The Pirates announced a series of Opening Day roster moves, selecting the contracts of right-handers Jared Jones, Ryder Ryan and Hunter Stratton. All three of those moves were previously reported. In corresponding 40-man moves, outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba, catcher Ali Sánchez and left-hander Jackson Wolf were designated for assignment.
Smith-Njigba, 25 in April, has clearly been on the margins of the roster in Pittsburgh since this is the second time he’s lost his spot in the past two months. He was designated for assignment in January and claimed off waivers by the Mariners. The Mariners put him back on waivers a couple of weeks later and the Bucs claimed him back. In between those two moves, the 60-day injured list had opened up, allowing the Bucs to put JT Brubaker there and squeeze Smith-Njigba back on, but he’s now been nudged off again.
He has hit .279/.373/.452 in Triple-A over the past two years but has a measly slash of .135/.250/.243 in his 44 major league plate appearances. Given his strong minor league work, which also includes 21 steals last year, he could attract the attention of other clubs. He also has one option year remaining, so a claiming club could keep him stashed in the minors until his services are needed.
Sánchez, 27, signed a major league deal with the club in December but the club’s catching situation has changed since then. In 2023, they largely relied on Endy Rodríguez behind the plate with Henry Davis playing right field. But Rodriguez required UCL surgery in the offseason that is going to keep him out of action for the entire 2024 campaign. This spring, the Bucs moved Davis back behind the plate and also signed Yasmani Grandal for a bit of insurance.
Davis seems to have taken well to moving back behind the plate and is now slated for the lion’s share of the work back there this year. Grandal is starting the season on the IL but the Pirates will roll with Jason Delay as the backup for now. Delay has options and can be sent to Triple-A when Grandal returns. Sánchez is out of options and wouldn’t be in the same position.
Sánchez hit a paltry .125/.263/.125 this spring, which surely didn’t help, and he has just 14 major league plate appearances on his track record. But he’s coming off a strong season in the minors, as he hit .311/.375/.492 for the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A team last year.
Wolf, 25 in April, came over to the Pirates in last year’s deal that sent Ji Man Choi and Rich Hill to the Padres, having made one career start with the Friars. He’s not an overpowering arm, with a fastball that sits in the low 90s, but has nonetheless found some decent results. Between his two clubs last year, he tossed 124 1/3 minor league innings with a 4.13 earned run average, 26.8% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate.
He came into this year as the club’s #21 prospect, per Baseball America, but has been nudged off the roster as guys like Jones, Paul Skenes and others have seemingly jumped ahead of him on the depth chart. He still has a couple of options and could intrigue clubs, especially with starting depth always being in demand.
The Bucs will have one week to find trading partners for Smith Njigba, Sanchez or Wolf or else try to pass them through waivers.
Gave up real quick on Wolf, huh?
Estuar Suero was the main piece coming back to Pgh in the Rich Hill and Ji Man Choi trade. Wolf will probably clear waivers and be stashed as depth in AAA.
The fact that any piece came back for Hill (was pretty bad last several starts) and Choi (never healthy) was a miracle in itself. I don’t think they can actually lose this trade, its just a matter if it is a wash.
Wolf was the main piece. He was Tte only player that was a ranked prospect at the time of the trade. Suero is a 40 FV prospect, so not expected to be more than a below average player if he ever makes the majors.
Wolf will undoubtedly clear waivers because his control and velocity issues this spring are enough that I doubt any team is going to want to add him to their active roster.
“the” not “TTe” Not sure why I couldn’t edit that.
There are a few teams that may take Wolf; Rockies, A’s, White Sox… he’s a LHP and someone will want him.
Suero was the headliner. Very raw high ceiling. Wolf was is most likely a lefty specialist. Doesn’t have the stuff to get enough opportunity as a starter. Hasn’t been able to get out righties.
Falter really over Wolf? Seems strange.
@dice 66 Falter over Jones and Skenes, even more strange.
For the record, Keller was “off” tonight but pitched good to some degree. I hope that shinny new contract and last years success, hasn’t messed with his head. 3 HRs tonight by the Pirates and all solo shots. Nothing promising with men in scoring position. Not sure what is going on since hitters normally have the advantage early on in the season. It was painful to see every player struggle trying to get a guy home. At least 8 different chances to win the game before the extra innings affair. Hopefully that improves as the season goes on.
Reynolds’ homer was a two run shot, Connor Joe drew a walk in his plate appearance ahead of Bryan’s homer
This will sound like my usual complaint but you aren’t going to score many runs if the team strikes out 17 times as they did last night
Cutch alone k’d 4 times
Smith-Njigba just can’t seem to stick anywhere this spring. Picked a bad year to tank in ST. Will be interesting to see if he’s claimed – wouldn’t put it past SD to place a claim since they just need bodies for OF depth at this point.
Has no value if you can’t get him to elevate ball. K’s too much vs mlb pitching.
Also let go by the Mariners after they claimed him, so maybe will slide through this time?
Good chance. Teams just got done making some tuff decisions. Most let go of guys better than csn. As is he is pretty much useless. They would have to see a fix and have a open spot.
