4:03pm: FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Jaso will be guaranteed a total of $8MM over the life of the deal (Twitter link). Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that Jaso will earn $4MM in each season of the contract.
3:54pm: The Pirates announced that they have signed catcher/first baseman/outfielder John Jaso to a two-year contract. The ACES client will serve as the club’s left-handed half of a first-base platoon, pairing with Mike Morse and/or Jason Rogers to handle those duties.
“John Jaso is a proven Major League hitter who is a great complement to our existing lineup,” said GM Neal Huntington in the club’s press release. “John is enthusiastic about playing in Pittsburgh and developing as a first baseman. We feel he has the ability to play the position at the major league level, while adding significantly to our offensive production.”
Jaso is inexperienced at first base, to be sure, having logged just five innings there at the Major League level and a mere 15 more in the minor leagues. He’ll be learning on the fly, but he won’t have to develop into a plus defender at first base to serve as an upgrade over Pedro Alvarez’s defense. Last season, Alvarez rated 14 runs below average according to both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved, despite the fact that he logged just 906 innings at the position. Alvarez was charged with 23 errors in those 906 innings — the third-most of any player at any position in baseball. So, while Jaso will probably experience some growing pains as he learns the intricacies of a new position, the bar for improved defensive production, from the team’s standpoint, is a relatively low one to clear.
Clearly, Jaso wasn’t signed for his glove; he’ll bring to the Pirates a highly productive and exceptionally patient platoon bat to plug into their lineup. The 32-year-old batted .286/.380/.459 in 216 plate appearances in what was an injury-shortened 2015 campaign, with nearly all of his plate appearances coming against right-handed pitching. The Rays permitted Jaso to face a left-handed pitcher just 19 times in 2015, and he’s faced same-handed pitching just 75 times across the past three seasons combined. A platoon partner is a must for Jaso, who is just a .178/.309/.232 hitter against lefties. On the flip side, he boasts an excellent .274/.368/.429 batting line against righties and has been even better in recent seasons, slashing .285/.383/.458 against righties dating back to 2012.
That trait is particularly appealing to the Pirates because, as Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review points out (Twitter link), the Pirates led the Majors in plate appearances against right-handed pitching last season. While some of that is happenstance, looking around the projected rotations of their division rivals, the only lefties that figure to be in Opening Day rotations are Jon Lester, Jaime Garcia and possibly John Lamb/Brandon Finnegan in Cincinnati.
In addition to working at first base, Jaso could also see some time in the corner outfield, tweets MLB.com’s Adam Berry. Jaso has also told the club he’s willing to serve as their emergency catcher, per Berry, though first base and the outfield will be his two primary positions. That’s probably best for Jaso, who has been plagued by concussion issues in recent years, thus necessitating the move to outfield and designated hitter in recent seasons.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Best move the pirates could have realistically made. Being an emergency C behind cervelli and helping fill the void at first really fills out the pirates roster.
JJ cannot catch anymore due to concussion issues, even in an emergency. Strictly DH and first base.
I think if he was needed behind the plate in an emergency, he could/would do it.
Now for a position on the field, you do realize Pirates are NL , which means no DH, which means either 1st base or the outfield.
You forgot to mention that he is an outfielder , especially when he had to put a glove on (meaning he has very little time as a 1st basemen.
He is a much better hitter than the 4th outfielders they employed last year, mainly Snider, Morris, and Ishikawa.
I have no problem at all, having Jaso and Rogers split time at 1st, as i am sure either will be light years better with the glove, than Alvarez was.
They need to re sign Blanton, and 1 more middle of the road starter(Fister seems like a great bounce back canidate.
Have these guys start the season, until Glasnow, Taillon and Kingham round into form, then mix 1 or 2 of these guys in to the starting rotation.
They really should move Jeff Locke , but only if they can find a comparable no.5 starter to replace him, which should not be difficult.
Hard to get a feel for the Pirate team as it is constructed right now.
I do feel strongly more additions by either free agent signing or trades are coming before spring training starts.
I will hold judgement on the overall view of this Pirate team, but with a few tinkers, it could be just as good, or better than last years team.
You mean fills out the lineup. They stil need a good starting pitcher even with Glasnow.
I don’t think their rotation is any worse than last season. Still have Cole and Liriano at the top and Locke as the fifth starter. Niese may be a slight step back from Burnett/Happ, we’ll see. Vogelsong and Morton are interchangeable.
