Sunday, November 20, 2016

Notes: Youth Served on 40-Man Roster, AFL Results, Player Moves

Here's whassup this week:

Clay Holmes (photo via Roto Scouting)
  • The Pirates added RHP Clay Holmes to their 40-man roster, bringing the total to 40 players. He joins Dovydas Neverauskas, Brady Dragmire (waiver claim) and Jose Osuna, who were placed on the 40-man earlier. Quite a few young Bucs were added to the list last year and during this season: Pitchers Steven Brault, Tyler Glasnow, Drew Hutchison, Nick Kingham, Chad Kuhl, Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams, along with position players Josh Bell, Chris Bostick (trade), Elias Diaz, Adam Frazier, Willie Garcia, Alen Hansen, Max Moroff, Gift Ngoepe, and Jason Rogers (trade), so most of the pups are safe. The guys on the bubble who lost out are OF Barrett Barnes, a first rounder with a breakout year at Altoona, LHP Jared Lakind, a reliever who has a 94 MPH heater and OF/3B Eric Wood, who had a red-hot Arizona Fall League performance and shown consistent power. None of the trio have reached AAA yet.
  • The Bucs are interested in at least one of their free agents; MLB Daily Dish reporter Chris Cotillo tweets that they are in on S-Rod. They're also staying in contact with Ivan Nova, whose FA value has yet to met his expectations.
Eric Wood (photo via MLB Pipeline)
  • The Surprise Seguras of the Arizona Fall league ended up the league runner-ups. Pirate position prospects on the club were Eric Wood (.330/.388/.489) and C Jin-de Jhang (.319/.389/.383) who were lookin' good and 3B Connor Joe (.204), ouch. As for the pitchers, Edgar Santana had a nice campaign (0-0-3, 0.00, 18 K in 13-2/3 IP), Alex McRae (0-1, 3.38) and Tanner Anderson (2-2, 3.76 with a team high 26 IP) were solid and Montana DuRapau's season went a little too long (0-1, 5.40). Small samples all, but another log in the fire.
  • Free agent LHP Zach Phillips (0-0, 2.70 in 6-1/3 Pirates IP) signed with the Cardinals.
  • The Marlins signed LHP Kyle Lobstein to a minor league deal. The Lobster was 2-0. 3.96 with the Bucs last year.
Stetson Allie 2011 Topps Minor League Heritage
  • Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweeted that the Dodgers signed OF Stetson Allie, 25, to minor league deal. The 2010 Pirates second round pick, who the Bucs flipped from a pitcher to position player, hit .247 with 16 HR & 20 2B at Altoona this year.
  • Neil Walker accepted the Mets $17.2M qualifying offer, not a bad payday for a 31-year-old guy who has just had surgery on a herniated disc in September.
  • The Astros announced that they’ve signed Charlie Morton to a two-year/$14M contract.
  • Adrian Sampson, traded for JA Happ at the 2015 deadline, was outrighted by the Rangers, who had claimed him from the Mariners. He had off season elbow surgery and may not be ready for the start of the season. 
Joel Hanrahan 2013 Topps Chasing History
  • Joel Hanrahan retired. He was the man in Pittsburgh in 2011-2012, saving 76 games during that span with a pair of All-Star nods before being moved to Boston for Mark Melancon. His injuries - he had two TJ surgeries - proved too much to overcome. Hanny leaves the game with exactly 100 saves and 9.8K/nine innings.
  • Spin Williams, who spent 27 years with the Pirates as a coach and was the Bucs long-time pitching mentor, won the Mike Coolbaugh Award for his work. He now coaches for the Washington Nats.
  • BTW, Yankee pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, who the Pirates were thought to be eying at the 2016 deadline, was DFA'ed. The righty will likely miss this campaign while recovering from Tommy John/flexor tendon surgery in August.

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