After months of waiting and uncertainty, the Pirates are heading off to St. Louis to start the regular season Friday.
The Pirates finalized the 30-man roster they will open the season with Thursday, which includes more pitchers than hitters.
In terms of transactions made Thursday, utilityman Phillip Evans and left-handers Derek Holland and Nik Turley had their contracts selected. Right-handed pitcher JT Brubaker, outfielder Jason Martin and shortstop Cole Tucker were all recalled back onto the roster.
Those moves, plus the previous additions of catcher John Ryan Murphy and lefty-hander Robbie Erlin means the Pirates' 40-man roster is full. They also officially transferred Luke Maile to the 60-day injured list.
JT Riddle was also placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 20, with a right abdomen strain. He did not participate in any of the exhibitions against the Indians or in recent intrasquad games.
Here is how the roster looks now:
That roster had 16 position players compared to 14 hitters. Derek Shelton mentioned that as a possibility this week.
Ben Cherington said he always anticipated there would be more pitchers to start the season.
"Really once we got back to Pittsburgh, that was our working assumption just thinking about where our pitching group is and the opportunity to learn more about some guys on the pitching side and also wanting to protect and manage workload as best we can here through the first couple weeks," Cherington said during a Zoom call Thursday. "So we know that number will come down a couple weeks from now, so we’ll see where we land at that point. We felt like this was the best alignment for now.”
There's only one player on the taxi squad: Catcher Andrew Susac. Each team is allowed to carry up to three on road trips, but since the Pirates are only playing St. Louis and it's early, they didn't see any need to add more.
"We felt like, for this trip, just given that we’re just getting started and the group should be fresh, we didn’t really need to take three extra players," Cherington said. "But we wanted to take the extra catcher.”
The only player who spent significant time in camp and did not make the team, besides injuries or illness, is Socrates Brito. Instead, he will be reassigned to the alternate training camp in Altoona, Pa. while Martin makes the team as the fourth outfielder.
Outfield is a major question with the team since Gregory Polanco has been absent since last week after testing positive for COVID-19.
"We know [Bryan] Reynolds is going to play a lot," Cherington said about the group of outfielders. "We certainly hope and expect Polanco is back sooner rather than later. We don’t know exactly when yet. Then we’ve got a group of guys – [Guillermo] Heredia and [Jarrod] Dyson, [Jose] Osuna and others. Obviously Cole’s [Tucker] starting to get some activity there. We added Martin, who gives us the speed element and defense off the bench. Excited to see those guys play. I know Shelty’s thinking a lot about how to get guys in the best position to succeed, and we hope Polanco comes back and joins that group soon.”
As for Keone Kela, who has been absent from camp because he too tested positive for COVID-19, the Pirates plan to not have a formal closer while he is away, instead using different relievers based on leverage of the situation.
The Pirates have had five players test positive for COVID-19 in camp, though three are already back in action. Third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes was reassigned to Altoona earlier this week. Right-hander Blake Cederlind cleared protocols Thursday and will return to the field in Altoona Friday. Brito also tested positive coming into camp and is heading to Altoona.
The starting rotation will consist of Joe Musgrove, Trevor Williams, Mitch Keller and Derek Holland, with the fifth spot looking like it will be a "piggyback" situation where Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl will each pitch about three or four innings.
As for the starting lineup, Shelton is still keeping that close to the chest.
I do know who’s going to start," Shelton said over a Zoom call Thursday. "I have not told the players yet, because Donnie [bench coach Don Kelly] and i just decided probably about 20 minutes ago."
