Josh Bell Is Working His Way Back And Other Notes

After minor knee surgery, Josh Bell is getting closer to being back to full strength

Slowly but surely Josh Bell is getting closer to being 100 percent. After having minor knee surgery a little over two weeks ago, Bell was slated to be out of baseball activities for 2-4 weeks. But now Bell is close to participating in all baseball drills again.

Over the weekend, Bell started to hit in the cage. He also began to do cardio work. Now, Bell is revving up the work.

On Monday, Bell began to do first base drills with special assistant Kevin Young. With Opening Day still being seven weeks away there is no reason to believe Josh Bell will not be ready when the Pirates head to Fenway Park to battle the Red Sox. The fact Bell can be the designated hitter in the season’s first three games is a plus as well.

Also on Monday, Pirate owner and chairman of the board Bob Nutting addressed the team as he does every year in Spring Training. Additionally, he met with the media on Monday.

Both Pirate manager Clint Hurdle and general manager Neal Huntington are entering the final year of their current contracts. Nutting, however, did not comment on the contracts of either. Nutting said it would not be appropriate to comment on their contract statuses at this time.

Nutting also mentioned the team regressing and taking a step back last season. “We certainly had a step back. We underperformed last year to the abilities of our club,” Nutting said. Personally, I would not be surprised if Hurdle and Huntington need a bounce back season in order to have job safety moving forward.

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Finally, we also learned that Francisco Cervelli will be back on the field on Tuesday. The Pirate catcher has been sitting out of drills since Saturday due to ‘right-foot discomfort.’

Cervelli said it is nothing to be worried about, though. From Adam Berry of Pirates.com, “they just gave me the day because it’s early in camp, so we don’t want to do anything stupid,” Cervelli said. “When you catch for 15 years, a lot of things start happening. You’ve got to start using all the tools to make it feel better. It’s nothing we have to worry about.”