It seemed innocuous enough at the time. The Pittsburgh Pirates had turned to lefty Francisco Liriano for the Bottom of the 7th inning, and out came lefty-masher Phil Ervin to pinch hit for the lefty-swinging Scooter Gennett. Phlerv, of course, has been as red hot as any hitter in baseball of late, and certainly deserved the opportunity to do what he does best.
I’m not sure any of us really thought that Gennett was being pulled because he was being traded. I mean, the thought sure crossed a few synapses, but he’d been out for most of the entire year with balky groins and hadn’t really hit at all since returning, and at $10 million for this season wasn’t exactly a cheap pickup for anyone looking for a pure rental bat.