PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Ben Cherington addressed different topics on his radio show Sunday afternoon.
Bullpen Woes Continue
When it comes to the Pirates bullpen, the struggles have been clear. They are 21st in the MLB in ERA (4.46), have blown 15 saves and continue to shuffle around players without answers. Over the last weekend multiple players were called up or sent down. Cherington said he still sees a lot of potential in the current group of pitchers.
"We know to win as many games as we aim to win this year, we're going to need a little more consistency on the run prevention side. Really still believe most of the solutions for that is in the Pirates organization, in both the terms of the pitchers themselves, our staff. Certainly no shortage of effort on it everyday. We're getting beat with runners on base. Looking at OPS against for a basic simple stat, our OPS against as a pitching staff is much higher with runners on base than it is with nobody on base."
Cherington said it can be a little bit of bad luck that can even itself out. He also said as we get closer to July, the organization needs to be looking externally.
Bubba Chandler Taking Steps Forward
In his last two starts, Bubba Chandler has thrown 5+ innings in both games, allowing just 4 earned runs combined and 4 hits. He has fanned 13 batters and only walked 3.
"It's been a nice steady progression here over the last month I would say. We're seeing consistent improvement, the walk rate has come down in the last four to six outings. The efficiency starts with the delivery, how he's moving on the mound which then leads to accuracy or command of the pitches."
Cherington goes back to previous outings in the year where Chandler flashed dominant stuff but couldn't locate in the strike zone and overthrow everything.
"Watching him now it's a little bit more under control, a little more within himself, he's getting more pitches in the strike zone. Yesterday was a good example, I think he started counts with every one of his pitches and was able to get ahead of counts in different ways. The last hitter, Stowers, he yanked a fastball and again maybe tried a little bit too much there. When he's within himself he's so athletic and powerful. It's been a good progress and we'll keep working with him on it."
Injury Report
The Pirates General Manager gave an update on Oneil Cruz, Konnor Griffin and Wilber Dotel.
"So what happens is he injured the hand on Saturday in Atlanta with that slide into home plate. So he's out Sunday. X-ray initially in Atlanta was negative, there was no sign of fracture on the X-ray in Atlanta. If it's negative you follow the player and what he's saying, in the short term 'are symptoms improving?' What we were getting from Oneil through Sunday into Monday that the symptoms were improving. He expressed he thought he could play Tuesday. When he got into his hitting he felt it a little more acutely in a spot, so we pulled him out of the lineup."
Cherington said they scheduled an MRI for Cruz and a CT Scan to see closer pictures. He clarified that fractures can show up on CT Scans and not on X-rays or that injuries like this one can take 24-48 hours to appear on imaging.
"We get a more specific test done, it reveals a small fracture. Now we know what's going on, he's on the IL."
He will be re-evaluated in a rough timeline of 4-6 weeks.
"Knowing Oneil he can play through pain. If and when he feels he can get back out there, he's going to do it. We want to make sure we're taking care of this thing so he can be a threat for the rest of the season."
As for Dotel, Cherington said they believe this will be on the shorter side of things and that they caught the injury early enough.
"He shared with us after the outing that he had been feeling a little bit throughout the week including the Dodgers game. It's in a specific location. We believe based on the information it's on the minor side and that he's going to recover from this quickly."
As for Konnor Griffin, Cherington said it's a good sign that he is able to throw. The Pirates wanted to make sure he is 100% asymptomatic before he started his throwing progressions.
"Now he's into that throwing progression. We want to make sure it's a legitimate throwing progression, it's not going to be a 2 or 3 day thing. He'll continue to build up volume and distance. At some point, assuming that goes well, he'll probably hit a rehab assignment of some kind."
He confirmed that Griffin has no issues with hitting with this injury.
ABS Struggles
The ABS has been a struggle for the Pirates this season. Cherington addressed those struggles.
"The bottom line is we haven't done well with it yet. That's a fact. So that means to me that we haven't done a good enough job figuring it out as a team. This is a tool we should be taking advantage of."
He said the players have full control over what they challenge. He expects to see improvement over the season from the Pirates when it comes to the ABS challenges.
The Bucs general manager addressed many things on his radio show Sunday.
The Bucs general manager addressed many things on his radio show Sunday.
