The Pirates and Dodgers have worked out a trade that will send right-hander Andre Jackson to Pittsburgh, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (via Twitter). The Pirates have announced the trade, adding that Jackson has been optioned to Triple-A and that the Dodgers are getting cash considerations in return. Mark Mathias has been designated for assignment to open up space on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster.
The Dodgers designated Jackson for assignment earlier this week to open up a 40-man roster spot for Ryan Brasier. He’ll now change organizations for the first time in a pro career that began when the Dodgers selected Jackson in the 12th round of the 2017 draft. The righty has appeared in each of the last three Major League seasons, with a total of 39 innings on his resume.
While Jackson had a 2.11 ERA over 21 1/3 innings in 2021-22, things haven’t gone as smoothly this year, as Jackson had a 6.62 ERA in 17 2/3 frames of work. The long ball has been Jackson’s biggest nemesis, as after giving up just one home run in 2021-22, he has already allowed five homers this season. It isn’t exactly a new problem for the right-hander, as he has trouble keeping the ball in the park over his three seasons at Triple-A (in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League).
Between the homers and an inflated 14.77% walk rate, Jackson has a 5.21 ERA in 129 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level, with a 22.07% strikeout rate. It isn’t the most promising set of numbers, yet as a pitcher capable of working as a traditional starter or long reliever, Jackson has some interesting value as at least a depth arm, particularly to a pitching-needy team like Pittsburgh.
With multiple relievers on the injured list, the Pirates will likely explore Jackson as a reliever first and foremost, or possibly as a bulk pitcher behind an opener if the Bucs get creative with their rotation. Tomorrow’s off-day is the Pirates’ last free day until the All-Star break, and coming off a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, the Pirates might be looking for spot-start possibilities.
Pittsburgh acquired Mathias in a trade with the Rangers in March, and the utilityman has been shuttled back and forth several times between the majors and Triple-A. Mathias has hit .231/.355/.269 over 62 plate appearances, playing mostly as a second baseman with a pair of other appearances in right field. 2023 is Mathias’ third Major League season, after he previously appeared in 16 games with the Brewers in 2020 and a combined 30 games with Milwaukee and Texas in 2022. In between, Mathias spent the 2021 campaign recovering from shoulder surgery.
If Mathias clears waivers, he has the right to reject a possible outright assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis. Because Mathias has been outrighted before in his career, he has the option of turning down another outright from the Bucs and instead can become a free agent.
I’m sorry mrs jackson
If you got the line right, I’d write the next one.
Never meant to make your daughter cry.
hopefully something’s there. the bucs bull pen is in bad shape
Not this season, I’m afraid
Holderman is scheduled to come off the IL next Friday and Priester struck out 11 batters in 6 innings yesterday for Indy
Now if they could only find someone who can hit
Suwinski is in an 0 for 28 slump while Castro is 0 for his last 16 abs
Ortiz and Oviedo actually provided some positives this series. And their only player—Cutch—had two more hits. But jeez, the Marlins ace didn’t even pitch in this series. 72-75 wins might have been a reach where predictions are concerned
In the 4 game series, the Pirates batters struck out collectively 33 times
Yes, Ortiz and Oviedo each showed improvement and were very impressive, but as I have come to expect, scoring runs is the problem with our offense
Bae is arguably the fastest player on the team and is an effective bunter so why wasn’t he instructed to try and put one down for a hit ?
Is it a reflection of the manager or that of the hitting coach?
Cutch has become the only player who gets on base on a regular basis, whether it’s drawing walks or hits.
Imagine the oldest player is probably the best this team has
Pathetic
Just because he’s older doesn’t mean he’s still not effective. Right now, with how poorly everyone else has been hitting, they’ve been completley working around McCutchen. He has a 31.2% walk rate since June 5th. The league average OBP is 32.7%, which combines walks, hits and HBP. Cutch has been able to nearly match the league average OBP with walks alone.
Bae, Castro, Suwinski and Hedges are now a combined 1 for their last 93
Let that sink in for a moment. The blind squirrel analogy comes to mind
No idea what the solution is. No matter who they call up, it’s the same story. Maybe they’ll bring Triolo up. I’m hearing he’s doing well on the farm
I didn’t mean Cutch’s age should make him less effective, on the contrary, his age has enhanced his effectiveness
He takes pitches, has an understanding of the strike zone and hits the ball sometimes with authority
Good excuse to send Bae down for a few weeks so he can’t get his year of service time. Can send Castro down as well. Pirates have a few guys who are worthy of getting a mlb look.
