PIRATES

Ben Cherington discussed a number of different topics this morning here at LECOM Park, including the final decisions that were made to round out the roster ahead of opening day in New York later this week: 

• On what they're looking for from Hunter Barco and José Urquidy: "I think probably a combination of things we're looking to do with the pitching staff to start the season. One, certainly put Donnie in the best position to make decisions to win games, give him as many options as possible. Trying to protect starters who at this point in the season aren't fully built up to the volume that they will get to as we get into the season. So, making sure we have enough length options on the staff. And then probably the third thing, just always want to protect as much depth as possible coming out of spring training for the length of the season. We feel good about how we're starting, Hunter and José, obviously, can both pitch in that bulk-length role coming out of the 'pen and be used with certain lanes and matchups. We think that helps us get to the leverage later on." 

• On the decision to have Konnor Griffin begin the year with Class AAA Indianapolis: "Going back to that idea of the body of work means most, and we learn what we can from spring training. Coming into spring training, we weren't closed off to the idea totally, but knew that he's really young. He's incredibly important to us, we think he has a chance to be a very, very good player for a long time, and we feel some obligation to make sure that we're doing everything we can to support him and being that very, very good player for the longest time possible. And do whatever we can to help him be ready for the start of what we think and hope can be a really long career. Just ended up feeling like a little time in the minor leagues was what could be best for him to start the season. The great thing about him is that whenever the challenge has been put in front of him, really, from the day he signed with the Pirates, he's attacked it head-on and met it. I think he feels there's some work to do, and we've had good conversations about that. We're excited to see what he does." 

• On if there's an extra sense of excitement for this season: "I'm excited for every season. Every season is precious. We know what's at stake. We know that we want to and need to deliver to our fans, our fans in Pittsburgh at a higher level than we have. We're motivated to do that. We want to do that. That's our focus every day. There's always excitement, and there's also just a lot of work to do every day, so you end up focusing on the work more than the feeling of excitement, I think, a lot of times. But opening day is always exciting. We'll be excited to be there for that game, and the next day, there'll be more work to do to get better."