TODAY: The Pirates have officially added Stephenson to their active roster, with JT Brubaker headed to the paternity list in the corresponding move.
AUGUST 27: The Pirates have claimed right-hander Robert Stephenson off waivers from the Rockies. Infielder Kevin Padlo was designated for assignment in the corresponding 40-man roster move, and the Pirates will make another move on their active roster when Stephenson joins the team.
Stephenson was DFA’ed by Colorado earlier this week, and didn’t last long on the waiver wire before the Pirates snatched him up. It isn’t surprising to see the Bucs take a chance on a live arm who has some of the highest velocity of any pitcher in baseball, and Stephenson was also a former top prospect for the division-rival Reds during his minor league career.
That early promise led to some good results as a reliever in 2019 and 2021, but this season has been a struggle for the right-hander. Stephenson has a 6.04 ERA over 44 2/3 innings, due to a below-average 18.8% strikeout rate and a lot of hard contact allowed. As fast (97mph) as Stephenson’s average four-seamer may be, batters have hit .379 against the pitch.
If Pittsburgh’s coaching staff can get Stephenson back to his 2021 form, he’ll be a nice bullpen addition for the Pirates both for the remainder of this season and in 2023, as Stephenson still has a third and final season of arbitration eligibility remaining. The righty is out of minor league options, so the Pirates would have a DFA decision to make of their own if they wanted to move Stephenson to the minors and off their 40-man roster.
Padlo is no stranger to the DFA carousel, as he has now been designated for assignment for the fifth time in a little over a year. The Mariners claimed Padlo off waivers from the Rays in August 2021, starting a cycle that has been Padlo go from Seattle to the Giants, back to the Mariners, and then to Pittsburgh earlier this month when the Bucs claimed Padlo away from the M’s.
All of the movement has resulted in only 34 Major League plate appearances for Padlo this season (split over the Pirates, Mariners, and Giants), but he has performed well over 278 Triple-A PA. The infielder has hit .270/.345/.484 with 12 homers and 13 doubles at the highest minor league level, continuing what has been a solid set of career Triple-A numbers.
Between that production and Padlo’s versatility as a third baseman who can be moved around the infield and into left field, it isn’t hard to see why teams keep having interest in Padlo, even if that interest has yet to manifest itself into a regular MLB job. As such, it seems quite possible that another club might claim Padlo away from the Pirates.
Dumpster diving again, brought to you by the cheapest ownership in baseball
Let’s not DFA Van Meter though, his versatility is beyond any player’s ability on the Pirates roster
He is really versatile.
Watch out Zaidi will be on prowl for Padlo (again). Lol
I like it, but I would have loved it if JVM was DFA’d over Padlo.
I like it too, but for a different reason. I am just happy I don’t have to see Stephenson come in and give up a run or two EVERY GAME. I hope he works for you.
He has a really good slider though. This year, he’s held oppponents to a batting average below the mendoza line and a wOBA below .300 with the offering. He has a higher whiff and K% than Clayton Kershaw, Gerrit Cole, or Shohei Othani have with their sliders. It’s no concidence that his best season was arguably 2019 when he used his slider nearly 60% of the time. That’s the pitch he needs to make his primary offering. His four-seamer has good velocity and spin rate, but consistently gets bad results. Maybe it’s time to try a two-seamer/sinker? It’s worked relatively well for Keller, Brubaker, and Wilson.
I watched every game he pitched in this year. I’ll take Cole, Kershaw, and Ohtani over Stephenson. Besides, what good does it do to strike out the side if you give up 2 runs in between the first K and the last one? All I can say is good luck to you.
The point wasn’t to say that Stephenson is just as good as Cole, Ohtani, or Kershaw. Just that Stephenson’s slider has been just as effective as their’s. .179 BA and .290 wOBA against it is tied with Ohtani in BA against sliders, and his wOBA against his slider is better than Nestor Cortes. He’s only given up seven XBH with his slider. He’s given up 18 with his fastball. Again, that’s not to say he’ll automatically figure it out. But his slider is really freaking good.
That can be a deceiving stat also. If you throw a fastball that is easy to hit and a slider that is more difficult to hit, batters tend to go up there looking fastball. Sometimes that can lead to early swings and poor results for hitters. So the number of hits given up may be more of a case of hitters preferring to hit his easier pitch to see.
What happened with Shelton’s claim that they were going to bring up prospects, while disposing of veterans after the trade deadline?
