So Jack Wilson is to return to the Pirates Tuesday for the first game of the series against the Reds.  His return “might” be overshadowed by the debut of Reds prospect Jay Bruce, who is to make his first start in the major leagues.

Brian Bixler has been returned to AAA Indy to make room for Wilson.  Bixler made 24 starts for the Pirates, hitting .175 and driving in 2 RBI. 

The question is now, where will Wilson bat in the line-up?  He’s stated in the past that he prefers the 2nd spot in the order.  Well, no duh.  You bat 2nd, you’ve got you big hitters following you.  You bat 8th, and you’ve got the pitcher following you.

I’d imagine the Pirates will insert him in the number two hole, with Freddy making excellent contact leading off and Nate still putting up respectable numbers hitting 3rd.

If it was my call, I’d let him get his feet wet batting 8th and hope he worries more about shoring up the defense than what he’s going to do with his bat. 

I personally like having a lefty hitting 2nd, and right now the Pirates have the option of going righty/lefty through the line-up if they went with Sanchez, McLouth, Bay, LaRoche, Nady, Mientkiewicz, Paulino, then the righty Wilson.

But I imagine that Jack will be hitting 2nd, and the rest of the batting order is set, except for who is playing 3rd base.  Make no mistake, the Pirates are done with the Jose Bautista experiment.  You don’t start a gold glove winning 1st baseman at 3rd, but the Pirates are short on options.  If Dirty Doug continues to start against righties, I’d imagine the line-up will be: Sanchez, Wilson, McLouth, Bay, LaRoche, Nady, Mientkiewicz and Paulino.  If Bautista or Gomez starts at 3rd, they will hit 8th and Paulino 7th. 

But here is where I argue that Neil Walker should be called up immediately.  The Pirates need to know if the dude is the 3rd baseman of the future.  With Pedro Alvarez, the lefty-power-hitting 3rd baseman possibly there in 10 days when the Bucco’s have the 2nd pick in the draft, the Pirates need to see how Walker handles the hot corner.  I know, a week isn’t much time to show what he’ll do over his career.  It took Bixler 4 weeks to finally feel comfortable on defense.  But if we do draft Alvarez, what does that mean for Walker?  If we pass on Alvarez and Walker flops at 3rd, we’re in big trouble.  Bring him up, release Luis Rivas, and let’s see if he can play.  Maybe we just make Alvarez a 1st baseman and hope the offense makes up for the defensive problems we’d have.