Pittsburgh Pirates Mail Bag Monday: 5/23

“When do you think Taillon and Glasnow are being called up?” – @marshallpdx21

We will keep the topic on the future of the rotation, and dive into this next. I would expect Jameson Taillon to get the call very soon. Super Two Day is typically around June 10th, so on or shortly after June 10th I would expect Taillon to get called up and to join the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation.

As for Glasnow, it may take a little longer. While Taillon looks 100 percent polished and ready for the Major Leagues, Tyler Glasnow still has some control issues to work on. Glasnow’s 4.09 BB/9 at AAA is entirely too high. He can get away with this at AAA because hitters are less disciplined and will strike out more often to help him out of jams, but this will not be the case in the Major Leagues.

Also, right now Glasnow is only throwing about 60 percent of his pitches for strikes. This is a number that you typically want to see be at least 65 percent. Glasnow is also still working on developing his change-up and throwing it with more frequency.

So I expect to see Jameson Taillon at some point in the next 15-20 days, while Tyler Glasnow is a little further down the road. I will guess we see Glasnow some time in June. – Marty Leap

Next: Trading for Bullpen Help

“When is it “too soon” to seek bullpen options via the trade market? – @PiratesFaithful

This is a great questions that we got an answer to just yesterday.  Everyone knows that besides Watson, Melancon, Hughes, and Feliz, the bullpen has been a mess.  Arquimedes Caminero has a 5.74 ERA, has given up three home runs in 15 innings, while striking out 13 and walking 12.  He has been very ineffective and rarely has had a clean innings.  Corey Luebke, the current left-handed middle relief option has an ERA over 14 in his last four appearances.  Then we all know that Ryan Vogelsong has struggled in his stints and question why he is even around still.

With that the Pirates need bullpen help.  So far they have called up Wilfredo Boscan from the Triple-A rotation to see if he can effective out of the pen.  They also have Rob Scahill, Aj Schugel, and Kyle Lobstein in the AAA who have all saw time in the majors so far this season.  However, the best route might be to make a trade.  Yesterday on Neal Huntington mentioned to mlb.com’s Adam Berry that it could be a possibility:

Huntington state that the Pittsburgh Pirates will, “scour the Minor Leagues to see if there’s another Jason Grilli-type situation out there…”

What he means by this is to find a veteran who may be working back from an injury and does not have a spot in the team’s current pen or a veteran who could use a change of scenery. One player who comes to mind is Drew Storen from Toronto.  Storen was very effective when pitching in Washington, and last year before the Nationals dealt for Paplebon he had 29 saves.  

Since being replaced by Paplebon he has not been the same.  Washington dealt him to a hitters ballpark in Toronto and he has struggled.  On the year Storen has a 7.80 ERA.  He is due about 8.5 million dollars. It has been reported by Bob Elliot of the Torotno Sun that the Blue Jays have made Storen available. If the Jays are ready to cut ties and move him out of Toronto as-soon-as-possible, then they may be willing to eat some of his contract.  Also with him having a bad year the Toronto’s front office could not expect and major pieces back in the deal.  

With Huntington reporting that the team is looking for bullpen help already it could mean they are working on something as your read this.  It is rare for Huntington to tip his hand in situations like this.  Storen makes the most sense as he is the biggest name that is known to be available, however as Huntington said they could be looking at several different, cheaper veterans as well.

 –Nick Caporoso

Thanks for all the questions.  Look on twitter and facebook next weekend for the next question post.  Mail Bags will be done every Monday.