Spring campin' stuff...
- The Pirates signed C Tony Wolters to a minor league deal/NRI thought to be worth $1.4M if he makes the roster. Wolters, 28, started for the Rockies in 2019-20 and hit .230. He's a lefty batter and has a .238 lifetime BA in five MLB campaigns.
- They also inked OF Brian Goodwin to a minor-league deal with an invite to camp. Goodwin, 30, has played five big league seasons with a .250 career BA and is another left-handed swinger. He's played all three OF spots (best suited as a corner) and played for the Angels and Nats in 2020, hitting a combined .215 for the two clubs. He signed for $1.6M w/$900K in possible bonuses if he breaks camp with the club.
 |
| Nick's Been Making Some Noise - photo 2020 Pirates |
- Six Pirates are on Kiley McDaniel's ESPN Top 100 prospects list (behind a paywall): #6 - 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes; #28 - SS Oneil Cruz; #66 - 2B Nick Gonzales; #79 - OF Travis Swaggerty; #87 - RHP Quinn Priester and #91 - SS Liover Peguero.
- RHP Mark "The Shark" Melancon has signed on with the Padres, pending his physical.
- LHP Brandon Waddell was DFA'd by the Twins. He was drafted in 2015 by the Bucs and got into a pair of games last year. Ironically, he was inducted into the Cavalier's Baseball Hall of Fame just two weeks ago.
- The Pirates have announced game-starting-time changes for 2021: in April, May, and September night games will start at 6:35, while all Sunday games will begin at 1:05. Both were moved up 1/2 hour from the usual times.
- Indianapolis and Pittsburgh have agreed to 10 more years of affiliation.
Wolters and Goodwin are solid journeymen who will make reasonable placeholders while the Pirates rebuild their minor league system. Signing guys like these makes sense, because it's a win-win. They get the opportunity to play more or less every day and thereby improve their skills and their stock with other teams, so they are motivated to do their best where in other situations, where they might be buried on the bench or in AAA, they wouldn't be. Meanwhile the Pirates don't overpay for guys who likely won't be here when the team becomes competitive again.
ReplyDeleteI did like the Wolters and Michael Perez pickups, Will; they both have a chance to be part of the org down the road. That may be true of a couple pitchers, too, though most of the add-ons look like sign-and-swap guys. I'm curious to see if the new FO is gonna give an honest audition to some of them or are just filling in with some fodder. It was hard to tell their intentions either way with the mini-season we went through last year.
ReplyDelete