Free agent left-hander Jon Niese will throw for interested clubs on Wednesday, reports Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (Twitter link).
The 30-year-old Niese is coming off what was easily the worst season of his Major League career. In 121 innings split between the Pirates and Mets, Niese struggled to a 5.50 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 51.1 percent ground-ball rate. His deteriorated performance led the Pirates to shift him into the bullpen and ultimately trade him back to the Mets in exchange for lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo, who’d struggled in his first year with a new team as well. Niese made just six appearances with the Mets before undergoing knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, which ultimately ended his season.
Though the 2016 season was one that Niese would like to forget, the southpaw has long been a steady mid-rotation arm. He averaged 28 starts and 171 innings per season from 2010-15 (all with the Mets), working to a collective 3.86 ERA in 1028 2/3 innings. Niese has never been one to miss many bats and has seen his strikeout rate fade a bit over the years, but he’s typically displayed solid control and above-average ground-ball tendencies.
Even with a rebound season, Niese profiles mostly as a back-of-the-rotation arm. But given what figures to be a low cost of acquisition and a pre-2016 track record of league-average innings, he’d make sense for a club looking for options at the five spot in the rotation or as a swingman/long reliever.
LOL i duno why but the title sounds pretty demeaning to me.. he will “Throw” for teams.. not showcase, not pitch.. but throw….
Yeah i know that’s not what they mean.. but.. that’s what popped in my head.
They want to see if he can stand on his feet after surgery. He will be lucky to get a Minor league deal..
if he’d take a minor league deal… i’d say Pirates sign him again…. Probably doesn’t have much of a shot at making the roster but pirates have one lefty that has any chance of making the rotation and eyeballing it he probably will ONLY because he is a lefty. I hope Brault proves me wrong though..
Niese could provide a bit of competition and IF (capital if, as in very big if) the surgery corrected whatever happened to Jon the past few years.. it could be a nice addition on the cheap.
Now none of that will happen.. the pirates and jon burned their bridge but there are other teams who think the same… if he’d take a minor league deal… and his arm is in one piece… he’ll have no problems finding a chance at a job.
Normally, I’d be fine with anyone on a minor-league deal for the Pirates…. but please no, not Niese. He just looked to me like he didn’t want to be a Pirate, and more importantly he was positively atrocious. Matt Morris and Jonathan Sanchez are the only 2 veteran pitching acquisitions in recent years I can think of who were as bad or worse than Niese from the get-go. At least we were able to get Bastardo back for him, and saved a couple million between contracts to boot.
Niese was shaky to start but put a few decent starts together when he hurt his knee with the Bucs. Went really downhill from there. If he would take a minor league deal, would not mind the Bucs signing him and let him prove he can pitch again in AAA and be like he was prior to 2016. He he does, you have left handed depth in case of a starter getting hurt. If not, not much lost.
I would have traded Bastardo & $5M for a ham sandwich. He was atrocious for the Mets. Was on mop up duty by the end. Didn’t want Niese back, but at least he’s alive (unlike the sandwich…or Bastardo).
He will end up in Japan
Japan? Just like Spinal Tap?
Nah why would they want American garbage
Not to be a ballbuster or nothing but no one cares about jon niece. He guy stinks he only can throw about 80 miles an hour. Another non story repottedby mlbtradromours.
Ok, so the list of things we at MLBTR should not do:
1. Update posts once the news of the signing (and a corresponding roster move) are confirmed/announced by the team.
2. Write anything about a free agent that Pepesilvia deems not worth the general public’s time.
Honest question: If you’re so sick of the content we post here and the way we go about doing so — as you’ve made abundantly clear over the past month-plus — then why do you continue to read and to comment?
Steve the only thing missing from your post is a *DROPS THE MIC* at the end of it. To late to edit it?
Wow, Steve coming out strong. Did you lose some coin last night? But I do kind of agree with the point & counter point
no worries Steve, they probably run/work for a competitors site… not that MLB:TR has much in the way of competition.. I’m just glad MLB:TR doesn’t get their information from 4chan. /sarcasm
Steve Adams with the early nominee for MLBTR Savage of the year
Steve, you are the dude. Trade Rumors is one of the best sites on the internet/apps on the App Store. Keep doing great things!
Steve Adams with this website’s equivalent of a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th… and the crowd goes wild!
Was that a Jose Bautista bat flip I just saw from Steve Adams?
I wrote this about another rambling rantmeister, but it applies to pepesilvia as well:
Someone got up this morning on the wrong side of the curb.
Well let me explain something to you steve that you and your legion of nerds can understand.
1. We all know pitchers throw in the offseason. Back in them old days players had jobs in the off season but them days are gone. So a pitcher in niece who isnt any good any way throwing for teams isnt news. I could see if the guy was coming off an injury but we all know niece just sucks.
