The Pirates are in agreement with righty Nate Webb on a Minor League deal with an invite to Spring Training, per Robert Murray of Fansided. Webb had previously been DFA’d and non-tendered by the Royals.
Webb, who had been DFA’d by the Royals on Tuesday before the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft, was non-tendered on Friday, sending him straight to free agency. The 25-year-old was limited to 33 1/3 innings of 9.99 ERA ball across three minor league levels in 2022, missing two and a half months due to injuries. The bulk of his 2022 season was spent with Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where the former 34th-round pick pitched 26 1/3 innings to a 9.57 ERA with a low 21.1% strikeout rate and a solid 7.0% walk rate.
Despite this weak regular season performance, Webb had a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League (5 2/3 innings pitched, zero earned runs, six strikeouts, and two walks). However, with only 28 2/3 innings at Double-A and Triple-A (both from this past season), Webb will likely start the 2023 season in the Minors.
It now appears Judge is headed to the Royals with Webb acting as the Pirates consolation prize.
Why do poster say dumb stuff like this? Do you think you’re witty?
Anything to get a thumbs up. That’s why we should be allowed to put our favorite mlb team’s logo next to our avatar. Maybe once we know who they follow they won’t make such comments about someone else’s team.
Golly you two it was SARCASM! So many on here take everything so seriously. How do so many of you not get this?
Golly? Is your real first name Gomer last name Pyle?
Lighten up Francis
@DonOsbourne don’t mind the flack from Karens, but you should really keep in mind that you have to be very analytical in what you write. We are very serious at mlbtraderumors. Otherwise we will judge youand mute you like I just did to the Karen known as “I speak the truth.”
Yeah, as a Pirates fan I found it alternately funny and ironically on target where the Pirates methodology is concerned.
The fourth annual Nutting approved dumpster diving program has begun for the 2023 season
Minimum salaries and highest profit is the owner’s only goals
Harsh.
Harsh doesn’t even describe the goals of Bob Nutting
The Athletic ran an article about him in 2021.
After the team receives their share of the luxury tax, ticket sales, percentage of merchandise sales, percentage of stadium/game sold concessions is ALL profit.
Nutting doesn’t pay one red cent from his pocket to run this franchise
Now, THAT is harsh
You do understand that is how a business works? Baseball is a business not a charity.
In any successful business, the owners should not be contributing money to the operating budget. If they are, the business is losing money. That is how capitalism is supposed to work.
You neatly sidestep issues like civil responsibility, especially when it was tax dollars that built your multi million dollar place of business. And you disregard the idea that a sports franchise *and* that stadium can bring millions of dollars to businesses that have set up shop around your tax funded palace, which was part of the deal to begin with. And issues like civic pride in a long standing, proud franchise…..
But do blather on with a line of logic that a greed driven billionaire would likely stack right alongside his. “I’ll build a winning team when fans pack PNC Park” gem
Yes I ado understand Capitalism and the businesses are out to turn a profit, however, Nutting himself said in 2012 that if attendance increased so would payroll
From 2013-2015 attendance did increase plus the attendance record for PNC Park was set in 2015, still Nutting instructed Huntington to start shedding salaries
When McClatchey bought the franchise he insisted that if the state could find the funds for a new stadium, the team would be competitive within 5 years
Instead the fans waited 13 years
And who paid for the stadium
Mr. and Mrs Joe Pennsylvania Taxpayer
Fans have a valid reason for being upset
I agree, when a new owner pitches a winning product on the field in return for ticket sales, he must follow through. That being said, I don’t pay much attention to out of state politics, but I hope you Pennsylvanians didn’t reelect those crooks, I mean politicians who supported a publicly funded stadium.
I would venture to conservatively estimate that 90% of all sports franchise owners don’t spend any of their own money in running their franchise.
Wrong TheMan. In fact he was NOT instructed to shed salaries in 2015.
That was a poor quality comment.
of course he does – that, and oh so fashionably cynical
As a Pirates fan I’m flattered.
6.11 minors ERA lmao
Doesn’t mean another team can’t fix him (sure the Pirates track record hasn’t been the greatest) but hey…guess they should NEVER take a flier on anyone ever huh? LMAO
The problem is all they do is take fliers.
It’s nuttings fault
It’s Tomlins fault.
Naw. I blame Foge Fazio
This is a weird signing. They need to try to sign a few guys without control issues so the pitching coaches can focus their attention. They can’t fix everyone simultaneously.
