Aug. 24: Polanco went unclaimed on waivers and has been returned to the active roster, Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (via Twitter). He’s not in today’s lineup but remains with the club.
Aug. 22, 8:14pm: Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that, if Polanco goes unclaimed, he will remain with the Pirates. (Twitter link 1, 2 and 3.) This seems to imply that, if Polanco clears waivers, the team will choose not to outright him off the roster. According to Mackey, placing Polanco on waivers was about giving him the chance to play for a contender, if any are interested. Although, speculatively speaking, the notoriously thrifty Pirates would also be delighted to get the $2.4MM off their books, as well as the $3MM buyout on his 2022 option.
7:16pm: The Pirates have placed Gregory Polanco on outright waivers, according to Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. Polanco is playing on a salary of $11.6MM this year, with about $2.4MM of that still to be paid out. Any team claiming him would be responsible for that remaining salary. But if he goes unclaimed, Polanco would be able to elect free agency. At that point, any club could sign him and just pay him the prorated league minimum, with the Pirates being on the hook for the remainder.
Whether he is claimed or not, this seems to be the end of Polanco’s time as a Pirate, an unceremonious conclusion to a relationship that once had such promise for both parties. Originally signed by Pittsburgh in 2009 as a 17-year-old, Polanco debuted in 2014 and, after two solid seasons, showed enough promise that the club agreed to give him a five-year extension, which guaranteed him $35MM, in April of 2016. At the time, Polanco’s line of .249/.316/.369 was nothing outstanding, but it was expected that the 24-year-old would grow into more power and provide more offensive production to pair with his excellent defense and speed. With the team having already extended Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen, it was thought that Polanco could be the third piece of a superb outfield that they could build on for years to come.
For the remainder of the 2016 season and the first two years of the deal, everything seemed to be going in the right direction. Over those three seasons, Polanco hit 56 home runs and stole 37 bases, producing an overall line of .255/.324/.455. That was good enough for a wRC of 105 and 5.3 fWAR. Thanks in no small part to Polanco, the Pirates qualified for the National League Wild Card Game three years in a row, from 2013 to 2015. Unfortunately for both he and the team, it’s been mostly downhill since then. In September of 2018, Polanco underwent surgery for a dislocated shoulder and hasn’t been able to play at anything approaching that level since.
In 2019, Polanco was only able to get into 42 games and, even when on the field, had his line slide to .242/.301/.425, a wRC+ of 87. With the shoulder issues still ailing him, Polanco went on the IL June 22nd and didn’t make it back on the field for the rest of the year. Polanco returned in 2020 but saw his numbers slip even farther, to a dismal line of .153/.214/.325 during the COVID-shortened season. That amounted to a wRC+ of 41.
This year, Polanco has bounced back from that nadir, but only slightly. In 101 games, he has put up a line of .198/.277/.343, which adds up to a wRC+ of 67. With the Pirates sitting on a record of 44-80 and firmly into rebuild mode, it seems they wanted to allocate Polanco’s playing time over the season’s final weeks to players who will be auditioning to be part of the club’s future plans.
Polanco now seems destined to move on from the only organization he’s ever known. Despite three straight disappointing seasons, he won’t be turning 30 until next month, meaning there’s potentially plenty of time for him to turn things around and re-energize his career. However, it may be hard for him to get a lengthy opportunity to do so this year. Competing teams will be giving playing time to players with a more recent track record of success, whereas rebuilding team will want to use that time to showcase younger building blocks, as the Pirates are doing now.
Wow!
I have to believe SOME team will take a flyer on him.
Yep. Once the Pirates are on the hook for all but the pro rated league minimum.
Yankees… maybe?
I don’t get this. He’s terrible. The worst team in the NL only held on to him this long cuz they had to pay him. Why on earth would you think anyone would want him? There’s got to be a hundred AAAA guys anyone could pick up much more likely to be better than Polanco at this point.
Its Monday. He’s in the lineup. Wtf? Please somebody explain
Yeah, what team wouldn’t JUMP at the chance to grab a player with a wRC of 67?
Buckner, you gotta believe
Only after he clears waivers, and Pirates outright release him. Just like the Pujois deal with Dodgers. No one is going to pay $2.4 mil for 38 games! It’s possible someone would pay him the minimum $133K for 38 games.
Why?
A team did. Pittsburgh. He started and went 0-4 with 3Ks tonight.
One of the biggest change of scenery candidates
So location will transform him into a completely different player?