Don’t all the walks just mean that pitchers are pitching around him because everyone else sucks? 31% is laughable
how do pitchers pitch around a player who accumulated 2 doubles yesterday and two singles today?
This is a good point about Bae. He came up the end of the season last year for the last few weeks. I dont have the exact days in front of me, but that makes me think hes the first one sent down.
I like this pickup. good bounce-back candidate with age on his side
The Pirates starters all of a sudden are throwing well, the pen, no. Their hitting has become pitiful.
If nothing Andre Jackson will get everyone on the Bucs using Vidal Sassoon and playing with a little more shine and bounce.
Once in a while he can shock you with three good innings.
Mathais do well to stay in pirate organization. He will get another shot
another shot at what? He was given several opportunities at the parent club and couldn’t hit a ball to save his life
Wow
Come on, that was so April.
Worth a look. Bullpen in terrible shape, have a million MI guys none of whom are good.
Bucs back to rummaging around in the dumpster.
When your owner refuses to spend money on premium players, and your current pitching staff has lost several key players due to injury, dumpster diving is your only option
What else they are in dire need of is hitters.
Castro should be sent back to Indy to learn how to hit righties, Suwinkski as well. He’s in an 0-28 slump. CSN or Mitchell can’t do any worse
And Connor Joe should be released. He’s almost as worthless as Castro
Joe just now pinch hit for Suwinski and did what he does best
Strikes out
Joe has a 109 OPS+ this year. That’s makes him an above average hitter. And you wanna release him? So many dummies on these boards.
I don’t care what his OPS is, he only has 20 RBIs and is second on the team in strikeouts
Personal insults only makes you appear immature
Joe was batting .255/.346/.484 with a 125 wRC+ at the end of May. I deftinitley agree with you Roy that it would be stupid to release someone with two more options remaining. But he’s been awful in June. He has just a 67 wRC+ and OPS of .599 this month, and that was before today.
Granted, the whole team hasn’t been hitting this month. It’s so weird. While I never expected the Pirates to keep up their April pace, it’s like they’ve forgotten how to hit a baseball within two weeks. On June 14th, they were batting .249/.327/.409 with a 101 wRC+. They were above average in K% (22%) and BB% (9.7%), and had a respectable .163 isolated slugging percentage.
They were a league average team in nearly every measurement when it came to hitting. The average triple-slash is .248/.320/.409, the average BB% is 8.7%, and the average K% is 22.7%. Since then, they’ve only hit .159/.242/.238 with a 57 wRC+. What’s odd is that it’s not like all of a sudden they’ve become swing happy, or super aggressive. Their K% is only up to 25.2%, which is only a 3.2% increase, and they’re still walking at a 9.3% rate in this time. They do have a .204 batting average on balls in play in this time, and based on watching them, they’re getting unlucky with some stuff.
Everyone wants to blame Andy Haines, and Haines is far from a good hitting coach from a fan’s prespective, but it can’t all be on the hitting coach for a team dropping nearly 50% in offensive production (per wRC+) in the matter of about two weeks. I just don’t know what needs to change here.
I forgot to add that he’s batting only .128 with runners in scoring position
Maybe releasing him is a stretch, a trip to Indy might be beneficial to both him and the team
Mitchell and CSN can’t be any worse
What options are there available to change?
Can’t demote the entire team, though I’m still under the belief that these guys are too comfortable and might themselves believe they are safe on the major league roster.
Something has to give, whether it’s the players’ roster spot or the hitting coach
Agreed, mlb. You can’t get blood from a stone. That is, you have average players on this roster, save for Cutch and Reynolds, and what you see is what you get
I don’t know what Haines is doing but truthfully, there is so much wrong here where mechanics, approach, plate discipline and knowledge of pitching strategies and game situations that I don’t think an entire squad of hitting instructors could remedy things
Take a look at what is here and what’s been coming up through the farm
Where do the problems really come from?
This answer is only magnified when you look at other young teams like the O’s, Reds and yes, even the Marlins
Again though, what could cause such a sudden drop? It’s not like the Pirates have been playing poorly all season, and it’s not like they’ve had bad players all year either like in previous years. But like, what happened in the span of two weeks? Teams have bad stretches, sure, but they went from a league average team in terms of hitting, to one that can’t seemingly hit a slow pitch softball.
