjoyed the trolls because i knew they we’re jealous of us.
The old, “they don’t boo nobody’s”, uh?
Sometimes you just wanna talk to your guys though. Ya know? & there’ll be a half dozen responses to your post five of which are “the Yankees suck dood!”.
But yeah.
They don’t hate nobody’s.
Absolutely! The first time you post there may be a slight delay as I think they approve all new posters, but once you’re approved, posts go up immediately.
Cool cool.
I didn’t want to step on your toes.
I’m pretty interested though.
@ducky that’s sports in general our cities live and die by our teams and that’s what makes great sports convo. i can’t tell you how many good bb convos i’ve had with sf and chc fans in airport bars. yes we hated each other’s teams but we still had respect and good convo, and if as fans of this site want good convo on all topics it’s up to us as a whole to run out the idiots by either ignoring there stupid posts or just shutting the down by saying something like this “not cool bro this is a bb site not a social/political site”.
Frankly, some of the better posters here are Yankee fans.
Ducky, it’s an open fan blog. I wish we could increase the banter on it, but it’s not easy as the commenting software isn’t designed for dialogue.
Yeah…it seems like a series of independent posts as opposed to a conversation. I read the game recap which was well done.
I get it.
I’ve had some great pub talks with fans of different teams. Perhaps because it’s face to face it seems like that’s always pretty respectful.
@ducky i think the next best thing for vr is a “vr sports bar” a place where a nyy and bos or stl chc fan can “have a drink” and talk up/down there team. some of my best sports talks were in outta town bars, why not let tech into that relm
Damn.
Now there’s a helluvan idea.
That’d play. Bet.
Yeah Brodie, that’s the future of the want to expand… they could really engage that way. They’re locked in with cable services – you’re right because I had service specifically to watch the Yankees and college football. It’s a shame though, because I watch to get away from politics. They keep shoving it into games and narratives and I’ll forego my favorite sport and team of all sports because it’s intolerable to me.
@ducky funny thing is i got that ideal from an anime (ghost in a shell) but i think it holds true to where our society is going (like it or not) and i wouldn’t mind personally to have a good bb convo with a chc fan (or any other fan i just use chc because i’m a cards fan and there our rival)
Lord99: completely agree with you. Certain topics need to be because they devolve. And honestly, I’ve been dragged into the conversations and been a part of the problem on those. That’s completely understandable. You’re correct on the non-controversial topics, like the Angels pitcher who stepped away….comments closed? Huh?
@Brodie: Wow, that’s brilliant! I love that idea. Hanging with Yankee bros, taking up Cole during WS 28?! Yep, I’m in.
@yc cable companies don’t make strong arguments when they make it hard to watch a local game being in the local area and i’m paying for tv service but can’t watch a game because i’m on someone else isp. f come on i’m already paying for your isp rights and tv service let me watch a game on another isp.
@Clip
Did Mr Dierkes email you personally as well?
314 FT? I’ve seen that blog somewhere. I’ll check it out too. Thanks Lord99. If we find a good one we should get the boys on here to buy in over there and take up our convos with some good people – avoid this forum’s challenges.
Yes! Exactly Brodie! What is going on with that. I understand it, but vehemently disagree with it, and like you, I believe the argument falls flat….
@Ducky, I’ll have to check. I’ve emailed him in the past a few times and he hasn’t responded; wonder what is so crucial on this one.
The articles on 314FT for game2 is really good Ducky. Goes into why Sanchez is crushing it this season. You’ll like that read.
@yc it extendeds past just fellow nyy fans it’s more of having passionate fans hyping up there team or whatever in a traditional format. i.e. before the net us sports fans would gather in local bars/pubs and fight over our teams. i would love to see that come back in a sports only argument not a my team is good and yours sucks because players x thinks like this. let’s bring back the age old argument of your team sucks because your team x.
I think he was responding directly to my…thing that never happened or whatever.
I’m not sure if I should respond or not?
It won’t change anything. That’s clear enough.
Man…Phat Sancho looks good right now. All spring & these first few games. Not just with the bat either. He looks much more comfortable & agile back there (Swanson’s work) & is slinging the ball all over the infield.
I really thought he’d keep our 9th going.
Alas. We need Gary, man.
& I love it when the media gets their narrative jammed up their as-…mmmm, backside.
Ducky, I openly admit, Sanchez turned it around man, I was wrong. The kid is doing the thing. His defense is immensely better – he looks……. natural, almost smooth even, with balls in the dirt, he’s sweeping and picking; he’s got knee-down posture going – I’m impressed. And it’s resonating on offense. He’s hitting both fastballs and sliders for homers on the outer, lower corner where he hit .158 last year.
