April 15: The Pirates officially placed Rodriguez on the IL today and recalled right-hander Chase Shugart in a corresponding move.
April 14: The Pirates are likely to place first baseman/catcher Endy Rodriguez on the 10-day injured list, manager Derek Shelton told reporters (including Kevin Gorman of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). The 24-year-old sustained a laceration on his right index finger that required multiple stitches.
Rodriguez suffered the injury in the first inning of tonight’s win over Washington. He was behind the plate when Paul Skenes spiked a curveball that hit James Wood in the foot. The ball skipped off Wood’s foot and struck Rodriguez in his throwing hand. Henry Davis stepped in to finish the game.
The Bucs are already carrying three catchers on the active roster. They recalled Davis over the weekend while starter Joey Bart is day-to-day with back soreness. If Bart is expected back within a day or two, they could get by without bringing up another catcher. It’d be trickier if Bart isn’t available for now even as an emergency option. They don’t have any other catchers on the 40-man roster after trading Jason Delay to Atlanta a couple weeks back. Abrahan Gutierrez, who has never appeared in the majors, is the top option in Triple-A.
Rodriguez has played more first base than catcher through the season’s first two weeks. Tonight was his fifth start behind the dish. He has logged nine starts at first base. There’s a clearer path to playing time at the latter position with Spencer Horwitz beginning the season on the injured list. Rodriguez hasn’t come close to meeting the higher offensive bar at first base. He’s hitting .178 without a home run over 50 plate appearances. Pittsburgh had gotten a .146/.216/.225 slash out of the position entering play tonight (though Enmanuel Valdez’s strong game today will boost those numbers).
If the corresponding roster move is at catcher, Valdez would probably get the bulk of the first base reps. That’d push Adam Frazier back in to second base while potentially creating a little extra playing time in right field for Alexander Canario and/or Jack Suwinski. The Pirates have staggered Andrew McCutchen’s playing time in right, as they’re limited to using Bryan Reynolds at designated hitter because of an ongoing triceps issue.
First baseman Billy Cook is on optional assignment in Triple-A, but he’s out to a .143/.244/.200 start through 11 games. Non-roster corner infielder Malcom Nuñez has gotten out to a better start (.278/.290/.528), while former Phillies first baseman Darick Hall has had a similarly cold stretch as Cook (.241/.333/.276) to begin the season. The 40-man roster is at capacity.
The majority of the players in this article shouldn’t even be remotely close to a major league field.
Careful, Andromedon, or you’ll get the analytics geniuses here telling you that you shouldn’t believe what you actually see.
They have one legit player here in Cutch. Let that sink in for a minute.
They had all winter to surround a good starting staff (at the time) with a couple good, affordable bats in free agency. They did nothing
Cue the one poster here who keeps wanting us to believe Nutting is losing money. What a joke this is
Reynolds isn’t legit?
Reynolds is a good player. He’s an average outfielder, at best.
I said the majority, not all of them.
Yes George.. ANALytics is the ruination of sports. Devised by nerds who didn’t have the athletic capability to play sports.
And the MORON picks his lineups using ANALytics. Cruz leading off Reynolds second. Unbelievable
Yes George is reacting to a stupid comment. Next.
come on George, they traded a legitimate pitcher for a first baseman who has been injured since February and still hasn’t played this season
Yeah, Cutch is a bum and should retire
Somebody needs to learn the definition of “majority”.
someone needs to learn sarcasm
Have Nutting open his checkbook and bring Delay back. The only problem is the Braves will probably ask twice as much as they paid.
Gonna get buried before 50 games if things don’t change! No hitting before last night! Hitting has to continue,so far it doesn’t look like it will be a regular thing.
Ben isn’t replacing Endy ( who went on the IL today) with another position player,,Shuggart is coming back up
Leave it to a. worthless GM to forego bringing up a hitter on a team that lacks any semblance of offense, and choosing a pitcher instead
Holy F. The Pirates are terrible.
No s*** sherlock
Guy is probably on the IL because he’s so terrible at his job. 47 wRC+ means you belong in double-A.
