The Pirates have acquired Vance Worley from the Twins in exchange for cash considerations, the club announced. The Twins outrighted Worley last week. Worley, 26, pitched well for the Phillies in 2011 and fairly well in 2012, but he posted a 7.21 ERA with 4.6 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 48 2/3 innings in 2013 after coming to Minnesota in a trade for Ben Revere.
The Bucs' rotation has depth issues heading into the season, with Francisco Liriano dealing with a groin injury and top prospect Jameson Taillon struggling with elbow pain. In addition, Edinson Volquez has struggled throughout spring training. The Pirates plan to go with a rotation of Liriano and Volquez along with Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton and Wandy Rodriguez.
Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.
As bad as Worley has been, I’m a bit surprised that the Twins are just selling him. He cleared waivers so why not see if he could rebound in AAA? They are way under payroll so they don’t really *need* money.
I just think they were done with him. He showed nothing the entire time with the Twins and they didn’t want to waste any more time. The fact that he was traded for cash only shows just how bad he’s been for 2 years or so now.
Also, AAA rotation is already pretty full. Meyer, May, Darnell, Dean, Johnson, If they try to convert Pressly back to an SP, Raley, Vasquez, Gilmartin are all options for the AAA rotation. Some of those guys may be converted to relievers or already have been, but I’m just rattling a list off the top of my head. Some of those might have already been assigned to AA, that’s hard to keep track of, but you get the idea. It’s packed and his best bet might have been AAA BP for the Twins.
Could this be a sign the Pirates may be close to trading Locke and Gomez thus needing AAA depth for call ups before Taillon and gang are ready?
That’s somewhat of a big assumption there. Locke AND Gomez? But I see your angle there, they do have too many arms and maybe those two could be packaged for Didi G.
Well someone needs to be moved from the bullpen and Gomez is one of 2 swingmen in the pen, and Locke is destined to start the year in AAA and once guys like Taillon are ready he moves even further down the depth chart. His name has been floated with the DBacks as well.
3 way deal between PIT, NYM and ARI seems too logical
Didi to Mets
Ike Davis to Pittsburgh
Arms (Gomez? Locke? Mazzaro? I dont know im not a GM?) to Arizona
Even though I don’t want Ike Davis, he’s gotta be better than Travis Ishikawa
For the record, I think it’s too soon to “give up” on Locke, but you’ve gotta give something up to get something in return
I’m willing to give Locke for Didi. I like Locke well enough but it seems like he may benefit from a fresh start elsewhere. Perhaps he can put the huge chip on his shoulder to use for another club.
that something (Davis) isn’t something that the Pirates should give up something (Locke) for… if you catch my drift
Man at that price I wish tigers got him. Also Lennerton for Mazzaro.
Amaro, what r u doin. Personally I would of loved to see the Phils pick him up again. Getting him back in the NL should give him a boost.
He wasn’t the same post surgery. He lost all the cut (in his fastball) after the surgery – and, judging from his numbers last year, never got it back. He’s no better than Manship/Buchannan/Hollands.
Hollands isn’t going to be MLB ready until next year, we’ve seen guys on the Phillies get pulled up too earlier and then get DFA’d cuz they have no options left. Same with Buchannan and I would atleast want a backup low-risk guy to backup Manship. A good spring means just about nothing.
What happened to Jeff Locke? I figured he’d have a starting role.
2 words for you: Kent Bottenfield.
2 words for you: Became Terrible
I like! Low risk and a decent upside if he is ever able to regain form. His issues always seemed to be mental, hopefully the Pirates staff can help get him back to form. I’d suspect this precedes another move, perhaps for Gregorius?
Worley’s problem last season wasn’t mental it was his location. If Worley can get his location back he should be fine
I think it is an additional option for the rotation, but that does not mean that we need switch Locke or Gomez. It’s only a chance for a pitcher, i think.
I like this deal for the Pirates. They have done well with reclamation projects in the past and it only cost a fistful of dollars. Kind of surprised the Twins just gave him up since he wasn’t even occupying a 40 man spot and he provided some depth.
Realizing that this fellow’s name is not “Van Swirly”
Love these kinda moves by genius Huntington.
