Results tagged ‘ joe beimel ’
Spring training day 18: news and notes
- The Pirates travel to Dunedin today to face the Toronto Blue Jays at 1:05.
You can watch the game live for free on MLB.com here
- Injury updates:
Evan Meek is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Friday. Meek has been sidelined with a tight right calf.
Scott Olsen is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Saturday. Olsen has been sidelined with a left hamstring strain.
Joe Beimel will test his arm this am by throwing soft toss at 8:30 am. Beimel’s MRI showed no acute injury on his left forearm.
- Lyle Overbay will be facing his former team (Toronto Blue Jays) for the first time since the Pirates signed him this offseason. Overbay spent five seasons with the Jays.
- The Pirates have been focusing a lot this spring on pick off’s at first base and cutting down on runners stealing bases.
I’ve noticed that most of the pitchers have been throwing to first, trying to keep the runner close and unable to steal –something the Pirates were not so great at last season.
“We have all been working on that stuff a lot down here [at spring training],” Pirates right-handed reliever Chris Resop said of the shorter, quicker delivery to the plate when a runner is on base. “We have to give our catchers a chance. We don’t want to be known as a pitching staff you can run on. Nobody wants that.”
“I think if you look at it, it can get embarrassing,” said left-hander Paul Maholm, who cut down from 15 players stealing off him in 2009 to eight in ’10. “Everyone on the staff, it doesn’t matter if you are a righty or a lefty, you need to do what you can to stop it. You need to just realize that this is something that is important if we want to win ballgames.”
- Pirates President Frank Coonelly chatted with fans on Wednesday. You can read the entire chat transcript here.
If the injury to Joe Beimel is more than what it seems, and Scott Olsen is already not doing all baseball-related activities, are you comfortable with Daniel Moskos and whomever in the lefthanded reliever position?
Coonelly: “We do not believe the injury to Joe will keep him from competing this spring. Scott Olsen is performing baseball activities and has already thrown several bullpens. Scott seems to be well on his way to pitching in games, possibly as early as next week. Daniel Moskos and Tony Watson are two young exciting left hand arms who are in camp and competing for a spot in the bullpen. It’s early, but both have looked strong. Brian Burres is also a veteran lefthander who can pitch out of the pen if he is not in the starting rotation.”
Pirates:
Pitchers: Morton (two or three innings), Lincoln (two), Yates (one), Locke (one or two) and Valdez (one).
Lineup: McCutchen CF, Pearce 1B, Diaz LF, Alvarez DH, Jones RF, Atkins 3B, Cedeno SS, Friday 2B, Jaramillo C
Blue Jays:
Pitchers: Cecil (Three innings) Followed by Rauch, Villanueva, Richmond, Ray
Lineup: Davis CF, Thames LF, Bautista 3B, Lind DH, Rivera RF, Cooper 1B, Mcdonald SS, Budde C, Diaz 2B
Beimel’s MRI shows no acute injury
The results from Joe Beimel’s MRI on Tuesday showed that no acute injury on his left forearm.
Beimel told a funny story about how his arm went numb during the exam after about 20 minutes.
“[The doctor] was telling me how I was going to get in there, and I didn’t see how I was supposed to fit in there,” Beimel said. “I can play Pac-Man on my cell phone, but I have to contort my body to get an MRI.”
Only one picture came out clear (because he was moving his arm around so much) but it was enough to show that the injury was not severe.
“My arm feels pretty good today,” said Beimel, who first felt the soreness on Saturday. “If it was hurting the same, then it might be something to worry about. Today, I don’t even feel it at all.”
Beimel will test his arm on Thursday by playing catch.
Spring Training day 17: news and notes
- The Pirates will face the Minnesota Twins at 1:05 today at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fl.
Ross Ohlendorf will be starting for the Bucs. He will also be making his Grapefruit League debut.
Tony Watson (two innings), Joel Hanrahan (1), Jose Veras (1), Mike Crotta (1) and Chris Leroux (1) will follow.
- The Twins will send left-hander Brian Duensing to the mound. Former Bucco Matt Capps is scheduled to make an appearance.
- Scott Olsen is scheduled to throw on Wednesday. Olsen made a few comments to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette on Tuesday that had several bloggers and fans mad.
General Manager Neal Huntington said on Sunday that if Olsen (or any of the other pitchers) do not make the 5th starter role, they would be moved to the bullpen –something apparently he believes he is too good for.
