The Pirates are outrighting infielder Michael Chavis and outfielder Greg Allen to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to the MLB.com transactions log. Chavis and Allen were both designated for assignment on Monday in order to make room for catcher Jose Godoy and third baseman/left fielder Miguel Andujar, who Pittsburgh recently claimed off waivers from the Yankees.
Chavis was drafted in the first round by the Red Sox in 2014, and was Boston’s second-ranked prospect according to Baseball America before being called up to the big leagues in late April of 2019. He had a strong rookie season in Boston, swatting 18 homers and driving in 58 runs in 95 games. After posting a weak 64 wRC+ in 2020, Chavis bounced between Triple-A Worcester and the Red Sox before being traded to the Pirates for lefty reliever Austin Davis. In 2022, Pittsburgh gave Chavis another chance to play every day. His ability to play first, second, and third base kept him in the lineup, even though he slashed a weak .229/.265/.389. Chavis, age 26, still may have some time to develop into a steady big leaguer yet. His career 37.4% hard hit rate is reason for optimism, though clubs will want to see some improvement in his 31.7% career K% if he is going to get another shot in the big leagues.
Like Chavis, Allen too will have to improve at the plate if he is going to stick in the majors. Originally a Guardians’ sixth rounder, Allen spent parts of the 2017-2020 seasons with Cleveland before being shipped to San Diego as part of the Mike Clevinger package. After a cup of coffee with the Yankees in 2021, Allen was claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh, where he posted a bleak .186/.260/.271 in 46 games with the Pirates in 2022. Though his career wRC+ of 72 leaves a lot to be desired, Allen rates highly as a left fielder and has proven himself a capable base stealer, swiping 21 bags in just 95 games in 2018. Allen, age 30, is arbitration eligible for the first time next season, meaning that he will likely have to demonstrate some marked improvement as a hitter before a club will give him an opportunity.
Now that both Chavis and Allen have accumulated three years of major league service time and are not on a 40-man roster, they can become free agents after the 2022 season.
Dang. Kind of surprised no one took a flyer on Chavis.
First basemen that hit 20% below league average and put up negative defensive numbers every season aren’t that high in demand.
Are you serious Clark?
They kept both Yoshi and VanMeter as firstbasemen for quite some time. I guess they are in demand in the Burgh.
VanMeter was DFA’d after 192 PAs. Tsutsugo got 193 PAs before he was cut. Pittsburgh is just throwing stuff at the wall in the hope that something sticks.
Swing and miss equals higher draft picks.
Not only does the 31% K rate seem low, if you followed him, half or more of his swings and misses were far out of the zone. Personally I liked the way he played but if you ever needed contact in a crucial situation, he wasn’t that guy.
It’s worse than that. He steps into the bucket trying to pull a pitch 6 inches outside. One of his problems is that he is too short to handle a lot of high outside heat. He just doesn’t have the plate coverage. And then trying to pull the same pitch makes it almost impossible.
Pirates survive on the waiver wire like I survive on oxygen. Pitiful.
Fish Monger;
Yes, this is what teams that do a rebuild where they have to not only get players, but rebuild and develop their entire Baseball Ops division – coaching, scouting, analysis, buying an implementing computer systems and business practices. All because they inherited a behind-the-times organization that cannot be turned around in a year.
The Orioles had to do this as well, starting few years earlier. They lived off the waiver wire. Check out the pitchers – both starting and beck-end relief that they got from the waiver wire and developed (a big reason for their success in 2022 and going forward). The Pirates should do so well.
My favorite part of the Orioles’ story is that prior to about 2017, they just didn’t care about international free agents. They had the lowest scouting and development budget for Latin America in the bigs. You know, because that part of the world hasn’t produced like half of the current baseball players.
They hired someone from the Guardians to jump start that program. They’ll start getting prospects coming up from there in the next couple of years.
Phew
Not that I was a big Chavis fan, but the guy was one of their few gamers, a guy who always played hard. Over the course of numerous losing streaks, the “young blue-chippers” all too often looked like zombies in Pirates uniforms. No fire. No pride.
Maybe change the name to the Pittsburgh Zombies? Even if you weren’t a fan, would you buy merch?
The players have to know that they are playing for a franchise uninterested in expending the resources needed to compete. It’s understandable that they are demoralized.
tiredolddude;
Agree. At this point the Pirates ML roster doesn’t have any team leaders. Maybe they thought Reynolds would be one. He’s really not that old, experienced, and established to do that. IMO they missed the boat by not trading him this past offseason or at the deadline. A year of control has been lost. While it’s come clear that he can play CF, he’s not terribly good at it and belongs in a corner. Those were 2 major factors in his trade value. By the time their young pitching is ready to impact the team, Reynolds will be hitting his FA year.
