It would be one thing to be sitting here on a Monday morning, discussing only the Pirates being swept by the Brewers. Saturday’s game created some bad circumstances, the Brewers are playing well, Clint Hurdle’s decision to sit Andrew McCutchen on the third day back from the break certainly leaves some questions about how much of a break the All-Star Break is for the All-Stars, etc. etc. Ultimately, the Pirates were swept by the Nationals three weeks ago and that left them nine games behind the Cardinals, and so certainly they can handle a sweep that leaves them 4 1/2 back this weekend. Sweeps are terrible to sit through as a fan, but if they happen to a team that is as good as we all assume the Pirates are, you can survive them (at least for now, we can talk about this again in a month).
Unfortunately, there’s something else to talk about today. As you certainly know by now, Jordy Mercer left yesterday’s game with what looked like a very serious knee injury after a collision with Carlos Gomez on the bases. Clint Hurdle and the Pirates players all pretty pointedly said they didn’t think the play was malicious, and so I guess I’ll leave it at that (it just seems to me that 15-20 feet short of the base is maybe not the ideal place for a takeout slide). Mercer is apparently being evaluated right now and while it’s possible that he maybe had a hyper-extension or something that wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked, it looked bad enough that the Pirates immediately mobilized Brent Morel.
That it’s Morel that they’re turning to should give you an indication as to how much this injury could hamper the Pirates. With Josh Harrison out until maybe September, the best the Pirates can do as currently configured is to move Jung Ho Kang to short, and play Sean Rodriguez or Brent Morel at third. Rodriguez has a .558 OPS with the Pirates this year. Morel is hitting find in Indianapolis, but has a career .600 OPS and was an anchor on the Pirates’ roster during last July and August. There is one other option, but it’s hard for me to assess how likely said option is. Alen Hanson is hitting well enough as a 22-year old at Triple-A to make him seem like a legitimate part of the Pirates’ future (.286/.332/.421), but he’s only got 78 games at the level and has been moved to second base full time this year after years of questions about his defense at shortstop. The problem with his defense was always sort of an Ian Desmond question: not that he couldn’t handle it, as he was capable of spectacular plays, but that he made enough routine errors that it became a problem (think Pedro Alvarez at third, I guess, though to a less extreme degree). The Pirates don’t like rushing prospects, but then the Pirates haven’t really had to deal with a serious long-term injury that had no obvious internal replacements during a pennant race in the past. I would hope the Pirates at least consider giving Hanson a shot to play every day over Morel or Rodriguez, should Mercer be out long-term, though I wouldn’t be hugely surprised if they don’t.
Morel would be a short-term answer, but I can’t imagine the Pirates going with Rodriguez and Morel as everyday third basemen for five or six weeks until Harrison comes back. Beyond that, though, there are no clear and easy answers. Obviously everything right now is just a holding pattern until the Pirates know more about Mercer’s injury. If he’s out for any significant time, though, it’s not a good situation for the Pirates — they’re either going to have to move out of their comfort zone with a prospect or significantly shift their trade deadline plans.
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