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Bullpen, Polanco and … Barmes?

By John Perrotto for The 2 min read
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Three thoughts on the Pirates:

1. Bolstering The Bullpen

While the Pirates have been primarily linked to starting pitchers in most trade rumors, they have stepped up their pursuit of relievers in recent days.

The Pirates don’t feel entirely comfortable with their bullpen beyond All-Star closer Mark Melancon and set-up man Tony Watson, a left-hander.

Ideally, the Pirates would like to acquire a seventh-inning reliever who would push right-hander Jared Hughes back to the middle innings.

A bonus would be to add a more reliable second lefty option than Antonio Bastardo.

The Pirates have their eyes on the Arizona Diamondbacks and right-handed set-up reliever Daniel Hudson, in particular, though they also have interest in closer Brad Ziegler and a potential reunion with lefty Oliver Perez, who was traded by the Pirates to the New York Mets in 2006.

In his first full season both since coming off his second Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery and being converted into a reliever, Hudson is 2-3 with a 3.58 ERA in 32 games. His 36 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings appeal to the Pirates.

Hudson cannot become a free agent until after next season, which means he could be a key piece to the Pirates’ bullpen in 2016 or possibly even be turned back into a starter.

2. Patience with Polanco

It has become popular to suggest right fielder Gregory Polanco should be sent to Class AAA Indianapolis for an overall baseball refresher course.

That’s a good idea in theory but not so much from a practical standpoint when the top options to replace him are Gorkys Hernandez on the major league roster and Jose Tabata and Jaff Decker at Indianapolis.

Decker can do some things but the Pirates don’t seem to have much confidence in him for whatever reason.

As far as Tabata and Hernandez? Ugh and double ugh.

3. A nice gesture

The Journey standard “Don’t Stop Believin'” played on the PNC Park sound system Tuesday night when San Diego Padres shortstop Clint Barmes stepped to the plate for the first time as a visiting player since the Pirates decided not to re-sign him at the end of last season.

That was Barmes’ walk-up song during most of his two years with the Pirates. It was a nice audio tip of the cap to one of the classiest and most professional players to wear a Pirates’ uniform in recent years.

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