PITTSBURGH, Pa. — When Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle put together his Opening Day lineup for Monday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, there were several interesting placements regarding the order. Garrett Jones was hitting in the two spot, where he spent the final two Grapefruit League games, as well as in the exhibition game on Saturday against the Double-A Altoona Curve. Also, Pedro Alvarez batting cleanup, a spot Pittsburgh has envisioned him hitting in since they drafted him in the first round in 2008.
“I’m trying to find what I believe will be the best combination for men to get on base in front of Andrew [McCutchen],” Hurdle said. “At the same time, when you construct a lineup, at least from my perspective and the people who have helped me over the years and the things you look for, there is protection issues. There is also skill sets that you want to match up. How can you best protect certain players in certain times. Strength in your lineup, stretch it up from top to bottom.”
“For me, it’s either second or sixth for Jones. Against a right-handed pitcher it’s hard for me to hit a guy with an .880 OPS lifetime hitting sixth. That’s too deep in the lineup. We could miss an opportunity. We will see how this plays out. At the same time, I take numbers and I crunch them. Then I look at the spring numbers that Gaby Sanchez had and I’m not smart enough to look at any numbers to decide that he doesn’t need to play right now.”
Third baseman Alvarez hit fourth 24 games last season and just one the year prior, but coming off a career-high 30 homer season, Hurdle feels confident that Alvarez can hold down that spot in 2013.
“The reps through spring training, the aggressiveness in the zone, trusting himself more, getting the swing off,” Hurdle said. “That’s what we’ve seen. We’re all looking for a day that we can make this move again and revisit it. I think it’s the appropriate time now.”
With both Jones and Sanchez in the starting lineup, Travis Snider and Jose Tabata were pushed to the bench. Snider hit .255 over 24 games this spring, while Tabata finished with a .269 mark, respectively. The outfielders are both in a good place, and will get playing time. Hurdle went with what he believed to be the best offensive lineup for today.
“We’ve talked to Travis,” Hurdle said. “Travis is in a much better place right now then when he was at the end of the season. But watching the reps as they play out, I think he’s in a much better place for growth right now. He’s going to play. Tabata is going to play. But to start the season out with Jones in right and Sanchez at first, i think is our best offensive lineup right now. We plan on sticking with some things. I’m not going to try and manipulate the lineup everyday by any means. I want to try to stabilize some things and show some continuity.”
Neil Walker was also in consideration for getting penciled in No. 2 in the lineup for Opening Day. The Pirates second baseman could see some time hitting there this season.
“He’s done it in the past, so has Garrett in the past,” Hurdle said. “I just like the fact that for me, Neil’s shown his run driving ability. Those two guys are flexible at either spot. I think that if they were to go left in a middle of a game, This provides us more counter punches. That’s just my looking at it going in. We’ll see how it plays out. I’m comfortable with the start, and we’ll see how they take it out there. This lineup, it officially opens the season for second guessing. It’s baseball season.”
Bullpen Set Behind Grilli
This season, the Pirates have a new closer in former set up man Jason Grilli. Gone is Joel Hanrahan, who notched 94 saves over his three seasons in Pittsburgh. But with a new opportunity for Grilli, comes new roles for the other relievers in the bullpen.
“I’m just excited about the season altogether,” said Grilli, who signed a two-year deal in the offseason to be the clubs closer. “Getting the nod for that is pretty special. It’s been a long journey to get this title, but I’ve always looked at myself as a pitcher. I’ve always taken the ball when the manager has given it to me and have looked to get three outs. I’m just excited. The spotlight is sometimes turned on the closer, but I’ve done everything from the front, the middle and the back. I’m just the last sprinter in the race so to speak because there are a lot of guys getting the baton before me. We’ve got a good arsenal of relievers on this squad.”
