The Pirates released left-hander Tyler Lyons from their Triple-A club over the weekend, as first indicated on the Triple-A International League transactions log.
Lyons, 30, was briefly with the Pirates’ big league club earlier this season after having his contract selected from Triple-A Indianapolis, but he lasted just five days on the Major League roster before being designated for assignment. The former Cardinals reliever has enjoyed a strong season with the Bucs’ top minor league affiliate, though, pitching to a 3.55 ERA with 10.8 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.79 HR/9 and a 39.8 percent ground-ball rate in 45 2/3 innings. Between those 45 2/3 innings and another four in the Majors, Lyons has limited opposing lefties to an awful .141/.205/.282 batting line. Right-handers have give him trouble, though, hitting him at a .278/.361/.444 clip.
It wasn’t that long ago that Lyons was a solid member of the bullpen with the division-rival Cardinals. From 2015-17, he totaled 162 innings with a 3.33 ERA and a 174-to-49 K/BB ratio (9.7 K/9, 2.7 BB/9). That strong three-year run was highlighted by a 2017 campaign in which Lyons logged a 2.83 ERA and a near-identical 2.86 FIP to go along with a career-best 30.9 percent strikeout rate (11.33 K/9).
Back and elbow issues hampered Lyons early in the 2018 season, and the Cardinals somewhat surprisingly jettisoned him in the midst of a summer bullpen shakeup that July. Lyons ultimately went unclaimed on waivers, though, and had to settle for a minor league deal this past offseason despite a respectable showing in Triple-A Memphis following that DFA. He’s now thrown just 20 MLB innings since that standout 2017 campaign, but clubs in need of some left-handed bullpen depth could certainly do worse than to take a flier on Lyons based on his track record and solid Triple-A numbers over the past two seasons.
He is no star but the list of pitchers that get chance after chance in this league is filled with pitchers with less talent than Lyons. Its a little weird..
Pirates need to clean house. Very bad management + low budget +bad fundamentals at MLB level+ uninspiring Owner+ attendance decline in 2019 = A major need for change
Reds could use him for their bullpen. Outside of Garrett (LHP), Lorenzen, and Iglesias, their bullpen has been a major hole.
Braves need a Loogy something fierce
There has to be more to this story. Maybe he’s a bad teammate or something because those numbers are good enough to keep him around vs. cutting him loose and still having to pay him.
maybe he asked for the release in an attempt to latch on with a MLB team late in the year??
Not a bad teammate. It’s that he has a tendency to really blow games and leads. He can balance his stats out in low-leverage situations to the point where they look pretty good.
And the wipeout slurve he had with the Cardinals is slowly but surely not breaking anymore.
7.59 ERA in ST and 11.59 ERA in 4 games for the Pirates does not speak well of his MLB abilities. Plus, Pirates are rebuilding and need to get somebody some reps at AAA.
It would not surprise me if the Pirates let him have a release just to give him a chance to hook up with a ML club as a LOOGY.
They seem to keep marginal players on the IL to give them ML time.
They signed a ML veteran outfielder to a minor league contract a couple of years ago then let him go when someone offered him a ML one.
I think that they want to have the reputation for being more than fair to their players.
I thought that Lyons had a chance to be a decent reliever but he was absolutely awful during those five days this year.
“LOOGY” role going by the wayside.
I know but a few teams still have one and this would seem to be his only path back to the ML.
Agreed