Will a change of scenery help his ailments? He never recovered from his shoulder & sometimes that’s all she wrote. His mechanics are way off from his injuries, bad habits & lack of confidence creeped in. He would have to strip it all down & start over. JD Martinez is the only player I know who has done it successfully after being cut and sent ti the minors after a lengthy stay in the majors.
Awful ball player
He stinks!
Mediocre trash
If only
Shut your yaps you trolls. Hes been unfortunate in his career with injuries. If eatcrap and dorkdave have ever played any sports(which i doubt), you would know about injuries. So take your crap and crawl back behind the toilet
Trash? Is that really an appropriate description of a baseball player who simply hasn’t lived up to expectations?
Well, he certainly has been since that fluke 2018 season.
Eastdust666 – you have my sympathies.
It’s usually projection. Most people have at least some level of bitterness in their own life.
Someone says a player is “trash” or “garbage” and folks like you just come and try to dunk on them and attack their character lol. He’s not saying the man is a “trash” human being. He’s a fan that’s upset. Get over it bro.
But he’s “mediocre” trash, so I guess that means he’s somewhat ok trash. Apparently there are levels of trash.
Except those tend to be the types of fans who go on to call them things like “bums” and “losers”, who claim they are stealing money from the team, and who vilify them in the same way Steve Bartman was vilified simply for interfering with a borderline foul ball in a game the Cubs fell apart all on their own.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
one man’s trash is another man
Wake up everyone. It’s the 21st century. No one is trash anymore. They are “unwanted refuse.”
I agree, grandpa. Bill Mazeroski’s HOF stats in the 21st Century in comparison to now is very “unwanted refuse”.
Yankees lose! Thaaaa Yankees looooooze!
that idiot troll couldnt carry billy mazs joick strap
About 7 months too late.
It’s the Pirates. Does it matter?
Obviously you dont matter either
Not a surprise. Knew they were going to decline his club option anyways at the end of the season
Someone please take John Mozeliak’s phone and laptop away from him.
It’s already reported, so now it’s to late. It’s only a matter of time…
He is better then some of the players the Cardinals have now, like Carpenter and DeJong. At least, Polanco have a batting average around .250.
Polanco is hitting at .198 clip this season.
so is carpenter… and he cant run and he is making 14 million this season. dejong is way better bc he’s at .204 huh…?
try polanco in a lineup that has more than just reynolds. dude will do something when expectations are lower
Chief, if you’re responding to me, I was simply pointing out to the previous poster that Polanco is hitting 198, not 250.
And Carpenter is making $18.5M, not $14M.
Imagine thinking.250 batting average matters in 2021 at all.
It does. A walk is not always as good as a hit…unless you are more worried about ops than actually scoring runs and winning.
By all accounts, one helluva good guy. Wish he could have found it here. Hope he can live up to the potential someplace else
Why now with just over a month left?
They want a prospect to get at bats. It makes all the sense in the world. Pitt sucks, so find out how their minor leaguers look against MLB talent now. That’s 40 games of evaluation.
2.4 million reasons…….
Huh? They still have to pay him. Also as a 7 year vet they still have to pay him next years 3 million option buyout. That’s a lot of money for the pirates.
They don’t if someone claims him.
Also they hope someone claims him and they get off the hook for his salary. Also better now since he will be eligible to play in the post season should he join a contender.
@fan78——nobody is going to claim him….he will become a free agent and then the team will only have to pick up the prorated league minimum….not that $125K or so is anything to sneeze about but the Pirates will probably have to pay his replacement the same.
@mlbfan78. Depoto will claim him; Jerry claims everyone.
Zero chance
Thanks for the name copy. Appreciate it smart one
Good riddance.
Don’t know if they want him or have a need, but making a random guess…he signs with the A’s because Marte is there.
There was a time this may have been news
I could see the Mariners scoop him up
See my post above. Depoto claims everyone
No team will pick up $2.4 million of salary for a player who is a remarkable -3.1 bWAR for 2019-21. Polanco is simply one of the worst players in baseball, a guy with NO positives. Somebody might take a flyer on him at the prorated minimum, but even that’s a little hard to believe. The Pirates, an organization that can’t afford to waste a dime, flushed away a ridiculous amount of money on Polanco.
They can afford to spend and waste, Huntington just chooses not to. But they could afford to waste that amount every year is their owner gave a damn.
Huntington was fired 2 years ago. Maybe learn what you’re talking about before you comment.
