There is plenty of opportunity for hurlers to win jobs on the rebuilding Pirates’ pitching staff, and The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel (subscription required) breaks down the full list of arms in Pittsburgh’s Spring Training camp. This isn’t to say that the Bucs are entirely done making moves, however, as Biertempfel names Richard Rodriguez the “Pirates reliever most likely to be traded this spring.”
Since signing with Pittsburgh prior to the 2018 season, Rodriguez has posted very strong numbers — a 3.02 ERA, and an above-average 28.16K% and 7.15BB% over 158 relief innings. Home runs have been an issue (1.3 HR/9) and Rodriguez’s hard-contact numbers were among the worst in baseball last season, though he also has some elite (96th percentile) fastball spin. Rodriguez turns 31 in March, but he is controlled through the 2023 season via arbitration, and is set to earn a modest $1.7MM this season. There hasn’t been any public trade speculation about Rodriguez during the offseason to date, yet considering how the Pirates are open to discussing virtually player in the organization, it seems likely some teams have already been in touch about Rodriguez. More talks could develop as Spring Training continues and clubs get a clearer sense of their bullpen needs.
Some more items from around the NL Central…
- Matt Carpenter will not be spending time in the outfield this season, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt told Jeff Jones of the Belleville News (Twitter link) and other reports. Now that Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt are entrenched at Carpenter’s usual corner infield positions, there has been some speculation that the Cardinals could look for other ways to get his bat in the lineup. Since the outfield is a non-starter for Carpenter and NL teams won’t have a designated hitter spot, this leaves either a second base platoon with Tommy Edman or bench duty for the 35-year-old Carpenter. The three-time All-Star has seen a steep decline at the plate over the past two seasons, and 2021 looms as Carpenter’s final year in St. Louis — the Cardinals have an $18.5MM club option for 2022 that seems almost sure to be bought out unless Carpenter has a major rebound.
- Kyle Farmer was keeping one eye on baseball Twitter this offseason to see if the Reds would sign a shortstop, he told the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale and other reporters, since Farmer was preparing to take a shot at the position himself. After playing just one game at shortstop over his first three seasons, Farmer made 15 appearances as a shortstop in 2020, and still remains in the mix for at least semi-regular work among a group that also includes Kyle Holder, Dee Strange-Gordon, and Max Schrock. (Jose Garcia is one of the few pure shortstops on the roster, though he is set to begin the season in the minors.) Farmer lost 10 pounds and overhauled his swing this offseason in his bid to prove himself worthy of regular playing time, though his multi-position versatility already makes him a strong candidate for a roster spot.
Matt Carpenter will get a game or two a month backing up the corners plus pinch hitting. I think his option is a vesting option on plate appearances that the Cardinals don’t want so it all works out.
He’ll back up a corner, but it’ll be more than a game or 2 a month. Probably closer to 6-8. I doubt he will play more than a handful of games at 2nd this year
Carpenter would most likely be a bigger defensive liability than Jose Martinez was in the outfield. He will be splitting time at second with Eddy, and pinch hitting. The Cardinals have to many young outfielders that have been needing a shot for 2 years now.
Talk about a defensive liability, Carpenter at 2nd.
Right, DH is the best place for him if your going to play him. Kolten Wong was the best option, but anywhere you play Carpenter you have a much better option. Displacing Gold glove Tyler O’Neil doesn’t makes sense, Lane Thomas is better than Carp, and no way your gonna sub Bader, or Carlson for Carpenter, so naturally by default pinch hitting or a spot start at second to keep both players fresh makes the most sense and I’m Sure Mike Shildt agrees like the damn article said.
If he magically starts hitting again I’m sure they can play him at 2nd and move Edman to the OF. I doubt they’re going to find above-average production at all 3 OF spots this year.
i can see him getting semi-regular at bats cycling thorough the infield if his bat can see life again (really hope it dose but i’m not banking on it)
DH is also a poor option for Carpenter. He can’t hit anymore. The guy simply can’t do anything anymore. He is wasted space on the roster. What happened to this guy? Cut him loose is THE best option.
