TAMPA, Fla. -- A couple of sixth inning home runs and a valiant effort of the bullpen was almost enough to complete the comeback against the Yankees Wednesday, but it ultimately was not quite enough, and the Pirates lost, 6-5, at George M. Steinbrenner field.
Five of those runs the Pirates surrendered were off starter Tyler Anderson, but he was picked up by consecutive scoreless innings from Michael Feliz, Richard Rodriguez, Geoff Hartlieb and David Bednar, before Blake Cederlind walked home the deciding run in the bottom of the eighth.
Despite the sour finish, it was a strong effort from a core of pitchers who should all be contributors to the bullpen this year. The question is what roles will these players have. Namely, who is the closer.
Or, to take it a step further, will there even be a true closer?
Coming into camp, Derek Shelton did not have a closer picked out for this upcoming season. The theme of this spring training was going to be competition, and that seemed to include the closer spot.
"What an opportunity,” Kyle Crick said at the beginning of camp about the possibility of being a closer. “I'm embracing the competition. We have a lot of good arms here. It should be a great competition.”
But Shelton has shied away from the actual word “closer” thus far unless it has been brought up, instead looking for multiple guys who could pitch "leverage" innings. That may be the alternative for this year.
“Having a guy who specifically pitches the ninth? Yeah, I would love for there to be one guy who does that,” Shelton said. “Do I know if we’ll get there this year? No. To say one way or another, I don’t think it’s fair.”
To be fair, Shelton said something similar going into camp last year, but on the third day he announced that Keone Kela was going to be the closer. He explained afterwards that he wanted to talk to Kela about the position in-person first, which was the reason for the secrecy.
Now spring training is roughly half over, and there isn’t any firm answer of what shape the bullpen will take. There won’t be anytime soon, either. Shelton has said those decisions will probably be figured out in “the last maybe five days” of camp.
By March 26, Shelton and pitching coach Oscar Marin could have a traditional bullpen set up, including a closer, set-up man, middle relievers and so forth. But let’s explore the leverage option as well. One with less defined roles, and more focus on playing the situation.
If there is a traditional closer, the most obvious choice would be Rodriguez. He was the closest thing the Pirates had to one last year, leading the team with four saves and pitching 13 of his 23 ⅓ innings in the ninth. He also made 10 appearances in the eighth inning, though most of those came in the first half of the season.
If there is an example of a high-leverage reliever, Rodriguez is the mold. Not just because he has a good track record on the mound, but also because he expressed to Shelton last year that he was ok with pitching the eighth, or pitching a second inning.
Even now, with the possibility of being a closer seemingly in grasp, he doesn’t seem preoccupied by that opportunity.
“That’s Shelty’s call, and I’m going to be respectful and submissive to whatever he desires,” Rodriguez said through interpreter Mike Gonzalez. “Right now, I’m ready for whatever inning they need me.”
To look at it from another angle, there is the “fireman.” The guy that you turn to when there are men on base and you can’t let them score. Last year, Hartlieb mostly pitched out that role and did very well, stranding 16 of the 18 runners he inherited.
Hartlieb gave the traditional good teammate answer of pitching where he’s told and just wanting to make the team. But here's the thing: He likes pitching in those high-leverage situations. To the point that when I asked about the possibility of him settling into a set late inning role, he expressed his love for his current job.
“I really do enjoy it,” Hartlieb said. “I think it's a lot of fun. It's a good challenge, and there's nothing better than picking up your teammates when things struggle.”
Hartlieb is a sinker baller with a terrific ground ball rate. He was also one of the Pirates’ best relievers last year. In a traditional bullpen setup, he would probably be rewarded for his good work by being used in a seventh or eighth inning role, coming in to start the inning. That wouldn’t seem to benefit either the Pirates or Hartlieb.
The Pirates’ bullpen may not be filled with big name pitchers, but it could be a strength for 2021. Crick’s fastball velocity is trending back, and Shelton has commented that his slider has looked good in camp. He is a good bounce back candidate. Sam Howard turned in a fine 2020 campaign. Chasen Shreve had some of the best strikeout numbers in the league last year, Bednar has turned heads in camp and Cederlind, despite his rocky outing Wednesday, has one of the most electrifying fastballs to come out of the Pirates’ farm system in years.
“Taking a look down the line, like you said, I think any guy is fit for the job,” Cederlind said about the potential competition for the closer job.
And isn’t that the goal, to have a bullpen full of guys that a manager can turn to late? If so, why put them in a role just for the sake of filling a role?
The Pirates could very well wind up with a closer, setup man and so on again, or they could go positionless and have pitchers go based solely on situation.
When all is decided and put into practice, it will probably be somewhere in between.
“It has to do with matchups and what you feel your best matchups are, and that’s kind of the way we’ll do it to begin with,” Shelton said. “We hope guys will establish themselves to pitch in those positions.”
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Anderson was the first Pirates starter to go three innings in an outing this spring, but he was hit hard in that third frame, serving up back-to-back homers on consecutive, belt-high pitches to Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres. Stanton’s homer brought home three runs and left the bat at 115.1 mph.
G&G go B2B. pic.twitter.com/OOjZc98qcD
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 11, 2021
The Pirates called the third inning on account of pitches despite Anderson getting just one out. On the night he allowed five runs on eight hits, striking out two.
• But a sixth inning rally kept Anderson out of the loss column.
Jared Oliva got things started that frame with a leadoff homer. Later, Brian Goodwin came through with the bases loaded to deliver a game-tying grand slam off southpaw Justin Wilson to tie the game.
After spending the night in center field, contending with the swirling winds, Goodwin didn’t know if he had the distance.
“We could tell just by playing the outfield that the wind was doing something different out there, so it was one of those ones where everything you hit tonight, you had to be hustling out of the box,” Goodwin said.
The Pirates continued to rally off new reliever Trevor Lane, but Oneil Cruz chased a breaking ball in the dirt for strike three, stranding a pair in scoring position.
In the bottom of the eighth, Cederlind walked two, including the deciding run, and hit another.
• After throwing just live batting practices and sim games to this point, Feliz made his first spring training appearance, tossing a 1-2-3 inning on seven pitches. His fastball velocity sat at 94-95 mph.
After being limited to just 1 ⅔ innings last year due to right forearm discomfort, Feliz is being given another chance to stick with the Pirates.
"I feel great, and most importantly, I feel healthy,” Feliz said of his night, through interpreter Gonzalez.
• Before the game, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk gave an update on injured Pirates.
The biggest news is that Kevin Newman (hamstring tightness) and Cole Tucker (left thumb contusion) are both taking part in baseball activities. Tucker is hitting from both sides of the plate, and Newman is “progressing very nicely” and taking part in light baseball activities.
Anthony Alford (elbow) has thrown the bases and is available to be used at Shelton’s discretion in the field or as a DH.
Both Jose Soriano (Tommy John surgery) and Austin Davis (left elbow sprain) are continuing their progressions back. Both are on the 60-day injured list.
• The Pirates will take on the Orioles Thursday, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Mitch Keller will be looking to get back on track after a shaky start to his spring, followed by Wil Crowe, Clay Holmes, Chasen Shreve, Roansy Contreras and Crick.