Clint Hurdle Explains Pittsburgh Pirates Roster Moves

The Pittsburgh Pirates moved Alex Presley to Triple-A Indianapolis to make room for left hander Jeff Locke.  Pittsburgh Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle explained the move as we furiously drove back into radio range last night.  The explanation was interesting to us.

Hurdle explained that if Jordy Mercer was sent down, that makes Josh Harrison the backup shortstop.  It would limit the ability for Harrison to be moved around the baseball diamond as the Bucs super utility player.

The Pirates bullpen was depleted.  Jason Grilli wasn’t going to go.  Hurdle muttered that Joel Hanrahan wouldn’t be used unless the team had a save situation, so the bullpen was light.  Chris Resop, Tony Watson, Chad Qualls….that was about all the Bucs had last night.

They needed every arm they had, but Locke didn’t see the field.  It will be interesting to see if he can see some action this afternoon.

But the exciting part of the night for us was after all of this Harrison talk, Jordy Mercer goes out and crushes his first homer of the season as Clint Barmes and Harrison watched from the dugout.  Think Mercer is in the lineup tomorrow?  Stop laughing.

Clint Hurdle described it best after the game.

"“We were probably longer on guts tonight than we were execution.”  Clint Hurdle"

The Pirates need some more help on the bench.  We don’t think the Bucs are done in that regard, but it’s just so damn frustrating watching the pinch hitting options that Hurdle has to select from on a nightly basis.