He still hits enough to be a decent pinch-hitter over most of the other options the Cardinals have, but yeah his days as a starter or even platoon player are likely over. I still have no idea why the Cardinals played him over Brad Miller as starting DH in the playoffs last season.
There is no NL DH this year, so Carpenter is a $20 million PH & back up basically. Loyalty is great; but stupid at that lofty price.
You just lose $18 million then.
No, he won’t be “splitting time.” He’ll be giving Edman the “occasional day off.” Ditto with Goldy and Arenado. As bad as Carp was last year, the team does NOT want him to get 55o ABs, per Four.
He would have to have like 800 PA to vest no way he gets there.
BRef says: $18.5M Vesting Option, $2M Buyout Option vests with 1100 PA total in 2020-21 and 550 PA in 2021.
Now, how the 2020 plate appearances prorate, I dunno, but you’re dead on otherwise. The team does NOT want him to have 550 PAs this year, barring a miracle out of him in spring training.
Bruh who is max schrock. Is he even on the Reds
made his debut with the Cardinals last year when the team had a Corona wave hit them. came over to Cincy as a waiver claim from Cubs a few weeks back
Was the last part of the Stephen Piscotty Mercy trade to Oakland. Schrock had some good years in the minors from 2015-2017?
Originally from Oakland in the piscotty deal
Nats originally traded away Schrock for Scrabble.
Didn’t realize that….dude’s been around
Good luck trading a reliever after the deepest free agent class ever.
Can never have too much pitching
Pitchers go down with injuries every season. It may not be in spring training but I can see Rodriguez traded in the first 1/3 of the season when teams start seeing their relief staffs thinned by injury.
I don’t think many teams would be disinterested in a controllable reliever with solid stuff, plus there are still plenty of potential contenders with bullpen needs. There aren’t exactly a lot of reliable relief arms out there either.
with how pitching staves around baseball are going to be strained i see pitching being a big trade chips. also on that note kids with options are going to be worth gold this season
His first half dozen appearances or so, I kept thinking that Richard Rodriguez was a serial killer, but evidently I was thinking of Richard Ramirez.
The Serial Killer is a still a pretty solid nickname for a reliever, though.
And an idiot is a good name for whomthejoshbelltrolls
It may be better to hold onto Rich-Rod until the deadline. Seems like relievers are at a high demand then and if he can prove he can handle higher leverage situations more often, then his value will go up.
What’s up with those hard contact numbers?
I’m not too worried about them because he’s been able to sustain success with those hard contact numbers consistently. If it was a one year spike, I’d be worried, but he’s had those his entire career.
I think part of it was a small sample size. When you look at his hard hit rate and exit velocity compared to the 2 years prior, they’re much lower than compared to 2020.
When I looked him up on Baseball Savant he reminded me of Chad Greene. They’re a little different from one another. Greene throws a little harder but Rodriguez appears to have a little better slider.
Although they are both essentially one pitch pitchers. I know Greene does & it looks like Rodriguez also relies on throwing high spin rate four seamers up in the zone as their bread & butter.
Greene, Rodriguez, Wilson, & O’Day would be formidable set up.
Loaisiga & Kriske for Rodriguez. This is an overpay by the Yankees according to BTV by almost 3MM. Plus Kriske. Who’s pretty generic. Yanks did hold on to him over Holder & Heller, though.
That’s gotta be worth something.
Yanks get an inexpensive proven middle reliever & clean up the, 40 man a little. Pirates get a couple pitching prospects. One that’s relatively valuable.
Disagree, as I don’t see his value ever being higher than it is right now. He’s a good reliever, but he’s seemingly always been prone to bad stretches of dinger-itis that inflate his numbers beyond ultra-desirable status. After a relatively clean 2020, I highly doubt he avoids one of these stretches before he deadline. Plus good relievers on bad teams are a waste, don’t repeat the Vazquez mistake.
You can’t use that as an example of why you should trade your players now. Vazquez had like 4 years of control left after the 2019 season and there’s absolutley no way you could have forseen what would happen. That’s such an outlier of an event that its ridiclious to try and use that as a reason to trade Rich-Rod now.
