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Pirates Notebook: Capps dodging DL for now
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CHICAGO -- The Pirates will wait, probably until Friday, before determining whether or not to place closer Matt Capps on the disabled list.
He was unable to throw yesterday and probably will not today, either, because of significant swelling, stiffness and soreness in his deeply bruised right elbow -- the result of being struck by a line drive from the Chicago Cubs' Geovany Soto last night -- but the team's off-day tomorrow offers a chance for the swelling to subside.
"Let's see where he's at when that happens," manager John Russell said.
Capps expressed guarded optimism that he might avoid the disabled list.
"Who knows?" he said. "We've done a good job of icing it. Hopefully, tomorrow, the range of motion will be better, and I'll be able to pick up a ball."
He described what he felt at the time of impact.
"I didn't feel anything in my elbow until I got in here," he said of the visiting clubhouse. "There was a shooting pain down my forearm, and my ring and pinky finger tingled. By the time I got in here, they were completely numb and the elbow started to hurt. But when it first happened, it was like a shotgun going off right beside me. I thought everything in my elbow was just blown up."
And of his misfortune at being struck on the exact bruised bone that caused him to miss six games earlier this month?
"It could have been a lot worse."
Russell said John Grabow likely would close in Capps' absence but added that, "If we need John in the eighth, we can put something else together."
Rene Gayo, the Pirates' Latin American scouting director, yesterday met with elite 16-year-old prospect Miguel Angel Sano in his native Dominican Republic, according to agent Rob Plummer.
No formal contract offer has been extended yet by the team in advance of the July 2 international signing period.
Gayo has enlisted Sano to participate in a five-game exhibition tour against New England college players June 15-21, one in which he will manage the team. Gayo's plan is to have prospects from the upcoming signing period engage in games as opposed to the individual showcases that are the norm.
Sanchez became the 58th player in National League history to have six hits in a nine-inning game with that 6-for-6 gem Monday, and the eighth in Pirates history.
The others were Hall of Famers Kiki Cuyler (1924) and Paul Waner (1926), Johnny Hopp (1950), Dick Groat (1960), Wally Backman (1990) and, of course, Rennie Stennett's record-setting 7-for-7 day Sept. 16, 1975, at Wrigley Field.
Baltimore's Wilbert Robinson also went 7 for 7, on June 10, 1892, but that was before what statisticians consider Major League Baseball's modern era, beginning in 1900.
• Word on reliever Craig Hansen's medical tests on his upper back is expected today. He will have more tests this morning.
• Bill Mazeroski and Bill Virdon, members of the 1960 championship team, will be the Pirates' two representatives announcing the first-round pick at the June 9 draft in New York. Teams work from draft rooms in their respective cities but have been required the past two years to send representatives because of the event being televised.
• Bryan Morris, one of the Pirates' top pitching prospects, made a three-inning start in extended spring training Sunday to begin his rehabilitation from right shoulder soreness, director of player development Kyle Stark said.
• The first round of National League All-Star ballotting results had no Pirates listed. The top five players from each infield position, plus the top 15 outfielders are shown.
First Published May 27, 2009 12:00 am
