Bucco Fever

Posts Tagged Hayden Penn

Ohlendorf Scratched, Burress to Start; Penn DFA’d

Apr 12

Posted by Sean H. Steimer | No Comments

The Pirates made a few roster moves today, 2 expected and 2 unexpected.  First what we already knew about.  Yesterday’s starter Daniel McCutchen was optioned to AAA in order to make room on the 25 man roster for reliever Joel Hanrahan.  McCutchen struggled yesterday, but this was going to happen regardless since the team has 2 off days coming up and can therefore go with just 4 starters for the next 2 weeks or so.

In addition, in an unexpected move the team has DFA’d Hayden Penn to make room on the 25 and 40 man rosters for Brian Burress, who will start tonight in place of Ross Ohlendorf.  Ohlendorf has been scratched due to back spasms, but the team thinks he will be ready for his next start.  All of this, and much more detail can be found in here in MLB.com beat writer Jen Langosch’s post about the subject.

Penn was hardly with the team for long enough to know his name, he was claimed off waivers during the last week of Spring Training, and he struggled in 3 appearances to the tune of 30.86 ERA.  I’m curious why the team picked Burress to start (without looking closely at the AAA rotation, my guess is he may have been the only option available), but his stats are far from impressive and I’m not expecting much from him.  Let’s just hope he can keep the team in the game tonight and that Ohlendorf isn’t out for more than 1 start.

EDIT: Jen Langosch has the reasoning for why Burress was the one called up in her game preview post.  Basically, due to an obscure MLB rule, at this early point in the season guys already on the 40 man can’t be called up without placing someone on the DL.  The Bucs aren’t ready to put Ohlendorf on the DL, so that rules out Veal, Hart, Lincoln, and Jakubauskas.  Burress was scheduled to start tonight for Indy anyway, so giving him the call made the most sense.

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Pirates make final cuts, set rosters

Apr 4

Posted by Sean H. Steimer | No Comments

I was out doing Easter things all day today, so this is practically old news at this point, but the Pirates made their final cuts today, finalizing their roster. None of the cuts were surprise if you’ve been paying attention. Ramon Vazquez was released, Steven Pearce was optioned to AAA and Jack Taschner and Hayden Penn got he last 2 spots in the bullpen. The final roster can be found here.

In addition, the  AA roster is now final according to buccofans.com, via the Altoona Mirror. The AAA Indianapolis Indians roster is not yet final, and can’t be set until we see if Brandon Moss clears waivers. Here is the link to their roster page. What is there now is probably 98% of what it will look like when they open their season, and any updates will likely be reflected there before I can post about them anyway.

I have 2 more season preview posts to come between now and first pitch at 1;35 tomorrow.  The first is the offensive preview to be posted tonight as soon as I finish it.  The other is a predictions post, which will go up tomorrow morning.  I’ll be down at pnc park tomorrow, so I expect I’ll post some pictures, thoughts, etc. sometime tomorrow night  if I have time, or Tuesday if I don’t get to it tomorrow.

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Pirates Claim Pitcher; DFA Brandon Moss

Mar 29

Posted by Sean H. Steimer | No Comments

Basically every relevant Pirates outlet is reporting that the Pirates have claimed RHP Hayden Penn from waivers and, in a corresponding roster move, have designated OF Brandon Moss for assignment.  I don;t know much about Penn, other than that he used to be a top prospect in the Baltimore organization who appears to have flamed out mostly due to injuries.  My guess is the Pirates plan to use him as a relief pitcher, which is the role he played for the Marlins last season.  He’s only 25, so he may eventually turn into a decent big league pitcher, but at this point, his statistics are far from impressive.  Basically, consider this another in a long succession of Neal Huntington aquisitions of former top prospects who are no longer highly regarded.

As for Brandon Moss, it’s disappointing to say the least.  When he was acquired from Boston in the 2008 Jason Bay trade, everyone had high expectations of his potential as a solid defensive outfielder who hit for power.  Its not entirely relevant, but he always seemed like a very down to earth likable guy to me, who just wanted to do his best and succeed.  Back in February, there was this post-gazette article that talked about Moss’ knee problems last season, and you had genuine hope that he would break out this season.  Then he went 3-37 this Spring, including an 0-22 start, and all that hope went away.  I still thought he may make the team and be given one more chance, but with this move, that won’t happen.  Moss will likely either be traded, or claimed by another team on waivers within the next 10 days.  On the off chance that he does clear waivers, he could be sent to AAA, but that doesn’t seem very likely given how much potential he has.

Its also worth noting that this move means that Rule V pick John Raynor will almost definitely be on the opening day roster.

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