Every one of their “ signings with an invitation to spring training “ are weird
Weird to other teams, but what has become normal for the Pirates
It took 3 years to fix Keller, Brubaker still needs work and their AS closer makes every 9th inning adventurous
Ray Searage, the former pitching coach told Gerrit Cole to stop throwing his slider and stick with his fastball.
Cole is traded to Houston, resumes throwing his slider and is that year’s runner up to the CY Young award
Point being, pitchers leave the Bucs and then go on to have phenomenal careers
What does that say about this organization?
Exactly.
I go round and round where Searage is concerned. I have similar thoughts about his work here and how he was not the fix for Cole, Morton, Locke or Glasnow, but then I remember he resurrected the careers of AJ, Liriano, Edison Volquez and even Jason Grilli. I even think Melancon developed under him
No doubt, Cole and Morton became complete pitchers elsewhere
Tough call
Certainly in his last years here, he was unable to get through to the young pitchers he had and maybe that’s the bigger beef I have. Glasnow, Kuhl, Brault, Musgrove, Taillon, Trevor Williams. All of these guys were .500 at best and very inconsistent.
It’s kind of funny to me that this is the point where you began seeing a lot of prospects coming up and not panning out. Many of the aforementioned pitchers are guys that either never developed or were simply mis-placed
But Greg Polanco? Alan Hanson? Jose Tabata? These guys were blue chippers
I see your point, Dude, but AJ and Liriano were already established pitchers. Burnett wasn’t happy with the Yankees and welcomed a trade to Pittsburgh. Of course the Yankees picked up the majority of his salary.
Yet I agree regarding Grill and Volquez who went on to have a few good years before he retired, with another team
Player development in this organization has always been a question
They touted Polanco, Tony Sanchez and even Will Craig. Sanchez and Craig flamed out I think in less than 2 years. In fact I believe they were 1st round draft picks
Way back, Kris Benson was supposed to be something special, and a first round draft pick
The list is endless
Yes, and as I remember, it was Benson’s wife who turned out to be the real star
Cole also discovered Spider Tack when he got to Houston and now , since he is not allowed to use spider tack, he has started to pitch mor like his Pittsburgh self instead of his Houston self. It took Charlie Morton 9 years and 4 organizations to get fixed, Many solid, winning pitchers take multiple seasons to get on track and learn to pitch in the majors.
Being a small market team in the midst of their 10,000th rebuild this is all they can really afford bla bla bla. Off-season heavy lifting completed.
Come on now. The Pirates are two years away from being two years away
He would need a Sidd Finch kind of spring to start anywhere but the minor leagues next year.
Have the Pirates exercised their opt-out on the 2023 season?
It’s a rumor, but it’s be heard they are optimistic about another top 5 draft pick next season. So, it’s possible they do opt out of the season by July.
Cole Tucker was their #1 draft pick in 2014, not only was he a bust here, after being released last season, Arizona claimed him off waiver
He’s been a bust there, too
My point, draft picks are never a guarantee for success and in this organization they usually become baseball players after leaving, Tucker clearly an exception
I just think there is a real line of demarcation where scouting young talent is concerned between organizations like the Braves, Dodgers, Astros etc and an organization like the Pirates
Maybe it’s beyond scouting and simply the development of young players that is the difference. Why is it that so many of the Pirates top draft picks over the past few years have been misfires?
“Past few years” is quite harsh considering 2020-2022 drafts haven’t had time to move through the system. It’s fair to say 2017-2019 should have guys at AAA or at the MLB level. Which is about equal to expectations for first and second round picks. Henry Davis is working his way through the system and will be in AAA to start the season.
Players that come to mind as bust is Travis Swaggerty, Nick Gonzales, Mitch Keller (found something last year, but consistency is needed to make a true judgement), Cole Tucker, and few others that were first or second round picks. Those guys are legitimate argument that are bust and Pirates are severely lacking in scouting and development. You won’t get an argument with me there. But guys from 2020-2022, still too early to tell how they pan out.
You need to look at those teams drafts (just looking at first rounds) say since 2000 and you won’t be very impressed with those teams picks either. I’d say where the Pirates are getting killed is the International signings.
I agree, they go quantity over quality when signing international prospects. Granted they can’t pay Ohtani type money, but they could do a lot better than what they get now.
By 2024, they’ll again be in rebuild mode