Following this weekend’s outright of Drew Hutchison, Pirates GM Neal Huntington spoke to Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the decision to move on from the right-hander, who is now very likely to become a free agent at season’s end. While Hutchison was the lone return the Pirates received in exchange for dumping Francisco Liriano’s contract and sending two prospects to the Blue Jays, Huntington indicated that he’s been passed on the depth chart by other arms. “We traded for him with the idea that he was a controllable, young starter that could fill a rotation spot for years to come,” said Huntington. “We just also decided this year that the growth and development of our guys put them ahead of him.” The Pirates have relied heavily upon Chad Kuhl, Trevor Williams, Steven Brault and Tyler Glasnow to make starts behind Gerrit Cole, Ivan Nova and Jameson Taillon this season. With Hutchison eligible for arbitration this winter, the lack of room in the rotation makes his removal from the 40-man roster is essentially the same as non-tendering him several months in advance.
A bit more from the NL…
- Kevin Plawecki’s improved play in Triple-A made the Mets feel comfortable letting Rene Rivera go on a waiver claim to the Cubs last month, writes Mike Puma of the New York Post, and his solid production in the Majors now leaves him feeling less concerned about losing his roster spot. The 26-year-old admitted to pressing too much in the past to “try to make some things happen” but said he’s in a different mental state this time around. “[W]hat has been different this time is just trusting what I have been doing all season [in Triple-A] and not having that thought in the back of my head, ‘How long am I going to be here and how big of a window do I have to prove myself?’” Mets GM Sandy Alderson has previously suggested that the Mets are unlikely to pursue catching upgrades this winter, meaning Plawecki and Travis d’Arnaud figure to play prominent roles with the 2018 club. Since being recalled from Triple-A, Plawecki is hitting .283/.387/.482 in 17 games.
- Right-hander Tyler Chatwood tells Nick Groke of the Denver Post that he wasn’t pleased when the Rockies demoted him to a relief role earlier this summer, but he used the frustration as motivation to reclaim his rotation spot. The 27-year-old acknowledged that his mechanics had been off, specifically when it comes to his two-seam fastball — his best pitch. Chatwood made clear that he views himself as a starting pitcher, which is notable for an impending free agent that looks to be finishing the season strongly. He’s allowed one run in 13 2/3 innings since moving back into the rotation and has an overall 1.54 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and a 60 percent ground-ball rate over his past nine appearances (23 1/3 innings).
- Jake Lamb’s struggles against left-handed pitching are beginning to cost him at-bats, writes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Lamb has only started four of the D-backs’ past 10 games against a southpaw, with trade pickup Adam Rosales garnering the other six starts at third base. Lamb’s troubles would be particularly problematic in a postseason series against the Dodgers, Piecoro points out, as Los Angeles could send lefties Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Alex Wood to the mound in a short series. Lamb is hitting just .146/.271/.301 with a 34 percent strikeout rate against lefties this season. Speculatively speaking, it’s worth wondering if the D-backs would pursue a platoon partner this offseason as well, though a fully healthy Diamondbacks roster would also have more options to help out at third base.
Great trade Huntington. Is it going to be another 20 years of losing records?
All 3 players he gave up are terrible, and the Pirates were able to resign Nova and Freese because of the cleared money. It was a solid deal
I do not put it in the sold deal category. The Blue Jays ended up getting a prospect from the Astros. McGuire has bounced back in limited appearances this year to get back on prospect map (possibly better than any minor league catcher the Bucs have). Nova is decent starter and Freese is best from the bench but below average starter. Basically all NH did was save Liriano’s salary (and who signed him to that contract anyway?, also Tabata and Morton? Gee the Pirates don’t make a lot of big signings but still have a lot of contracts that don’t work out.)
Tabata was a pre arb signing, and Morton got hurt..
The Blue Jays got a prospect because they ate the money, something the Pirates coulda done, but dont have the resources to do.
If Morton stayed healthy he could’ve been an Ace for the pirates. His velocity is up again. His two-seamer is averaging 95.7 mph, his strikeout rate is 27%, and he has a 3.30 FIP.
Morton’s had a good season, but he’s not exactly known for either health or consistency.
why does it matter that Tabata was a pre-arbitration signing? The Bucs signed him to a fairly big deal (for them) and it turned out they totally missed on projecting what he could do. Morton got hurt and then the Bucs decided they needed to dump his $8 million salary because they thought he wasn’t worth it..
Who knows if he would have gotten injured if the team would have kept him in 2016. My main point is they chose to dump him just like Liriano because they thought they could do better with the money elsewhere but with Morton they didn’t need to send any prospects and they got zilch back.
It worked out OK, but in principle it’s not the kind of deal that the Bucs should make–they can’t afford to send out top-10 prospects in the organization as part of salary dumps (and if they misread McGuire’s ability…well, that’s a first round choice they missed on, and they can’t do that too often, either.) The Nova signing is due in a significant part to his comfort with Searage and the ball club. It wasn’t the disaster deal it was painted as at the time, but I’d term it more “fortunate” than “solid”.
McGuire is still a legit prospect
Pirates did sign McCutchen, Polonco, Marte, and Cervelli to extensions. They signed Nova and Freeze to FA deals after the trade of Liriano with the money saved on his contract. Much better value in those two guys that Liriano
Detroit Tigers should seriously consider Drew Hutchison
I guarantee he’d put up better numbers than Zimmermann. Hutchison never really got a fair shake from TOR or PIT. Tigers could slide him into the 5th slot next year and see what’s he’s made of.
Sending prospects out to dump a bad contract is a terrible idea for any team.
However, this trade is going to end up in the ‘who cares’ column.