“He hasn’t told me that, I don’t know anything about the bullpen, I’m a starter,” Olsen told the Post-Gazette Tuesday.”
They didn’t bring me in here to be a bullpen guy,” Olsen said. “They want to do that, we are going to have to have a conversation about it, and we haven’t had one about it.”
Huntington addressed Olsen’s comments on Tuesday saying, “During our recruitment of Scott, it was our clear belief and his clear belief that he would be given every opportunity to compete for the fifth starter spot. We feel like, not just with him, but for some other pitchers, if they don’t win that spot, the next logical step could be a bullpen role.”
Olsen has a very bad past. Read this post by Rumbunter.
- Joe Beimel had an MRI on Tuesday but the results have not been made available. Beimel was shutdown on Tuesday after suffering tightness in his forearm after a 10 pitch session.
- Today is Pirates Jim Negrych‘s 26th birthday.
- Charlie Morton will pitch the first three innings Thursday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin. Brad Lincoln will pitch two innings, followed by Tyler Yates (one), Jeff Locke (one or two) and Jose Valdez (one).
Twins Lineup:
Revere CF, Plouffe SS, Kubel DH, Valencia 3B, Hughes 2B, Bailey 1B, Dinkelman LF, Holm C, Repko RF
Pitchers: Duensing, Capps, Neshek, Dumatrait, Manship, Hughes
Pirates Lineup:
Tabata LF, Wimberly SS, A. McCutchen CF, Alvarez 3B, Walker 2B, Overbay 1B, Pearce DH, Doumit C, Lambo RF
Pitchers: Tony Watson, Joel Hanrahan, Jose Veras, Mike Crotta and Chris Leroux.
Beimel shutdown after bullpen session
Joe Beimel threw his bullpen session on Tuesday, and it did go as well as expected. The Pirates have decided to shut Beimel down after he experienced discomfort in his left forearm after throwing about 10 pitches.
Beimel is expected to have a MRI at 4pm today.
“Things didn’t go great today,” Beimel said. “It’s definitely getting better. I would have liked to have thrown a little more today and I started to feel it so I shut it down. They just want to go and see if there is anything in there. Just talking to the doctors and things like that, they said it shouldn’t be a big deal and that it’s more muscular than anything else. Want to get the MRI to make sure.”
Beimel, who was signed to a minor league contract, was favored to be the late inning lefty reliever from the ‘pen. The Pirates other options of left-handed help would be: Scott Olsen (if healthy and doesn’t make the 5th spot in the rotation). Daniel Moskos and Tony Watson, both of them has no major league experience. Brian Burres and Justin Wilson are both lefty’s, but neither are on the 40-man roster.
“It’s something we’ll address when and if it happens,” Huntington said. “We’re optimistic that it’s going to be just a short shutdown and as a reliever that he can get back out there pretty quickly. He’s in tremendous shape. It’s not really something necessary to talk about right now.”
Day 16 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
- Joe Beimel’s will resume throwing on Tuesday after feeling pain near his elbow.
“Since [Sunday], it’s becoming less and less to the point where now I really don’t even feel it,” said Beimel, who received treatment on his arm Monday morning. “I don’t really have to build myself back up because I’ve been throwing for quite a while. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
- Evan Meek and Joe Beimel are scheduled to throw bullpen sessions today. Although there is no time table, neither are expected to be out much longer.
- The Bucs will face the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday at McKechenie Field. Ross Ohlendorf will start for the Pirates followed by Tony Watson, Joel Hanrahan, Jose Veras, Mike Crotta and Chris Leroux.
- Scott Olsen threw a bullpen session on Monday and is scheduled to throw another on Wednesday.
“My leg feels fine,” Olsen said. “No pain at all.”
Yankees Lineup:
Gardner lf, Swisher rf, Granderson cf, Posada dh, Chavez 3b, Montero c, Nunez ss, Laird 1b, Pena 2b, Hughes p
Pirates Lineup:
Presley cf, Bowker lf, Diaz rf, Jones dh, Atkins 1b, Marte 3b, Snyder c, Rodriguez 2b, Ciriaco ss, McDonald p
James McDonald will start for the Pirates followed by Aaron Thompson, Daniel McCutchen, Chris Resop, Daniel Moskos and Ramon Aguero .
Day 13 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
- The Pirates will face the Tampa Bay Rays again on Sunday. This time, however, they will play at McKechnie Field.
