- Jay Happ, Antonio Bastardo, Joe Blanton and S-Rod are officially free agents, and we expect they're the four the FO will focus on trying to bring back. There are scenarios where they sign all four and also scenarios where all four walk. Of the other FA's, AJ & A-Ram are heading out to pasture, Joakim Soria will likely cost too much for his role and is looking to reclaim a closer's spot in 2016 via a possible return to the Tigers, and Corey Hart isn't on the Pirates' 2016 radar.
- Gift Ngoepe was added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He's a good glove, not-so-good (.257 at Indy) stick with good wheels and could be P-Flo's depth replacement.
- The A's claimed OF/1B Andrew Lambo from the Bucs off waivers. He missed virtually all the season due to plantar fasciitis, and a series of injuries have curtailed his efforts to land a job with the Bucs. Andrew, in some ways, reminds us of Steve Pearce's yo-yo, in-the-tub Pittsburgh stint.
- Brandon Cumpton and Casey Sadler, both out for the year, cleared waivers, were removed from the 40-man and in a paper move, were assigned to Indy for the season.
- The FO didn't pick up Radhames Liz's $2.5M option, settling on a $250K buyout that leaves him a free agent.
- The first roster blows fell late last month when Pittsburgh waived Vance Worley (who was claimed by the Orioles), then released Travis Snider & Travis Ishikawa. They also sent reliever Richard Mitchell to the Marlins for Trevor Williams, who projects as a back-end starter and provides a bit of depth to the system, and claimed fringe bullpen arm Jorge Rondon from Baltimore.
- Indy infielder Steve Lombardozzi, a veteran depth guy who was in Pgh briefly, signed with the White Sox and reclamation pitcher Chris Volstad inked a deal with the Braves. The Pirates had a couple of dozen other minor leaguers declare for free agency, the better known among them being Deolis Guerra, Zack Dodson, Blake Wood, Josh Wall, Jeff Inman, Wilfredo Boscan, Jeremy Bleich, Brad Lincoln, Gustavo Nunez, John Bowker & Gorkys Hernandez.
"Somehow we have developed this large contingent of know-it-all baseball fans who bay like wounded coyotes at any mention of wins, losses, RBI or batting average. I never know whether I should blame myself for this or not.." (Bill James)
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Players on the Move As 40-Man Takes Early Shape
The Pirates now have seven spots open on the 40-man roster as they shake-and-bake before the Rule 5 draft on November 20th and retool the depth charts. Here's the roster moves to date:
I am mildly surprised that the Pirates let Gorkys Hernandez and Brad Lincoln walk as minor league free agents, but most of the other farm guys were about as expected, I think. What truly surprises me is Snider, Ishikawa, and Lambo. If all of them are gone for good (or at least, gone for the foreseeable future, meaning the 2016 season), that guarantees another wonderful go-round with K-dro E-lvarez. I am NOT looking forward to that. Not one bit. What am I not seeing or getting here, Ron?
ReplyDeleteSnider, Lambo (he plays 1B a lot like El Toro) and Gorkys just fell victim to a crowd of young OF'ers bearing down on them - Willy Garcia, Barrett Barnes, Harold Ramirez, Keon Broxton & Mel Rojas could all could be caddies to Cutch and Co., with Austin Meadows maybe two or three seasons away.
ReplyDeletePedro I think they tender to keep team control and then move to the AL before camp; the power is nice but the six-innings and done are prob more than the FO can take anymore. Morse looks like the main man until Josh Bell comes up unless there's a deal in the air for a rental, like Morneau. It'll be an interesting winter, with a couple of rotation holes to plug and maybe a rebuild of the bullpen. I really think 1B is the only black hole among the position spots, especially after Jung-Ho returns.
Please, oh, PLEAAASSSSEE send Alvarez to the AL. That's where he belongs, to the extent that he belongs anywhere.
ReplyDelete