I simply do not know. I don’t want to pin all of this on Haines, because even if he isn’t a good hitting coach, he’s still only one man. One man can’t make an entire roster of players go from league average to a 35 wRC+ in the span of two weeks. Maybe it’s just a slump that’s plagued the whole team, maybe the league has figured out what made the Pirates so good to start the year, maybe it’s a little bit of everything.
I truly believe that if you were able to sit down and have a convo with Cherington, he’d express some surprise that this group started so well and that really, they are in the middle of a 5-year plan where his expectations weren’t that high
I mean, it has to be
I simply don’t believe that baseball guys like him are complete dolts. He had to know this first wave of guys were average MLB types or lower, and rather than field a team comprised completely of castoffs, this was a natural and cheaper option
I just don’t believe that many if not most of these guys fit into the bigger picture. It’s still Hayes, Cruz and Reynolds and Davis, now that he’s here
The rest of the pieces are in the minors
I do have great hopes for Keller, Oviedo, Ortiz and Brubaker, however
mlb, I guess what I’m saying is that most of these guys are really minor leaguers and Cherington has to know it. I believe Suwinski has been a surprise to the extent of having power that they hope to refine where his overall hitting is concerned but a collective slump from glorified minor leaguers against mlb pitching can’t be a surprise
Only optimism I can find
” Overtraining Syndrome”- occurs when an athlete doesn’t adequately recover after repetitive intense training. Can include declining performance. I’m sure these guys are taking MASSIVE AMOUNTS of swings in BP,Tees, and in the tunnel to try to figure things out.If it were me, I would have no hitting for 2 days. Give it a break, come back fresh and relaxed.
I think that Reynolds, Cruz, Hayes, Davis, Keller, Oviedo, and Ortiz is a solid core to start. I just don’t know about the rest, like you said. Castro was pretty decent in August-September last year, and in April-May this year. I still believe he can be a solid platoon infielder. Marcano, sort of the same thing, but more of a utility man, and the same with Bae. Both Castro and Marcano have both been asked to undertake much greater roles than they were expected to play at the start of the year.
I truly believe that we wouldn’t be complaining about Castro had Cruz not have gotten injured, and the Pirates were able to hide him against RHP, with Marcano and Bae taking up most plate appearnaces against that side pitching. Cruz’s injury basically forced what could have been a solid platoon to stretch as thin as possible. The weaknesses that could have been covered by a platoon are now getting greatly exploited.
I like some of the pitching that’s making it’s way up through the minor leagues. Quinn Priester has been pretty solid recently, and both Jared Jones and Anthony Solometo have gotten promoted to Triple-A and Double-A, respectively. I’d say that Solometo and Jones are on pace to making a decent impact in 2024. Peguero looks like he’s figured out something that will work for him too.
Whatever happens, I’m just here to hope for the best. At the very least, it looks like many of the prospects at Double-A and Triple-A are performing well, and could make an impact soon.
Not huge Pitt fan but who have they played the last 2wks, did they face alota good pitching tms, all teams can run into streaks where pitching, hitting, or D can be less than desirable n the baseball Gods will smite thy during long season 1way or another, 2wks seems like a sm sample size, seemed like they were playing over there heads early w/good fortune
Spurn daily pregm BP in lieu of renting theater 4afternoon n have team watch Bull Durham or Pride of the Yankees, just to loosen it up, hell spend early part of day @childrens oncology ward spreading joy n happiness n putting there combined slump n erratic play into new perspective then get back @it w/new sense of purpose n enthusiasm… that or make Barry Bonds new hitting instructor complete w/his travel bag o’ goodies to help w/that muscle recovery
Well they didn’t face Alcantara in Miami and looked anemic in 4 games
The short answer is no, they didn’t suddenly run into a murderer’s row of pitchers. The offense has just collectively gone down the drain, but really….
It would behoove any Pirates fan to look at box scores from their opening 20-8 run. There were a number of games where they scratched out wins and didn’t have a great many hits
The upside of this team at present is pitching. Keller is the ace but Oviedo and Ortiz have shown promise. They’re young and going to have ups and downs but as stated above by mlb and I, together with a handful of position players, there is a core here
Unfortunately, it’s going to be a while until they can augment that core with real mlb-level talent
I think you are right about the first 5 guys. The other 2 I think it’s too early. Keller is going to be arb 2 this offseason though. Not like they have a ton of control left. This is where they usually trade guys if they cant get the extension done with him.
