The Pittsburgh Pirates will place right-handed pitcher Gerrit Cole on the disabled list and will call up Brandon Cumpton to start Wednesday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Cole left Friday’s start after five innings due to soreness in his right lat. Because of the upcoming All-Star break, Cole’s DL stint could be back-dated, and he might only miss one start.
If he needs to miss more than one start, the Pirates have Francisco Liriano returning soon. Liriano went six innings tonight in a rehab start, and looked sharp according to Ryan Palencer’s live report. He should be ready after the All-Star break, which means he’d take over for Cumpton if Cole isn’t able to return after the All-Star break.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
I like Cumpton a lot, but if they get Liriano right he would be much more valuable to the Pirates than Cumpton is right now for several reasons. Cumpton will have his chance at the rotation sooner rather than later, but Liriano is left handed and will be a chip for the Pirates if he regains his form and he will help the Pirates now. Cumpton is part of the reason the Pirates will survive and fight for the pennant, he is quality depth, something the Pirates have more than the teams they are competing with.
The only place the Pirates don’t have depth IMO, is the bullpen, and unless they bite the bullet and let Oliver have a chance they are going to have to have a trade chip someplace. The Pirates have to wake up and realize that most of their big losses this year have come at the expense of the back of the pen, getting rid of Grilli and getting nothing fixed nothing.
Cole is fine. He still has an xFip in the 3.50 range and this is a minor injury. He will be back and ready to go and barring any more injuries I think he will have a better 2nd half.
Are you a team physician or did you stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night?
From the article: Cole left Friday’s start after five innings due to soreness in his right lat. Because of the upcoming All-Star break, Cole’s DL stint could be back-dated, and he might only miss one start.
Okay, so Cumpton will come up and throw a 2 hit shutout over 7 innings and then get sent back to Indy so Liriano can come in and get baked for three outings before going back onto the DL to be replaced by … Cole. By now even Brandon has to find this funny. I just hope they remember this in the offseason before they sign a 34 year old with a 6+ ERA ahead of inserting Cumpton into the spring training rotation.
Like they did with Volquez?
Not necessarily disagreeing with you, NSA. However the Pirates are better served having SP depth, which means having Cumpton available when someone goes down. If Liriano doesn’t perform, he is likely to be traded at the deadline (might be even if he does throw well). I believe that at some point before the season ends, Cumpton will be in the rotation.
I loved the results of The rehab start last night and it may be the difference in some team stepping up over the AS Break to try to get Liriano. I know it would not be popular to trade him in the midst of a drive to make the playoffs, but if the price is right in the form of prospects returned, I hope we make the tough decision. Charlie Morton is looking better with each start, as are Volquez and Locke.
Seems almost like Cole started to encounter some mildly negative results during the beginning part of the season and has just been pushing too hard since then.
Craaaaaaaap