The Mariners claimed infielder Mark Mathias off waivers from the Pirates today, per a club announcement. Mathias had previously been designated for assignment by Pittsburgh in order to make room for recently-acquired right-hander Andre Jackson on the 40-man roster. A corresponding move wasn’t necessary, as the club’s 40-man roster had an empty spot after the club designated Chris Flexen for assignment last week.
Mathias, 28, was a third-round pick by Cleveland in the 2015 draft. He made his major league debut with the Brewers during the shortened 2020 campaign, appearing in 16 games while playing first base, second base, and all three outfield spots. He spent the entire 2021 season on the shelf with a torn labrum before being traded to the Rangers at the 2022 Trade Deadline in the deal that sent right-hander Matt Bush to Milwuakee.
Mathias hit well in 24 games with the Rangers, slashing .277/.365/.554 in 74 plate appearances while splitting time between the infield and outfield corners. Prior to the 2023 campaign, Mathias was designated for assignment to make room for left-hander Will Smith on the Rangers’ 40-man roster. He was shipped to the Pirates shortly thereafter, where he slashed .231/.355/.269 in 24 games while primarily playing second base prior to his DFA.
Going forward, Mathias figures to join the likes of Sam Haggerty, Taylor Trammell, and Cooper Hummell as depth options in Triple-A behind the big league bench of AJ Pollock, Dylan Moore, Jose Caballero, and Tom Murphy.
He can play 2b corner outfield but neither well or even passable. Might hit league average vs lhp. Can take a walk and has a lil pop. If they turn him into something useful good for them. Will be a sign of good development. Pirates didn’t give him much of a run.
Where was that “ lil pop” when he played for the Bucs ?
By the way I was wrong about Suwinski but it not about Connor Joe
Gotta play to produce.
Using Joe today as a pinch hitter for Suwinski against a lefty was pure ignorance on Shelton’s behalf
The latter had 3 hits against lefties this series including a 3 run homer
Especially considering Joe’s batting average with runners in scoring position is putrid because there was 2 guys on base when Joe couldn’t produce
yesterday he let castro hit instead of Gonzo late in the game. only to be out done by his bull pen management
Mediocre bullpen management is a Shelton specialty.
More unearned runs today.
Not sure who is responsible for the Pirates poor fielding but it has been going on probably five years.
I had expected Shelton use Holderman in one of the later innings and not a lefty who already had an ERA over 8
Shelton mismanages both the pitching staff but also his ridiculous decisions to pinch hit
Joe does have a decent average against lefties but is horrible with runners in scoring position
And I still believe batting Reynolds in the #2 position doesn’t make sense. The theory that your best hitter will get more ABs batting second isn’t working with Reynolds in that part of the lineup
Two years ago he drove in over 90 runs and had an all around good offensive season. Last year batting 2, he only drove in 67 runs
Lastly I still can’t grasp why players like Marcano aren’t trying to bunt for base hits.
Shelton is like a maganuts. He thinks he knows how to manage the pirates, but in reality he believes his own skills. The skills of a loser.
By the way I’m assuming that they are trying to make Davis a regular right fielder. So that endy can be the regular catcher. If this is the wrong assumption, then Shelton truly is a maganut
Good analysis, Buuba
When Cutch bats leadoff he draws more walks, when Palacios bats leadoff he goes 0-4.
Shelton should stick to one set lineup against righties and one set lineup against lefties
His decision of following baseball analytics shows how much of a failure he is as the manager
Analytics works for some teams, just not this one
Paul- But you won’t have Dick Nixon to “kick around any more”!
I wish Mathias the best but the Pirates have plenty of young infielders now who can do a better job.
Dream- good analysis of Mathias.Clearly the last man on the bench,and the Pirates now have plenty of them home grown,I think that he is a ML player,but probably not on a good team.
It’s nice to dream on his 2022 small sample size but the Rangers obviously didn’t believe in it. His defense is so weak he really needs to be a close to 800 ops guy or hit lefties 900 ops. Peguero needs moved up to AAA and Cheng might not be far behind. No room for Mathias in organization. He did his job in being the last man until Triolo Gonzales was ready.
They like this BOR whatever guy. He is bottom of depth chart for me. Don’t know who was available. Whoever was has good chance of giving up runs as well. With no Ramirez Hernandez, a sketchy Moreta and a just back and was bad before Holderman the pen is a mess. Best to get Shelton 8 good relievers so he can’t possibly mess things up.
We never know from what quarter strength will come.
The Mariners could still use a lot of hitting strength. We will have to wait and see how long Mathias stays at the Triple A level.
Kolten Wong is surely explendable.
I have to watch my spelling.
I meant to say that Kolten Wong is expendable at 2nd base. Not much of a hitter.
And I do believe that.
Hey Fred how you been doing these days? Speaking of Wong, his brother, do you know what the M’s got for him? What’s the mystery all about? Did I miss something? Thought you might have pick up something on him at the Donald’s watering hole. Surely the word must have gotten around some there.
Lee, I am fine these days.
I wonder about all that, too, and I don’t know the answers.
The Watering Hole is a dull place now. Nobody there follows baseball now.
Does someone know how Lewis is doing? I wonder how this Hummel trade will work out or was this just a change in scenery for the both of them.
One more time. I wonder about Murphy he’s been doing well lately, I suppose it’s a bit much to expect a continued change for the better, still keep it coming Murph.
I’m liking the lineup better these day with Crawford leading off, he knows how to work a count better than anyone else on this team. His obp. is good the only thing I wonder about is his lack of base stealing attempts where did they go? Have you seen any of those around? Julio was good at that though his leadoff position did seem in jeopardy at some point, given the swings in his ongoing player development that was to be expected. France does look better in the three hole a better place for him. In the four hole there’s actually four players to pick from so who has the hot bat? And in no particular order Teo. Raleigh, Ford, Suarez. How about a wait an see on Kelenic though that might be a reach. The rest of the lineup is a tossup though Cabby, Kelenic could be resigned but then where? This lineup is to some point still a work in progress though I believe we will see some improvements to come.
Lee, I think the team was down on itself and that caused them all to underperform.
What we used to call being snakebit.
But the last 2 games, I felt they had snapped out of it. I think tonight’s game will show us whether that is true or not.
Julio is just in that doldrums that occurs when the pitchers have learned how to pitch to him, and I hope tonight he will just terrorize them again.
Good- he is terrible
Not terrible. Walks at a 20% clip with .355 OBP