The Pirates had been trying to get Oneil Cruz back this season. That doesn’t look like it will happen at this point. Justice delos Santos reports that Cruz has stopped his running progression due to left foot general soreness.
Oneil Cruz’s rehab has “plateaued,” per director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk. Cruz has stopped his running progression due to left foot general soreness.
Regarding if Cruz can still play this year, Tomczyk said, “It’s tough to tell right now, but we are running out of days.”
— Justice delos Santos (@justdelossantos) August 23, 2023
There’s an argument that Cruz could benefit from returning and heading into the offseason with everyone knowing he’s healthy. The Pirates are counting on him to be one of their biggest producers, and this injury raises a lot of questions. The better approach would be to ensure he’s healthy for next season by not rushing him back.
QUICK PIRATES RECAP
PIRATES (57-70) VS Cardinals
Score: Cardinals 6, Pirates 4
Pittsburgh Starter: Luis Ortiz, RHP (5.37)
–Line: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, 0 HR
Player of the Game: Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B (2-for-5, 2B, HR [9])
Attendance: 11,504
Notable Performers
- Liover Peguero, 2B (2-for-4)
- Andrew McCutchen, DH (3-for-4, 3 2B)
One Sentence Recap: The Pirates couldn’t pull off the sweep against the Cardinals, but it’s good to see Ke’Bryan Hayes continue his hitting.
DAILY VIDEO RUNDOWN
Altoona won 8-1 last night on a good team-effort. Check out this recap from their Youtube account for the condensed version of the game. The Prospect Watch has live reports from the game.
DAILY ROSTER MOVES
- Dauri Moreta was optioned to Indianapolis to make room for Luis Ortiz. Moreta has been a strong reliever this year, but allowed a 11.57 ERA in 4.2 innings across five appearances before being sent down.
AROUND THE SYSTEM
I’m in Altoona this week, and the Prospect Watch has live reports each day.
INDIANAPOLIS
Jared Triolo played his first three games back in Triple-A at second base. Last night, he got his first start at shortstop.
ALTOONA
Aaron Shortridge continued his impressive pitching in August, taking on a lefty-heavy lineup last night.
GREENSBORO
My first report from last week’s trip to Greensboro is on the progress of Bubba Chandler. Check back later today for the next report from the High-A level.
An editor’s note on these features: They will not include comments. These articles are the result of me watching games, doing research, asking questions, the subjects of the interviews being open in answering those questions, and then ultimately it takes time for me to arrange it all into a story. It’s a laborious process for each story, and going forward I will not be allowing anyone else to have any input on these pages. This approach is modeled after Baseball America, where there’s no comment section. With all of the reporting effort that goes into these articles, and the fact that a comment section can allow less informed people to have a final word on the page, this is the only approach that makes sense. Feel free to comment on anything on the site or about the Pirates in P2Daily.
BRADENTON
Owen Kellington, drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, has a 1.13 ERA in 16 innings this month, after five shutout innings last night. Check out his line and all of the other action in the daily Prospect Watch.
SONG OF THE DAY
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Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.
Sorry gents just not buying this one, I know what they did and why.
Most on here know what the pirates are capable of doing or not doing
I would be preaching to the choir if I went on further
This front office makes decisions prior to the season and they all revolve around this first “can we win with what we have”
2 weeks into season “can we win with what we have minus Cruz”
Their answer was NO and NO
Sadly this group with all the injuries and FO not interested were still in 1st place 6 weeks before the deadline
They decided to sack the season instead of calling up ready resources without super 2 or service time issues.
I’m critical of them because if your not interested, bring up the kids
Endy for Hedges, Peguero for Mathias, Triolo for Castro have helped? Sure but not enough. Thing is, you can’t lose in this situation!
Why is the future losing PA to the irrelevent?
