While analysts pick apart Sunday's demotion of Brad Lincoln to AAA Indianapolis and DFA of reliever Brendan Donnelly, there's no doubt the moves have left a void in the clubhouse, especially the departure of Donnelly:
↵↵↵"He definitely was a ... real leader, took charge," first baseman Garrett Jones said. "It's their decision. You just go along with it. But we're going to miss him. A great guy in the clubhouse. A warrior out on the field. A good guy to have on your side."
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↵"He was the only leader ... that would step up and say stuff and not care [about teammates' feelings]," Meek added. "Any time you make a trade or get rid of a leader in your clubhouse, it's not going to be popular. There's a business side to the game, obviously."
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The Twitttersphere was also surprisingly abuzz over the move when normally light tweeters Paul Maholm and Joel Hanrahan spoke up.
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↵Also sad to see Donnelly go he was a great teammate and leader. True professional
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↵Tough weekend for us and even tougher after the game, Donnelly is an awesome person and helped our whole team and myself alot, great leader
↵Now in his late 30s. Donnelly may be facing the end of a unique career. As the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote in April, he is the last active replacement player in baseball from the 1994 player strike.
↵If this is the end of the line for Donnelly, it certainly makes for a compelling underdog story. Few could have expected that a man once ridiculed on a championship team would one day close a dark chapter in baseball history by leaving a new generation of young baseball players as a respected leader. While Donnelly is in many different ways a reminder that baseball is a business, there's no doubt he'll be missed by the Pirates' clubhouse, and perhaps soon, all of Major League Baseball.