May 23: As expected, Andujar has once again accepted his outright assignment, per Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
May 22: The Pirates have outrighted outfielder Miguel Andujar to Triple-A Indianapolis, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That suggests he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
It’s hardly a shock that Andujar, 28, didn’t get scooped up by one of the 29 other clubs off waivers. He hit just .161/.212/.387 in his 33 plate appearances since having his contract selected at the end of April. He had already passed through waivers in January and that mediocre performance didn’t do much to increase his stock around the league, though he did hit a much stronger .284/.364/.500 in Triple-A prior to getting called up.
The peak of his career so far came with the Yankees back in 2018 when he hit 27 home runs and slashed .297/.328/.527, leading to a second-place finish in American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Shohei Ohtani. But shoulder surgery wiped out much of his 2019 and he found his third base position staffed by players like DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela when he returned, pushing him to a depth role and a move to the outfield. Since then, he continually mashes in the minors but struggles when given another chance in the majors. Going back to the start of 2020, he’s hit .291/.346/.508 on the farm but just .237/.268/.354 in the show.
Andujar technically has the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency, both because he has more than three years of service time and a previous outright. However, he lacks the five years of service required to reject it while retaining his salary. He’s making $1.525MM for the season, which likely led to him going unclaimed both times he was on waivers and him accepting the outright assignment the first time. It seems likely he will accept the outright a second time and stick with in the Pirates’ organization, trying to work his way back to the majors yet again.
Further proof of just how difficult baseball is at the highest level.
The level of competition in AAA is incredible. Far higher than 80-90% of guys good enough to get drafted ever make.
Shoulder issues can hinder a career, is not derail it…. Scott Rolen would have been a first ballot hall of famer if it wasn’t for a nagging shoulder
But yeah his issue is he is a AAAA player I believer
I was happy the Blue Jays squeezed out a bit of twilight from his career. Great player
off topic but still Bucs related
Isn’t there an infielder at Indy that can do better at the plate than Owings?
2 for 16 with 7 strikeouts
PaulThat makes him one of the better hitters on the Pirates!
As long as Marciano plays reasonably well at shortstop Owings will just be a temporary backup until Cruz comes back.
And no,there is no one in AAA although Peguero has been playing better in AAA.He is not ready for the majors although he could get a call to AAA soon.
Triolo can play shortstop as he is a fine fielding third baseman but he is hitting 194 in AAA and I believe that he is hurt..
They are now thinking that Gonzalez is a second baseman.
They promoted Suwinski from Altoona last year, why can’t they promote Peguero?
And until Suwinski learns the strike zone or how to hit southpaws maybe he should get demoted to Indy
It’s strike out or bust with him
unbelievable dumb post suwinski is on of the better hitters and since when are you a professional hitting coach
Suwinski was tearing the cover off the ball in AAA last year like Davis is this year.Peguero started slowly but has been coming on in hitting.His fielding just has been soso.
He needs to be promoted but to AAA.
You are right about Suwinski as it seems that he has not gotten much better this year but he still is tied for the team lead in home runs and is tied for second in rbi’s,plus plays a decent centerfield.He hit poorly in AAA when demoted last year.
I do not think that he is going anywhere this year as they need to have some power and although his batting average is low and he strikes out too much he has been pretty consistent otherwise.They do not have Willie Mays sitting on the bench behind him.
If you call batting .219 with 49 strikeouts vs 28 hits one of the team’s best hitters, I wouldn’t want you managing the Bucs
They really have no one better at AAA.Swaggerty is hitting 231 with 1 home run.Suwinski also is tied for the team lead in walks.
The Pirates as you know are not exactly the 1927 Yankees.It is all relative.I think that this is just one of the reasons why they need a new hitting coach.
Mendoza, I couldn’t agree with you more, Haines is a zero as hitting coach
While he doesn’t swing the bats, not one of the hitters have improved from last season that were on this team
I still think Shelton’s daily lineups are an issue
Hayes is more selective batting 5 or 6, Suwinski should bat 7, Bae, the fastest player on the team, should be batting 1 or 2 and Marcano against righties, 5 and Castro against lefties, 4th
Paul-I do not think that Haines is a zero as a hitting coach.