These are wasted AB needed to speed up their development at the MLB level, doesn’t happen over night like some expect
Now Cruz, Is there really pain? Who knows
Is there really something wrong everytime a pitcher goes to IR after bad outings, I know Cruz is different
Reasons for Pirates to do something like this, most will know a couple
All good on recovery until the kids started showing up,
Updates slowed after Peggy, then the first BOMB to buy time
1st bomb
Together as a medical staff we all agree
Sept would be better, but he will play again
Williams was next to be called up, he hurdles peggy takes over SS
2nd bomb
The last test is a formal running program, early August
Then realizing Bae’s rehab is done and Capra for the icing on the cake
3rd bomb
were running out of days, see ya next year
HE’S FINE
SADLY THEY CAN’T GO ANYWHERE WITH DS
HOPING HE DOESN’T HURT ANYONE BEFORE HE IS SACKED
Someone is expanding their mind.
Its the only way brother, I’m not a conspiracy theorist
I’m very critical of the Pirates when they make alien like decisions
Not bringing Cruz back isn’t one of them
In fact, I called this scenerio in May and back them 100%
Out until mid August followed by 10 or more days of rehab
Here we are August 26th, 5 days before rosters expand
MI’s to 6 and they can’t even get freak Peguero on the field.
Which leads me to another doozy i had to figure out
Why is Williams blocking the SS position?
Anyone?
Answer below, this was a tough one
Peggy losing priceless looks at cubby arms during a season they could care less about. What’s the big deal right?
Only has to face them 13 times a year for half decade.
Why take lumps in a lost season, when you can run him out there in sold out wrigley next year
IMO,
Peguero SHOULD have started every game at SS from July 17th until the end of season and the reason he did not?
THEY WOULD HAVE ENDED UP WITH A SS CONTROVERSY
Just another issue to deal with
They have enough on their plate
It’s what these clowns do. The fascination with Williams is baffling. He shouldn’t be taking reps from Gonzalez either. He’s got zero pop and no matter what Shelton thinks, is no Ozzie Smith. It’s almost like the retread guys get more opportunity than their own. If they can’t get major league at bats now, when will they?
One other piece the aliens should have covered regarding Cruz’s sudden soreness 3 weeks into the formal running program
Explain to CRUZ when on camera he can’t respond with
I FEEL GOOD I’M WORKING HARD TO GET BACK THIS YEAR
ALL MY FRIENDS ARE HERE AND I CAN’T WAIT TO HELP THEM
HELP THIS TEAM WIN
AGAIN, support the prudent decision today as I did in APRIL
when I posted
“FOR whatever reason, no matter how the season unfolds,
Cruz won’t be counted on until the SPRING”
Faithfully submitted,
Douglas C Neidemeier
PRESIDENT
OMEGA HOUSE
Thanks for the editor note about no comments. I kept refreshing the page and thought something was wrong on my end. Since I couldn’t comment there, I’ll comment here. It was a great article.
I had gotten in a comment before comments were blocked, basically saying the same–it was an excellent article. And, Chandler seems to be a great interview–open and reflective.
It’s reported on another site that Davis is meeting with surgeons related to hand inquires. The team says he is improving though. ?????
Ouch.
Let’s hope Cruz returns period and still has most of if not all his skills…
I hope he’s been using this time wisely
A word of caution: removing comments is likely a mistake. With less new, timely and credible content than before, readers need motivations to spend a lot of time on the site.
Right. There was another site I read a bit, but they turned off all comments. Don’t go there at all now.
I miss the thumbs down option, not sure why it went away. Maybe because free lunch foo was offended
Yeah I always thought the down option was useful… I do notice, though, most sites have gotten rid of that option🤷♂️
It’s passive aggressive negativity. It doesn’t contribute to a good discussion.
Thumbs up is an agreement. You don’t need to say why you agree. Thumbs down is just saying you disagree without saying why.
I disagree Tim, you don’t always have to comment if you disagree with something. I don’t comment a lot, but I read the articles and the comments. If I feel strongly about something, I will occasionally comment. I like the down arrow, because I can voice my opinion without having to comment. Not sure why I would have to explain why I don’t like something.
I promise you it is not a mistake.
It’s more a mistake to let any random person have a say attached to my work, out of concerns for site stats and ultimately, money.
Plus, comments don’t make money. They lose money in a way I can’t easily explain.
Many long term members look forward to the back and forth in the comments. If we all quickly get used to doing it in P2daily then that single forum should be lively.