Kevin Correia will start for the Bucs followed by Brian Burres, who will pitch two innings as well. Joel Hanrahan, Joe Beimel, Jose Veras, Tony Watson and Chris Leroux will all pitch one inning.
- Manager Clint Hurdle’s top of the order on Saturday was: Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez, but it could be one of the many possible lineups this season.
It’s one of many,” Hurdle said. “It’s the one we threw out there today. We all pretty much understand what Andrew can do at the top of the lineup. We need to look at what we can do to stretch out lineup, to become more diverse and dynamic. We need to score more runs than we did last year. I do believe he has the skill to hit third. We’ll see how it plays out.”
- Reliever Daniel Moskos has learned a lot from last season and says he’s ready to play in the big leagues.
“I’m a way better pitcher now, having had the two years of starting experience,” Moskos said. “I had to work through some kinks. I had to deal with a downgrade in stuff, and learn how to pitch and develop a third pitch. Those are weapons and things I’m going to take forward that can’t be replaced. I had to go through that.”
“I’ve matured and learned a lot over the past three seasons — last year, especially,” Moskos said. “I’ve had to grow up and mature a lot. It doesn’t always work out the way you plan. I feel ready.”
Day 12 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
- FSN Pittsburgh will be telecasting four spring training games this year: March 6th (1pm) against the Toronto Blue Jays, March 10th (7pm) against the Baltimore Orioles, March 19th (1pm) against the Boston Red Sox and March 26th (1pm) against the New York Yankees.
- FM News Talk 104.7, the Pirates flagship radio station, will have 12 games this year which includes the home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
- Joe Beimel won the Pirates bunt tournament on Thursday, beating out Kevin Correia in the final round as the entire team watched. Not only was it was a fun way to bring the team together, but they also learned from it too. Read more.
- Scott Olsen is scheduled to throw another 25 pitch fastball session on Saturday. Afterwards, the Pirates will reevaluate him. Olsen has been sidelined due to a sore left hamstring.
- Evan Meek threw off flat ground on Friday and also threw long toss. It is unknown to when he will return to the mound. Meek has tightness in his right calf.
“There’s no rush with Evan,” Searage said. “I want to make sure he’s 110 percent before I send his butt out there. He’s playing long toss and doing flat ground right now.”
Day 11 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
- Thursday marked the final day of workouts held at Pirate City for the Pirates. They will be held at McKechnie Field with the Grapefruit league opener starting on Saturday.
- Pirates game against the State College of Florida will start at 12:05 tomorrow and will be available to watch live at: www.scf.edu
- Kevin Correia will get the start on Sunday against Tampa Bay Rays. He will be followed by Ross Ohlendorf, Joel Hanrahan, Joe Beimel and Jose Veras .
- Scott Olsen threw a 25 pitch fastball bullpen session on Thursday and didn’t have an any reported discomfort afterwards.
- Former Bucco Lastings Milledge spoke to Chicago Breaking Sports about being non-tendered by the Pirates.
“They have their reasons,” said Milledge, who cut his long hair. “They got a good guy in right field, a guy who they wanted. That’s that. That’s part of the business. We’re both in different places, and I’m sure Matt (Diaz) is happy to be there. And I’m happy to be here.
“Obviously, it was a little disappointing. Definitely being a first-year arbitration guy to fight and scratch and claw to get to arbitration to get a change of money. At the same time, I’m on a team that’s a playoff contender and can do big things.”
- Baseball America predicts that Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie will make the majors in 2013.
- The entire team crowded around home plate to watch Joe Beimel edge Kevin Correia, and win the Pirates bunt drill championship.
“Just gets everybody focused,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “Everybody’s got a shot, everybody’s got a chance. … You can hear the cheers and the oh’s and the ooh’s and the aahs.”
Kevin Correia squares up for a bunt in the bunt competition finals in front of the entire team (photo via @BucsInsider)
- As I reported earlier, Evan Meek has been limited to workouts due to a tight right calf. He is listed day-to-day.
“It’s nothing major,” Meek said. “I’ll miss maybe another day or two, that’s it.”
“We’ll just keep monitoring him day-to-day. It’s still early for him,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “There’s no red flags or anything, and we’ll get him out there when we can.”
- Kevin Correia, Ross Ohlendorf, Joel Hanrahan, Joe Beimel and Jose Veras threw bullpen sessions today.