I suggest that he be known as the Josh Van Meter of hitting coaches,with all due respect to Josh.
I do not know whether Shelton was involved in his hire but Cherington has to bite the bullet.They only give young players a certain amount of time to show clear progress,and the hitters generally really have not done that.
It says much when Cruz hires his own hitting coach and starts showing progress.
And don’t get me started on their fielding prowess or lack thereof.Marcano has been doing decently but in all honesty I am not sure that there is any better fielder than Cruz in the Pirates organization,
In my mind the jury is still out on Shelton.They need to win at least 75 games this year or he should be gone too.I do not think that he can be tough enough on his players when he needs to be.And he stays with the same relief pitchers over and over again like Crowe and Underwood instead of sometimes using his best ones two days in a row.And you are right about the lineups.I just do not think that he is privately being criticized by Cherington.He May have been OK at the start with a young team but somebody other than us should be expecting them to win.
We are not being negative in this particular criticism in all honesty.While many things are beyond casual observers like posters here some of this stuff seems to be too obvious.
I just find it hard to believe that an entire team can go into batting slumps at the same
That Hayes only has 1 home run
That players aren’t more selective on which pitches to swing at
That Bae doesn’t bunt more for hits
That the announcers praise Connor Joe consistently when he’s among the team leaders in strikeouts
That our fielding is suspect
And that the team in general commits so many running gaffes
It is called lack of discipline and most of it comes down to the manager.
Still infatuated with strikeouts….sad
“Off you go!”
Palin!
What a slide. Well let’s be honest that was a bit more of a cliff edge he fell off of. That went so bad so quickly. Bummer to see. Hope he gets it right but you don’t see too many come back after successfully going through waivers. Did he adjust his swing too much to what the Yankees wanted and it destroyed his swing?
Did u not read the article he had shoulder surgery. Ya that makes sense Yankees ruined his swing
It’s Tomlins fault.
It was either that or he learns to like Korean food.
There are many who overcome shoulder surgery with therapy to the point to where they can resume normal life and perform everyday tasks. But for a player, the recovery must be to the extent to where the player can resume playing the game at a MLB caliber.
So Andujar could, in theory, work at Home Depot, or better yet, deliver packages for UPS.
Is that where you work, bronxmac77?
I’d really like to see him get a good few months of consistent time at the mlb level. Right now though at the stage of his career and the stage of the pirates rebuild getting him that time here is difficult. Well anywhere in the MLB really. Nice guy to have in the minors though in case there is a play off run for Indy 🙂
He was given ample opportunities to make it difficult to cut him but he failed miserably
I for one rooted for him to be successful but for this team to progress they need the best players possible on their 26 man roster
Andujar wasn’t one of those best players
@theman 30PAs here, PAs there, etc. isn’t consistent time. He does well in AAA. Did well at the MLB level. Could be the injury hold him back against MLB pitching but with him doing well in AAA i doubt that is the largest issue he is facing at this level..
But yeah.. this season is about finding those ‘best’ players that will be here the next 5 years while hopefully giving us a quality season
Joe-I agree.Like Hulk says below someone should give him 300 abs to see what he can do.These May be marginal guys but how would we like it if someone said that we had to produce over the next ten days or your career is down the tubes.That is a lot of weight to put on someone.I saw it lately with Alford.These guys very well may not be ML players but we probably will never know with the short rein that they were given.
At mandoza line, it’s hard to give him ABs when he is 1 for 24 this year
1981-Some of these guys can be utilitymen and some cannot.
If he ended up 1 for 24 yes that is very very bad but then he must have gone 4 for 7 before that with 2 homeruns and 6 rbis.
