7-Day DL:

Ronny Cedeno

15-Day DL:

Pedro Alvarez
Jose Tabata
Steven Pearce
Joe Beimel
Ryan Doumit
Evan Meek

60-Day DL:

Chris Snyder
Kevin Hart
Ross Ohlendorf

That’s a pretty long list, and one that includes six starters and the guy who started the season as the set-up man. The good news is we should start to see some of these players returning soon. However, this may cause a log jam at a few positions…after all, some of these replacements have played pretty well. So here’s a breakdown of what I think should happen when these players return:

C:

Barring a setback, Doumit is supposedly on target to return to action late this month. Then again, this is Doumit we’re talking about and he’ll probably have a setback. Snyder is probably out for the year with a back injury. That’s left the team splitting playing time with Michael McKenry and Eric Fryer. Both have played good defense, but neither of them have shown an ability to hit in their limited number of plate appearances. McKenry has been getting the lion’s share of the starts.

When Doumit comes back, the odds are he’ll be the starting catcher. He’s improved his defense from “easily the worst in baseball” to “probably around average,” and he’s the best hitter of the bunch in a lineup that definitely needs some offense. Fryer and McKenry would both make decent backups, but I see the nod going to McKenry. Fryer is a prospect, while McKenry is an organizational guy, so I imagine that the team would rather see Fryer getting starts at the AAA level than riding the pine at the Major League level – especially since he only played 21 games in AAA before getting called up.

3B:

This one is a no brainer. When Pedro Alvarez comes back, he’ll start. The bench spot will be either Josh Harrison or Brandon Wood. Before Chase d’Arnaud’s call-up, this spot would have gone to Wood simply because he could play SS if needed. Now, it could go either way. The likely scenario is that Wood will still get the nod because Harrison has options left and can be sent to AAA without exposing him to waivers, but Harrison has been the better of the two players and probably has more of a future as a utility man in the Major Leagues. However, Steven Pearce can play all the positions that Harrison can with the exception of 2B and he’s a much better hitter, so it will likely be Harrison going to AAA when all these players are active.

OF:

Alex Presley has very much impressed in his short time in the Majors. He’s showcased speed, extra base power, good defense and good plate discipline, and he’s hit Major League pitching pretty much exactly as well as he was hitting AAA pitching, posting a .324/.381/.541 line. Unless he’s a future Hall of Famer, he probably won’t continue to hit that well, but he’s definitely earned a starting spot and demonstrated that he can hit Major League pitching well. When Tabata comes back, I can see Garrett Jones moving to first base and Presley moving to right field full time. This would also have the effect of benching the ineffective Lyle Overbay, who the Pirates may just cut if they go this route. Ideally, the team would also platoon Pearce at first with Jones, since Jones can’t hit lefties to save his life while Pearce eats them for breakfast.

SS:

I’m not sure when Pirates fans decided that Ronny Cedeno was a great player, but for some reason this is the most controversial roster decision in terms of the fan base. Here are the facts as I see them:

• Ronny Cedeno has played excellent defense this season – some of the best in the Majors at his position. HOWEVER
• Cedeno is terrible at hitting, so even though he’s played amazing defense, he’s only accumulated a 1.1 WAR this season. In other words, awesome glove or not, he’s been a replacement level player.
• Cedeno has been better at hitting as of late, but he’s known to be streaky and even though he’s been better he still hasn’t been good or even average for a SS with the stick.

All that said, Chase d’Arnaud hasn’t torn the cover off the ball yet either, and while he’s a lot more fun to watch than Cedeno, his defense isn’t as good. Of the two, Cedeno may be the better option. However, d’Arnaud is most likely the future of the SS position in Pittsburgh. He’s shown flashes of the things that made him good in the minors – the gap power, the speed, the solid defense – but 12 games isn’t really enough time to put it all together in the Majors. My solution would be to keep d’Arnaud up and get him two starts a week to see what he can do, and if he outplays Cedeno make him the starter. The team’s solution, on the other hand, will probably be to keep Brandon Wood around and send d’Arnaud back to AAA…and I can’t say I strongly oppose that idea, either.

UPDATE: I completely forgot that Pedro Ciriaco is on the current Major League team. That’s not entirely surprising, since Ciriaco literally never plays. He’s obviously going to be the first one sent down when Cedeno comes back.

Four Pirates homered in this one – Chris Snyder, Andrew McCutchen, Lyle Overbay and Ronny Cedeno.

McCutchen is on pace for the most home runs of his career despite a slow start. He’s hitting a homer about once every 24 plate appearances as compared to once every 41 or so over his first few seasons. He’ll be overshadowed by Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson this year, but people in Pittsburgh will start to notice his power stroke soon enough. At his current pace, he’ll crack 20 homers for the first time in his career and unless he slows down he may approach or even crack 30 as well. As for that slow start, he’s hitting .303/.377/.566 since April 29. He’s also swiped six bags and been caught only once after going 3-for-6 before that date.

