The Pirates have claimed lefty reliever Buddy Boshers off waivers from the Astros. Paul Braverman (Communications Personnnel for the Fresno Grizzlies) originally announced the move, and the Astros have since confirmed.
Boshers, who has exactly 100 major league appearances to his name since his debut in 2013, has been stuck with the club’s Triple-A affiliate all season. There, he’s struck out an impressive 9.71 batters per nine innings against just 2.65 walks per nine across 41 appearances. The performance result is a 3.18 ERA (with a more ordinary 3.84 FIP), though that doesn’t entirely describe his value. Boshers has actually pitched 51 innings across those 41 appearances, implying he’s been relied upon to get more than three outs on several occasions.
The Pirates will be Boshers’ third team already this season. Though he began the year with the Twins, they barely waited half a month into 2018 before designating him for assignment (in order to make room for offseason signee Addison Reed). Though the Astros claimed him and used a 40-man roster spot to house him throughout the entire season, they evidently decided that he was either expendable or deserved a major-league opportunity elsewhere. Boshers has certainly proved that he warrants at least a chance to prove himself at the major league level once again.
Bostick, 25, made his major league debut only last season, when he collected eight hits and four walks in 32 plate appearances while being hit by a pitch en route to a .406 OBP. Evidently the Pirates didn’t feel as though he’d be a useful piece this season, as they’ve given him just two major league at-bats in 2018 despite a respectable .295/.351/.436 batting line across 327 PA at the Triple-A level. Capable of playing second base and the outfield, it seems likely that the 5’10” right-handed hitter will latch on with another major league club following his placement on the waiver wire.
This may be a mistake releasing Bostick as he has not been given a chance to show what he can do.I think that he had a chance to replace SRod as the Pirates utilityman.
SeanRod is likely to be DFAd to add Hechavarria.
Rodriguez will be DFA’ed shortly, after any contenders seeking MI help let Hechavarria get to the Pirates and Jose Iglesias clear waivers and two or three more attainable veteran MI options out there.
Not a bad time for PIT to try and sneak Bostick through waivers.
I think that Boshers is absolutely worth taking a look at, but I wonder if there might have been a better candidate to remove from the roster. Bostick hasn’t had much of a chance in the big leagues, but the thing is, is he ever going to get that much of a chance barring a slew of injuries? They seem intent on plugging in Osuna and/or Luplow anytime an outfield injury occurs.
Agree, Bostick was not a favorite of Hurdle’s for some reason so he hardly used him.
Was up the whole month of September last year and he only started 3 games, was 5 for 12 in those 3 games, not a bad avg.
When you are drafted in the 44th round you get little respect unless you can hit like Mike Piazza.
Well, it’s not that guys picked that late have low expectations. He ended up being a rare HS signing in the late rounds and has proved he can play, even if three teams (now four) have given up on him already.
Good thing they DFA’d Bostick as opposed to S-Rod. Got to think about the future.
Not sure why Friedman wasn’t in on him. He would have paired well with Axford.
I think there’s a paragraph missing that explains Bostick’s intro and his BR link…..
I curious why the Astros did this. He seems useful enough.
To open up a 40-man roster spot. They may want to add someone from the minors not on it like Whitley or someone from AAA.
C’mon Buccos, you should be better than this…
Better than what? They really need a lefthander for match-ups. Not every player signed is going to Cooperstown. Looks like he has a pedigree of getting some batters out. It looks like a nice roll of the dice.
I think Bostick is a nice young player that could at least be a nive utility piece in the future. I think they could have removed somone like Rodriguez from the roster and helped themselves more in the future.
I got an impression over the winter when the Pirates traded the immortal Daniel Hudson to the Rays.I do not think NH makes a lot of mistakes but that two year signing for $5.5 M per year was a doozy.Somehow they got the Rays to take most off the remaining salary for the year,and got Corey Dickerson in return!
I see SRod was just put on the DL,but they released Bostick,a young player with at least some potential.
This is just a hunch,but it seems to me that NH is not allowed to release any player making more than about $2M per year,since the money that they would have to eat is somewhat substantial for the small market Pirates.
It is almost like NH is not allowed to make a signing mistake.Hence the very conservative approach.
When a guy with a name like Buddy Boshers becomes available, the Chris Bostick’s of the world just don’t cut it anymore
Boshers for Bostick. The only possible way to give this more alliteration would be if Boston had made the moves.
I must have been watching a different Chris Bostick. I saw nothing from him to want to see more.
Meanwhile, they desperately need lefty relievers and this guy seems worth a shot.
Also, Sean Rodriguez to the phantom DL with an abdominal strain.
He is not that young and he has been passed in the pecking order by Martin, Reynolds and (reluctantly) Ludlow. If Boshers can contribute for a year or two, he is easily worth the sacrifice of a AAAA player.