Welcome to a new edition of the Pirates Beat newsletter. Pittsburgh wraps up a six-game homestand with two more against the Detroit Tigers before heading for a nine-game road trip to Los Angeles, San Diego and St. Louis. |
PITTSBURGH – Mason Montgomery looks the part of a closer, entering Friday night against the Red Sox to flashing lights, a remix of Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears” and firing 100-plus mph. A day later, Luke Weaver entered in the ninth to flashing lights and music with the Pirates trailing, 1-0. Pittsburgh revamped its bullpen at the Trade Deadline, acquiring four new relievers, including Weaver and 39-year-old Kirby Yates on the back end to help build around Montgomery’s growing stardom. The additions of Camilo Doval and Lake Bachar, along with Carmen Mlodzinski returning to the starting rotation, make the construction of the bullpen a continued work in progress. Defined roles, as they are around most of baseball, likely won’t happen. “Maybe we get there. I don't know,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said of definitively placing roles on his relievers. “Right now, I'd still say we're Weaver and Montgomery in the eighth and ninth, just depending on what the matchups are looking like.” |
Pittsburgh’s issue was clear ahead of the Aug. 3 Deadline. The Pirates entered play that day ranked 23rd in the Majors with a 4.34 bullpen ERA, so they promptly upgraded. With just Montgomery, Yohan Ramírez and Gregory Soto thriving, there weren’t many options for Kelly to deploy. Yates, who was with the Angels, said he didn’t know much about the struggles coming in. Weaver took note of the offensive breakout in Pittsburgh and the overall repertoires of both the rotation and bullpen. Weaver and Yates were brought in for a reason: to give needed experience. “It's cool getting to talk to them,” Montgomery said. “It's kind of like an aura that they have, and they've been around, and they've been in the biggest moments.” Weaver was Pittsburgh’s golden goose. He was the closer for the American League champion Yankees just two seasons ago, and in his first year with the Mets, he had an ERA of 1.84. His outgoing personality and positivity have stood out to Kelly and to Weaver’s new teammates. Weaver was one of the multiple Mets players told to stay home on the day of the Trade Deadline rather than travel to Cleveland. He felt it was 50-50 he’d be traded, and he made his desire to stay in New York clear. Around midday, he received the news he was traded to the Pirates. Yates, on the other hand, was not expecting to be dealt. He was on a golf outing with his Angels teammates at Trout National in Millville, N.J., when he was moved. Yates didn’t believe there was a market for him, at 39 years old with his velocity decreasing and his career coming near an end. |
While experience is helpful, it’s not the be-all, end-all. Weaver believes big moments never get easier, though experience slows the game down. Yates said his eyes tell him a lot after seeing plenty of hitters and their tendencies over the years. “The older you get, I think it gets harder,” Yates said. “There's that cat-and-mouse game. It gets harder mentally and physically.” As baseball has evolved, so have the Pirates. While many teams used a simple strategy of having a pitcher for the seventh, eighth and ninth innings in defined roles, they now have players for specific lanes instead to take down hitters based on which side they hit from and their success. Soto began as the closer and is now seeing time in the sixth and seventh innings. Montgomery has both opened and closed games. “When you look at a guy [like Montgomery], the first guy that stands out to me was Andrew Miller when he went to Cleveland and how they used him in multiple different roles,” Kelly said. |
Kelly added that he and his staff attempt to communicate as much as possible with relievers to give them an idea of where they could be deployed. Weaver explained that roles are obviously helpful, but they shouldn’t make or break a performance. He sees flexibility as more valuable than having one area to hold. Yates is in his 12th MLB season, and he sees the “big-ticket weapon” as still valuable. “They're still roles. I just think they're different,” Yates said. “Teams are looking at pockets and matchups a lot more than they probably did in the past. I still believe that when you have a guy in the ninth inning that everybody looks to get the ball, that it helps settle the bullpen down a little bit.” Pittsburgh’s bullpen really hasn’t earned a chance to truly show off yet, with the team spiraling out of postseason contention and not holding many close leads. But the Pirates certainly have the pieces to succeed now if used wisely. |
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MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
THE RETURN OF THE CRUZ MISSILE |
Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz was off the 60-day injured list ahead of Monday night’s series opener against the Tigers at PNC Park. He wasn’t in the starting lineup, but he was available off the bench. Cruz has missed 58 games with left-hand fourth and fifth metacarpal non-displaced fractures. Pittsburgh went 26-32 in his absence. “There's a lot of ways that Oneil can help us win,” Kelly said. “We all know he's got the power, the arm strength in the outfield, the speed on the bases, and just excited to have him back to help us win.” |
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- “The Sad Cafe” - The Eagles
- “Club Paradise” - Drake
- “Wish” - Diplo, Trippie Redd
- “Baba O’Riley” - The Who
- “Southern Nights” - Glen Campbell
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