My apologies. nutting is cheap af. Nutting Huntington it was kinda similar and messed with me at the moment.
Real idiot
No positives?
14 SB’s and 36BB(10% rate).
Well, that’s how it is for the most part.
Polanco’s got 20 steals over the past three years. Big whoop. With the three caught stealings thrown in, the handfull of steals meant nothing to the bottom line for the Pirates.
He’s also got a 2.7-to-1 K-to-BB ratio this season, which is even worse that the 2.4-to-1 ratio for his career. If he was providing any power, the ratio might be somewhat acceptable. But over the past two seasons his SLG numbers are .325 and .343. Babe Ruth, right?
Wins above replacement are sometimes questionable but not with this guy. He is simply of the worst players in baseball. The Pirates lavished more the 700 plate appearances and 26 million dollars on him the last three years and got absolutely nothing in return.
-1.5 WAR. What is the point of stealing bases if you can’t get on them?
Would a team claiming him not also be responsible for $3M buyout of 2022 option?
Saw his lazy attempt at Goldschmidt’s liner yesterday. The final straw?
That was really bad.
pirates were going for a sweep, they dgaf
Anyone talking down on him should realize they’re talking about the league leader in sac flies
If only those were homers…
That’s GOTTA be sarcasm
He seems like he’s been around forever. Crazy that he’s only 29.
If the Yankees don’t grab him, I’ll freak!!!
You a Red Sox or Rays fan?
Due to the fact that the August waiver trade period no longer exists I think somebody in the pennant race will take a chance on picking him up hoping a change of scenery in a better lineup gets him playing better baseball.
If Polanco is an improvement to your MLB roster then by definition you’re not in a pennant race.
@studwinfield not sure how accurate your assessment is, but your wording gave me my first belly laugh of the day and for that I thank you….
I don’t get this change of scenery thing. He’s been terrible for years. Enough already.
pitt has been terrible for years. ENOUGH ALREADY
Your point being?
He just needs to go to a team to help ignite his passion again. When your on a team that continues to lose its hard to improve when you lose interest in your craft. Also a team that doesn’t have structure flaws either. Examples would be Angles, Mets, Orioles, Rangers. Braves, Giants, Reds, Astros, Red Sox, and White Sox would be great fits for him as a player. For the money that’s a different story.
Dodgers will pick him up. Damn he hits about 75 points higher then bellinger. Lol
Yep, Dodgers will take a flyer on him. They have been claiming
everyone else.
I hope he plays in the next Giants-Dodgers series.
On another note Bellinger has been watching Brandon Belt’s swing to much. Either they swing at the high pitch they can’t hit or the try and golf the inside sliders they are seeing or not seeing. Belt keeps his hands to close to his body.
You know this would be a an interesting pick up for the Brewers with Taylor out for a month .
But they have Jackie Bradley Jr..’s awesome bat!
An early extension that didn’t work out to the team’s benefit. Interesting. He will get a job somewhere, but I’d be surprised if anyone took him off waivers. And he’ll get chances next year–maybe with a stripped down/tanking club taking a low salary gamble on picking up a trading chip.
The guy was a great talent until he made the infamous slide into second base. Messed up shoulder shortened hid career. Good luck Gregory
This is where the new rules of no waiver trade deadline hurt the Pirates as years before they might been able to find a team to take him had they pay a lot of his contract down. Also the new rules hurt Polanco as years before some team would have grabbed him and brought him up when the 40 rooster in September was allowed but now teams only allowed to more spots in September so most teams won’t be wanting Polanco
The Pirates being the Pirates hurts the Pirates.
Snd you being an idiot makes all the morons look smart
No one is interested in trading for a negative 1.5 (!!!!) player. No one.
no one is trading. trade deadline was last month, cosmos. he will be picked up.
I was responding to someone else’s suggestion. But WHY? Why will someone pick him up? Makes no sense whatsoever.
Its kind of an intriguing option for the yankees left handed outfielder it couldn’t hurt they took a chance on odor and he has been good for them.
Was Joey Gallo not enough of a left hitting outfielder for you?
Physical build, position, offensive tools reminds me a lot of Jason Heyward. Problem with Polanco is defensively he’s nowhere near Heyward. So his life span in baseball may only get him one more chance with a new team. If he fails there, he may be in Japan in a couple years.
Marlins? Tigers?, Blue Jays?, Diamondbacks?, Dodgers?