Pirates are taking a step back this season. They are a 3rd place team as it sits right now on paper.
They aren’t taking a step back, it’s just that Chicago has gotten tremendously better and St.Louis continues to be good. Pirates are just as good as last year but the other teams have gotten better
Which is the same as saying they are a third place team taking a step back. If they’re not first or second place, it’s a step back. Period.
In what way?
As long as Kang comes back healthy this team could do just as well as last year.
If any of Glasnow, Tallion, or Bell prove ready for the big leagues in ST they will look like a stronger team.
Top it off with the fact that MIL and CIN are throwing in the towel and STL’s offense is shrinking and I’d say they look like the only competition the Cubs will be getting.
grichuk screams regression, same with pham and piscotty, holliday is really getting old now. and expecting leake to be comparable to lackey last year is a joke.
We will see won’t we–that’s why they play the games. However you might try actually looking at the data. What exactly do you know that tells you that the Cards young trio of outfielders is headed for regression? The numbers they put up were very consistent with their minor league numbers with the exception of the Piscotty home run binge–however, that was a product of work they did on his swing all of last year to help him generate more power. Piscotty has always been a high average hitter.
Lackey put up a career year last year and the Cubs are unlikely to see that from him again–if you want to talk about candidates for regression, the Cubs roster is full of them. Secondly, I was comparing Wainwright to Lackey-not Leake to Lackey. I was comparing Leake to Lynn. The rotation coming out of STL is very deep–there aren’t many if any staffs deeper than their 1-5. not to mention that there are 3 lefty starters waiting in the wings and two very strong minor league candidates that could be in the show before the end of the year.
Piscotty seems like the real deal to me. The rest I agree with.
No, Leake isn’t, but a healthy Wainwright is. Meanwhile, even if Grichuk and Piscotty regress and Holliday declines a little further, just having them up and healthy for the whole season is already a vast improvement on what they provided this past season. Same with Adams.
Glasnow, Tallion and Bell are not making the team out of ST. It will be at least July before we see any of them playing in the Burgh.
Still with Marte and Polanco a year older the offense won’t be a problem and Niese should be able to help hold down a solid 1-2-3 until one of the young pitchers are ready. Latos would be a great addition IMO.
I’m not sold on Latos, but I can accept being wrong.
I’m not sold on him either, I’m not sure he would be an improvement over internal options
I’d much rather take a flier on Cliff Lee than Latos. Lee has a much higher ceiling, while both have roughly the same chances of flaming out
Do you think that we would take a minor-league deal with an invite? That’s about as far as I’d be willing to extend for
The offense in St. Louis is already vastly improved just by being healthy.
I don’t think they’ve taken a step back. The Pirates replaced possibly the worst right half of an infield in MLB (defensively) with what should be at least average. Cards lost Heyward and Lackey, though Leake is a quality add. Cubs remain to be seen. Heyward and Zobrist are big time additions but offensively is a Heyward that much better than Fowler? If he has to move to center is he that much better at a position he’s barely played?
Seriously 5 innings at First Base? Maybe Nutting should just put on a uniform. That would keep costs down.
The contract should include a haircut for him
Between him and Morse, they have a Fabio hair club first base platoon.
I like the move but don’t think it was necessary. With Morse, Rogers, Goebbert, and Rodriguez all capable of handling part time duties at first until one or two of them establish themselves as reliable, though not spectacular, options until Josh Bell comes upthe Bucs now seem to have a one year log-jam at first. Not a bad situation since its only one, maybe two years, but money could have been spent on the starting rotation
The Pirates had a desperate need for a LHH and one that could play first. Plus as good as SeanRod was defensively, he’s best suited for work at second and third and in the corner outfield rather than first
Yeah, until he punches something and breaks his hand
I disagree, and apparently so does Hurdle.
Sean R’s best defensive spot on the field is 1st base, which is why the MANAGER, who knows the team better than anyone , chose to put him in that spot to finish pretty much every game the Pirates won, which was a lot last year.
I find it very hard to believe that 8m over 2 years was his highest offer, unless teams are really worried about his injuries. Seth Smith, David Murphy, and David DeJesus all got more. Granted he doesn’t really have a defensive home, but none of those guys light it up at their defensive positions.. With all that said, it sounds like the winning culture of the Pirates might have convinced him to come in at a cheaper rate.
