Pirates facing tough roster decisions
BRADENTON, Fla. — The regular season is more than a week away from starting but the Pirates already lead the major leagues in one category.
They have 10 players on their 40-man roster who are out of minor-league options.
They are left-hander Jeff Locke, right-handers Arquimedes Caminero, Radhames Liz, Mark Melancon, Stolmy Pimentel and Vance Worley, catchers Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart, first baseman Pedro Alvarez and infielder Pedro Florimon.
In order to send any of those players to the minor leagues, the Pirates would need to designate them for assignment and risk losing them on a waiver claim.
General manager Neal Huntington has acknowledged that there will be roster moves involving those players in the next week or so. Teams must have their season-opening rosters set by April 5, the day before the Pirates begin the season by playing the Reds at Cincinnati.
Huntington, manager Clint Hurdle and the coaching staff plan to meet today to talk about the roster.
“You’ve got the same list of names we’ve got,” Hurdle said. “We’ve got some decisions to make.”
Melancon is the Pirates’ closer and he isn’t going anywhere. Neither is Alvarez as he is a year removed from hitting a National League-best 36 home runs. The Cervelli/Stewart catching duo is also safe, and Stewart will begin the season on the disabled list anyway with a strained right hamstring.
Though Locke and Worley are competing for one open spot in the starting rotation, the loser figures to make the team as a long reliever.
The only one of the 10 players who seems to have little chance of making the team is Florimon because the Pirates already have two utility infielders in Korean rookie Jung Ho Kang and Sean Rodriguez.
With Melancon and left-handers Tony Watson and Antonio Bastardo locks for the seven-man bullpen, it is seems difficult to see how the Pirates would fit Caminero, Liz, Pimentel and Locke/Worley onto the roster without optioning both right-handers John Holdzkom and Jared Hughes to Class AAA Indianapolis.
“We’re not going to be able to get everyone onto the roster that we want,” Huntington said. “That’s the spot you want to be in. You always want to have more talent on your roster than not enough.”