Any game in which Ronny Cedeno hits a three-run homer is a game the Pirates have to win.

Speaking of Cedeno, he’s been on a tear lately as well. After his 1-for-4 with a homer night tonight, his May line is up to .301/.372/.438. Those are great numbers for a SS, and while I don’t expect him to maintain them, it’s encouraging that he’s managed to draw 11 walks this month while striking out only 15 times. Cedeno has been a free for his entire career, and if he could learn some plate discipline and get on base more he may actually be an above-average shortstop.

The Bucs handled this one easily. Jeff Karstens was cruising, allowing only three hits and a run through his six innings of work, striking out four, walking nobody, and taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning. For some reason, a lot of fans want Brad Lincoln called up and Karstens taken out of the rotation. While I’m not opposed to the idea of Lincoln getting a chance in the Majors, I think Karstens has earned his stay in the rotation for a while as he’s sporting a 3-2 record and a 3.62 ERA. He has his problems going deep into games, but so do most fifth starters. Let him stay in the rotation until he either proves he can’t or Lincoln proves he’s too good to keep in AAA. Right now, neither thing is happening.

Neil Walker turned on beast mode in this one, collecting two hits which both went for extra bases – a double and a homer. He collected five RBIs on the day and six total bases hitting from the cleanup spot.

Andrew McCutchen had a hit, a walk, and a steal, and looks to be turning it on at the plate lately after a somewhat disappointing start batting average wise.

Ronny Cedeno continued his hot streak with a hit and a steal. He even threw in a walk for good measure. Actually, Cedeno has been walking much more recently than he normally does. Tonight’s game brings his triple-slash to an unreal .322/.435/.458 since April 29. I know this probably won’t last, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it while it does.

Garrett Jones had a single, a double and a walk, knocking in two runs.

Jose Tabata had two hits, two walks and three runs scored. Hopefully this is a sign of him breaking out of his slump.

Even Lyle Overbay got in on the act, hitting a solo homer in the sixth inning.

It’s great to see a strong performance from this team as we open interleague play, as this is usually the point in the season when the team falls off a cliff that they can never climb back up.

The only complaints I can possibly have about this game are that Pedro Alvarez was on the bench for Brandon Wood (an emerging trend that I’m not at all a fan of – especially when Alvarez homered last night.) and that I had Tabata on the bench in my fantasy league. The Bucs are now playing .500 ball in blowouts. This is, again, a significant improvement over their 2010 record of 11-39 in such games.

The Pirates have four players in their everyday lineup – Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata – who are either rookies or in their second year of Major League baseball. All of them are young players, Walker being the oldest at 24. It would be easy to point to this fact and say “that’s why we have so many fundamental mistakes. There are so many young players.”

This all came to a head for me today when I was listening to Rocco DeMaro’s post-game show Extra Innings, and Greg Brown said he thought the team should get a veteran like Cincinnati did with Scott Rolen, and talking about how in Texas they have a lot of young players and he had heard a story about how they all listen to Michael Young because of his experience. He then dismissed the previous signings of guys like Doug Mientkiewicz and Eric Hinske (and presumably Ryan Church this year) because none of them were starters.

There’s probably some truth to the fact that young players tend to listen to what veterans have to say when it comes to playing the game. Speaking personally, if I were a rookie I would soak up every bit of information I could from veterans.

The problem is, it’s not the young players that keep making the mistakes, it’s the team’s veterans! While guys like Pedro Alvarez have made a few physical mistakes such as striking out way too often, I can’t recall seeing any of the four players I named above make a mental mistake this season. That’s come from the team’s vets.

Ryan Doumit has made mistake after mistake this season, both physical and mental. He’s been a big leaguer since 2005, yet he almost cost the Pirates a game because he tried to tag up from second with one out as the go-ahead run, and then he didn’t even slide when he ran home.

Lastings Milledge may only be 25 years old, but remember that he was once considered to be the next big thing in baseball and came up at a young age. He’s been in the Majors since 2006, only a year less than Doumit. His baserunning errors and misjudgement in the outfield both when running routes and when deciding whether or not to dive have reached nearly legendary status in Pittsburgh.

Ronny Cedeno and Bobby Crosby are both experienced shortstops, with Cedeno having been in the Majors since 2005 and Crosby since 2003. Despite a strong defensive showing, Cedeno made so many gaffes at the plate and on the bases that he’s effectively been benched in favor of Crosby, and Crosby has responded by playing even worse, collecting seven errors in his fifteen games at short.

This team doesn’t need any veteran leadership, it needs to play like its rookies have.