2. It does aggravate me that yous post the same stories over and over as news. I read it its even the same story with one new piece of information. And if like some of these morons commenting they say it wasnt official then wait til it is official. Very simple deduction.
3. I noticed too a few times you people say things like this person slashed this that or whatever numbers and then you say its unimpressive. I bet you couldn’t hit a ball off a tea so having you sit there and judge these players is really sickening. Do me a favor report whats the news and leave your opinions out of it. I doubt anyone cares what you have to say except maybe your family because they have to put up with you.
If only Jon Niese were selling insurance or working on a loading dock this off season, like the old days!
I’d comment on this post, but it’s just so funny and makes pepe appear so clueless in and of itself that there really isn’t any need for me to… but I just have to know….
Who hits a ball off of a cup of tea? That would be impressive, I’d pay to see that..
Pepe, you are complaining about a voluntary action and, I might add, doing a decidedly poor job of expressing your frustration. Solution? Stop reading MLB Trade Rumors, the experience seems overwhelming for you. All hail Jon Niese!
Do you actually read the articles or just go to the comments? Don’t come back to the site if you don’t like the way things are done. In fact, you seem to be an expert so maybe you should consider starting your own baseball news site.
Yo, Pepe, where you been?? Niese is coming off of an injury. It is in the article above and has been well documented since he came back to the Mets. A pitcher with a bad leg can not pictch. Hence his poor season. He has to show that his knee and leg is healthy so that is why he wants to throw for scouts.
In them days we knew how to write with proper grammar. But I guess that isn’t taught under the bridge. Or are you some other kind of troll?
1.. Jon is coming of of an injury. so … strike one.
2 its a blog not a news press site. Some times they get the first scoop of news, and might have a real reporter or three submitting stories.. A lot of blogs try to pass them self off as news sites… I don’t get the feeling MLB:TR is one of those.. most of the time.. swing and miss.
3. I can’t get a ball off a tee but i can do math… eh most of the time. does not hitting a ball make my math wrong? No it doesn’t.. me missing a decimal point does. I might agree that his conclusion might be off but a reason for a personal attack. Present a case for another conclusion.. strike three looking
#STFD
#banthetrolls
Who are you to say how much of a fan someone can be? These “nerds” love the game and gives others who loves the game accurate and current baseball news. But to shoot down your argument, Niese was hurt last season, he had a bum knee so that’s why he is throwing for teams. Also, if judging a player based on his slash line is sickening, then any news outlet who judges someone must also be sickening. Lastly, I bet you couldn’t hit a ball off of a TEE either, so just stay behind your screen and keep your thoughts to yourself.
He’s using these posts for spelling practice.
Better post some more Jon Niese rumors.
Spelling practice?
If pepesilvia were to spell his own name his own way, it would come out “PeePeeSaliva”.
lol rekt
Niese is going to throw for teams. That is MLB news. This website reports MLB news.
“Not to be a ballbuster or nothing but no one cares about jon niece. He guy stinks he only can throw about 80 miles an hour. Another non story repottedby mlbtradromours.”
Not to be a bull-buster or anything, but nobody cares about Jon Niese. The guy stinks. He can only throw 80 miles per hour. This is another non-story reported by MLB Trade Rumors.
I’m not sure how many layers of irony are built into PepeSilvia’s user name, but bravo. ign.com/boards/threads/holy-i-only-just-now-unders…
Thanks for blowing my mind Dookie
Niece? I didn’t even know I was an uncle!
Delete your account
Classic Pepe
What no one cares about is your useless comment. You obviously cared enough to click on the posting then cared enough to make your idiotic comment. By the way, that guy you are disparaging for only throwing about 80, has already secured in a single year a much better life for himself and his family than you could ever hope to secure in your entire life. So who do you do think is more irrelevant?
Another great Pirate turn around.
Low risk option with a decent chance at panning out
The left handed version of Mike Pelfrey (without the 90+ fastball). (and for less than 8MM per)
Always enjoyed Niese, hope it works out for JN.
This has Padres written all over it.
If he’s anything like he was last year, Niese will struggle to get through a lineup of beer vendors, ushers, and locker room attendants. I’d be more inclined to take a flyer on Lincecum if I was looking for bounce back candidate.
White Sox on a minor league deal for Quintana depth, added to 25-man roster towards end of Spring Training after guys have been let go.
Kind of surprised Niese is doing this:
If the showcase goes bad, he can’t point fingers at his defense
I understand that right after they watch Niese throw, the Hiroshima Carp are going over to check out Lincecum. Nothing like Hiroshima in the summer
Someone like Niese would make a lot of sense for a team like the Reds who need somebody to eat innings and he can also be a long-reliever, which we also need
Also, he makes sense for a team looking to secure the top pick in the 2018 draft.
Will anyone show?
Don’t get the hate on Jon niese, his knee was injuried the whole year. Let’s not forget his was in the rotation all year for a World Series team.