MAY 28: The Pirates have placed Kontos on unconditional release waivers, Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette tweets.
MAY 25: The Pirates have designated righty George Kontos for assignment, the club announced. His roster spot was needed for the activation of fellow right-hander Joe Musgrove from the DL.
Kontos, 32, had turned in a nice showing last year upon arriving in mid-season, and has generally produced excellent earned-run averages in the majors. But his peripherals have rarely matched his bottom-line numbers and the veteran had struggled quite a bit to open the 2018 season.
Through 19 2/3 innings in the present campaign, Kontos carries a 5.03 ERA with just 4.1 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. He had shown a breakout ability to generate whiffs last year with a 16.4% swinging-strike rate, but he’s sitting at just 8.5% in 2018.
Back to San Fran? I’m thinking so. Every Giant returns home before calling it a career.
No. Please no.
Haha,I Agee!I still have nightmares about the Big hits he gave up constantly!!!!Very predictable,to many Sliders hung at the wrong times!!!!
Right? The upshot of Kontos’ 2018 with the Bucs was that Josh Smoker was so incredibly bad in April that it made Kontos look like a savior of sorts. Smoker was sent out, and Kontos has nobody else in that PIT pen to make him look good.
Shame to see him go. Was lights out when he first arrived
He was great last year and in April this year. But he lost whatever magic he was working with. Im glad to see the front office make the right performance based call rather than try to hold an asset and send someone with control down instead (Santana for instance). He front office is quietly making solid moves under the cover of everyone hating them for the last 3 seasons of (in)action.
ehh, that’s unfortunate. I was hoping he would still be here when Kramer and Newman get brought up later this year or next.
Why?
I think that FIP he’s toting around explains it.
I think you missed the Seinfeld joke.
Think Peanut and hand going over head….. 🙂
This was as expected.Kontos did a very good job last year after pickup from the Giants on waivers I had fairly high hopes for him this year.However,with the emergence of others,and his gradual loss of trust due to poor outings he in essence became the mop up man at the end.He does not throw hard enough to have much room for error.Some team will probably take a flyer on him but I think that he needs to get it together sooner rather than later to be able to continue his career in the majors.
I could see CLE taking a flyer on him.
Now do something about Nova. Not saying DFA, but a trip to the DL or something. Now with Musgrove ready to go, Pirates need to get Kingham back in the rotation.
Taillon, Williams, Kuhl, Musgrove, Kingham.
Nova is an interesting case.We shall see how Musgrave does in his first start or two.He may very well play better in the bullpen.Nova pitched very well for the Pirates his first year until the all star break last year.He seems to me to be resting on his laurels since then.I could see Kingham back up if Musgrave falters.I also think it close to the time to see if Glasnow can enter the rotation with a spot start or two.Nova could become the long man,as he sometimes was in New York,until the Pirates could unload his salary as there are a number of teams who could use a somewhat decent medium priced starter.I think that the optimum rotation would be Taillon,Williams,Glasnow,Kuhl,and Kingham.That,with the emergence of the bullpen,would give the Pirates a deep and solid rotation and pitching staff.
Pirates are really relying on Nova and Taillon, but they’re probably performing the worst right now.
I’m a big advocate of a de facto 6 man rotation, with a guy going on the DL every couple weeks. Dodgers essentially did the same thing last year. Keep innings down on the younger pitchers and give guys some rest to work out of a funk.
It’s overdue. Kontos holds sole responsibility for several Bucs losses this season.
I’m a bit surprised, actually, given Clint Hurdle’s usual loyalty to veteran players. Tony Watson was a good example of him giving the ball over and over to a guy who was hurting the team rather than embarrass a veteran player.
Kontos was good when he first came to the team and had the Jared Hughes role, but giving him the 8th inning was a mistake.
I’d like to see Tyler Glasnow get some higher leverage work.
But, the real question for Pirates is what happens when Marte comes off the DL. Meadows has been so much better than Polanco, it’s hard to make any case for sending Meadows back down.
Does Polanco have options left?
Does he have any trade value left?
I think that Polanco has been in the majors for close to four years and,as such,has some sort of right to reject the optional assignment as I am sure that they have those left.
He definitely has trade value but I think it a mistake to sell very low.
I think that he did not spend enough time in triple A and got anointed much too soon which went to his head.He is one of the guys who I think David Freese was talking about at the start of the year.He does not see the immediacy of playing in the big leagues.
I think that what they should do is keep Meadows up and just play him in right field as the starter until his performance clearly declines.This will send a clear and distinct message to Polanco that he does not have an unlimited amount of time to get it together.
Great point. Between all of the injuries and the slumps Polanco hasn’t lived up to the hype.
im pretty surprised too. if you look at his career splits seems like they could still use him if they would move him to a different role. i guess they got plent of other guys that can fill that role too for cheaper… so i guess…
I’m glad that they’re more willing to pull the trigger on someone, unlike they have in the past few seasons.
Giants for sure.
Or Dodgers
Maybe the Braces or even the Nats with all the injuries. I think the Giants should be looking for a starter maybe Cashner or Cobb on the cheap from Baltimore would probably make sense maybe pickup Schoop in the same deal for a top for 1 of the Giants top 30 prospects. They need some help.
Go Braces! Their teeth are so straight!
Heck – Rangers will probably be interested hoping they can get a couple good weeks and flip him along with any other veteran they can get any kind of prospect for….
Anyone think he’s going to be claimed off the waiver wire ? Or will he clear ?
I would bet clear and someone will take him only having to pay league minimum.
The Rays should look into him….the could use another starter, I mean opener.
Well, Musgrove just ruined the night of the Pittsburgh talking heads. Heard from several hosts say that Musgrove had to come out great or else the Pirates wpuld be huge losers in the trade. They were ignoring how well Moran and Felix both have played so far and Martin is tearing up AA. Musgrove made my whole night. 🙂
We will have to see if Musgrove can keep it up but I do think that he is a good pitcher.I have said the whole season that this was a good trade for both teams.The Astros system is so deep that they could trade Teoscar Hernandez for Francisco Liriano.By the end of this season the pundits may be saying that this trade was a steal all right- for the Pirates!
He’ll be unemployed for a day.