The Pirates set their Opening Day roster this afternoon, but I spent most of the day grading tests and working on a season preview for tomorrow, so I’m just getting around to putting the post together now.
There is exactly one surprise with this final roster: Charlie Morton’s ugly spring indicated coupled with the rehab from his hip surgery landed him on the disabled list, and the Pirates replaced him with Rob Scahill and not Stolmy Pimentel or John Holdzkom. That means that Pimentel will be designated for assignment and could potentially be lost to another club, should they decide to play Pimentel Roulette with their bullpen this year.
I’ll be honest, I had to look Rob Scahill up after the Pirates put him on the roster. He is — and you’ll be shocked by this — a hard-throwing ground ball pitcher that the Pirates acquired from the Rockies over the winter. He’s never had much success with the Rockies, though he acquitted himself quite well this spring with the Pirates. He’s got an option left so it’s a little surprising to see him make the team over Holdzkom, though I suppose it’s possible that the team saw something in his performance in Colorado that they figured would translate well to a lower altitude. It’s pretty clear that the Pirate pitching staff will be fluid for the early part of the season, so I’m guessing that the Pirates may just want to see how Scahill’s stuff translates to real big league games.
As for the rest of the roster: Andrew Lambo got the final bench spot over Pedro Florimon and Jaff Decker, which is more or less what was expected, despite Lambo’s ugly spring. Lambo’s put up big numbers with Indianapolis the last two years, and he represents more of a power left-handed bat off of the bench than either Decker or Florimon. If Florimon makes it through waivers and to Indianapolis, I suspect we’ll see him in black and gold before the season ends (there’s no room for him right now since it’s not clear how well Corey Hart can play outfield with his knees, but that’s a situation that could change with time). I’m less sure about Decker since the Pirates didn’t call him up last September, but obviously he remains useful depth for now. Like with Scahill, we’re definitely talking about the last roster spot and we may be talking about an audition.
Pirate baseball starts tomorrow. The season preview will be up in the morning. The first gamethread will be up in the early afternoon. It’s almost time.
Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images
