Notes from the past week:
- 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes didn't make Baseball America's All-Rookie team, but there was good reason - he didn't have enough at-bats to qualify, so expect that omission to be corrected in 2021.
- The Pirates claimed RHP Sean Poppen, 26, off waivers from the Twins. Poppen got into 10 outings over the last two years with a 6.19 ERA/11 K and 5 BB per game. He was a reliever for Minny but a starter in the minors. JT Riddle was DFA'ed to clear a roster spot.
- C Andrew Susac, who got into the last game of the season, was outrighted to Indy.
- LHP Williams Jerez, who got into a half-dozen games (0-0/7.36) for Pittsburgh in 2019 but wasn't added to the roster this year, declared for free agency.
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| Good luck, Cervy; baseball will miss ya - 2018 photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates |
- Fran Cervelli announced his retirement on Saturday. We'll miss his passion on and off the field, but it's really the only decision Cervy could make, given his concussion history. Per cent’anni, Amore!
- On the local minor league front - Bristol is no longer a Bucco affiliate; the short-season club's Appalachian League will become a college wooden-bat league, ala Cape Cod, and tied to USA Baseball. Also, the indie Frontier League (Washington Wild Things), which shut down this year due to Covid, will become a MLB "Partner League." We're not sure what that means exactly, but the Majors are thought to be planning at least promotional and youth league ties with their partners.
- Plum HS's OF Alex Kirilloff (1st rounder & 15th overall selection in the 2016 draft; he went before the Pirates had a pick) of the Twins is the first position player in MLB history to record his first big league hit in the postseason. Nice job by the local kid, tho it didn't help the Twinkies. They lost their 18th! straight playoff game after being swept by the 'Stros.
- Seven of the nine opponents the Pirates met in 2020 were playoff teams, but that kinda lost its degree-of-difficulty cred when all seven lost in the first round.
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