TBNL: Brewers panic about pitching, Pirates once again get in their own way

It’s safe to say there is some early panic in Milwaukee. Nestor Cortes landing on the IL on Sunday with a flexor strain in his left arm means the Brewers have seven starting pitchers out with injuries.

Brandon Woodruff is working his way back from shoulder surgery after missing all of last season. Robert Gasser underwent Tommy John surgery last June. DL Hall is on the 60-day IL due to a strained lat and will be out at least until mid-June. Aaron Ashby and Tobias Myers are both out with oblique strains. Aaron Civale has a hamstring strain. Now, Cortes adds to the list.

Milwaukee saw signs that they’d need pitching depth before spring camp broke and signed Jose Quintana to a late deal. He’s still working on getting stretched out at extended spring training but is expected to join the team later this week in Arizona.

Only Freddy Peralta remains healthy from those arms projected to fill out their starting rotation when spring training began.

Not wanting to lose early ground in what could be a competitive NL Central, the Brewers sought out another starter and seemingly overpaid to land him. Milwaukee agreed to trade outfield prospect Yophery Rodriguez, a Competitive Balance Round draf pick (one of the few picks that are allowed to be traded), and a player to be named later to Boston for Quinn Priester.

Pittsburgh used the 18th overall pick in the 2019 Draft to select Priester out of an Illinois high school. He rose steadily through the Pirates’ minor league system and was at one time considered among the top pitching prospects in the sport, ranking three times in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 rankings (#52 pre-2021, #54 pre-2022, #60 pre-2023).

Priester would make his MLB debut in June 2023. He’d throw 50 IP for the Pirates the rest of that season and another 44.2 IP the next year before Pittsburgh traded him to Boston last July for Nick Yorke. A classic struggling prospect for struggling prospect swap.

Now, the Brewers will hope they can work with the 24-year-old Priester to unlock his potential. His track record at Triple-A has been stronger than his limited MLB experience. Milwaukee has seen success in recent years in developing pitching. He’ll reportedly join the team in Colorado for their next series.

Boston could let Priester go considering their depth ahead of him.

Rodriguez, 19, was Milwaukee’s top signing of the 2023 international amateur free agent class (he received a $1.5M signing bonus). The Brewers pushed his track through the minors, skipping him past the Arizona Complex League last year and assigning him right to Class-A ball for the season. This year, he started out with their High-A affiliate, where he’s gone 5-for-12 with a double and a triple through the season’s first four games.

The draft pick Boston will acquire will be the 33rd overall pick in July’s draft. Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo reported the pick should carry a slot value of $2.77M.

Boston had to give up their second-round pick to sign Alex Bregman this offseason, so in some ways, this helps recoup it.

Milwaukee designated left-hander Grant Wolfram for assignment to make room for Priester on their active (and 40-man) roster. Just hours later, they’d announce a second deal on the day, agreeing to trade Wolfram to the Orioles for minor league outfielder Daz Cameron and cash considerations.

Pirates stick a steel-toe boot in their mouth

In what’s become a routine occurrence, the Pirates have put their foot in their mouth again in a situation that could have been completely avoided.

Pittsburgh’s PNC Park boasts a 21-foot high wall in right field. The wall is 21-feet high specifically to honor the legendary Roberto Clemente, who wore No. 21 throughout his Hall of Fame career. Clemente is, inarguably, the most important player in the franchise’s history.

Down the right field line at PNC Park, the Pirates have had a small sign commemorating Clemente and his No. 21 dating back to the 2022 season. However, prior to Opening Day — and without consulting Clemente’s family in any manner — the Pirates elected to take down the sign and replaced it with an ad for some alcoholic beverage. Other tributes to Clemente around the stadium remain unchanged, but the removal of the sign down the right field line resulted in a reception from fans in Pittsburgh and elsewhere that was just as outraged as you’d imagine.

After days of complaints and public outcry, the Pirates announced on Sunday that they would return the logo to the wall in right field, according to MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf. The team claims removing it at all was “unintentional.”

Elsewhere, around the sport …

• Nationals left-hander DJ Herz will get what appears to be a third opinion on his ailing elbow next week, according to MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. Herz has been shut down since the conclusion of spring training with a sprained UCL. The hope is that he will avoid Tommy John surgery, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely.

• Following Bob Uecker’s passing in January, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio announced plans to honor the longtime broadcaster “sometime over the summer.” The club revealed on Monday that the ceremony will take place on August 24, before their game with the Giants. Bob Costas will reportedly host.

• Tigers assistant GM Sam Menzin suddenly resigned on Thursday. A report from The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli and Cody Stavenhagen, however, suggests that Menzin was on the verge of being fired. The team has been internally investigating claims that Menzin sent unsolicited pictures of his genitalia to female staffers. He’ll never work in baseball again.

• In a cruel twist for Astros fans, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker were each named AL and NL Players of the Week. Bregman, of course, left the team via free agency while Tucker was traded in the offseason.

• Attendance in Korea is up, as the league has surpassed the 1 million mark in attendance in just 60 league games, according to Jee-ho Yoo of Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. The prior record was 65 games. The league set a new high mark in attendance last year, with more than 10.88M fans going to a game.