I’ve never been happier to be wrong – good call, bro, good call.
As far as the email, they should fix the other issues first
@Brodie: Yep, I get that, I was just commenting on the fact it would be nice to get with other Yankee fans as well. But the good-natured, old school trash talking of teams based on bb-related stuff (not cultural activity) would be incredible – nostalgic even. I’d love to go toe-to-toe with RSox fans and go back and forth like days past about our teams’ histories without getting into contemporary issues. It’s precisely why most of us watch sports, allows us to relate through those debates, and is an escape from all that surrounds us….. I hear you, and you’re right!
@yc by no means i’m a nyy fan (personally i like tb in the ale) i’m a bb fan and like talking bb and sometimes talk trash on my rival teams hence why i even bother or post on this site and that is starting to get tiresome. i don’t post a sports site to here about today’s hot issues even if i care about the issue, tbh if i cared enough about the issue i’d be on a site that cared about the same issues and i would be raising a flag for it.
There may not be a more difficult player to watch play when he’s struggling than Gary Sanchez. He can look so terribly inept at…well, everything. So, so bad.
But the talent is undeniable.
Plus, I had an advantage over you due to living in Minneapolis. I was very familiar with Swanson & how he helped overhaul the Twins catchers. The knee down stance is designed to help catchers both block & frame well. Few catchers excell at both. But: it’s a major undertaking to implement.
Last season was the worst possible scenario to try & teach it to Gary.
& he was still pummeling the ball.
He’ll probably always be “unlucky” with expected results because he hits the ball so damn hard & is just really slow.
Bad combo for a high BABIP.
I think Gary will probably have a year more in line with ’19.
It’s nice to be right every once in awhile.
I took it on the chin here from both Yankee & non-Yankee fans alike in regards to Gary. So far, he is more than justifying my faith in him.
He’ll have a slump of course. Probably a few. But I think if he’s not so rugged to watch with the glove he may not make us all want to tear our eyes out of our heads.
Get ’em Phat Sancho.
brodie is a Cardinals fan.
As such, that makes him a kindred spirit.
@ducky here is my big question on sanchez, how is he calling a game. yes i’ve been spoiled the last 20 years with mo behind the plate. whenever mo decides to hang em up the big question for his replacement is going to be how good d are you and can you call/slow the game down. now i may be wrong but i think calling a game and your d as a c is worth more than what you can do with a bat.
Brodie, I think we have that in common. True bb fans just love BB. I’ll watch any team any time. I really like watching many players on other teams, my son likes the Blue Jays (ugh, that hurts every time I say it), and we love to discuss it – while throwing in some trash talking too!
Either way, it was a pretty big leap of faith, and you kept it. Even when he slumps, he’s showing it’s there – the moderate defense with the crushing, Kraken offense! The WS-caliber Santino ……
Be pretty cool if you could break into a private chat, invite only, off these main boards, say , if you wanted to invite just a few good fellas to join, and maybe share emails or something, right?
@ducky ty i may not like nyy but i respect them and how they treat there fans. just too bad more teams don’t think like nyy and stl and put competitive teams out year after year. i can safely say if next year stl or nyy said “hey for the next 5+ years we’re gonna suck, fans would respond ok see you in 5 not wasting what free money i have in you. i fully believe if “small market” teams invest wisely and maybe into fan friendly players they can be sustainable.
I get that, brodie.
You’re old school, man.
I’m not sure whether he really actually calls the game. He sure looks to the dugout a lot.
There are just so few Molina’s, man.
Yadi is one of those rare catchers that is good at both blocking & framing. Enjoy that guy, man. Electronic strike zones, analytics, coach/bench involvement, etc will all reduce a C’s traditional responsibilities.
The catcher of the (near) future will do 3 things; throw, block, hit home runs. It might almost become a position where you can actually “hide” a poor defensive player.
Let that thought settle in.
@yc would love to pm with you and ducky and a few other posters on here in some pc. if i was a little smarter on these things i would make my own “pub” like chat for all bb fans. only problem is employing a good bouncer to keep talks on track
Ya know…so a couple of the other posters & myself have been posting back & forth all winter on an abandoned thread. Seriously. It’s been going since last November. One of the fellas posted there just this morning (reminds me to get back to him – a lot happened since then).
Now it happened organically – if you will.
Could be done purposefully as well. Say…this one as a random example.
We talk a lot of baseball & we are able to discuss other stuff too.
Something to think about.
@ducky that is sad because c is one of the 3 pos you need to be solid d wise,and catching goes beyond that c need to call a good game. i’m gonna use cold as an example, cole as great as he is only see’s batters on a small scale. the c sees batters everyday a good c is going to know a hitters tendencies more than a sp and going to call pitches according.
