Gerrit Cole is a hot topic right now for the Pittsburgh Pirates struggling pitching staff.

Before the start of the Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals matchup tonight in Missouri, the Pittsburgh Pirates pre game show had Kyle Stark on as their guest.  The Pirates Assistant General Manager touched on Jameson Taillon, Vic Black and Gerrit Cole.

Regarding Taillon’s promtion to Altoona, Stark spoke highly of the change up he has developed as the season has progressed.  Taillon has shown more confidence in the pitch despite the fact that it ‘sometimes gets firm.’  He mentioned that the brass felt that Taillon would benefit from playing against and being around players at the Double A level.

Vic Black was a pitcher that came into the Pirates system with two plus pitches and ‘he still has those two plus pitches.’  The key for Vic is being healthy and throwing strikes,  he is throwing the ball over the plate  and his plus breaking ball is a bit more consistent.

When Stark was asked about Black’s need for developing a change up, Stark didn’t commit to a yes or no answer.  He said that most realistically Black will be a back end of the bullpen pitcher and Stark didn’t know if a change up is ‘going to be a separator for him.’

The Bucs Assistant GM said he keeps getting asked that if Taillon got moved up is Cole moving up to AAA.  Stark sounded positive when he said that Gerrit has made a solid transition to Double-A. and Cole realized that he doesn’t need to do more.

“Gerrit is using weapons to attack hitters and is showing flashes of complete dominance.”  Kyle Stark, Pittsburgh Pirates AGM

When asked about skipping Triple-A and coming to the bigs, Stark backed off when he said….

“Neal has come out and said that coming to Pittsburgh is probably not an option for Gerrit.  Right now the focus is having him string some consistent outings together. ”  Kyle Stark, Pittsburgh Pirates AGM

Matt Walbeck hanging out with some other guys who like to win, Kent Tekulve and Spanky LaValliere.

At some point, it becomes impossible to determine what is happening.  Just read this.  The Pirates Kyle Stark has fired AA Manager Matt Walbeck.

“I just spoke with Kyle, and basically he felt I wasn’t a good fit for what I wanted to accomplish.” —- Matt Walbeck (more…)