They need a first baseman, Martin strikes out alot but so does every player on the active roster
His velocity is extremely overrated because it is basically a straight line pitch. There is very little movement and 97 is hitting speed for most big league hitters.
He’s a healthy arm, that’s all that matters to this manager
By the way, Beede is horrible as a starter and the Bucs are going to get crushed again tonight
So you are willing to make that big time prediction that they will get crushed tonight? Well done.
Tonites pirate announcer said this pitcher for philly is looking like bob gibson. Every pitcher looks like bob gibson against this pathetic lineup. The pirate management top to bottom should be embarassed to cash their paychecks.
What does it say when two former big leaguers, Eckersley and then Kruk, cross the thin red line on their team’s broadcast and castigate an opponent as basically being amateurs? Speaks volumes about where the Pirates are. Something you never hear
The Pirates are the worst team in baseball.
Cherington will have another shot at making good on the first draft choice.
Jed Clampitt said it best.
Pitiful,pitiful
I didn’t expect it, but I agree with your comments, MendozaLine. A month ago, I said it was difficult to watch this team. Now, it’s completely impossible. The regression here is shocking, to say the least
But hey, let’s add another hard throwing guy who loves dead red. At least Keller will have a friend
Tired-I was thinking of you when I wrote the post.
It is sad for both of us and other Pirate fans.
As you are aware I try to stay away from being negative just to rant but I have lost all hope.They have needed drastic changes and I hope that the Club President sees it as he is almost disassociated with the team in certain respects.For all the Nutting haters that there are I cannot believe that he is any way happy either.
Managers are fairly easily interchangeable but I think that you have to give GM’s 4-5 yearsIt is inconceivable to me that BC would give Shelton a thumbs up two weeks ago when he did not have to do so.This means that he would have to be overruled to fire Shelton but that is what it is going to take to get this team to realize that they are in the MLs and they have to start producing.
How would a guy like Brian Reynolds even consider staying here with this mess going on.
I had real hopes that after the Brewer series sweep that they could reach my goal of 71 games won which would show real improvement from last year.Since then they have been below replacement level play.
It seems like BC might be thinking that moves like this Padlo Stephenson one can hide the problems.It is like putting lipstick on a pig.
The reason that I thought of you is that we both had developed hopes for progress this year.It came in dribs and drabs.They were 24-28 at one point and then have not won 24 games since.This is a typical Pirate disastrous second half just like 2011 and 2012 and 2019.
What I have done is given up so I do not invest any more energy into them.You may want to consider doing the same thing.
All Nutting cares about is his bottom line and anyone who believes otherwise isn’t paying attention
He turns a healthy profit every year thanks to other teams paying their share of the luxury tax.
Last year The Athletic wrote an article describing this very fact.
Until MLB demands Nutting increase payroll and put a competitive team on the field, we’re going to be stuck in perpetual rebuilding mode
Shelton and his entire coaching staff needs to go.
What significant improvements has Oscar Moran made with this pitching staff? They haven’t had a good pitching coach since Ray Miller
Andy Haines has been a complete failure as the hitting coach as well. Shelton’s background was as an assistant hitting coach
By the way, the team added to their MLB worst in batting strike outs last night, reaching double digits again with 12.
I know you believe I am always negative Mendoza, but show me one aspect of this team I should feel positive about?
All of what you write is true, in my book. The thing that gets me here is the perceived “process” that involved bringing the kids up and playing them
Simply put, you wish to see learning going on. Improvement. Refinement. New techniques being brought on through instruction over the long haul
And you’ve seen none of that here
On one hand, I question the idea of player development at the organizational level and with the majors level itself. But on the other, I’m beginning to think scouts have provided a great deal of hype regarding the Pirates farm system
I’ve been around too many years and seen too many prospects to think anyone here is going to rival some of the guys who eventually became stars or at least solid mlb players after coming through the system
Maybe the true stars of the future have yet to make it here. Maybe the guys who are already here are still green and overmatched for the moment.
Right now, it’s hard to delineate between a team full of castoffs and a bunch of average young guys who look like a college team, as Kruk said on the Phillies broadcast
I’m still wondering how anyone thought this group was going to contend quickly
Cole Tucker #1 draft pick
Tony Sanchez #1 draft pick
Will Craig #1 draft pick
All duds when they were promoted to the majors and all drafted under a different regime
Henry Davis was Cherington’s #1 draft pick that holds a lot of potential, question is when he’ll be promoted to the majors.