But overall, interaction and comments will likely drop. Tim owns the site….so he will see the results and ultimately we all choose how we use it.
Tim doesn’t care. He’s seemingly given into the egomaniacal side of his personality.
I don’t agree with some of Tim’s views. Others I plain don’t care for, but, there is no need to be disrespectful. The content of the site is generally pretty good. It seems that the comments aren’t nearly as bad as what is on Dk’s site and the things that I dislike about Tim with are far less troublesome than DK’s rants.
Be nice, I have found, took me 50+ years to get it, that nothing good comes from being a ‘drive by’ insult poster…but if it took me 50 yrs, what do I know🤷♂️
Sure. We can go with that.
I can see where comments can be a negative. They are negative for me often due to their negativity. I guess I don’t like my own comment here…
Keep in mind, we’re only talking about one type of article. The issue is that comments don’t add anything to those articles, but they can detract value.
I know its too early for anyone to know long term consequences. But my trained pessimist side can’t help but think it would be classic Pirates luck if this guy never played at the same level again.
If this were a Steelers site, I wouldn’t be worried at all
Hopefully Cruz will be ready and play in the Dominican winter league. If his first game action isn’t until ST, I’m not going to be expecting much from him until May or June.
I’d be a bit concerned about him playing in the DR. I doubt that the same quality training and medical staff is present there.
shouldn’t need it.
I thought Cruz would be back this year. From what I read he had a simple fracture with no other issues. He is young and I am surprised he can not come back. He, like the Pirates are hard to root for.
Thanks for the info about the severity of Cruz’s break. I did not read anything about ligament involvement. Even being a pirate fan for over 60 years this team is hard to root for.
Your “read” is incorrect. This was not a simple fracture, as multiple reports a “procedure” that was done on an ankle ligament as well.
That’s a poor take. Maybe the injury is worse than anticipated. If that’s the case, is he still hard to root for? Or do you have another beef?
What’s really hard is when you want to find out more about Cruz injury, and the first comment is from someone who finds it hard to root not only for Cruz, but for the Pirates. As a wise man once said, maybe “You’re in the wrong place my friend.”
All the term simple fracture usually means is that the skin wasn’t broken or specifically that the bone didn’t break through the skin. There’s nothing “simple” about any fracture when it happens to you. Simple fractures can be minor or severe but because his required surgery it most likely was at least on the moderate to severe end of the spectrum.
There should be nothing hard about rooting for Cruz or the Pirates if you’re a Pirate fan. What’s hard is the frustration of losing and managements unwillingness to do much about it.
there was also something within the ankle which was repaired i remember
Maybe it wasn’t a simple fracture.
When I was in Pittsburgh in July, Tomczyk was describing the injury as “traumatic”. I don’t think age matters when you fracture an ankle. Especially when you’ve got over six and a half feet of weight coming down on that ankle.
Ominous quote from Tomczyk. “It’s not an uncommon finding for foot mechanics to be impacted from a traumatic injury that he sustained.”
No longer running he is working on improving the mobility of his foot and the “intrinsics of how it operates.”
He also had extensive ligament damage. They need to give him time and maybe walking a sandy beach twice a day would help the recovery.
I’ve been quite suspicious he’s not going to have the mobility to continue learning SS next year – and the slow going nature of the recovery has me doubling down on that.
They’ll have to at least lest him attempt it though…
When he comes back they still need to teach him how to slide. That was not good watching.
please stop with that crap. he wasn’t trying to slide, he stumbled
Bad slides can happen to anyone. Just because he got caught in-between doesn’t mean he has no clue how to slide.
No but if you do one THAT badly that caused catastrophic injury, it wouldn’t hurt to put in some extra practice.
you can’t practice that situation. Maybe try playing baseball yourself and you’d realize that
It was a great slide, you’re right.
Speaking of players who have had ugly slides, it’s good to see Polanco doing so well in the Japanese Pacific League where he’s 10th in OPS and 3rd in HR (out of 74 qualified batters).
I wonder if the Pirates Boo Birds, I mean fans had a negative impact on him as well?
Unfortunately, probably so.