Prior to the game on Monday, Hurdle said that Mark Melancon, Jared Hughes and Tony Watson will be the late inning trio looking to get the ball to Grilli. Both Hughes and Watson saw some action in the late innings in 2012 with the Pirates, and new bucco Melancon notched 20 saves as the Astros closer in 2011.
“It could be a combination of two or three, just depending on how it goes,” Hurdle said. “Seventh and eighth I’m looking at the three men.”
With Watson getting to pitch in the late innings, the Pirates skipper will have a second left-hander in Justin Wilson to start the year. The rookie posted a 1.93 ERA in the month of September in the bigs last season. He’s also coming off a solid spring, breaking camp for the first time in his professional career. Wilson finished Grapefruit League action tied for the team lead in strikeouts (16) while allowing just two runs over 15.2 frames. Depending on game situations, Hurdle will likely turn to Watson with the game on the line.
“It might be a situation where the game is imminently on the line, and I want Watson, I want the more experienced guy in,” Hurdle said. “Wilson has showed the ability to do some things this spring. It will be different I think for him. I think we’ll try to get situations to build some confidence. But sometimes the season doesn’t provide for those. We’re confident putting him out there as well.”
“It’s great,” Watson said of his new role pitching in the 7th and 8th innings. “But those other two guys – as well as Wilson, [Chris] Leroux, [Jeanmar] Gomez and obviously Grilli closing games – he has trust in any one of us to go out there and get the job done. Everybody has got each other’s back out there to get the job done each and every night…I just try to get better everyday. Whatever the splits are, I just try to go out there and go out there and attack the hitter to help the team out and try to get the win.”
Injury Updates
The Pirates placed infielder Brandon Inge (right scapula) and pitchers Jeff Karstens (right shoulder inflammation), Francisco Liriano (right humerus fracture) and Charlie Morton (right elbow surgery) on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday. For Inge, the move was retroactive to March 26, the others on the 22nd. With the players just arriving into Pittsburgh on Sunday, Hurdle had limited updates on how they are progressing at this point.
Liriano and Morton are both up and throwing and Inge has started some baseball activities. Jose Conteras, who signed a minor league deal during spring, is making progress from elbow surgery. When it comes to Karstens, Hurdle said he would wait for the medical staff to reveal more information regarding the shoulder inflammation that sidelined him throughout spring training.
“That hasn’t been on the top of my to-do list right now,” Hurdle said of Karstens. “He’s moving forward. The work that is being done in the training room is making progress. I don’t have a timetable for throwing right now.”
Getting Over The Hump
The Pirates have had second-half collapses in each of the past two seasons. In 2011, the club sat at 47-43 heading into the All-Star break, but a 25-47 slide, including a 8-22 record in the month of August, faded them out of reach of a winning record. 2012, the collapse not only notched their 20th consecutive below .500 season, but also out of playoff contention. Pittsburgh were as high as 16 game over .500 as late as August 8, but finished with a 16-36 mark to end the season. Hurdle believes that with a combination of more experience and talent, that they can get over that hump in 2013.
“The people who have been developed internally, the people that we’ve had our hands on that we’ve seen grow up here, another year’s experience, another year of challenges and learning experiences,” Hurdle said. “The external candidates that we’ve added, the bullpen set up, [there’s] versatility and more strength in the starting rotation that we’ve ever had. There will be question marks until guys pitch, but also rotation depth we have in the background waiting. Whether it be Morton, whether it be Karstens, Liriano, Contreras adding to the picture as well. The position player pool, another 500 at-bats for each one of these guys from last year. We’re better because of experience. We’re better because of the talent. We believe we are better, but we’ve got to go out and play.”
And The Emergency Catcher of 2013 Is…
“Our new guy, John McDonald,” Hurdle said. “He’s done it before. He’s the one guy, that if [Michael] McKenry is in the game and [Ruseell] Martin is removed and McKenry gets laid out, I’ll look down the bench and John McDonald will be looking me in the eyes. Everybody else’s heads will be turned.”
Photo credit: Bucs Dugout