Knowing Nutting’s penchant for not promoting players too early to count as a full year and arbitration eligible he may not arrive next year.
I just don’t trust this organization to make any adjustments to put a competitive team on the field any time soon
I think you have to question the scouting and player development areas that continue within the organization
The last regime will forever be remembered for failing specifically in regards to the latter. I mean, Polanco looked the real deal as a bright eyed farm prospect. Cole, Morton, Glasnow and numerous others seemingly learned how to be complete pitchers once they left the organization.
Look, I don’t want to go back to the 70’s or even with the Bonds-era to discuss how prospects mature, but one look around the majors today—to places like Baltimore—and compare. Something has been amiss here
Hope a year from now, my concerns are looked back upon as being laughable
MLB does not care. They and every other team in MLB does not care about other small market teams and overall competitiveness of the league.Overall league profit is what counts, not a competitive league. ” THE HAVE” teams were upset that some “have” teams got to play more terrible small market bottom dwellers late in the season when playoff spots are on the line. What did MLB do? Nothing to make ALL TEAMS COMPETITIVE such as what the NFL has. WHAT MLB DID FOR 2023 IS CHANGE THE SCHEDULE SO ALL THE HAVES HAVE AN EQUAL CHANCE PLAYING THE BOTTOM DWELLERS. They are selling that BS by saying fans get to see all the major league players. BULLS–T!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE MLB —- FIX THE FRIGGIN LEAGUE.
The final straw for me with our Pirates was when a routine grounder went through Van Meter’s legs the other day. At least Bill Buckner had an excuse with bad knees. I saw no merit in signing him and unfortunately I was correct.
The GM has traded away anyone with value and in return many of the players we have received are AAA or AAAA players.
I thought of our manager while I watched the Little League World Series yesterday. Someone once commented that this is how he manages when he sends up a pinch hitter who can’t hit for someone who can so he can get everyone in the game.
Some of our pitchers have made progress this year but most of our hitters are around .200. Looking at the Indy lineup a few days ago I saw the same thing, a lot of .200 hitters. No way they can play at the Major League level.
I agree Nutting can’t be happy with this team until he looks at his checkbook and says well at least I’m making a lot of money with this low payroll.
Know-But with all due respect you and I know that that is not going to happen so your name is apt if you believe that it will.
The only area that has improved is the pitching which in my opinion has improved to a level where they could have won 71 games with much better hitting and managing and over the last month general managing.
It may surprise you but we do not disagree greatly on most things.
I agree, Mendoza, at least with their starting pitchers.
Underwood has a habit of allowing runs in his limited innings, ( today was an exception), Crowe has several blown save opportunities that became losses, however DeJong has been a pleasant surprise
Brubaker is in my opinion, the hardest luck starter, pitching very well and good enough to earn more wins, if the offense had produced
Have to disagree here and say it’s a mixed bag, if anything. That is, I see some improvement in Brubaker and signs that maybe someone is teaching Keller that living dead red doesn’t equate to success here, but Thompson? Wilson? I haven’t seen improvement unless we are talking 1 good start for every 4
I like the upside of Contreras if he can master off speed and spin pitches
But overall, jeez, this is their staff?
I guess that’s quite applicable to many fans. I’m thinking many in our generation lost the emotional attachment either when the drug scandal hit or more likely, when the big money contracts killed the idea of loyalty with guys like Bonds, Bonilla and Drebek leaving town. Hell, even the “legend” Leyland didn’t want to stick around for a rebuild
I’m speaking for myself here, but I love the park and the game. I’d love to see the local team with “Pittsburgh” emblazoned on their chests do well
But truthfully, that’s where the allegiance ends. They killed anything more long ago
I have the same hope, Tired, but if Shelton and his coaching staff are still employed next year, it will be a long 6 months
Guy stinks. They are just limping to the finish line though so who cares.
I care, though my options seem to make me appear negative,
After last year, and I think I can speak for most here, I expected substantial improvement.
Instead, they’re close to hitting rock bottom
You probably care too much.
But that is your prerogative.
thanks for your approval
I wasn’t asking for approval.I just know with baseball,especially for someone who had season tickets for thirty years,you can become emotionally attached to a team to a great degree.That is what I meant by that post.
“ if the Pirates pitching staff can get Stephenson back to his 2021 form …..”
Have these writers been paying attention?
The pitching staff can’t do anything for anyone
I knew it couldn’t last more than 1 game, Underwood not giving up a run and Crowe not blowing yet another save