Kevin Gorman

Uh, you know, maybe Jones may start in the bullpen, but you've got some, you know, some, some serious talent there.

And then on the back end, you've got Braxton Ashcraft and Carmen Mijinsky or Jose or Queenie.

So the starting rotation very much should be a strength for the Pirates.

Oh, you know, I think he comes off the IL, and I've got to clarify that he, the IL doesn't start until the season does, so he's got 60 days on there.

So you figure from, you know, March 26th till, you know, late May before he's eligible.

Now, he may be able to start a rehab assignment, and it can go up to 30 days there.

I'm expecting him sometime, you know, in the May to June period,

I'd say mid-June, maybe late June.

I kind of expect him to be back around the All-Star break, and I was thinking more after the All-Star break, personally, just because he doesn't have to worry about taking a break and disrupting his routine if you bring him along that way.

But Jared Jones is certainly ahead of schedule.

And I think the most...

Impressive thing.

He was hitting 96-98 in his live batting practice on Friday, and he was all over the place.

He was not happy with it.

And one person said to me, yeah, there's a guy who went out there and tried to make up for a year in 15 pitches.

And it certainly looked that way, but that Jared Jones felt good, uh, that he was not happy about it is one thing.

It tells you a little bit about his competitiveness, but that he felt good coming out of it, that there's no problems after that, that he didn't throw too hard and re injure himself, I think was a good sign.

And, um,

I don't know if the Pirates are going to rush him back.

When you have a guy like that who throws as hard as he does and is coming off an arm injury, do you want to put him out there and test the durability of that arm, or do you want to put him out there in a situation where you have him throw one or two innings and say, hey, go out there and just go out and get some punch-outs and get us some outs, and we'll build you up naturally.