The Pirates announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Trevor Williams and infielder/outfielder Jose Osuna for assignment. That pair of moves allows the team to select infielder Rodolfo Castro and righty Max Kranick to the 40-man roster, protecting both from the Rule 5 Draft.
Williams has been a regular in the Pittsburgh rotation over the past three seasons and enjoyed a strong 2018 campaign, pitching to a 3.11 ERA and 3.86 FIP in 170 2/3 innings. Outside of a few strong starts early in 2020, however, it’s been mostly downhill for the 28-year-old. Over the past two seasons he’s turned in a combined 5.60 ERA and 5.45 FIP in 201 innings. With a projected salary north of $3MM, the Pirates clearly weren’t interested in tendering him a contract for the 2021 season.
The Pirates surely gauged trade interest in Williams before taking the step to designate him for assignment, so it seems unlikely another club will make a move to acquire him now. It’s possible a team could place a waiver claim, but it’s every bit as likely that he’ll simply pass through waivers, at which point he has the service time needed to become a free agent. He’d make for an affordable reclamation project for teams in search of rotation help, and the fact that he still has three years of control remaining via the arbitration process only boosts his appeal if he does indeed reach the market.
Osuna, 27, enjoyed a solid season at the plate in 2019 when he hit .264/.310/.456 with 10 big flies in 285 trips to the plate, but his 82 plate appearances in 2020 resulted in a disastrous .205/.244/.397 output. It’s clear that Osuna possesses some right-handed pop, but his career .241/.280/.430 batting line also shines a light on some severe on-base deficiencies. Osuna has experience at all four corner spots, so perhaps another team will look at him as a bench possibility if he clears waivers. He was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to make a bit more than $1MM in 2021.
Shocked pirates DFAed him. He wAs great one year and who else do they have?
Yeah, I would’ve given him another shot, given the fact that the pirates don’t have much pitching depth
He is a soft tossing RH SP. there are plenty of other pitchers with better stuff to take a chance on.
Angels will take a chance on him. He’ll instantly become their Ace TOR starter.
Williams isnt going to win you any games if your offense cant score.
Hes a solid damage-control guy who fits as a 5th starter on a contender.
Pirates need to lean towards guys with higher ceilings like Carlos Rodon, Jose Urena and Reynaldo Lopez
Under Callaway , he could be back to 2018 form. I think Bundy benifited from that , also being in a pitchers park
I’m not shocked in the least. He has been terrible since his brief run.
He was pretty good for a couple years but pretty lousy since. They’ve seen plenty of him to know what they have, and I’m not surprised at all that they did this.
Money move. He made 2.8M last year and will get a bump in arbitration this year if kept. Compared to the minimum salary, that’s like 6 players. Way too rich for the pirates blood. He’ll get a minor league deal with spring training invite from someone.
The guy some felt the Blue Jays should trade for. Now they can pick him up, he and Robbie Ray can form the new Mega Powers and ride a nice 6-era.
He is really good though.
Clearly has some issues, whether it be personal or mechanical or whatever. I had him on my fantasy team in ’19, and he’ll go a month or more with a 10+ERA. Did the same this year.
There is something not right, obviously. Whoever fixes it is in for a steal. But obviously, it may not pan out.
Better option than Ray imo. The guy’s underlying numbers are stellar.. just when he’s off he’s horrible.
Ray is an $8-million dollar man! That’s 8 Ted Dibiases.
Could these two maybe have a chance with the Brewers on minor league deals
Please Rangers!!!!
who is catching for the Pirates, though?!
they signed a backup from the Rays
Jacob Stallings actually had a pretty good year, on both sides of the plate. At 31, probably a one-year wonder, but the Bucs have other issues.
Definitley not a one-hit-wonder. He showed some prowess at the plate in 2019 as well. His main calling card is outstanding defense so even if his bat isn’t a 90 wRC+ bat, his fielding ability will pick that up.
Yes it’s sad to think that Jacob Stallings was overall the best player on the team last year.
Thanks to lousy Archer trade, Pirates dont have anyone to lean on for next 2 years while they wait for Rocker to get called up.
Do we need to protect another infielder who hits ..240 or an eleventh round pick with a 4.00 ERA both in the low minors? I hope these guys make it but I doubt we will see either one.
Probably more a money saving move which I would not mind if they used it to go out and sign a decent free agent.
Unbelievable. Williams might help the Angels or Cardinals’ rotation.
Unbelievable that the Cheapsburgh Pirates wouldnt pay almost 3 mil to a guy with a 6 era?
I would have kept him, I know he’s been struggling but at least he can give you innings and has the chance to get hot sometimes. Salary really shouldn’t matter because their payroll is already so low.
RANGERS! If Bill Engvall had the MLB version of here’s your sign, HERE’S YOUR SIGN.
These are 40-man roster moves. The prospects are more important to the Pirates than Williams or Osuna.
The Pirates don’t need to make room to protect people because they already are going to be bad this year so… yeah…
Are the 2021 Pirates likely to find better players than Williams and Osuna to put on their 40 man roster? Probably not.
But, they will be cheaper.
Williams was the odd man out of the rotation as Taillon is hopefully healthy and serviceable this year.The other four in Keller,Musgrove,Kuhl,and Brault came on strong at the end of this year.Williams makes just enough money to let go although I am not sure that I would do it as what are the chances that those five will remain healthy?
Osuna is a classy fielding first baseman who has done a decent job elsewhere.He was never high on the minor league chart but showed flashes of good hitting over the last four years with the Pirates..He is the type of guy who may prosper with consistent playing time.I think it a mistake to save $1.1 M.
I doubt very much that either Kranick or the other guy could last for a year on a major league roster.The Pirates promoted the good minor leaguers during this season.Minor leaguers quite often do not work out anyway so this certainly seems mostly like a salary dump.
I agree with you 100%.
You need to have more than 5 starters due to injuries.. With Covid probably still around hopefully to a lesser degree, you may also end up playing more doubleheaders than you used to , so 5 may not be enough.
Both players may have gotten you some return if they had good early season success.
Yes, many transactions seem to have a salary reduction element to it.
I do not mind it when the Pirates cannot sign the Gerrit Coles of the world and then get a return in advance on them.
But this is just being downright cheap even with the lost season.They do not seem to understand historically that you need to have some depth in order to even compete during the regular season.
Unfortunately,it makes some of the constant degrades of Nutting on here reasonable.
Angels need to take a flyer on Trevor Williams. Halos have good defense so he might be a decent 5th starter, better than whatever they got now.
classic cheap Pirates move
Struggles evident over the last couple years, but it’s a bit surprising the Pirates didn’t give him another shot considering he was well above average just two years ago. Then again, maybe it’s not surprising PIT went this route.
I would like to see Baltimore Orioles sign Williams
A team in search of a 4th/5th starter who should eat innings Williams is young enough and cheap enough. Well worth the risk vs upside….. he will be in someones rotation in 2021.
Hey “Trade Rumors”. Do you mean there aren’t and significant rumors to report? With Covid19, the lockdowns snd nobody that even wants the NFL to survive anymore…. Give us something to read…..please.
It may be slow until after the 12 DEC Rule 5 Draft. Half of MLB’s 40-man rosters are full.