Yeah, the Keller note is disturbing. You’d hope they look at him like they look at Hayes and Reynolds, as the cornerstones of the franchise
Oviedo and Ortiz are hard to assess, to be sure, but I believe Marin has made a great deal of progress in both cases. Given the fact that only Priester is perhaps on the cusp of coming up and Burrows will be recovering from TJ surgery, they at least provide some hope
As both mlb1225 and YourDreamGM have noted, there are stud starters in the minors, coming up the chain
Hope there are big time hitters coming, too
Great stats. Thank you. I am more of a casual fan who reads a lot, but stats aren’t the only thing. Psychology and team dynamics are the wildcard in my opinion. Things seemed to go south with the Cruz injury. He was a presence, but the stats were so so up to then. After his injury the starting pitchers started to fall. That’s a big deal for performance of the team and the collective psychology of the team. Not sure what’s in their heads, but it has to matter. Then add in the continuous shuffling of the line up. That probably matters to the team: uncertainty! This team needs a Sports Psychologist!
Every team snatches up dfa guys. Smart teams like the Pirates even more so. Joe is a great MLB piece. Look up his stats vs lhp. That is how he should be used and would be used on contender. Pirates have too many platoons so Joe has to face rhp more than he should.
From an outsider’s point of view, Jackson’s slider has some good numbers backing it. The Pirates have done a decent job with pitcher who throw sliders/sweepers, so maybe they can do something with that.
I wouldn’t get too excited by a guy who was traded for the proverbial bag of bats.
A bag of bats is a great deal for the Dodgers. Most of them are like brand new.
Ha. Good one.
Pirates brought in a guy with an ERA of 54.00 to pitch in 8th inning of a 1-run game. They are officially in crisis mode.
that wouldn’t have been necessary if Shelton didn’t allow Bednar to throw 25 pitches in 2 innings yesterday
He either overuses or underuses his pitching staff
He doesn’t know how to manage a bullpen at all. That’s his biggest weakness of many weaknesses.
But hey, it’s down to 40.50 now
Having Holderman and Hernandez on the IL at the same basically obliterated being able to bridge the gap from when the starter leaves to get to Bednar.
Fire everyone!!@
Hey the ushers are still bringing their A game on a daily basis.
Reynolds and Choi will be back soon. That’s 2 guys going on the active roster, so some shuffling will occur. At this point sending guys down seems better than calling up more mediocre players.
I can find 3 guys to kick off. 3 more at trade deadline.
I like it. Pick up more of these types. They lost Sabol Diaz Uceta because of keeping very questionable players. Stop trying to make fetch happen.
Cash considerations? Pirates sending dough to Dodgers? Is this international signing bonus money?
Good pick up. Jackson has a good arm and there’s a good chance he’ll figure it out.
His lazy sliders n straight fastballs will continue to be fan souvenirs @incredible rate in OF stands n add to that fact that he struggles w/his command, Dodgers gave up on em 4reason n there BP had been the worst in teams LA history so far, says alot he had short leash
Perhaps give another look to a player in AAA with the following stats:
200 AB, 8 HR, 44 RBI, .355 avg, 1.015 OPS.
Miguel Andujar has been killing it for the last month or so at Indy….bring him back to the Bucs…give him more than 31 AB to work with. Can it get any worse than the 4 guys in a 1-93 slump? I look at the Indy box scores every day and Andujar is raking. Give him a legitimate shot with this team.
Hitting at triple A doesn’t always translate into hitting at the major league level and Andujar proved that earlier this season
I respectfully disagree. I don’t consider 31 AB as proof. He’s proved in the past with full time playing that he can hit major league pitching….27 homers, 92 RBI.
Why have him on the AAA team in the first place if his hitting well doesn’t matter? What more does he have to do to get another call up?
Maybe wait for Bae, Suwinsky, Connor to go 1-150?
Agree 100%. Why not? Get Triolo and Andujar up here and put Castro and Bae on the train
You simply can’t have guys getting regular at bats and going 1 for their last 93. I get why Suwinski is here—they’re not ready to ship out that power—but Castro and Bae are bench players at best and Hedges? Sit him down and let David catch. And bring up the guys who are raking
Yes Cornwhisperer. The guys up here now are not getting it done. The Hedges thing baffles me. Management continues to rave over his defense….but to do so with a batting average in the 160’s, on base percentage in the low 200’s…slugging percentage in the 200’s….it’s nuts! It’s not like this Pirates team is the second coming of the Lumber Company with 5 .300 hitters or 4 guys with 20+ HR’s. We can’t hide Hedge’s toothpick of a bat. And with Bae, Suwinsky, Castro all slumping simultaneously….it’s mind boggling having an offense with 4 players in the midst of a 1 for 96 streak.
