BRADENTON, Fla. — Pitcher Jon Niese usually trains in the offseason near the New York Mets facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He didn't cancel those plans when the Mets traded him to the Pirates five weeks ago, but he tweaked his schedule.
On Tuesday, Niese made the three-hour drive across Florida for a one-day visit to Pirates minicamp. He hung out in the clubhouse with pitchers Jeff Locke, Arquimedes Caminero, Jared Hughes and Tony Watson, then went through a brief long-toss session on Field 3.
“I feel like it's pretty important to show my face here, meet the guys and kind of get my feet wet,” Niese said.