McCutchen, Diaz, Clement re-called; Meek or Hanrahan future Closer?

Some other news and notes on the day:

• The Pirates re-called Daniel McCutchen, as expected, from AAA-Indy and will make his start against the Cardinals tonight.
• The Pirates also recalled first baseman Jeff Clement and infielder Argenis Diaz to compensate for the departures of Ryan Church and Bobby Crosby.

Diaz was hitting .248 with 22 RBIs in 80 games with Triple-A Indy. Clement, who started the season as the Pirates everyday first baseman was  batting.305 with 15 doubles, eight homers and 33 RBIs in 40 games since being demoted in June.

Clement’s time in Pittsburgh may be cut short, if the Pirates decide to keep a third catcher when Ryan Doumit comes off the DL, Clement is probably the one to go.

• With the departure of Dotel, the Pirates have options to use as the closer role. For now, John Russell isn’t committing to using Joel Hanrahan or Evan Meek as the teams primary closer, saying that they both will see time in that role.

“We’ll see,” Russell said. “We’ve got two pretty good candidates. It gives us two pretty good options.”

Hanrahan does have some experience, as he saw some time as a closer for the Nationals last yea,r picking up 14 saves. This year Joel has mainly been used as the eighth-inning man. Hanrahan leads the team with 63 strikeouts in just 45 innings.  

“Obviously, the opportunity would be great,” Hanrahan said. “But we’ve got two months left and I don’t know what’s going to happen. If the opportunity is there, I’d love to have the chance and try to get the spot. Dotel has been great for us this year. We’re going to miss him.”

Meek has only one career save, which he picked up this April in Los Angeles. He does hold the lowest ERA in the Bullpen at 1.23 in 58 1/3 innings.

“The only thing that you can really do is keep doing your job,” said Meek when asked about the possibility of closing. “Whether it’s the ninth inning or the eighth inning or stays the seventh inning, you still have to get three outs. I know that Joel and I would both like the oppurtunity and challenge to close. But we’re not going to be selfish.”

Shortly before leaving the Pirates to head to LA, his new team, Dotel did have some advice to Russell:

“I think Hanrahan is the guy that has to have the job,” he said. “Nothing against Evan Meek — he’s a prospect here and has great stuff. But the way I see things, Hanrahan should be the closer.”  

To see the video interview on Dotel, Click Here