North Shore Nine

Domingo German was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates on March 16th. The deal was a one-year minor league deal with an option for a 2nd. It was reported he would begin the buildup strength and start the year in AAA to get ready. Six days after German signed, on March 22nd, Eric Lauer also signed with the Pirates and fans were told the same thing. As of April 23rd, Lauer has pitched in five games in AAA, 3 of them starts, and is looking ready to contribute at the major league level. Yet, German who signed six days prior is nowhere to be seen. Not only has German yet to see AAA, but most fans might also have forgotten he is in the organization. The question is whether that is a purposeful act or if he legit needed more time to prepare.
On March 25th, NJ.com published an article German was quoting as saying “I don’t have a problem” in reference to his alleged alcoholism. This causes Pirate fans who already didn’t like the signing to start smashing the eject button. The fans vitriol toward German comes from a 2019 domestic violence issue that causes him to be suspended for 81 games. German of course became the 3rd Pirates player with DM issues in their past, joining Ji-Hwan Bae and recently signed Aroldis Champman. So, the addition of this revelation from German just over a week after him signing with the Pirates was an issue for many fans. While the public outcry did not get to the level of multiple news cycles it did make many rounds on multiple social media platforms. Was this outcry enough for the Pirates to change course on German? or was he simply further behind then Lauer in his conditioning?
It seems unlikely that the Pirates would purposefully hold a player back due to public perception. It also seems unlikely that German was that far behind Lauer in terms of conditioning. The fans may never know what has been going on with German over the last month and there has been no update on him. The best the fans have is the clip for X below. So regardless of the reason for why German is not yet in AAA hopefully an official update can be given soon. While the Pirates starters have been good so far, having another with a proven MLB track record would not be a bad thing either.

Post Publication Edit:

German has been held back from joining high level teams in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system due to VISA issues. Ben Cherington has been reported as saying they are “Working through it”. So expect German to be in AAA once he is able to get his VISA.