Cole gets tagged, Williams steps up, Polanco delayed ... a fittingly vague spring finale

BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Pirates packed up, hurriedly but happily, following their Grapefruit League finale, an 8-2 loss to the Phillies at LECOM Park, one that came with a similar feel to most of the six-week spring training that preceded it: They know some things, don't know a lot of other things, and all the rest is really gray.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2017 Pittsburgh Baseball Club: Somewhere between 98 and 78 wins, there's no way of knowing which way they'll lean.



Gerrit Cole, the opening day starter Monday in Boston, had his final tuneup here after a mostly solid spring ... and he gave up three solo home runs in as many innings, to go with an unwieldy pitch count of 57.

Trevor Williams, one of two men standing in a terribly unremarkable competition for the final rotation spot, pitched four innings of scoreless relief against the scrubbish remainder of the Philadelphia lineup, his line including two hits and six strikeouts.

Gregory Polanco, out all week because of lingering pain in his left shoulder, at least got back onto a field down at Pirate City. He did some light throwing, took a couple at-bats. He's expected to be ready for the opener, but he won't fly with the team to Montreal for the two-game exhibition set with the Blue Jays there this weekend. That's partially because of the shoulder, partially because his passport wasn't ready for entry into Canada.

Between all the uncertainty of those and other circumstances, from World Baseball Classic participation to Jung Ho Kang's being denied U.S. entry because of his third DUI in South Korea, it's felt close to impossible to evaluate this team.

As Clint Hurdle worded it after this game, "We did the best we could with the men we had when we had them."

Overall, the top three starters fared just fine: Ivan Nova logged 14 innings with two earned runs, nine hits and -- most telling given his style -- 13 strikeouts against a single walk. Jameson Taillon logged 12 1/3 with the same number of hits, 10 strikeouts and four walks. And Cole had given up a single run over seven innings before this one.

And even there, Hurdle cited mostly positives.

"I liked the velocity, I liked the stuff, I liked the health," he said. "With location, there was a couple of misfires and we all know it could be 95 or 99. But if it's straight without locating, it's going to get banged up here."

That last one was paramount, given Cole ending last season on the disabled list to elbow pain. Cole didn't have a single setback from the day pitchers and catchers reported.

Williams and Tyler Glasnow, one of the Pirates' top prospects for years, are all that's left in the fifth starter scenario. Neal Huntington strongly hinted early Wednesday that management had already decided upon that starter before Williams took the mound, though he didn't want to "put it out for public consumption," while adding that it could be a situation that sees one start, the other go to the bullpen. He added that no announcement regarding the rotation is expected "until after Montreal."

Regardless, Williams was charged with four earned runs over 16 2/3 innings, and sounded generally satisfied when I asked about his performance: