March 16: The Pirates officially announced Taylor’s signing today, and placed Moreta on the 60-day IL to create room for the outfielder on the 40-man roster. Moreta’s move to the IL is hardly a surprise after a ligament injury his elbow sidelined him for the foreseeable future earlier this month.
March 15: The Pirates are making a late addition to their outfield. Pittsburgh is reportedly in agreement with center fielder Michael A. Taylor on a one-year, $4MM contract. The outfielder is a client of the ALIGND Sports Agency. Pittsburgh has not yet announced the move and will need to open a spot on their 40-man roster once the deal is finalized. They may be able to do so by moving Dauri Moreta to the 60-day injured list.
Taylor, 33 later this month, has long been a defensive standout in the big leagues. He debuted back in 2014, giving him a decade of experience to this point. In that time, he has racked up 72 Defensive Runs Saved, 55 Outs Above Average and a grade of 41.1 from Ultimate Zone Rating. Each of those numbers place him in the top 11 among outfielders in that span.
Though he’s now into his 30s, he has continued to put up positive numbers in those categories, with 5 DRS, 8 OAA and 2.8 UZR last year with the Twins. He’s played all three outfield positions but the vast majority of that playing time has come in center: 6,428 innings up the middle compared to 373 1/3 in left and 162 2/3 in right.
His hitting has been less straightforward, as he has generally provided a bit of home run power but with limited on-base ability and some concerning strikeout levels. He’s coming off a year in which he hit 21 homers, a personal best, but his 6.7% walk rate was subpar. His 33.5% strikeout rate was much higher than league average and a personal high, outside of his cup-of-coffee debut in 2014 and an injury-marred 2019.
That led to a lopsided batting line of .220/.278/.442, which translates to a wRC+ of 96. Though that indicates he was 4% below league average at the plate, he also stole 13 bases and provided the aforementioned quality defense. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 1.7 wins above replacement while Baseball Reference had him at 1.9.
It was reported earlier this month that Taylor was viewing himself as comparable to players like Kevin Kiermaier and Harrison Bader. That’s a fairly reasonable comp since those guys are also defensive stalwarts in center field with average-ish offense.
Unfortunately, this offseason has been harsh to the players left standing at this late stage of the offseason. Various clubs have spent to their preferred comfort levels, with many pointing to significant competitive balance tax bills or uncertainty around their TV revenues. As such, various players have recently settled for modest deals that were undoubtedly below their expectations coming into the winter.
Since the start of February, position players like Adam Duvall, Enrique Hernández, Gio Urshela, Tim Anderson, Amed Rosario, Randal Grichuk, Joey Gallo and others have signed for guarantees of $5MM or less. Kiermaier and Bader each got $10.5MM around the New Year but Taylor lingered on the open market and will have to settle for a deal well below that.
Taylor drew fairly widespread interest this winter, with clubs like the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Reds, Dodgers, Angels, Padres and Twins connected to him at various points throughout the offseason. But many of those clubs went in different directions as time went on. The Jays brought back Kiermaier, the Red Sox traded for Tyler O’Neill, the Dodgers got both Enrique and Teoscar Hernández, the Angels added Aaron Hicks and the Twins grabbed Manuel Margot from the Dodgers.
In the end, it will be the Pirates who will be the beneficiary of Taylor staying on the market for so long. Last year, the Bucs moved Jack Suwinski from being primarily a corner outfield guy to center field. The results were mixed, as he was graded as being 10 runs below average by DRS but three above by OAA, while he got a mark of -1.7 from UZR.
That move pushed Bryan Reynolds into left field but now perhaps Taylor’s signing will push Suwinski over to right field. Coming into today, the Bucs had a muddled mix of options for right field, including Connor Joe, Edward Olivares and Joshua Palacios. Joe can play a bit of first base and may platoon with Rowdy Tellez there, while Olivares and Palacios each have options and could either be on the big league bench or in the minors. The Pirates were connected to Tommy Pham earlier today but that is presumably off the table now with Taylor in the fold.
It’s also possible to envision some platoon possibilities in the outfield, with Taylor hitting from the right side. Taylor has hit .256/.310/.436 against lefties in his career for a wRC+ of 99, but the split was even more drastic last year, as he hit .252/.313/.602 versus southpaws for a wRC+ of 146. Suwinski, a lefty swinger, has a .234/.344/.488 slash in his career against righties but just .164/.263/.300 against righties. Those splits lead to wRC+ numbers of 125 and 57, respectively.