I think that when these guys get yoyoed like the Pirates do it erodes what confidence they had.I think that he and they should have waited longer to put him on the 40 man roster so that he could get a consistent chance.They did not get rid of any right handed batters when they brought him up.They did not need to bring him up as he was not tearing apart AAA.A team has to very judicious with how they treat these young unestablished players.They are unlike the veterans that they can yo-yo without causing damage.
It may be less about at bats and more about consistent, everyday playing time. Let him spend two consecutive months in AAA, playing everyday, hopefully injury free. Pick a position and leave him there. Then call him up at the end of July if he’s playing well. Or just release him and move on.
The Pirates have already given him 100 ABs in the Minors this year and Yankees gave him 300 in Minors last season. Both times he did not do all that bad. When both teams called him up tho he is not getting around on MLB pitchers like he used to. The talent is there, the physical limitations from his shoulder injury appear to limit his talent though. It’s unfortunate but these guys are playing a game at the highest level and any limitation due to injury can and often dies derail a career.
He’s lost some of his bat speed post the shoulder surgery, and that’s the difference now when facing MLB pitchers.
“He ShOuLd HaVe WoN tHe RoOkIe Of ThE yEaR oVeR oHtAnI!” – people that drank a lot in 2018
He had a great year.
You haven’t.
I say that as a Yankees fan. Lighten up, big fella.
Andujar, Frazier, and Sanchez for a six pack of Oscar Meyer weenies. Who hangs up first?
Another big time prospect who turned iut to be a suspect.
Don’t speak ill of him or bronxmac77 is gonna show up here and white knight for Andujar again
Everyone is so sure to criticize a player, when injuries just about ruined his career. Reminiscent of Gregory polancos shoulder injury.
Not so sure it was injuries in either case, especially Polanco. If anything, any strides he was making where plate discipline and especially playing right field took giant leaps backward with the time off, that’s for sure
I was someone who thought Polanco was a sure-fire star in the making, a talent with all the God given skills to complete the trifecta outfield they had in place here. But the raw abilities he had just were never refined, from hitting, to fielding, to baserunning. And to me at least, the player development staff failed greatly in that regard
I don’t have the same knowledge where Andujar is concerned but clearly, he wasn’t ready at this time.
And while I’m not criticizing either player, I can say that Polanco’s shoulder at least wasn’t the major factor in his release
Corn- I think that Polanco was hampered by a number of issues.
(1) the contract was given early and destroyed any financial incentive that he had to get better
(2)he had good physical traits but never seemed to coordinate his body for a baseball player
(3)he was another one who was not fundamentally sound which seems to be a curse on many if not most Pirates
4) I am not sure how much he loved playing baseball and was serious about it as the last couple years of years he felt that he was an expensive cheerleader and was lauded for being a good teammate
5)his shoulder problems became the tip of the iceberg but one must remember that there is only a thin line between being good and below mediocre
6)I think that basically all of these factors caused him to lose confidence in his last couple of years and that is another thing that must not be lost with players of decent talent and ability
Agree with everything here, Mendoza, but it’s just hard to fathom that so many people were so wrong about the guy so much so that they saw him as “can’t miss” and signed him to a 5 year contract.
I know that not many guys have ever made it to the Pirates like Bonds or even Cutch did. That is, obviously polished and ready to excel at the highest level. More tend to be like Tabata. But the fact that no one was able to refine his play is eerily like Searage’s failures with young arms who found success after leaving Pittsburgh
Sure, Polanco owns his share of it but time after time, this seems to be a Pittsburgh thing that is still evident with the kids who make it to the show. Whether guys like Hayes, Suwinski, or even Cruz ever blossom is an open book
Andujar is a bit different, I guess, and if Yankees fans are any barometer, here’s a guy who had injuries and then was tinkered with in a negative sense. With the Pirates, we’ve only seen brief flashes which make the “he needs 300 ABs to really see what he can do” logic a bit laughable. Instead, he’s like a lot of farm hands who get here, fail to make an impression and are sent back down. I’d say the Pirates minor league outfield is full of these types
Don’t know what the answer is and it seems the Pirates don’t, either
Corn-Regarding Andujar maybe the Pirates have analyzed his swing and it seems that he can no longer get around on fastballs which would negate the need for a longer test.
