PITTSBURGH – Felipe Rivero and Ivan Nova are not going to the All-Star Game. At least, not yet.
Neither Rivero or Nova was selected as a starter or reserve or was named to the final five fan vote by Major League Baseball on Sunday afternoon.
But there are plenty of opportunities for a pitcher to get added to the roster between now and July 11 in Miami. Pitchers that pitch in the days leading up to the All-Star game can be replaced for those that will be available.
That would seem to be more likely for Nova than Rivero, despite the latter’s impressive 0.82 ERA. Nova is scheduled to make his final first-half start on July 7, meaning that he will be on three days of rest for the All-Star game. Nova said he’s currently planing on returning home to the Dominican Republic to visit family, but if he gets a call from the league in the meantime, that would be “bueno.”
But Nova cautioned that he isn’t sure when the Pirates will want him to pitch to start the second half of the season. If manager Clint Hurdle wants Nova to go on Friday, July 14 against the St. Louis Cardinals, he may be out of luck.
As far as Rivero, he said he wasn’t disappointed by the snub, but doubts that he would go at this point.
“I already called my wife and let her know (to make plans),” he said.
That and the fact that Rivero is second in the majors with 41 appearances under his belt doesn’t exactly have him jumping at the chance to pitch even more.
“That’s going to be four days of relaxing and not doing anything,” Rivero said, laughing.
THREE CATCHERS REMAIN
The Pirates reinstated catcher Francisco Cervelli from the disabled list and optioned right-handed relief pitcher Edgar Santana to Triple-A Indianapolis on Monday.
That restores the balance of pitchers and hitters to the normal ratio, but it again leaves the Pirates with three catchers in Cervelli, Elias Diaz and Chris Stewart. General manager Neal Huntington addressed the difficulty of having a young player sit on the bench and not get playing time on Sunday.
“We carried Diaz for a while because he was the best right-handed bat option we had in the system according to our staff and Clint’s comfort level,” Huntington said. “We’ll continue to monitor it. At some point in time, there may need to be a move to get him regular play to keep him the best option.
“He’s going to be able to help us and now at some point he loses his ability to help you because he’s in unfamiliar territory and he’s lost his timing or he’s lost his ability to repeat his swing or repeat a delivery, let alone help him to get better to help you next year and the next five years beyond that.”
STILL NO NEWS ON KANG
Huntington was also asked about a potential second-half return for third baseman Jung Ho Kang, but he had nothing new to add.
“We’re still working through the process and will continue to do so as long as we need to,” he said. “It’s out of our control, but we’re still continuing to stay in contact with him and do everything we can from our end. It’s still a decision that’s out of our control. He’s still working out and again, the hope is that we’re going to get a decision that’s in our favor at some point and then we need to be ready to go. We need to be ready to hit the ground running once that happens. He needs to continue to work out. He’s stayed relatively positive throughout the process, but also realizes that there’s a cause and he’s the reason we’re in this situation and wants to make amends and be in a position to make amends.”
