PITTSBURGH — Sauerkraut Saul is winless after 39 heats of the 2022 Great Pittsburgh Pierogi Race N’at. Most days, he finishes a distant last in the five-pierogi field.
On Sunday, even Grover and Cookie Monster — it was Sesame Street day at PNC Park — ambled across the finish line before Saul. That’s pitiful, even for an oversized, cap-wearing piece of stuffed doughy goodness.
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“Is he even trying?” first baseman Michael Chavis said. “I saw the other day he was just jogging behind everyone. We’re concerned about Saul. I don’t think he reflects how we take care of ourselves in the clubhouse. We’re working our butts off every day. I can’t say the same about Saul.”
Maybe there’s a fantastic second-half comeback in the works. Or perhaps Saul, who’s one of the three original pierogis from the promotion that debuted in 1999, is simply trying to cruise into retirement.
That’s a good place to begin this “Should Saul go on the injured list?” edition of Pirates fast five.
(Charles LeClaire / USA Today)A flurry of roster moves, with more to come
Right-hander Zach Thompson and righty reliever Duane Underwood Jr. were activated off the IL on Sunday. Thompson, who’d been out since June 18 with right elbow nerve inflammation, started the series finale against the Brewers. He worked 4 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on four hits.
To clear roster spots, Bryse Wilson was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis and Yerry De Los Santos was placed on the COVID IL.
During his weekly radio show Sunday, general manager Ben Cherington said Ben Gamel (left hamstring strain) and Yoshi Tsutsugo (lumbar muscle strain) likely will be activated before the two-game series against the Yankees, which begins Tuesday.
Dillon Peters (low back strain) has been making rehab outings with Double-A Altoona and working out at PNC Park between trips to the mound. The Pirates want to get Peters stretched out before he comes off the IL.
Bañuelos has quite a backstory
Left-hander Manny Bañuelos was acquired from the Yankees for cash. Bañuelos, 31, is expected to join the Pirates on Tuesday and will be used as a multi-inning reliever.
“He was a big prospect when he was young and has kind of been all over the world pitching the past few years,” Cherington said.
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A native of Monterrey, Mexico, Bañuelos signed with the Yankees for $450,000 in 2008. In 2012, Baseball America rated him as the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect and the 29th-best prospect in the minors.
His career was derailed by elbow injuries, including one that required Tommy John surgery in October 2012. Bañuelos made his big-league debut with the Braves in 2015, but appeared in only seven games. The Braves released him in August 2016.
“I was in shock,” Bañuelos told The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler. “In the moment, I thought my career was ending.”
Bañuelos spent time in the minors with the Angels and Dodgers. He made it back to the majors with the White Sox in 2019, but just for 16 outings (eight starts). After that, Bañuelos played in Mexico and Taiwan before re-signing with the Yankees this year.
On June 3, 14 years after signing his first pro contract, Bañuelos finally pitched for the Yankees. In four relief outings, he posted a 2.16 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP and averaged 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings. He was designated for assignment last week.
Speaking of the Evil Empire …
Scouts from a handful of clubs, including the Yankees and Padres, were at PNC Park last weekend taking notes on Bryan Reynolds. The trade deadline is Aug. 2.
Right-hander Jameson Taillon is scheduled to start against the Pirates on Tuesday at PNC Park. The Pirates traded Taillon in January 2021 for Roansy Contreras, Maikol Escotto, Canaan Smith-Njigba and Miguel Yajure.
Contreras now is a fixture in the starting rotation. Smith-Njigba is on the IL with a broken wrist. In 11 outings (four starts) with the Pirates, Yajure has an 8.28 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP. Escotto began this season with High-A Greensboro but was sent down to the Florida Complex League after hitting .164/.228/.344. Escotto was sent to Low-A Bradenton on Sunday.
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Reliever Clay Holmes has morphed into the second coming of Mariano Rivera since being traded to the Yankees last year. The Pirates got Diego Castillo and Hoy Park in the deal, but probably wish they’d held out for more. And they wonder if their evaluators underestimated Holmes’ ability.