- James McDonald did not have control during his last bullpen session on Tuesday. It’s still early in spring training, so I wouldn’t look too much into it, but still thought it was worth noting. McDonald will pitch a simulated game on Friday.
“He was rushing it a little bit, and we talked about it,” Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage said. “He was pulling his head out, trying to overthrow stuff, which is normal [at this time of year]. He felt really strong, which is good. But he’s got to make sure that he channels that energy.”
- There have been several reports that Pedro Alvarez hit a ball past the right field wall, hitting a palm tree. He may have gained weight this offseason, but it seems like he is stronger than ever.
- Alex Presley is still focused on making the big league roster. The Pirates already have the outfield set; Jose Tabata in left field, Andrew McCutchen in center, and Garrett Jones/Matt Diaz platoon in right field.
If Presley were to make the roster it would be as a fifth outfielder.
“I like what I’ve seen from Alex,” Hurdle said. “I like the conversations I’ve had with the people within our organization. I like the conversations I’ve had with the people who have had him previous to even last year.
“The ability to play all three outfield positions and the ability to utilize some speed on the bases. He is not a guy, who when you look at him, you think, ‘We can bring everybody in.’ There is some barrel to that bat. It will play a little bit. He can drive a baseball.”
The Buccos walk off the Pirate City fields for the final time in 2011 (photo via @BucsInsider)
Beimel a different pitcher in second go around
Joe Beimel may be back in Pittsburgh for his second stint in his career, but he insists he is a much different pitcher now.
“I’m way different now than I was before,” Beimel said. “I’m much wiser.”
“When I was here the first time, I don’t think I was very good because now, looking back on it, I don’t know what kind of pitcher I was at the time,” said Beimel, who pitched in 164 games with the Pirates between 2001-03. “I was out there trying to strike guys out, wasn’t throwing strikes. I just watched some of those old tapes and, you know, it really made me sick. … I’m not that pitcher anymore.”
Beimel has previously pitched with the Twins, Rays, Dodgers, Nationals and Rockies during his 10 year career.
Manager Clint Hurdle will be using the lefty as a bridge between the starters and the late innings of the bullpen reserved for Evan Meek and closer Joel Hanrahan.
“I’m very strong against left-handed hitters and I can get right-handers out, too,” said Beimel, who has a career 4.16 ERA. “I think, with me, sometimes I get pigeonholed into being a left-handed specialist. I don’t like that, because you are only working one side of the plate. … I am very confident that I can face both and get both out, and I think that is the opportunity they are going to give me here.”
Pirates ‘pen coming together
The Pirates made several announcements on Wednesday, leaving just a few spots open in the ‘pen during the final six weeks until opening day.
Manager Clint Hurdle named Joel Hanrahan the Bucs closer and Evan Meek as the eighth-inning set up man.
He also announced that Joe Beimel will become the Pirates lefty specialist for the 2011 season. Beimel signed a minor league contract with a non-roster spring training invite. The Pirates will need to remove someone from the 40-man roster in order to make room for the southpaw.
“We didn’t go get him to try him out,” Hurdle said. “We wanted to have a left-handed option that can bridge innings for us toward the back end of the game. He’s going to play a significant role as well.”
The leaves four spots open in the bullpen.
After great success with the Pirates in 2010 (in 19 innings, 22 appearances, Resop posted a 1.89 ERA with 24 strikeouts), Chris Resop will most likely land a job.
Jose Veras seems like another favorite in the ‘pen. In five seasons and 176 appearances, Veras has a career 4.24 ERA (3.75 ERA in 2010 with the Cleveland Indians).
“He was a good get for us,” Hurdle said of Veras, who signed a Minor League deal with the team in January. “[General manager] Neal [Huntington] was very aggressive to go get Veras. He’s got a big arm.”
The Pirates have many options for the remaining spots. Jeff Karstens and Brian Burres could fill in as the long reliever. Whoever doesn’t win the fifth spot in the rotation, Charlie Morton or Scott Olsen, could also fill that role.
Some other options include: Tyler Yates, Kevin Hart, Chris Leroux, Justin Thomas, Sean Gallagher, Jose Ascanio, and Fernanado Nieve.
“I want these guys to have a clean shot,” Hurdle said. “It’s not always about the results in Spring Training, but it’s about the quality of the stuff. I think we’ve got enough educated eyes around here to get a better read on that, rather than just the numbers as they play out.”
Kristy Robinson
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