I mean it HAS only been 3 weeks. Not that I’m high on Endy Rodriguez though
I agree
The only positive aspect of Endy is that he is a switch hitter
If he could only hit on one side of the plate, he’d be better than what we currently have at as a backup catcher
Pirates sound like a mash hospital.
every team has injuries, the Pirates problem is that they don’t have the depth to replace injured players in the minors
The Pirates problem is that the injured players aren’t very good and the depth is worse.
Lifelong Pirates fan here. People who were talking up Endy the past few years as some great future catcher for the organization have their blinders on. He is a below average player who doesn’t really look like he has what it takes to make it in the MLB. Davis stinks as well. The pirates have screwed around way to long with catching prospects. Even pulling Neil Walker out of his catching draft pick natural position and moving him to the infield. Pirates development is terrible.
Walker made it work because he was a true athlete. Change-overs like his don’t work well too often
Player development is horrible. But let’s finally agree that their scouting department is equally awful. How can it be that not one position player who has come through the farm system in the Cherington era shown any major league ability?
I agree. The pirates only legit position player is Reynolds. Cruz is Gregory Polanco Part 2 and is so overrated by the Pittsburgh fan base. Hayes is always one play away from getting injured. Henry Davis was a terrible draft pick at #1 overall. The list is endless.
Polanco at least worked extremely hard to improve his play. He just couldn’t. Cruz seems incredibly lazy
I like Reynolds, but would he be a star anywhere else? I’m not sure he even starts in most outfields
And to me, yeah, I get that Hayes has a balky back. But he’s the biggest bust signing here in years
I like to compare Elly de la Cruz to Oneil Cruz.
Oneil Cruz has a stronger SS arm, better exit velocity at the plate and very well could be faster.
All this said, Oneil lacks baseball sense/instincts and Elly has great instincts.
Cruz lacks discipline, either self awareness or by the manager
Walker didn’t have the arm to catch and suffered recurring back problems
Had he remained at the catcher position, his career would have been over sooner than expected
Good thing they had Davis to call up. Oh wait he will be non tendered this offseason.
Davis has been screwed up by management and the coaches.He may have been overrated but those in the know know that the Pirates got him under slot price and got Chandler also because of it.They also needed a catcher badly at that point.
If he and Suwinski do not improve their hitting they will be traded but will not bring much back.
how much time will they give these players before pulling the plug?
As soon as their minor league options run out.
Trade him for Baty.
That would work for Baty and the pirates. The Mets have no where to give Davis a shot.
Maybe they can just use playground rules and share the other team’s catcher each game. Have a universal catcher who catches bother pitchers. It worked in backyard football growing up having a universal QB playing for both teams … there was only one kid who could actually throw the football haha. Kinda like the pirates where they don’t have a catcher.
Last night was a prime example of why you need a true 1B. Not saying Skenes throws to first were perfect but a true 1B knows how to go to the ball if it’s off line.
Pirates just think they can throw anyone at that spot and be fine. Just truly disturbing the neglect that position has had under GMBC
both times Valdez tried to tag the base runner before he had the ball in his glove
Skenes’ throws weren’t perfect but an experienced first baseman would have made better efforts
His play at 2nd base when he botched the double play was like that on Saturday
Maybe he should go play catch with someone
Not good guys! Changes need to be make to shake up lineup. Swap some players,do something.
IKF is the emergency catcher if needed
I kept trying to tell people that don’t know much baseball…
My hope for retaining the same lineup in tonight’s game has been dashed
Cutch is sitting in favor of Suwinski
I just don’t understand why giving one of your most valuable players a rest in favor of a player who doesn’t belong on the major league roster
I had hoped Jack would turn it around this year but he’s been a major disappointment
Endy for Joey Lucchesi doesn’t look like much of anything for either team. Draw.
Lucchesi (edited).
for some unknown reason, management is high on Endy, trading him is unlikely to happen
My opinion, he hasn’t shown much of anything at the plate or his throwing arm
In Jack’s first plate appearance he hit a weak dribbler back to the pitcher and on an outside pitch
But yeah sit Cutch, he needs to get a day off