Endy or Henry Davis behind the plate….immediately.
Sit Bae, Castro, Connor. Or send some of them down. Gotta make some changes. Look for a spark. And for heaven’s sake…please get Hedges out of the starting lineup. If you value his defense so much…have him on the bench teaching & coaching Davis & Endy. It’s so frustrating watching the organization continue to stick to their guns with Hedges behind the plate….and not give their 1/1 Davis kid a chance to play at the position he was drafted. Very frustrated fan here.
Get Triolo and Andujar up tomorrow.
This is where I disagree on Suwinski. Granted he has raw power, when his bat meets the ball, but with him it’s do or die and more often it’s die
I think he needs a trip to Indy to work on his swing, especially against lefties
Andujar strikes out far too often as well and there was a valid reason why they designated him for assignment and no one claimed him. Pitching in the minors is not like what batters see in the majors or else those pitchers would be on their respective major league team
Case in point
Prior to when Marcano was promoted, he was batting over.400 with Indy.
He barely hits his weight in the majors
Same can be said about Polacios . He was tearing the cover off the ball in Indy.
Huge difference between major and minor league pitchers
I get all of that, TheMan3
My take is simple. We’ve seen enough of Castro. He’s just taking up space
Marcano is really a utility infielder. Hedges is the catcher you bring in for defense late in games
I know you like Bae but here again, he’s really a utility player. It’s great that he has speed but the only place he is using it is in his run back to the bench after another weak at bat
Joe is utility, at best
Suwinski is frustrating to watch but from a front office viewpoint, Cutch can’t hit 30 homers. Reynolds really isn’t that kind of hitter. To them, it’s worth it to try to get him untracked
You make the point we all know about Pirate prospects, wave one: they all look good in the minors then come here and barely tread water. But why keep guys who’ve had a good, long look instead of giving that same look to Andujar again or Triolo? What’s the harm?
As stated above. I’m convinced most of these young guys are here because the decision was made to avoid fielding cast offs in favor of bringing the first wave up. I don’t believe management had any expectations where these guys are concerned. I understand the reluctance in bringing wave 2 up now. The culture of losing here is toxic, for one thing
As mlb1225 has eloquently stated, there are a great many prospects on the farm who come more from Cherington’s oversight where drafting, trades and development are concerned
But the remaining guys who have been talked about repeatedly—again, Andujar, Triolo, Peguero and even Swaggerty when he returns, might as well get a look up here
I don’t think this team is going to win more than 70 games. Again, what’s the harm?
to TheMan3 (and Cornwhisperer) Andujar does NOT strike out far too often. Check his career or this year stats….compare him to any other hitter. He struck out 5 times this year in a grand total of 31 at bats. Not exactly a great sample size BTW for seeing whether or not he can hit major league pitching. His career SO rate is in the 17% range….far lower than most HR hitters.
He’s had a grand total of 426 major league AB’s in FIVE years since his 500+ AB with the Yankees when he clubbed 27 homers. He’s been injury riddled….lost his position in the lineup….and hasn’t gotten consistent playing time in a season since his breakout year. He’s not 38. He’s 28. He’s mashing at AAA. The Pirates offense now can’t score runs. Why the %#%@ not give the kid another shot to prove himself?
Regarding Marcano hitting over 400 at Indy prior to his call up….let’s not get too excited over a 45 at bat sample. Andujar is hitting .355 over 200 AB. And as Cornwhisperer pointed out…what’s the harm in trying something different? The existing outfield squad is not getting it done. For that matter….practically no one on the team (aside from Cutch) is performing. The team isn’t hitting. They’re not scoring. They keep losing. Try something different. Just try. Shake things up. Nothing is working with current mix. BTW….I’ve never been a big fan of Andujar in the past…..but I’m sick and tired of seeing this existing Pirates team get shut out and make no contact game after game. If the Pirates organization has any player batting over .350 with 1000+ OPS in a 200+ AB sample size at the AAA level, by all means, get him to Pittsburgh ASAP. Unless of course you already have Stargell, Clemente & Oliver manning your outfield.
He might get another chance when the roster gets thinned out in a month with trades.
I’m glad you brought that idea up. Trades.
The comment of 10 days ago—that the Pirates would be open to being buyers at deadline time—is now just a humorous memory
So what’s the early prediction on who goes? Is there anyone here a team would want?
Hill? Santana? Joe?