Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco fractured his right wrist playing winter ball, per John Dreker of PittsburghBaseball.com. Robert Murray of FanSided confirms that Polanco is expected to be out for four to six weeks. Polanco should be ready in time for spring training, so this injury shouldn’t affect his 2021 season.
Polanco had made 87 plate appearances in the Dominican winter league with a .197/.276/.342 batting line. It’s not a great showing for Polanco, nor is it an overwhelming sample size. Still, Polanco is coming off a pair of rough seasons in 2019 and 2020 in which he finished with -0.6 bWAR and -1.0 bWAR, respectively.
Polanco posted a measly .153/.214/.325 line in 174 plate appearances across 50 games in 2020. He tested positive for coronavirus in mid-July. As if that wasn’t enough, Polanco’s 2019 had been cut short to just 42 games because of hamstring and shoulder issues. Polanco underwent shoulder surgery in September of 2019, ending his season with a .242/.301/.425 slash line. The 29-year-old is one of Pittsburgh’s longest-tenured players, having made his Major League debut with the club back in 2014.
Guy had a ton of promise a few years ago, but has never really lived up to it… this doesn’t help any…
Also, he came through the minors as a CF but a knee injury limited his range to the corner OF.
What’s his contract status? I know he has a guaranteed Major League deal through at least next season but does it go beyond that? I think I heard this guy is the highest paid player on the team and making over $14 million a year. That could really be hurting the Pirates. An ultra-low budget team like the Pirates paying that much money to a player that puts up numbers as horrific as his doesn’t do the organization or fans any favors. I hope he turns it around but that looks pretty doubtful at this point. I guess the injuries really got to him.
He has a buyout after this year. for $3 millon, which they are almost certaintly going to choose over the $12.5 million team option. Right now, I don’t really think he’s bogging down the Pirates’ ability to spend. Ovbisously it’s not a great contract, but the only thing it’s holding them back from doing right now is spending on low-tier free agents. The Pirates had a payroll above $100 million from 2015 to 2017 and one above $90 million in 2018. When all of their prospects like Cruz, Peguero, Gonzales, Thomas, Malone etc are in the bigs, that’s when they’ll start spending more. We might see some long term contracts signed next off season so they can start building the long term core then.
Yeah. That’s the smart way to do it. Wait until Polanco’s contract is 100% off the books and the top prospects are all ready to create a competitive core before spending the big $. It’s a much smarter plan than getting impatient like the Reds did. I do wonder what the Pirates definition of long term contracts are. Is that $60 million Jason Kendall contract still the largest contract ever given out in Pirates history?
Bovine- Yes,to your JK question.
Bob if you are reading this it will be ok. You have to pay any outfielder a half million. You spent 2 million last year on a old washed up guy. And like last season, you may get bailed out by a short season. Added bonus that any player turns down your team friendly extension offers, you can tell them the tale of gregory Polanco.
I guess the Pirates won’t be finding a trading partner for Polanco now.
He’s going to be a required piece in either a Musgrove deal or a Taillon deal. Pitt will find a way to jettison his salary (or at least a sizable portion of it).
Your not getting anything for a 4th of anyway. His time in the bigs is coming to a close.
Because he had value before?
Nothing really changes for Pittsburgh.
And the dream year of 2020 for El Coffee continues…
Sign Nomar Mazara, put Oneil Cruz in right field already and then let him take over in June.
Last time I checked Oneil Cruz is facing an extended prison stay.
Shows how much you know about the Cruz situation.
Per Ben Cherington: “there’s not a single piece of evidence from what we’ve seen that this is anything but an accident.”
“There’s no information that leads him to believe Oneil Cruz won’t be a full participant in spring training 2021.:
He expects him to be back in Spring Training. There was no evidence of drunk driving and it’s even suspected that he was driving his wife, who was sick and on the verge of miscarage, to the hospital since he left the alternative site early due to family emergency reasons.
Pretty clear you haven’t checked in on Cruz since the original story broke.
If anything, the people in the other car were at more of a fault then Cruz himself. They had several people on one motorcycle, with no lights, late at night, after curfew.
today’s world. we get the story immediately, jump to conclusions, then find out the truth and look like fools.
@rangers that’s how they roll in the DR
I think the Pirates jumped the gun with him. He had that one good year and they paid him. Pretty sure Polanco has been the biggest hinderence on Pittsburgh’s plans.
I wouldn’t say he’s the biggest hindrance, but no question that the extension hasn’t worked out like they had hoped. It seemed like a decent idea at the time, but now they can’t give him away. I’m honestly not sure if the Bucs over-valued Polanco or if Polanco just hasn’t fulfilled his own potential.
Yeah, it looked like a solid move at the time. They extended him when he was 24 and started to look like he was the bat everyone was expecting. I even remember there were a decent amount of fans who thought he was snubbed from the 2016 All-Star game because he had that good of a first half. Believe it or not, he and Bryce Harper had really similar numbers before the break that season.
I had no idea that he did that in 16′. Looking at the splits, he had an .862 ops before the break, and a .682 ops post break lol. I love how linear that is. Kinda weird how quick he fell off after the break though.
It’s difficult for teams like the Pirates making decisions about young talent. They have to sign them early or risk losing them to free agency. Another stellar year would make Polanco more expensive. It’s a big risk but if a team has a middle or small market budget, they don’t have much choice.
Agreed. It looked like a solid move at the time. A young, franchise cornerstone player locked into Pittsburgh with the really big money seasons kicking in after McCutchen would be gone.