Ducky, yeah, god point… just know which one and keep going back. Makes sense.
Brodie: Me either. You have a great foundation though, and I think the idea would catch on. The interaction on this current Covid climate would resonate well with people truly interested in some good chats. Bouncing would be a problem when it gets to that point though. If people would just stick to damn baseball….. man. That includes MLB for goodness sakes.
It’s the all new Arena Baseball, man.
A lot of the skills we grew up watching are becoming more & more “unnecessary”. Pretty soon there’ll be these little tiny parks with bouncey-ass turf, & a maze of catwalks in play. Hitting will be like a pinball machine, man.
Fun.
Right?
Just leave notifications on.
So it shows up & you know someone’s been there.
No mods. But we stay respectful. & I actually have had the opportunity to learn a lot about a couple posters that are really cool dudes.
I’m sure if the mods found it they’d burn it down because I’m sure it somehow violates some rule. It just sort of happened with us. But like I said it could be done purposefully.
(Ahem)
Be easy to ID a Yankee thread and hit that, but there’s like 4,000 responses to scroll through.
my vision was a vr chat room like that of a bar on nyy and nym territory, a place where you can see passionate fans argue over “there” team over fermented veggie drinks. btw i just used ny as an easy example i could of used la or chi but ny popped in my head 1st
@ducky pinball for bb reminds me of Futurama and no thanks, bb is not a boring game if we can just let players play. before you adv. guys slam me, i like adv metrics but only as a tool not a end all be all. i think a lot of gm’s forget that and don’t value the contract guy or forget what a true power hitter is, (which is a guy that is a xb machine with the strength to hit it over the wall)
@Ducky, yes, that’s what it is. I’m MikeD there, but I probably won’t go back and check more than once to see if anyone commented. They have good articles but minimal posts.
@ducky to quote you on this
“We talk a lot of baseball & we are able to discuss other stuff too.
Something to think about.”
i’m all for that in a vr chat if i had the skills to pull off. i hope to see vr chats one day start off in a bar like setting and when the convo veers off from the main chat you can go off and chat and the main chat stays on topic just like in a real pub.
I want to finish dead last and get another number one overall pick. In four years, watch out!
I know we aren’t winning anything this year, so it’s best to just be real bad
I get it. But I don’t like it.
it would be one thing if pit was trying to get out of a hole and get financing under control but this isn’t the case. i feel for pit fans because when you guys we’re winning and was building towards something pnc was not a fun place to play. with nutting as an owner why would the most die hard pit wanna go to a game, so they can overpay to get blown out or who’s the next player to be picked off for our never ending rebuild.
The problem is the Astros and Cubs, most definitely the former, created this myth that teams can tank and win the World Series. It can be viable if one or two team are doing it. It becomes a challenge when half the teams are doing it. I feel like it’s an easy excuse owners can give for being frugal and not attempting to win.
I do have faith that Cherington is the right person for this move, meaning the rebuild. I don’t have faith in the Pirates ownership to see it through and start spending money when it’s needed.
The only reasons hou and chi gotta away with tanking is because up until recently they have been traditionally bad teams and there fan bases accepted that via being “hey we’ve sucked this long what’s another 5 years. IMO the sustainable model is build a good farm and supplement the big club with fa’s. No your not gonna be ws favorites every year but I’d rather see a ball club that’s decent with some hope and direction than I’m looking forward to April 1st of 2030.
Brodie, agreed. There was a definite strategy to win with the Astros. With so many teams now adopting various levels of tanking, I no longer believe it’s an optimal strategy.
@lordd99 tanking never was a good stagey all sports not just bb are better when you have every team trying to win. yes i know not everyone is going to be winners or have a good season, but as a fan of team x i want to feel that my team has a realistic shot of the postseason than hey season just started and we’re already out.
Most of the time, teams that are ‘tanking’ aren’t doing anything to lose. They are simply bad, and often times, just badly run. Baltimore didn’t get bad by dumping everyone. They got bad by holding on to guys too long. The team should’ve broken up 18 months earlier.
Balt is a bad comparison they’ve always been streaky franchise 15+ winning seasons followed by 15+ losing seasons. All I’m saying is don’t put a bs product on the field and cry poor when no one shows up, in most markets put a decent product on the field and fans will come. Most fans of most markets know there team isn’t a chip team but it’s the hope that drives us if we’re mediocre, hard to get engaged in a team when you know your season is over before it even starts.
Maybe in addition to a DH for pitchers, they should add a pinch runner for rookie third basemen.
Wish this kid a speedy recovery with hopefully no lingering issues. I see BIG things in his future