Mac: Carlos Rivera will play

Joe Rutter talked to Mac about Carlos Rivera, fresh off a 13-for-46 run with nine extra-base hits and eight walks at Nashville. (He's not the only guy at Nashville mashing a bunch of extra-base hits, so don't get too excited by those numbers - a conservative view of the current Nashville numbers would be that Nashville hasn't seen a lot of good pitching.) Mac says Rivera will see time and provides this report:

"He's in there, and he'll see some time," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He'll certainly be a defensive replacement when he's not starting. We'll see how it goes."

Rivera, 25, was used as a late-inning specialist last year after making his major-league debut in June. He played in 78 games, batting .221 with three homers and 10 RBI in 95 at-bats.

"He moves well, has good hands and protects balls in the dirt," McClendon said. "I think he's going to be a good hitter at this level. He has power to all fields, a short stroke, and he liked hitting in big situations. What it projects to, I don't know. Time will tell."

My guess is we'll see some kind of time-share with Davis and Rivera roughly alternating starts. The Bucs have to find out about Chris Stynes before Freddy Sanchez is ready so I expect to see him in the lineup consistently.

The attention to Rivera is more bad news for fans of the Sausage Man. As Rutter reports it, Simon's preparation has not been exemplary:

Simon has been in questionable shape since reporting to spring training. He injured his hamstring in the fifth game of the season and missed five starts. He was scratched again Wednesday night after he aggravated the injury while moving furniture in his apartment. The hamstring was still tender Saturday night when Simon hurt it again trying unsuccessfully to score from second on a single to center.

Moving furniture? Why do I think Simon was trying to slide the big leather sofa closer to the widescreen high-def television for a session of Grand Theft Auto?