Back to the leadership and on the field play – this is something Mr. Cherington missed. Plus I’ve never been impressed with Derek Shelton. Said it before – he’s “Shapiro Guy”. Someone that all the Ivy league types in the FO’s like and respect, but not so much the players. I know you don’t watch them play, but the Orioles have always played hard under Brendon Hyde – even when they were just starting their rebuild. The Pirates FO and manager have to suck up to Oneil Cruz playing SS because they have nothing else like him at this point to try to get fans like you excited about the future.
Surely in 2 years they’re going to be a much better team. How well they’ll compete in the NL Central at that point considering what the competition will be then is questionable. Can’t shortcut things like team leaders, fundamental play, an atmosphere of doing the little thing properly, playing hard, and expecting to win.
I said earlier this year that this was a very difficult team to watch game in and game out. Between atrocious at bats and defensive brain freezes you don’t see in Pony League play, you just hoped there was learning and instruction taking place
Months later, it’s an impossible team to watch game in and game out. One can’t judge their maturation on beating up on the Reds but rather, how they compete against the big dogs,like the Mets, Yanks and Braves. Not only are their deficiencies evident in such series, their nonchalant approach has been appalling. I’ll say it again….often times when they get behind, there’s no fight. And when they get crushed and you sense other teams and their fans are laughing, well again…..like watching zombies
Agree completely about Reynolds in CF and while media wish to fawn over Cruz and Suwinski, their poor at bats outnumber their homers tenfold
But some wish to embrace the hype, wish to buy the propaganda.
Chavis is better than Andujar
By what measure? Because per baseball reference there isn’t a single stat Chavis has exceeded Andujar in their careers besides RBI.
Chavis has nice hair and seems like a cool guy. For some reason, that makes him a fan favorite in Pittsburgh. He’s Sean Rodriguez version 2.0
Actually, that’s exactly what I see his future as–better suited as a utility guy who can come in from time to time, hit some homers, hit about .230, and be of use to a team that needs a super sub. In fact, just the other day, I had said he reminded me a lot of SeanRod.
Seems like a good guy, hope he catches on somewhere and improves his plate discipline. If he could fix his K/BB ratio, he would be a solid utility man for any team.
Are you talking about Benjamin Chavis and Andújar Cedeño?
Bottom line on Allen is that he can’t hit – never could, so I’d be surprised if any team shows interest.
So there back to triple A with the season over last Wednesday?
They are both “back to Triple A”, but only in the existential sense because (1) the AAA season is over for Indianapolis, and (2) they are both free agents upon conclusion of the MLB season. My guess is that neither of them, you know, actually drove out to Indianapolis this week to put their gear in a locker. Then again, a locker in Indianapolis might be the best that either can expect for 2023.
Got to be humbling to go unclaimed. Makes you realize you’ve got to get better.
And the Bucs still got the better of that Chavis-Davis deal.
Why do scouts keep over rating these prospects? Top organizational prospects getting DFA’d after 3 or 4 years lol
Chavis barely snuck into the top-100. I’d bet that a rising #200 is about as good as the #85.
I expect Allen might be saved from to move to Japan or Korea in offseason by some of the upcoming rule changes. I suspect several teams to keep a base stealing, glove man as last position player to capitalize on a few new rules, like pickoff limits and base size increases.
Amazes me all the old guys who post anti pirates posts. Always bitching, saying they are hard to watch. They follow every game and at and pitch. Makes me wonder about their mental capacity. If you hate something, don’t do it. I’m sure there are plenty of other teams you can follow and bash. Leave the pirates to the true buccos fans.
Also there is a guy who calls all the sports talk shows. Always bitching and moaning about all the pro teams in Pittsburgh. He’s an older fellow…Joe from Verona….I bet he’s a poster here
Buuba ho tep;
I’m an old guy that watches some Pirates games. Don’t live near Pittsburgh. This season I’ve watched a lot of the Orioles, Rays, Astros, Guardians, Phillies, Braves, Mets, Brewers, Angels, Cardinals – via MLB.TV. I don’t watch much of the Pirates – mostly see them when teams I watch play them
Now the White Sox are totally unwatchable. Usually within 15 minutes they’ll boot balls on defense, then throw wildly or drop pop-up’s / fly balls or run themselves out of an inning on the base paths or have wild pitchers or leave runners on 3B with less than 2 out…etc. The Pirates to their credit are not that bad. However…..
The Pirates get cut some slack because they’re in the early stages of a rebuild and most players on the ML team will not be on the ML team in 2-3 years. When one has watched MLB for decades – and maybe even played the sport….on a field with and against people…..not on a computer – it’s sort of second nature to see things. The things I wrote above are what I’ve seen. The best fundamental player on the Pirates is Kevin Newman. He’s better than at least 1/3’rd of the starting SS’s in MLB. But Pirate fans laugh about him and wish him gone. If the Braves lose Dansby Swanson to free agency I don’t doubt that they go after Newman to play SS for them – he’s much like Dansby, and that team can continue to win with him starting at SS.