Rodriguez does have some stretches of dominance and some stretches of struggling, but I really do think that the Rodriguez the Pirates had in 2018 and 2020 is the real Rich-Rod. He completley dropped a sinker he was using some in 2019 and his 2020 pitch usage really resembels his 2018 pitch usage.
It seems lots of folks complain about not signing ‘expensive’ free agents. The other look is simply these tanking teams are offering opportunities to players that simply do not have the better resumes. If they do well they have exposure and will be paid accordingly.
Been saying for a while that Rich Rod will be traded this off-season, and I can seriously see that happening soon.
Still some pretty good relievers left: Greene, Clippard, D-Rob, Chaz Roe, Jeffress, Alvarez.
Might have to wait until those guys are signed. Man. So there were so many good bullpen arms.
As for trade options- there are a ton – but Joely Rodriguez of Texas and (ironically) Richard Rodriguez of Pitt are my two favorite trade pieces right now.
The reliever market has been never ending this year. I think we’ll still have to see most – if not all – of the remaining free agent relief pitchers signed before teams start thinking about trading for one.
Hope Farmer wins the job and breaks out be a feel good 2021 story
Why
Know what would feel good? If he never saw the field. He’s a terrible hitter and mediocre fielder everywhere he plays
Hahahah people who rip on big leaguers like they’ve ever been anything are pathetic
Maybe he’s a reds fan that’s super disappointed in his team ?? Their whole lot of short stops are pathetic! It’s the most star studded and deepest position in mlb right now and reds don’t have a top 50 short stop on their roster and no other than Garcia in their minor league system. And they wouldn’t spend more than league minimum on anyone.
Terribly ran franchise !
Everything is relative, I doubt @joeshmoe was comparing Farmer to himself.
No rush to trade Rodriguez,
If it where me, with his control, i’d hold. see where we are at going up to the break if things are looking up for ’22 then hold him.
But you know as always some one gives a good deal at this point hard to say no.
Agreed Joe W. No rush to trade Rich Rod. Quality reliever under team control thru 2023 and costs $1.7 mil. I’d trade him at 2022 trade deadline. He’ll only bring in a low to mid-level prospect that has perhaps at 25% chance to make it to the major league level and even less chance of being as valuable in the future as Rich Rod is now to the Bucs. I don’t understand why the Bucs would even think about trading this guy now.
Yes id keep Rodriguez. He just has to cut down on giving up home runs. Hes a solid relief pitcher.
Farmer is a stiff. Why would he expect to get a “shot” at any starting position? The Reds are pathetic.
Cardinals just spent the off season trying to get his bat out of the lineup. His poor defense only exceeded by his poor offensive production. I loved Carpenter. But, it’s been a solid 2 years since he has been good hitter.
Carpenter is done. Braun won’t get tons of PT anywhere and had far more to offer
When reds refused to sign one short stop- I assumed it was bc they’d give the youngster Garcia, who started last year, the nod again. Instead before camp start- he’s announced to start in minors. How can u not let him compete for the job again !? Reds should sell, fire all their upper management and replace them w an office full of monkeys. No way they could do any worse
the guy hasnt even played in the high Minors and didnt show well in the Majors last year. its probably better for his development.
Carpenter will be the dugout hype man, the team mascot if you will. Redbirds have a significant senior population on their roster, I hope none of the three wise men break a hip on the field. Nobody does nostalgia like the Redbirds…it feels like the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition was just yesterday.
Pirates are being run like a “Closing Out” store, 50% off and everything must go!
Do you really think that the pirates will contend this year. They are building for the next two years. Just like the Astros did.
Now you sound like a typical western Pennsylvania fan. Most are idiots. Just like the ones who want the Steelers to keep washed up Ben.
It was a joke and I am glad you got sensitive about it. You actually might be that western PA type idiot though
Richard Rodriguez is a good reliever. It says more about the Pirates than him that he is probably going to be expected to do more than he should be doing. He’s an interesting guy to watch. He’ll strike out the first two batters on beautiful and unhittable pitches, then the 3rd will homer. There was one point 2 or 3 seasons ago that he gave up a homer in what seemed like 5 straight appearances.
Carpenter needs to buy a seat cushion
Wow – came to see what folks said about Farmer and ran into anything but.
carpenter can only hit if he leads off. try it