METS PULL THE DAMN TRIGGER
Guessing you’re a Phillies fan because you certainly won’t want this guy anywhere near your lineup.
Holy crap please no!
I feel bad for the guy. Good dude, just never could stay healthy long enough to put something together. Looked like he figured it out in 2018 then that awful slide at the end of the season really ruined him. Imo, that’s what killed any chance he had of continuing what he did in 2018.
I will miss seeing the joy on his face when someone hit a home run or the Pirates won. I don’t think there are many players who showed such excitement.
I agree. Polanco seems like a great guy and a great teammate.
Hopefully when his career ends he can come back to the Pirates in some capacity.
poor dude is the whipping boy of all Pirates fans it would seem
If he wasn’t the laziest player on the team, he tried hard to convince everyone that he was.
lol i mean it IS the pirates……
If you werent the dumbest troll. You sure did just prove it
At this point, Bucs are looking to move the salary. Mets should put in a claim and see what happens.
Why? He’s miles more terrible than anything they already have. Like, are people here actually bothering to look at his stats?!
If what Jason Mackey says is true this is just a cruel hoax by the Pirates because i can’t see anyone claim Polanco at over $2 million dollars
A year and a half late. This is unfortunately the risk small market teams face when they lock up young talent. If they’d have let him go 3 years ago, you’d hear “The Pirates never keep anyone. They don’t want to win”. Rewind and you’ll see they actually locked up their entire outfield with Cutch and Marte as well and somewhat rode out the deals.
At this point, the Pirates will be scratching to have a 40M payroll next season. They need about 5 starting pitchers and 5 hitters to compete but they have to spend some money. I think they need to call up teams and take on salaries for prospects. Look at Hosmer, Aaron Hicks, Strasburg/Corbin, and see if you can take on their entire deals.
Blow it out your hole you idiot. Dumbest post yet
He can reunite with Starling Marte in Oakland!
A’s DO have an insane obsession with lefty OFers….
And roiders
“Competing teams will be giving playing time to players with a more recent track record of success, whereas rebuilding team [sic] will want to use that time to showcase younger building blocks, as the Pirates are doing now.”
Why did it take this long for the Pirates to cut Polanco? Did they think a baseball miracle was upon them and he would lead the Bucs to a fourth-place finish?
Based on all of the smart moves Cherington has made, the guess here is he was overruled on cutting Polanco because somebody didn’t want to pay money to a person who was cut.
How’d that work out for ya, Bob?
Unfortunately, as bad as this sounds, they really didn’t have many other options. Gamel is a clear upgrade but plays other positions as well, and they rotated through other career backups who hit even worse. He had the second most home runs on the team. They need a lot of young talent to pan out,. Baltimore and Detroit have some ok young players in the lineup, the Pirates just need to have a breakout aside from Reynolds.
Sorry,,need 5 0r 6 more position players. Only the Cubs have a worse lineup right now! I hear your minors at High A and AA stating to look good!
Sorry to see him go! His nickname was Slim Whitman ,because his last name sounds like the bird in the Sky song! Now I have to come up with a new gig song when the brewers play the Pirates. I guess I can sing what do you do with a drunken sailor a few times a game!
Uwp sing IM SO LONESOME. I HOPE I DIE. THEN DO IT. ANOTHER IDIOT TROLL
Is that a Slim Whitman song? A little humor is what I take out of baseball! Some of us Seniors still love Life. Jesus loves you!
Hello San Francisco!
I think the Pirates might believe there is still an August waiver trade deadline. This seems like a move from a couple years ago.
It oddly feels like 2009 when the Blue Jays put Alex Rios on waivers and the White Sox just straight claimed him and the remaining $33 million of his salary over the next three season, Toronto getting no compensation in return other than salary relief. However, Polanco is no Alex Rios
brewers could take a flyer… losing tyrone taylor for 3-4 opens a spot for a 5th outfielder… plus having some competition with recent signee david dahl can’t be bad…
Or they could just sign or promote literally anyone else. I don’t get this. Is it name recognition? There is nothing about this guy that says legitimate ball player. He’s a game and a half below replacement level. Let that sink in.
By all accounts Polanco worked quite hard to try to improve after his injury and is also a good guy in the locker room. That has to count for something. He was just never the same after the shoulder injury.
way to tell his age. i’m certainly glad you didn’t say, like some writers here, he’s still only 29.
Polanco is physically shot. Clearly his shoulder has never fully recovered from the worst slide in MLB history back in 2018. Can’t throw anymore. Was never good at catching the ball. And he just had his first xbh of August on Saturday. I can’t see any contender taking a flyer on him even for prorated league minimum.