It didn’t work out but Pittsburgh has to take that gamble.
Comfy-I think with Polanco,like Bell,they overestimated his potential.The Prates have historically signed young players to team friendly contracts,which are fine if the player produces.They won those with Cutch and Marte,lost with Tabata,and will be losing with Polanco.I truly believe that he got too comfy once he got the contract.He always struck me as having a strange body type for baseball,and that helped to cause his bad and awkward slide in late 2018 that may have very well ruined his career.I think that he is really trying to resurrect it,but some of this production slide is caused by just plain bad luck too.
My guess is that at this point he is coming to the conclusion that he has to turn it around quickly for his career to continue.That long looping swing may be his ultimate downfall.
They didn’t overestimate their potential, they squandered it.
Where you are a small budget/small market team you have to take risks like this to stay competitive.. Polanco and Marte were hoped to the next Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds for the Pirates and they locked both to decent deals. Marte more or less provided value in his deal, Polanco not so much.
At this point Bobby Bonilla may still be more productive than Polanco
Work out a deal with Polanco to cut him and pay him 1 million for the next 15 years ;)
Hardly a hindrance ( unless you are bob ) when he made nothing then 2 4 6 million and change, then the prorated portion of 8.6 or whatever last season. This will be his first and last year of cracking double digits.
Pirates gonna pirates
Dang. I totally had the Pirates winning the Championship this year. With their extraordinary owner and wealth of talent, they were a lock to win the Frontier League title.
You cold brotha. Pirates fans already have to put up with a lot of garbage. =D
What’s next ? Really pulling for the guy . Hate to give up on the guy but?
I hope this guy rebounds at least a little bit for his own sake. He had so much potential and looked like he was starting to live up to it when he got hurt/started to struggle. I just hate to see a guy burn out like that so young after seeming like he was going to have a nice little career.
It doesn’t matter if they don’t start until May does it
Per Robt Murray
The injury, specifically, is a small non-displaced fracture of the triquetrum bone. It does not require surgery. The Pirates say he will be ready for spring training.
Never mind.
Hey Pirates. I hear Pedro Alvarez is available.
Essentially a FA at the end of the year (a 12M option that won’t be exercised) , he has all the motivation to succeed. Not saying that this is the case in this instance, but sometimes signing a young guy long term reduces motivation. It gets awfully hot and humid in Pittsburgh in July/August, and with nobody in the stands, the team going nowhere, a player on a guaranteed salary’s thoughts turn to the young lady sitting in seat 42, aisle 12.
Just so long as he’s not turning his attention to 13 year old fans like a certain former closer.
Great. Another year of striking out every time
When they sign a long-term contract, they should ban these players from playing winter ball. Even though the sabermetrics and algorithms clearly state he is a below-average player as evidenced by his WAR, he should be spending time with the computer team to learn how to get his WAR and UZR and other statistics up, instead of playing winter ball which only produces old-fashioned statistics.
The club has the ultimate say on whether or not their players play Fall or Winter ball. I’m sure they wanted Polanco to play, hoping that he’d turn around his production and be in good shape once the season rolls around. It sure didn’t work out that way but I understand why Pitt gave him the green light to do so.
If you follow MLB’s offseason with any regularity, you would know players need to be granted permission from their respective teams to play in winter ball. There have been instances where players’ request were rejected.
I’m a Cub fan but a good Pirates team is good for baseball. Would love to see a narcissistic billionaire buy the team. Best ballpark in MLB
Everyone in Pittsburgh was hoping for Mark Cuban to buy them last time around. Didn’t work out. Got the cheapest owner in sports instead.
Polanco might be a required piece in any Joe Musgrove trade that Pitt works out. While it will most likely lessen the trade return a little bit, it will certainly clear a ton of salary off Pitt’s books and give Polanco the opportunity to rebuild his value with a competitive team.
They should keep him and hope he rebuilds value. Cherington is intent on rebuilding the farm, and tying him to a positive trade piece would tank that. If they truncate the season again and pro-rate salaries, and if he continues to struggle, then they could cut him and absorb the decreased payroll hit.
I am fine with including him in a trade if it will only “lessen” the return a “little bit”.
Now if it will completely destroy the chance of getting anything remotely good, I am not on board with that.
So much for rebuilding any value. Any hand/shoulder injury and you can largely kiss full power for the rest of the year goodbye
That will make it harder for the pirates to trade him lol
Baseball God’s, give the guy a break!
Polanco is starting to turn into Giancarlo Stanton 2.0 all he has to do is sneeze and he’ll break his leg.
Stanton 2.0? Maybe like a reverse benjamin button. He will start hitting 30 some home runs a year, then win a home run title, then turn into a baby.
Anyone get the feeling Polanco is scared of the field? He’s always hurt or something lol
Could he be DFA at this point ? Pirates looking to cut payroll and he is always off the field anyway
Wu-He is under contract for like $14M this year,so,no,they would have to eat it all because no one would claim him.The Pirates would have already done that if they could have.They will have to pay him like $3M next year as a going away present.That is why they are keeping him for now.
He would be cut if the contract were not 11 million in 2021. I am sure they were hoping to get his value up then dump him to anyone.
Before this injury could’ve possibly been traded for a salary dump and get something back in return.
Now they’re stuck, think its too late to buy him out this season, but near a sure thing next off season unless he rocks it in 2021 then a trade could possibly happen for more than just a salary dump.
Such a shame injuries may have completely derailed his career.
He still slides like a little leaguer.