Day 18: Pirates @ Blue Jays

Jenifer Langosch/MLB.com

Old friend Jose Bautista is taking batting practice at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium (that’s the only time I’m typing that stadium name out today) as I type. In other news, Robinzon Diaz is.. well… I actually don’t know where he is. We won’t go there…

Your morning news…

• Right-hander Evan Meek is scheduled to throw live batting practice on Friday. Meek should then be ready to get into Grapefruit League games soon.
• Lefty Scott Olsen will throw his next side session on Saturday. Assuming all goes well, Olsen is then tentatively scheduled to throw two sessions of live batting practice. That said, he appears to still be more than a week away from being game ready.
• The Pirates renewed the contracts of all their players with zero to three years of service times whose contracts hadn’t already been renewed. This happens every year about this time.
• Minor League infielder Jeremy Farrell made the trip with the club to Dunedin. This is notable mostly because it means he’ll get to spend some time with his dad today. Farrell’s father, John Farrell, is the Blue Jays’ new manager.
• Today’s game will be webcast on pirates.com for anyone interested in tuning in.
• The following pitchers are scheduled to throw for the Pirates on Friday: Kevin Correia, Brian Burres, Fernando Nieve, Bryan Morris, Kyle McPherson and Daniel Moskos

Lineups:

PIRATES: A. McCutchen (CF), S. Pearce (1B), M. Diaz (LF), P. Alvarez (DH), G. Jones (RF), G. Atkins (3B), R. Cedeno (SS), B. Friday (2B), J. Jaramillo (C)

Pitchers: C. Morton (3 innings), B. Lincoln (2), T. Yates (1), J. Locke (1-2), C. Valdez (1-2)

BLUE JAYS: R. Davis (CF), E. Thames (LF), J. Bautista (3B), A. Lind (DH), J. Rivera (RF), D. Cooper (1B), J. McDonald (SS), R. Budde (C), J. Diaz (2B)

Pitchers: B. Cecil, S. Richmond, R. Ray, C. Villanueva, J. Rauch

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