“We spend a lot of time thinking about it,” Cherington said. “If a player that’s here or one that’s not here anymore performs much differently than we were expecting, then we’ve got to go look at that. What’s the information we were relying on at the time, and if we were off in our estimations, why was that? What can we learn from it?”
The two games against the Yankees are expected to draw near-sellout crowds, a rarity at PNC Park. The Pirates are marking the occasion by giving away Bill Mazeroski bobbleheads. On Friday, Cherington seemed puzzled when someone mentioned that Pirates fans enjoy reliving the 1960 World Series each time the Yankees come to town.
“I know about the ’60 World Series (but) maybe I don’t know just how much this rivalry means to Pirates fans,” Cherington said. “I’m glad you asked the question. I’ll think about that more.”
Perhaps Cherington was simply surprised that a ballgame that happened during the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration is still celebrated as much as it is. Certainly, Cherington, who grew up in New England and was the Red Sox GM from 2011 to 2015, gets why the Yankees draw some folks’ ire.
“The Yankees have been in my mind for what feels like forever,” Cherington said with a smile. “I had family friends who lived in New Jersey that I used to see in the summer. The kids were huge Yankees fans. We used to camp in the backyard and argue about Don Mattingly and Dwight Evans. We’d go back and forth. It was pretty heated.”
Kevin Newman has made two rehab stints with Indy this season. (Adam Pintar / Indianapolis Indians)New role for Newman
Cherington said that Kevin Newman will be activated off the IL “not too long, knock on wood” after Gamel and Tsutsugo return. Now that Oneil Cruz is up (presumably) to stay, will Newman be the everyday second baseman when he comes off the IL?
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“That’ll be Shelty’s decision, as far as how he’s deployed,” Cherington said. “We’re just looking forward to having him back. We were excited about some of the changes he made offensively coming into spring training and how that was starting to play out early in the major-league season.”
Through Saturday, Newman has started three of nine games at second base during his current rehab stint with Indy. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the idea that Oneil doesn’t need to be at shortstop every single day,” Cherington said. Well, yeah … but manager Derek Shelton almost certainly will continue to give Cruz the bulk of the playing time at shortstop. In addition to playing second, Newman could be the designated hitter on days when he needs to rest his legs and make spot starts at short when Cruz goes to left field or DH.
Newman went on the 10-day IL on April 27 with a left groin strain. He tweaked his hamstring during a rehab assignment and was shifted to the 60-day IL on May 23. He began his current stint with Indy on June 21.
A rival club’s scout who recently watched Indianapolis over multiple days said Newman appeared to have some trouble running the bases. However, the scout added, Newman was “really squaring up the ball well and swinging better than ever, maybe.”
Newman took a 10-game hitting streak into Indy’s game Sunday night at Nashville. During the streak, he’s gone 15-for-37 (.405) with 12 singles.
With the No. 4 pick, the Pirates select …
Cherington and his lieutenants will gather on Thursday at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla., to begin final preparations for the MLB Draft. The first round will be held July 17 in Los Angeles.
The Pirates’ draft board is ranked virtually over the few months leading up to the draft. “It goes live where we get in the room and we’ll have a lot of work to do to fine-tune it,” Cherington said. “We’ve got a decent idea of who’s at the top of the board. It’s probably (fewer) than 10 names, but it’s certainly more than four.”
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Whom will the Pirates take with the No. 4 pick? Cherington offered the stock “best player available” line and said he’s not focusing on any particular demographic.
“It feels like it’s a strong high school position (player) class,” Cherington said. “That doesn’t mean anything other than there’s just those players in this class. We’ve got to get into it, see what our board looks like and make the decision that we think is best.”
In his latest mock draft, The Athletic’s Keith Law projects the Pirates will pick third baseman Cam Collier of Chipola College in the first round. Baseball America’s latest mock draft has the Pirates taking Cal Poly shortstop Brooks Lee.
(Top photo of Kevin Newman: Philip G. Pavely / USA Today)
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