I think that Polanco played relatively well and was getting better until his injury but had only a moderate ceiling caused by his weaknesses as suggested which only the typical Pirates’ hype could extend.
I think that Marin has done a good job and should be kept no matter what happens to Shelton but they have definitely needed to change the hitting coaches.
They’re playing about as I expected. You? Marin deserves a great deal of credit for keeping the staff in games
The basic skinny is this: no one here other than the usual suspects can hit consistently. That’s really all it is, and there doesn’t seem to be help on the horizon. How they’re going to score runs is a great mystery
And yet, I am ok with a .500 team
I didn’t see the strides you say Polanco was making and that’s regrettable because as you stated previously, he seemed to be a good kid who was trying. The shoulder seemed to be the final nail in his coffin
I agree about Andujar. My comment referred to some here wanting him to get a longer look
I wanted them to give Andujar about three weeks of steady play as I do not think that he is a utility man.They May have seen a dip in his swing that precludes him from hitting well in the ML’s.I did not want the reason to be that he did not get regular playing time.He was not going to get it with Cutch and Joe hitting reasonably well.
I was saying that Polanco got a little better every year until the injury but the hype was much better than the player.
I said 69 wins on a lunch bet with a friend at the start of the year as the pundits were calling for 65.I actually thought 72 then but I have always overestimated on these bets.I think that the best that they can get is probably 75.What that would mean is that they are decent and clearly improved.It is still a year for growth though.
Dream GM was right- they beat the teams that they should have but have lost to the four best teams in the AL.
I think that they need to promote either Selby or Bolton and waive or trade Underwood as he has proven to be unreliable in close games.They need to play Joe at first for several games in the next month to give Santana a rest as he is not hitting.Finally,I do think that they should promote Davis for a couple of weeks to give him a taste to see how he hits before Choi comes back.Then Davis goes to AAA to alternate different positions with Endy.
I said 72-75 wins originally. Anything more is a nice surprise
Agree with you about the call ups and with Dream’s assessment. That’s fine. And if Davis and Endy prove they can drive in runs, they’ve accomplished something moving forward
The A’s should take a chance on him. Give him 300 abs to see what happens.
Billy loves low cost potential high ceiling guys…..especially if its for the minimum $$
when your average attendance is only 10k fans, it’s difficult to pay for high priced players
among many others, the yankees’ “what might have been” club now includes andujar, frazier, and bird
And Jerry Priddy
The weenies
He’ll do as he’s told.
Package him with Frazier and Sanchez for Trout and Otani.
The Cashman curse continues. Andujar and Sanchez for Realmuto. Cash said no. How did that work out?
He still has been better than Hicks for the last 3 years regardless of how his career goes from this point forward. I honestly feel so bad this kid decided to sign with the Yankees.
Let’s make one thing clear….Cashman despised Andujar. He was legit pissed off when he had a great rookie season which forced his hand to commit to him his sophomore season. You could hear the annoyance in his voice when pressed on the plan with Andujar going forward.
Dude should have been in LF to start the 2019 season. He plays the position fine and despite his bat being a plus, it was clear as day to everyone he wasn’t a 3b. Cash wanted a reason to banish Andujar so he kept him at 3b and was eventually going to use his defense as an excuse to bench him but he was happy when he just had a career threatening injury instead.
I hope Andjuar isn’t succumbing to stubbornness. Somethings gotta be up!
In 2018 – he hit 67 line drives. .691 average on line drives. Now – Line drives are completely absent from his game. He can’t hit them. What did the Yankees do to this guys swing that move him from a line drive, opposite field hitter to an all pull, fly-out / ground-out hitter.
I wish the Royals would pick him up. I think he’s a reclamation project worth the investment. Been saying it for several years now.
He’ll be back up before the season is over, provided he continues to hit in aaa. As an injury replacement. Unless other outfield options hit their stride. Recent seasons, I’ve thought he was the replacement player war is based on.