Pittsburgh Pirates Mailbag: May 24th, 2018

It’s mailbag day, ya’ll

Welcome back to the weekly Pittsburgh Pirates’ mailbag here at Rum Bunter. While the mailbag is coming a day late this week, it still lives on.

There is plenty to discuss this week. From Austin Meadows bursting onto the scene in the Major Leagues, to the struggles of Gregory Polanco, and the team’s disappointing finish to their previous home stand.

As always, thank you to everyone who participated in this week’s mailbag. So, let’s begin!

These two are similar so we’ll tackle them together.

Austin Meadows has been incredible through his first five career Major League games owing a .381/.381/.714/1.095 slashline, a .465 wOBA, and a wRC+ of 201 while also playing strong center field defense. That said, when Starling Marte is healthy, it would be a surprise to see Meadows stay in the Majors.

The Pirates still have a lot invested in Gregory Polanco. He remains under contract through 2023 and is still owed over $50 million. The team also still sees Polanco as the high ceiling player that he was while ascending through the minor leagues.

Now, if Meadows continues to play the way he has until Marte returns and then goes down to Triple-A and performs it will be very difficult to keep him in Indianapolis long. Especially if Polanco continues to struggle as well.

What’s the answer for making a spot for Meadows? Well that is a tough question to answer.

As was addressed above, the Pirates have a lot of faith in Polanco still and also have a lot of money invested in him. Combine this with he, Marte, and Felipe Vazquez being the leaders of the Pirate clubhouse and the odds of a trade seem very low. Corey Dickerson is set to become a free agent after next season but he has been arguably the team’s best player this season so he is going nowhere.

Typically these things work themselves out. So we will have to wait and see what happens. But my guess is barring another injury or Polanco just completely unraveling we will not see Meadows again until roster expand in September.

My only guess at this point is that he has dirt on Clint Hurdle, Neal Huntington, or someone else in the front office.

George Kontos has been miserably bad this season. In 19 2/3 innings pitched he’s allowed four home runs, he has the lowest strikeout rate of any Major League pitcher with at least 10 innings pitched this season, his ERA is 5.03, and his FIP is 6.06.

At this point, he serves no purpose in the Pirate bullpen. If he is not designated for assignment when Joe Musgrove is activated off the disabled list on Friday night I will be both stunned and triggered.

Unless the Pirates fall out of contention between now and July 31st, I do not believe either of these scenarios is very possible.

If they’re in contention Dickerson is going nowhere. But, the future outfield is still Meadows, Marte, and Polanco. Even though an argument can probably be made that they would be better off having Dickerson over Polanco as part of that future.

But, if I had to put money on one of the proposed scenarios, I’d go with Dickerson being traded at the deadline. The Pirates falling out of contention making Dickerson available is possible, the remaining years on the contracts of Marte and Polanco, not that anyone wants Marte to go anywhere, vanishing is not.

That’s tough to say. Jameson Taillon never threw a slider before this season and he’s thrown a whopping four sliders, with all four of them coming in his most recent start. Due to this, there is no information whatsoever available on Taillon’s slider.

That said, Taillon needs to find something. Especially with his change up getting pummeled to the tune of a 1.000 slugging percentage this season. So, that’s a pitch he may want to scrap.

He has struggled this season to the tune of allowing 1.23 HR/9, a 4.56 ERA, and a 4.12 FIP. The Pirates are counting on Taillon to carry the rotation for years to come and they need him to be better. Throwing a slider could help Taillon improve and is worth giving a shot.

Next: 2018 MLB Draft Preview: Trevor Larnach

That will do it for this week. As always, thank you to everyone who participated in this week’s mailbag! If you ever have a question look for our Tweet each week asking for mailbag questions.