The Pirates have designated infielder Yu Chang for assignment and reinstated fellow infielder Tucupita Marcano from the Covid-related injured list. Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic first pointed out that Marcano was in the clubhouse and that Chang, who is out of minor league options, was collecting his things and likely to be the corresponding roster casualty.
Chang has spent about a month in the Steel City, having been acquired from the Guardians at the end of May. He appeared in 18 games but managed only a .167/.286/.262 line, striking out in 18 of his 49 trips to the plate. That was enough for the Bucs to move on fairly quickly, as manager Derek Shelton has turned to Hoy Park and Josh VanMeter on the right side of the infield over the past few days. Chang is capable of covering all four spots on the dirt, but the Bucs’ left side is spoken for by Oneil Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes.
The 26-year-old Chang was regarded by evaluators as a solid prospect for much of his time climbing the Cleveland farm system. He reached the big leagues in 2019 and has seen sporadic MLB action in each of the past four seasons. He’s posted a meager .204/.268/.359 slash in just more than 400 career plate appearances, striking out at an alarming 29.5% rate in the process. He has rarely had much opportunity for everyday at-bats, however, and he owns a more serviceable .258/.332/.427 mark over parts of four Triple-A seasons.
Within the next week, the Bucs will trade Chang or try to run him through waivers. That Pittsburgh sent cash to Cleveland for him a month ago indicates they believed there was a good chance he’d be claimed off waivers or acquired by another team at the time. Whether that’ll still be the case after another month of struggles remains to be seen, but Chang’s prospect pedigree and affordability could hold some appeal. Any club that acquires him would need to keep him on the active roster or designate him for assignment themselves.
Well, that didn’t work out at all.
Predictably
Yu suck
Everybody Yu Chang tonight!
which explains why he wasn’t used yesterday as a pinch hitter. Didn’t want to run the risk of him getting hurt
Or the more likely scenario where he wouldn’t make contact again.
Idk about the rest if you guys and gals, but I’m really looking forward to the post Chang era of Pirates baseball.
next up, Yoshi then Van Meter
Hope so
With the trade deadline a month away, here’s hoping all the castoffs are sent packing.
No contending team would ever want the Bucs AAAA trash. Just DFA them. The Pirates have actual trade bait in Stratton/Quintana/pitchers who could yield interesting returns
Yeah, agree. Although I think Gamel might hold some value.
Should’ve never been picked up to begin with. The guy is a career hack bum even by Pirates standards.
Off to NPB I assume
He’s from Taiwan dummy not japan
CPBL is more likely since he’s Taiwanese. Guardians have a bit of a history there with several prospects, almost all of which ended up in CPBL after not quite making it.
CC Lee was a reliever who made the bigs briefly but was DFAd in 2015 and went to CPBL where he still plays for the Brothers.
Shao Ching Chiang got all the way up to AAA and was considered a major league depth option in 2018/19, but elected to become a member of the Fubon Guardians after 2020 was wiped out (he had signed a minor league deal with Detroit, but then minor leagues didn’t happen that year)
Kungkuan Giljegiljaw is a catcher originally drafted as Li Jen Chu. The name change itself is a fascinating story, but he also left the org in 2019 and is now a Wei Chuan Dragon.
Chi-Weh Hu is a starter/reliever that was originally with the Rays. He was with the Guardians just in 2019 and left for the Uni-President Lions.
Crazy to think that at one point the Columbus Clippers had Hu, Chang, Chiang, and Giljegiljaw all on the club at the same time.
Lurch has arrived. Cousin It is next.
Not Changstein?
more and more i see of Cruz he isn’t a long term solution at SS.
Well rephrase… with the middle infield talent the bucs have coming up…..
On some other teams… sufficient but likely less than average despite his crazy good arm. They need to get some of their middle infield talent up and trade Newman for whatever you can get.
I like newman but he is a man with out a place now.
I wonder how the rest of the Yu Chang clan feels about the DFA?