Time to play with the rosters:
Notes:
- C Jake Stallings took home his first Golden Glove Award; a Bucco backstop hadn't been honored with a Rawlings GG since Spanky LaValliere in 1987. Tony Pena is the only other Pirates catcher so honored, winning the gold in 1983 & 1985. Jake topped Yadi and JT Realmuto. CF Bryan Reynolds and SS Kevin Newman were finalists, but lost out to Harrison Bader and Brandon Crawford.
- With the World Series done (congrats Bravos), RHPs Shelby Miller and Trevor Cahill, along with 1B/OF Yoshi Tsutsugo, became free agents. None had option clauses and it's prob safe to say none will be given qualifying offers.
- The Bucs outrighted IF Wilmer Difo, LHP Chasen Shreve and RHPs Chase De Jong, Connor Overton, Kyle Keller, Enyel De Los Santos and Shea Spitzbarth to AAA. LHP Chasen Shreve became a free agent. Difo was on the bubble as the victim of too many young middle infielders who needed 40-man consideration while Shreve's peripherals didn't support his 3.20 ERA.
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| A tough guy to let go - Pirates image |
- The Buccos needed the space to move six pitchers off the 60-day IL and back onto the 40-man: LHPs Steven Brault & Dillon Peters and RHPs Blake Cederlind, Jose Soriano, Duane Underwood Jr. & Bryse Wilson. Soriano didn't last long; the Pirates added IF Diego Castillo to their 40-man and DFA'ed Jose. If the FO had not placed Castillo on the 40-man, he could have declared for free agency; Soriano, who had a second TJ-related surgery in May, might not have been able physically to pitch in 2022.
- The Pirates claimed RHP Eric Hanhold, 28, off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles. The reliever had a 6.97 ERA in 10 outings for the Birds last year and a 1-1-4/5.19 slash in AAA. They also claimed OF Greg Allen from the Yankees. The 28-year-old has played for three teams with a .241 BA, and is a speedster with a good arm but questionable bat.
- The Phils declined their $15M option for 2022 on 35-year-old OF Andrew McCutchen, who banged 27 homers but hit just .222. The Padres declined an $800K option on RHP Keone Kela, who underwent TJ surgery in May.
- RHP Mark Melancon declined his $5M player's option with San Diego, took his $1M buyout and became a FA.
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| The Shark is on the market - 2016 Topps Archive |
- IF Max Moroff was outrighted off the Cards' 40-man roster to AAA; he's eligible to become a FA.
- Danny Murtaugh, Buc infielder and skipper, is on the Golden Days Era Hall of Fame ballot, while player/manager Vic Harris of the Grays is on the Early Baseball Era list.
- Arizona hired Jeff Banister as a bench coach for Torey Lovullo, the position Banny held with the Bucs from 2010-14. He came back to the Pirates fold after losing his job as manager at Texas following the 2018 season, but only lasted a year as Pittsburgh restructured its front office and let a dozen or so guys go, including Banny.
3 comments:
I don't know if Melancon is looking for a closer's gig on a contender or not, but at this point in his career, I wonder if he would consider a return to Pittsburgh? I know we have Bednar and he might well be a bullpen terminator in the making, but Melancon as a fallback option-slash-mentor for Bednar would be a nice move and a sizable upgrade for our 'pen. Add in McCutchen (assuming he can continue to mash lefthanders and hit home runs if nothing else) as a shout out to the recent past glory days, and things would look much better as we wait for the crops down on the farm to mature. I would think it would also placate some of the carping form the MLBPA and other teams about the Pirates' payroll if they threw some millions (but not too many) at Melancon and McCutchen. Just sayin'.
Will, I'm a believer that even a tear-'em-down rebuild requires some vets who have had some success in the locker room to drop some knowledge. The Pirates have given no indication that they are going to pay a couple of mentors who could both upgrade the team and provide leadership, even if it is just in the short term and they both have a positive image in Pittsburgh.
C 'est la vie; I don't see Cherington doing anything differently than Huntingon so far. It's TBD if the touted minor league system has enough horses, so the next couple of years will be telling as to whether the circle will remain unbroken.
I am in 100% agreement with you, and I can even give you a perfect example. Actually two of them. When the Detroit Tigers were in the depths of a rebuild they overpaid to bring in Pudge Rodriguez. The team stunk up the joint for another year but from there it was a steady rise to the top, with Rodriguez leading the way and reaping the benefits later on when they made the playoffs (IIRC more than once?). More recently, the Atlanta Braves made the decision to retain their then-young veteran first baseman, Freddie Freeman, instead of trading him for "prospects". They stated publicly that this was done so the future contending teams would have an indentifiable player to build around, one who would also serve as the face of the franchise.
The Pirates? Not so much, though they could win back a whole lot of goodwill with a whole lot of people by bringing in Melancon and McCutchen and making Bryan Reynolds their version of Freeman. If they did just those three moves while continuing to do little else besides growing the kids down on the farm, I think many Pirates fans would be satisfied, I really do.
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