Right, because the “winning culture” in Tampa Bay wasn’t enough for him, at least they sniffed it World Series in 2008
The difference being the Pirates are actually competitive right now?
Here we go, we’ll start slow…when was the last time you won the division?
when is the next time Tampa will become relevant in Mlb baseball.
Pirates have been for 3 years now, and this year will be 4.
The future is NOW!, Mickey, now go away and spend some alone time with your “partner”.!
Im a Rays fan, and we do have a winning culture but with Loney at first base right now with a 8m salary you cant commit another 4m+ to a very similar player like Jaso.
James Loney is a premium defensive player
Winning culture is actually winning
I may need to double check last year’s standings but I think the Pirates won 98 games. I could be thinking of another team not sure. It would be nice to win a World Series or the division but 98 games wins 5 out of 6 divisions in MLB last year. Yeah I will call what they did winning. Also they won the same amount of World Series titles as 29 other teams last year.
Sounds like you’re the type of guy who believes in participation trophies for youth sports
No offense but 3 seasons above .500 since 1991 doesn’t scream “winning culture”
I’m surprised he got 4 million a year, the guy has never had 350 at bats in a season…I do think he is a useful player, but I do think if he had a higher offer he would’ve jumped on it
I like Jaso’s bat against RHP, but he really should have signed with an AL club where he could have DHed. I think a better move for both Pit and TB would have been if the Rays traded Loney to the Pirates along with $4 million and then signed Jaso. The money would have been the same for both teams and each players defensive positions would have matched up better with team needs.
On base machine!
On base Machine Really??? More like cement shoes because he doesn’t run.
Base to base only!
JJ should run to the bank screaming about how lucky he is.
“A proven Major League Hitter”…really???? He has no glove skills now that he can’t catch.
Seems to be a knee jerk move to appease Pittsburg fans still morning Pedro.
No Pirates fan is mourning the “loss” of Pedro.
No one misses Pedro. He might be the worst defensive 1st baseman of all time. That is not an exaggeration. He is absolutely a proven major league hitter. He has a career OPS over .800 against RHP which is what the Pirates needed.
In Pittsburgh, most people will be negative toward the signing but I like it.. I also think Josh Bell is close so the timing of this could just about be perfect if this platoon situation produces. Many Bucco fans want big name free agents because they look at the Cubs and Cards but I truly believe a breakout for Polanco has a real chance this year and that Marte could even make another step up. Hey, the division is murder but Hurdle is a steady force and Ray Searage is a master—-don’t count them out.
I’d like to see Rogers win the first base job outright, personally. I like having Jaso on the team because he can fill the role of a matchup specific pinch hitter (Bucs had absolutely no quality pinch hitters on the bench last year), but don’t really see him as being a reliable first baseman, even in a platoon situation.
I agree. When your best bench bat is your back up catcher you know your bench is lacking. Now after the deadline they had some reasonable options Morse was a solid pinch hitter.
Jaso/Morse, Rogers, Stewart, Rodriguez, Hanson looks like a pretty good bench. But Kang will probably start the year on the DL so I would start Harrison at third and Hanson at second. Opening up one more bench spot. Right now I’d say Goebbert.
Makes the bench deeper when Bell finally makes the show. Gives him more time to work on the D in Indy so he can be a more solid contributor when he does break the majors.
Wait what? I am really missing something here.
Jaso has a total of five… 5….. MLB innings at first base.. how is that a first basemen? I don’t know what the heck is going on.. maybe its the cold medicine but wow.. I have almost as much mlb experience at first base as Jaso because i watch baseball.
Nothing against him.. i don’t see how he could be worse than pedro was at it last year but come on.
Normally i have faith in our scouts but … this… some one screwed this one up.. at 8 million anyway.. at 1-3 for 2 years.. maybe but not 8.
John Jaso, Jingleheimer Schdmit. His name is my name too. For whenever he goes out, the people always shout “There goes John Jaso Jingleheimer Schmidt da da da da da da da da.”
LOL! Brilliant!
He signed with the one team in baseball that would deem a 32-year-old catcher who can’t catch anymore as a defensive upgrade at first base.
Either that, or Neal Huntington watched Moneyball one too many times and decided if salvaging a broken-down catcher could work for Billy Beane, it can work for him too.