Mixing it Up: Roster Moves

The Pirates are 48 games into the season and seem to have made some decisions about what this team is going to look like for the near future.

In the last week they have cut ties with Nate McLouth and sent Yamaico Navarro down to bring up Matt Hague and Jordy Mercer, two guys that have had good success in the minor leagues. At the beginning of the year Clint Hurdle alluded to a 50 game rule, where he normally gives the original guys on the roster about 50 games before he decides to move on. That was true with McLouth even before we got to 50 games, and it seems that Clint Barmes is nearing the end of his time as the starting shortstop. He's been benched a lot recently for Josh Harrison, and now there is another shortstop in the clubhouse putting pressure on him.

Mercer is a guy that should get a look as a big league shortstop. The system is extremely thin with middle infielders, so there's a lot of weight on Mercer's shoulders to become a big league starter. It's far from a sure thing, he's never been super impressive with his offense or defense, but the Pirates don't have a choice but to give him a chance. That chance is now. Time will tell how the Pirates will use him, but you would think he'd be in the lineup pretty much everyday at shortstop with Harrison playing some right field and even spelling Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez from time to time. They aren't going to straight up cut Barmes for at least a bit longer, but I don't see him getting many starts anymore - which can only be a positive thing for a struggling offense.

Neil Huntington has decided that it's time to start mixing things up and seeing what he has in some of the farm hands. He had seen enough of McLouth and looks like he's seen about enough of Barmes as well. He realizes that this team has a chance to compete in a week division, and he wants to give the offense as many new looks as possible to try and find something that works.

We'll see if Mercer can handle it. Again, he hasn't killed the ball in his minor league career (.266/.323/.401) and his defense is a bit suspect, so you shouldn't be writing him in as the starter for next year. He's going to have to work hard and show us something before we get too confident in him, but it's nice to see a new name up here. Basically anything is giving us hope right now.