He is average at best. Never hit higher than .258 .. never stole 20 based , 2 seasons with decent power numbers .,, I always thought he was way overhyped from the start …. He’s boring and a dime a dozen
He stole 27 bases in 2015.
Polanco does nothing even remotely well. He does not deserve a spot on an MLB roster, that’s the point. About once a week he fails to make a play in such a spectacular way that you wonder if he has ever played baseball before . Terrible routes on fly balls, seemingly no instincts, inability to slide or throw-just terrible.
This is really ridiculous. I gotta question what the heck sport folks that think he’s worth picking up are watching. There’s like twenty Billy McKinney types out there you could sign over this guy. Promote your scrub AAA right fielder… anything is better than what this guy has become.
So true. I can’t imagine any contender being desperate enough to even take him at the prorated league minimum. PLUS, what are the odds he’d even make it through 38 games without landing on the IL?
Who actually knew what nadir meant? I’ve never seen that word in my life and the writer used it twice…
You should read more books. Any genre.
Jason Heyward needs to be next
matt carpenter
I thought most players on non contender teams with big contracts are placed in wavers. There isn’t any news on them because no transactions ever happen
That was back when there were revocable waivers from August 1 to he end of the season. Players needed to clear revocable waivers to be traded. Now, there are no trades after the deadline other than of players not on the 40-man roster who had not played in the majors earlier in the season (e.g.: players who were outrighted) so the revocable waivers, on which most players (not just those with big contracts) would be placed, no longer exists.
seems like a generally good guy that works hard. sadly after the mass of injuries he just never seemed the same.
There was a video of his work out routine and i got tired just watching it.
maybe he needs to work more on the baseball side, instead of the muscle side
Who is the most senior pirate if he leaves? Brault?
Brault and Stallings.
He was a fun player to watch try and play outfield. Provided Some of the all time most hilarious gaffes.
I would take him as a bench player for the league minimum. He is a decent baserunner and can hit the ball out of the ballpark still. Clearly not an every day player. Honestly, think he would be a decent AL bench player more so than NL. This was bottom line Bob’s last attempt to recoup 5 million for him. Hope to see that sucker eat that 5 million instead. TIGHTWAD
Funny, he is in the line-up tonight. Guess we should wait for the official announcements instead of a rumor.
Why no retraction or explanation from MLBTR? They’re getting as bad as ESPN; throw it out there, no facts or corroboration, & if they’re wrong, no big deal.
They put him on waivers but aren’t booting him off the 40-man. I’ve honestly never seen this. No team was ever claiming him for his full salary. This “charade” could have been done months/years ago with Polanco. Nobody wants this guy for the salary he makes. If he gets booted off the 40-man, no team would claim him for the pro-rated league minimum. He’s just that bad
I think your mostly right but if they release him I’m sure someone will pick him up for league minimum as a bench option.
“Play for a contender” – right.
Odd how that works… He can go through waivers unclaimed then still remain on the active roster. I suppose the Pirates are still responsible for next year’s buyout, too.
I mean, that’s how it should work. Otherwise teams would be able to get out of these contracts, penalty free.
I hope he can show something at the end of the year and find a role somewhere next year. He’s a great teammate but couldn’t ever get past the injuries.
Yes, I am a little confused by this too. What was the point then? Perhaps to see if someone would take him?
Teams used to put practically every player on waivers in august just to see what kind of interest there was. Of course that is when teams were able to make waiver trades. Either the Pirates were hoping someone would take Polanco off their hands or Cherington forgot there are no more august trades
He’s not part of the future. Why not cut ties at this point?
Because Nutting will make Polanco will ‘earn’ every penny, with his collective -3 WAR over the past few seasons. I’m sure someone in the front office has tried to explain to Nutting that literally anyone would be better than Polanco, but Nutting sees that as paying two players when he can just pay Polanco. Nutting isn’t the worst owner in sports, but he is the cheapest.
This is peak Nutting.
Dude is so bad, they will give him away for free.
BUT, they will keep him in their lineup rather than pay even a league minimum salary on tops of his in order to replace him.
No surprise. Nobody was going to take on that amount of payroll for one of the worst players in baseball. The Pirates will just have to eat the contract.
He’s Back! Can resume singing Uno Nomer Planco every time he bats! Slim Whitman returns!
How could he help a contender?