Wow, I’m very shcoked about Wolf. I didn’t think he was the team’s next ace or anything, but I thought he was going to be a solid pitcher.
Wolf is left handed.
Not sure what they see in Selby and Palacios, but I imagine there’ll be plenty of turnover with the all the guys coming of the IL over the next few weeks.
I can see what they see in both Palacios and Selby. Palacios had a 91.3 MPH exit velocity, 9.8% barrel rate, and 45.4% hard hit rate, all three of which were well above average. Selby ranked fairly highly in Stuff+, But what I don’t see is why keep Bailey Falter, Ryder Ryan, or Josh Flemming over Wolf.
Thanks for the advanced stats explanation. Both guys are too old to be prospects (especially Palacios) and Selby looked terribly wild this spring.
Well Palacios was a Rule 5 minor league phase pick, so it’s not like he was expected to be an everyday OF, but the fact he could still become a solid 4th outfielder is still very good for a minor league phase pick.
Selby above average arm hard to give up on. Palacios a average bat. Better than csn. Have to have some depth.
I’ll concede Palacios over CSN, but Selby looked really wild in the spring games I saw on tv.
I think the Bucs bullpen injuries have given him a stay of execution.
Half a dozen guys will need to show something soon or will be dfa when a spot is needed.
Wolf should have never been in the top 30 really. Top 15 10 was ridiculous. Selby hasn’t done well recently but he throws harder than Wolf. That’s why he is still here. Wolf may pass waivers or get dfa again. More likely than Selby would have.
Wonder if Padres reclaim Wolf. Definitely need some LH starter options especially depth.
I’d let 2 of Otto, Patino, Go hit DFA and bring back Trammel for OF depth and Wolf for LH starter/pen depth
Otto and Patino are on the IL and Go does not have to be DFA’d at all, he can just stay in AAA until he gets in game shape. Trammel is just awful with a .168 BA, 80 OPS+, and negative 0.4 WAR over parts of 3 seasons and no reason to bring him back at all. Azocar is better both with the bat and on defense.
Depth. Depth.
As in someone you can immediately call up from AAA if someone gets hurt.
I’m not saying claim him and play him regularly. But padres have very few OF options in the event someone gets hurt. Which over the course of 160 games seems likely.
Marsee, Mercado, Mitchell, Locastro, Ornelas, Padres have OF depth in AAA. No need for Trammell.
Hmm I don’t see padres adding him to the BP, they have a lot of LH depth there (Peralta, Matsui, Morejon, Cosgrove) and don’t think he has enough to be a SP in the majors, though I do agree that the padres have basically no LH SP options.
Same thing as above. Depth.
Doesn’t hurt to have guys on the 40 you can call up in event of injury to anyone.
Padres have better depth options in minors than Wolf and I am pretty sure he was DFA’d because he doesn’t have options. Otherwise the Pirates would have just optioned him to AA or AAA and kept him as depth.
DFA Wolf because they needed 40 man spot. Has nothing to do with options.
Wolf is not on the 2024 out of options list.
mlbtraderumors.com/2024/03/out-of-options-2024.htm…
If he does, then that is an even bigger indictment of his lack of abilities. No reason to pick up a guy that the Pirates wouldn’t send to the minors to keep as depth.
Wolf seems like a Rizzo type and they have a slot on the 40 man available.
Wolf had a drop in velocity and was assigned to AA very early in camp.
… and underperformed after the trade. Evidently, management is not impressed.
Dropping Wolf is a little bit of a head-scratcher. CSN was a given, dropping Sanchez is an indication that they don’t feel like Grandal is too far off from returning. I suspect none of them are especially troubling losses. If we get to the point where we needed Sanchez, the team has bigger problems.
If I had to venture a guess on Wolf, I’d say the current state of the bullpen had the most to do with it. Selby and Nicholas were likely the only other ones considered, and both are in a much better spot to serve as bullpen depth than Wolf. It was telling that Reilly got more innings/looks than Wolf did.
Mariners can do the funniest thing rn.
So many Padres fans complained when Wolf was traded. The other players in that trade were Rivas who has been DFA’d 3 times since the trade and Suero who will be in rookie ball for his 3rd season at age 18.
While the Padres got no production from Hill and Choi, Preller knew more than fans do apparently and got that one right.
Bad move on Wolf.
The legend of Andy Haines continues already
Any advanced metrics observations on Mears over Incmikoski as Buccos sideline reporter?
She passes the eye test and not having to listen to his ridiculous questions while interviewing unwitting members of the crowd certainly passes the ear test.
I thought her spring interviews of players at Lecom Park were excellent.
She’s been great. It’s nice when the interviewer doesn’t lead with “how much fun was that?” every time.
The true test will be the family interview during a players debut. That was always the most awkward with Robby.
I agree. Robbies “how important “…”walk us through”….”how’s it feel”?…questions would add nothing to the game.
Hopefully cards claim wolf if available. They will need arms come August when they are out of it and are selling pieces
Raise the Jolly Roger!