The Pirates have designated Jose Tabata for assignment, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter).
The outfielder once looked like a future cornerstone player but he has fallen off in recent seasons. Last year, Tabata’s struggles resulted in him being outrighted off the 40-man roster. In 41 plate appearances this year, Tabata hit just .289/.341/.289. He fared much better in Triple-A, however, slashing .352/.422/.396 with eleven walks against just eight strikeouts over 102 turns at the plate.
Tabata’s deal calls for him to earn the prorated portion of $4MM this year and $4.5MM next season under the early-career extension that he signed. Back in May, GM Neal Huntington indicated that 2015 could have been Tabata’s final year in Pittsburgh.
As the MLBTR DFA Tracker shows, there are now four players in DFA limbo: Tabata, Rafael Lopez, Erik Kratz, and Scott Atchison.
Maybe the Nats will pick him up. They know that he knows how to get on base even against the toughest pitchers.
Déjà vu anyone?
Along with Ricky Romero (and possibly Jon Singleton), this guy represents the downside to those rookie extensions that have become so popular. Yes, you could get Evan Longoria on the cheap, but you are more likely to get stuck with a $4 million dollar minor leaguer that can’t hack it in the big leagues.
But the time it works out more than pays for the times it doesn’t
Does it though? Can a low budget team like the Rays really afford to spend 5% (or more) of their payroll on a guy not even on the roster? It might be worth it, but it is not a slam dunk decision either.
“more than likely” = 3 examples.
Its all a lottery but come on, these cases are few and far between.
Unless that’s a typo, your dfa a guy that’s hitting .289 so far this year? Sounds pretty great for a guy off the bench…..
But there’s no power – all singles with the Pirates this year, and just 10 extra-base hits all last year in Indianapolis (all doubles).
He’s also making $4.5 million next season and $4M this year, not what I would pay for that production as a 4th/5th OF. And his numbers on the surface don’t tell the whole story.
Give you an example of why he’s not worth the contract and the Pirates would LOVE for someone to bite on him..
Ichiro Suzuki is 41YO, makes 2m this season, provides the same offense, only adds a little speed, gives the same defense.
Why would anyone want to commit 9m to the 26yo Tabata to a slightly inferior player?
Phillies might as well take him. Not like they have anything to lose for the next 2 years.
I can’t stand the National fans and the berating of this guy for doing his job of getting on base. They’re probably the same fans that would defend Bryce Harper if he did the same thing. Grow up, he still threw about as good a no hitter that wasn’t a perfect game, and has had a stretch of dominance that I haven’t seen since R.A. Dickey in the middle of his Cy Young year.
As for Tabata, you never know. He really could be one good hitting coach away from finally making that contract look good. I think he’s turned stale in Pittsburgh, unfortunately.
I’m no Nats fan, but the guy wasn’t “doing his job”. Getting hit by pitches should be determined by the actions of the pitcher, never the hitter. There’s “getting on base” and then there’s what he did. I agree no one cares if it wasn’t a perfecto, but the context of it all stinks from this fans view.
Karma.
Karma for what? Doing his job and getting on base? Baseball is a game where instincts take over in situations like those. I seriously doubt he went up to the plate thinking to himself, “I’m going to screw up this perfect game so hard lol.” He was probably approaching his at bat the same way he had earlier and when he saw a pitch inside, he saw a way to get on base and he took it. He probably would have done the same thing no matter the situation a pitch that far inside. I will however agree that using his elbow guard as a tool to protect himself was a weenie move. I’m no Pirates fan, but as a Rangers fan, I understand the frustration of watching a perfect game slip away on the last batter. At least Scherzer still got a no-hitter.
Bush league move and now he might be going back to the bushes.
It was pretty bush league….
Nothing Bush League about doing his job. What did you expect him to do? Not try and get on base? Just hand Max the perfect game?
Max couldn’t get him out. The batter did his job. If you don’t like it, crusade against the holes in the HBP ruling, not the guy doing what he’s paid to do.
The umpire could, and should, have called him out for not making an effort to get out of the way of the pitch. The umpiring is getting worse every year, though.
The batter’s job is to hit the ball or take a walk. He leaned into it. It was bush league and as fan, you cannot defend that in a historical game like that. If it wasn’t a perfecto, then its whatever. Context.
He hit 289 with a 341 OBP!! Last time I checked thats not bad
Check the slugging percentage and maybe then you’ll understand why they got rid of him.
Check the number of plate appearances and you’ll understand why small samples are virtually meaningless.
The larger sample size – ie his 1765 career PA’s and declining career arc, aren’t meaningless.
His solid-ish numbers at the beginning of his career are the only things propping him up today. He currently is a .000 ISO, no speed demon – and there is no real indication he’s going to bounce back.
Is there any more talk about the Pirates interest in Clay Buchholz ?
“Tabata hit just .289/.341/.289” interesting use of the word “just”. There’s far, far worse slash lines than that in MLB.
Tabata gets on base if the Pirates actually let him play and he sustained that slash line then he would be worth the money.
Pittsburgh doesn’t like him though. ever since his timidness after he came back from injury… Lack of effort will get you run out of public favor here quicker than bad play.
The big problem is that you can find outfielders for half the cost that can do the same thing.