I happen to agree with you about baseball fans in Pittsburgh – old or young – they need to stop watching the Pirates so closely at this point in their rebuild if it bugs them. For the cost of taking a family of 4 to PNC to see a game (pay to park, eat, souvenirs, etc.,) they can watch their choice of 98% of MLB games for a year – other than the ones the Pirates are in – via the Internet (which can be viewed on a computer monitor or sent to a TV monitor). There are a lot of quality teams out there and life’s too short for a baseball fan living in the Pittsburgh market to be stuck watching the way the Pirates play today.
It’s the Mark Madden effect. People think being constantly whiny and miserable makes them look more like an “intellectual fan”. (Spoiler alert: It doesn’t.)
Buuba-There is a difference between constantly complaining and being negative than being critical.Some posters just have to constantly complain about something.This “rebuild” though has been going on for 3 1/2 years.Good fundamental play was rare this year.Yes there are some talents,and the Pirates did a good job(with one exception) of moving young players up and moving bad players out.The pitching coaching seems a lot better than the hitting coaching.But those of us who have followed the Pirates for many years have seen this before,and you will have to pardon us if we have a jaundiced questioning eye as we do not have rose colored glasses on.I personally think that with the proper training the talented players can become good major league players.It remains to be seen whether that will be with the Pirates or another team.
I’m 67..I’ve been following the pirates since 1965…lean times and great times.
But the more one complains the more the complaining eats at their very being.
Then comes bitching to family and friends…then leading to a very lonely life
Buuba-I have been following them since 1961 and I agree with you about constant complainers.
But there is a difference between them and critical thinkers.
I feel sorry for those who see the world in rose colored glasses because they can lose sense of reality quickly.
As for Mark Madden..he’s nothing but a self proclaimed idiot..just like the two punk morons on 93.7 from 2 to 6. Filliponi and Muller..both arrogant morons
I don’t get it; I do understand the young guys need to play & get a look see, but Chavis at least drove in runs & was decent at 1B. Andujar could play 1st, do it was reported. He hasn’t yet, just DH. Tonight, Ben Gamel is at 1st, I don’t know about his time at Cleveland, but he hasn’t for the Pirates up to now. Bae is in LF, doing so well he made an error in the 1st inning. So 2 guys are out of position, Bae nor Godoy can hit a lick, & Shelton & Cherington spparrantly
I don’t get it; I do understand the young guys need to play & get a look see, but Chavis at least drove in runs & was decent at 1B. Andujar could play 1st, do it was reported. He hasn’t yet, just DH. Tonight, Ben Gamel is at 1st, I don’t know about his time at Cleveland, but he hasn’t for the Pirates up to now. Bae is in LF, doing so well he made an error in the 1st inning. So 2 guys are out of position, Bae nor Godoy can hit a lick, & Shelton & Cherington apparently care if the team loses 100 games again
I don’t get it; I do understand the young guys need to play & get a look see, but Chavis at least drove in runs & was decent at 1B. Andujar could play 1st, do it was reported. He hasn’t yet, just DH. Tonight, Ben Gamel is at 1st, I don’t know about his time at Cleveland, but he hasn’t for the Pirates up to now. Bae is in LF, doing so well he made an error in the 1st inning. So 2 guys are out of position, Bae nor Godoy can hit a lick, & Shelton & Cherington apparently don’t care if the team loses 100 games again. And with 12 games to go in a 162 game season, it’s time to DFA Chavis. Right! I don’t get it
Not having Chavis for these last 12 games is really going to hurt their playoff chances.
Nice one smart ass. Everyone talks about the young guys not caring about losing, so why instill that. How about Shelton act like a real manager & put the best lineup possible every game? I’ve said it before, if & when they do get better, Shelton won’t know how to put the best lineup on the field.
Why do the Pirates hit .220 as a team? Because all year Shelton puts 3-4 guys in the lineup batting .200 & below.
The young guys could learn a lot from a hustler like Chavis; a lot more than Bae in LF
Chavis was hitting .229 with a .654 OPS. Maybe the problem is they learned too much from a guy like Chavis.
D-They are rightly playing for the future,
I liked Chavez too but he struck out way too much and walked way too little.I think that he could be a fairly good utilityman but he needs to correct those flaws.
Shelton rarely knows where to play people and I think that it hurts the players.He had Hoy Park earlier in the season playing right field and it was very obvious that he had never played there before,
Godoy is just a fill in for Heinaman who should be back soon.He will not be kept on the 40 man roster.