The Pirates have signed left-handed reliever Tyler Lyons to a minor league pact, John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com reports.
Pittsburgh’s plenty familiar with Lyons, who had been with NL Central rival St. Louis since it selected him in the 2010 draft. Lyons, a former starter, debuted with the Cardinals in 2013 and later emerged as an effective piece out of their bullpen. Over 97 appearances (89 in relief) and 162 innings from 2015-17, Lyons posted a 3.33 ERA. He was particularly excellent in 2017, a 54-frame showing in which he logged a 2.83 ERA with 11.33 K/9, 3.33 BB/9 and a 41.9 percent groundball rate.
The Redbirds were likely expecting more of the same from Lyons in 2018, but the 30-year-old’s season went awry as he battled back and elbow injuries. While Lyons continued to strike out hitters at a solid clip (10.26 per nine), his walks increased (4.32 BB/9), his grounder rate dropped to alarming degrees (28.3 percent) and his home run rate went from .5 per nine the previous season to 1.62. He also surrendered a ridiculously high .412 batting average on balls in play and only recorded a 60.4 percent strand rate. All of that led to an 8.64 ERA across 16 2/3 innings for Lyons, whom the Cardinals designated for assignment in late July. Lyons spent the rest of the season at Triple-A, where he offered far better production (2.49 ERA, 8.72 K/9, 2.49 BB/9 in 21 2/3 innings), and then elected free agency in October.
Considering Lyons’ past success and the makeup of the Pirates’ bullpen, he could earn a major league shot in Pittsburgh in 2019. Aside from closer Felipe Vazquez, the only lefty reliever on the Bucs’ 40-man roster is Steven Brault, who has struggled in the bigs since debuting in 2016.
What about Manny Harpster?
yawn
You bore me.
You sure cry a lot.
so easy to string garbage like you along lol
Hahahaha you just proved the same thing I did to you.
Stop crying
nice dog you are, hanging on my every word. down boy!
Love a lot, pickup good, pirates rehab some good few bad, but salvage if salvage is good.
Lyons bounce up a little, then keep and enjoy. Bounce up a lot? Then flip and enjoy. Salvage good, my predict.
Fire good
Grammar not good.
Me think, why say lot word when few word do trick?
Might need to slow down. Not sure all these words are in his vocabulary
This comment is great if read in the voice of a caveman, Yoda, or Scooby Doom
Looks a bit like this comment was put into Google translate from another language. Perhaps this person is not an English speaker?
I like watching Lyons pitch – hate that it will be against the cards because when he’s healthy, he’s pretty good .
Good for the pirates, pretty easy gamble .
“I like watching Lyons pitch?” Good grief.
Lyons has always had good stuff, but knee injuries along with the mentioned back and elbow problems last season, it’s been tough to keep him on the mound.
Good pick up for the Pirates. Now the Cardinals need to trade Cecil to the Pirates and eat half of Cecil’s contract.
Any relation to Hall of Fame pitcher Ted Lyons?
Baseballreference.com does not mention any relationship between the two; they aren’t perfect but they are usually pretty thorough.
The Pirates are reportedly involved in negations with Tiger Woods to abandon the PGA and embark upon a MLB career. Also of note, negations with former NFL Tight End, Bear Pascoe are almost complete. Pascoe is seeking to transition from NFL to MLB.
Look out Pirates fans =
Lyons, Tiger and Bear, OH MY !!!
Weak. Very.
Negations = contradiction or denial. So not really too far off.
Why so many “thumbs down”? I like it.
According to an undisclosed source, the Pirates are reportedly involved in negations with Tiger Woods to abandon the PGA and embark upon a MLB career. Also of note, it is rumored that negations with former NFL Tight End, Bear Pascoe are almost complete. Pascoe is seeking to transition from NFL to MLB.
Look out Pirates fans =
Lyons, Tiger and Bear, OH MY !!!
Even weaker due to double post. The bonus is I could down vote you twice.
Could be a very nice bounce back candidate, if they can get him to improve his control.
He was good for the Cardinals, and I’ve always believed in his ability, he’s just had some injuries/flukes honestly. Good pickup for the Bucs
How long will Lyons first standing ovation be when he returns to Busch for the 1st time?
Not flashy but has been solid in the past. Recent past is ugly though.
Hope this works a lot better than when they signed one of the other Cardinals former left handers, Kevin Siegrist.
I hate to say this, because I’m a huge Cardinal fan, but unless the Cardinals have the player signed to a long-term deal, you have one bad season and they are ready to get rid of you. They are slowly getting that reputation it seems.
He was horrifically bad to the point that he needed to be DFAed mid-season, and of course nobody picked him up off waivers. It was then his decision to elect for free agency rather than attempt a comeback with the Cardinals. If he had stayed, the Cards may have decided to non-tender Shreve instead and given Lyons a Spring Training invite.
Another problem is they seem to get too excited about one-two year wonders and they don’t really work out. Happens to them a lot.
i think a lot off it has to do with we have an abundance of pitching in the minors waiting to come up also a lot of the guys cards didn’t pick back up were guys i wouldn’t write home about
If he ends up being the only lefty in the pen other than Vazquez, who is a closer, does that mean that Tyler will be getting the Lyons share of the lefty-on-lefty matchup opportunities?
I did want the cards to get him back on a minors deal, but I believe both sides probably thought it was time to move on.
Great K/BB numbers always, but always struggled with allowing home runs and having pitches too much in the zone, which is partially why he had the k/bb numbers.
Good luck Lyons
If Lyons was interested in staying with the Cardinals, he wouldn’t have elected for free agency in the first place. He could’ve just entered 2019 as an outrighted AAA player with a non-roster invite to Spring Training and been in the same place as if he had resigned with a minors deal.
Hopefully, unlike Kevin Siegrist, Lyons will actually report to the team.
Nice value shopping to fill a need with some low risk upside.
I think Matheny got most of the goodie out of Lyons, but I am always nervous when someone in the division signs on of the ex-cards. They may be awful against all other teams, but then do something when playing against the Cardinals that gets the new team the win.That is the only reason I hate that the Cubs signed Descalso. He will probably hit three dingers against them this year.
I like it a lot. Good move. They unfortunately missed out on Tulo to play SS. Hopefully NH did everything he could to get Tulo here. I’d take the risk of playing Tulo at SS than the safe mediocrity of Galvis any day of the week.
I’ve read that Troy wanted a promise of playing time at one position only; he was willing to play 2B or 3B if need be, but he didn’t want to keep shuttling between positions or be a utility infielder. The Bucs could probably have safely told him he would play only at SS, but I doubt Neal would have committed to giving Troy the starting job,: Neal would have wanted an open competition with Newman, Gonzalez and maybe others. If I’m right, and I’m just guessing in this, Troy probably never was in the cards for Pittsburgh.