Well, he’s back in Pa.
Not a bad pick-up by the Pirates, I think Worley made his debut against the Pirates in Spring Training in 2011. Maybe, he got the Pirates attention back then.
I know he always looked good to me, not sure what happened in the Twin Cities.
Worley’s location was horrendous that is what happened last season
I agree that the value doesn’t match up…. but a slight overpay might be the Pirates only choice right now.
With the vast amount of starting pitching in the system I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to give up Locke, Vin, Jeanmar, etc for Ike. Ike’s not perfect, but they aren’t going to get a perfect option for what they’re willing to give up. I’d enjoy taking my chances on someone who has a season of 30+ HR and is still a couple years from his prime. As soon as names such as Kingham and Glasnow stopped surfacing, this option (if it is one) became extremely appealing. I’m not saying Locke couldn’t continue to be a version of his 2013 self. Although highly unlikely (and VERY telling that he wasn’t automatically handed a rotation spot), I still think he has the ceiling of a productive 5th SP. But that’s not what they need. The only downside to Ike is the cash, and I would hope that was somewhat resolved in the offer to get him.
Locke is dinged up, but his value will never be higher after the year he had. I say they capitalize on it.
Good move. How could you not want someone on your team with the nickname the Vanimal? I hope the Pirates can get him to work on off-speed pitches a bit more as well as the curve. I think he’s been ineffective so far because his pitches are too similar.
Loved the Whirling Dervish, but he wasn’t the same after he had the bone chips removed mid-2012. He was all about the bite on his fastball/cutter to have a big horizontal sweep back over the plate. After he came back for the Phillies, it didn’t do it. Can’t say he ever got it back for the Twins (didn’t see him). But that will be the big indicator. He needs that big cut, or else he’s gonna get slammed. Wish him the best of luck.
If Worley goes on to win 15 games with the Pirates, or even 10, that will be more proof that the Twins need to get a new pitching coach.
Not that wins is the best stat to measure individual performance but if he doesn’t reach even ten wins would you concede that it’s not the pitching coach it’s that Worley isn’t very good?
Great low risk/high reward pickup for the Bucs! I promise you that Volquez won’t be in the rotation come June 1st.
I like the move by the Pirates. It’s only a small risk since they only gave up cash and gives them some pitching depth. Best case, the Pirates coaching staff can turn him around and it was a steal, especially since he is only 26
Terrible move for the Twins.
After he cleared waivers, they could’ve let him pitch out of AAA for the rest of the season while he tries to iron out the kinks. The guy has potential, more so than most AAA arms.
But selling low on him now, getting pennies on the dollar and not even a A-ball prospect in just awful.
Nonsense. Worley has virtually no upside whatsover. His fastball tops out at 87-92 mph and his off-speed pitches have barely any movement. Diamond is of a similar mold. Another soft throwing, aspiring control artist with no real out pitch.
The Twins used to draft these kinds of pitchers left and right for YEARS. It’s only the last couple of years that they finally realized you need to have some velocity to start with and command can be worked on later.
I think it’s about time they start dumping some of the junk for the younger talent. This will be the last year Diamond is in the organization and Correia (another junk tossing starter) will be gone at seasons end in favor of Deduno.
I’m glad he’s gone. I had high hopes when they traded for him but he just hasn’t had it. Some of it may have been bad luck, but I doubt all of it was. He couldn’t get it together no matter what he tried and he always blamed other things on his poor performance. This spring training he’s blamed the wind a lot and last year he was using other excuses too.
Here’s to hoping May figures out the walk issues so the trade wasn’t a complete waste. Wasn’t too sad to lose Revere but if we get nothing out of it then that would be very annoying.
May was okay last year. A lot of people have written him off because of his 4.5 ERA, but his repertoire of pitches is better than Worley’s and Diamond’s in my opinion. But like you said he just needs to cut down on walks and he’ll be fine.
I like the pickup. Still a young pitcher, has a great gritty mentality, and at the very least he is a nice reclamation project for the Pirates. If it works out, great, if not – hey, it didn’t cost them anything. Kind of surprised the Twins just dumped him after he cleared. Makes you wonder if he has anything left. Oh well, another arm for Indy.