How manager Derek Shelton plays it remains to be seen, but the addition of Taylor at a modest price certainly upgrades the club’s outfield defense. Taylor isn’t an amazing hitter but was great against lefties last year and has real pop in his bat when he makes contact, plus an ability to steal a base here and there.
The move brings the Pirates’ payroll commitments to just over $85MM, per RosterResource. That’s the lowest payroll in the league apart from the actively-moving Athletics, but it’s nonetheless a jump for the Bucs. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, they opened last year at $73MM, which was itself a jump from the two years prior.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Pirates had reached agreement with Taylor on a one-year, $4MM deal.
No!
Yes!
Maybe!
Nice signing at a very reasonable price. Earlier articles made it seem like he was holding out for either a multi-year deal or a salary closer to the $10M/yr. mark based on last year’s performance. Just like Adam Duvall, the market collapsed on him and he had to accept an offer much lower than desired. At least he’s back in MLB and if Pitt is not in the playoff race come July, he’ll be one of the top trade targets for CF needy teams.
Yeah, I agree Mantooth. I think he’s a great fit on the young club. You always need a good defending outfielder that can play all three and that’s what they have here. Should provide nice relief for Reynolds and Jack S and could get Conner Joe a bit more time at 1B or DH vs lefties.
In Taylor’s defense he’s definitely better than Bader who got that much money
Good lord! As the Mets, would one rather have Michael A at 1/4m and a pretty good setup man for 1/6m, or Bader?
Particularly with the Mets thin, uncertain OF, when Taylor’s a good bet to play 120+ games.
Hard for Stearns to have waited, granted, with only one solid OFer in Nimmo as of November, but this was a superb pickup by the Pirates.
Dorothy: Reasonable is a huge understatement. If you compare, for example, the 3-year WAR means of Taylor and Zack Wheeler, then do the math on their 2024 salaries, Wheeler is making 300% more PER WAR than Taylor. Highway robbery for the Pirates.
I wanted him to stay in Minnesota
Nutting’s price range
Surprising!
There it is! Ask And ye shall receive.
Was this reported earlier on?
We (Bucs fans) were asking for MAT over Pham in an earlier thread.
Happy for you Bucco fans. Reds fan here and I actually do root for you salty dogs. I wish the Reds would have signed Taylor. Hope he does well.
Oh ok. Thanks
Good for Mikey, a pleasant, unassuming guy who was a Nats fan favorite.
You’ll always wish for more contact, but with his defensive skill, speed and occasional pop, he’s got value.
He’s got 7+ years of service time. Hope this good guy gets 10.
Don’t include me as a Pirate fan that supported this signing
They already have enough hitters who strike out 100+ times during the season Making an out is expected since no one bats 1.000 but not putting the ball in play lessens the chances of scoring runs and last year this team ranked at the bottom in runs scored
We don’t include you as a Pirates fan.
You’re like an angry man shouting at the family that disowned him.
I have been a Pirate fan since 1966 and was a season ticket holder for 30 years so spare me your definition of what a Pirate fan should be
I have the right to express my opinions and if they offend you, put me on mute
I won’t lose any sleep
I would never, ever mute you, my mate.
The best thing about you is how stoic you can be with your opinions. Thank the lord for tiredoldude 😉
Now is best time to have season tickets. They are very affordable and the Pirates are contenders for the rest of the decade. Pens Steelers are down. One of or best time ever to be a season ticket holder. Maybe the 70s. Or 1900s with Honus. Nah not the 70s. Too many better things to do then watch baseball. 1900s is where it was at.
Grand slam in the 2017 NLDS!
Assuming Reynolds, Cruz, Hayes, Cutch, Suwinski and Davis are slotted 1-5 in the lineup in some order on most days then having a collection of Tellez, Peguero, Grandal, Connor Joe, Triolo, Taylor, Bae, and Olivares or Palacios to round out spots 6-9 makes for a much deeper lineup and better production at the bottom of the lineup than the Pirates have had in about 20 years. The bottom of the lineup certainly has a lot of boom or bust concerns but it’s clearly an improvement.
I wasn’t responding to you RDV
What you talking about? The Pirates were great in the ’70s. Won it all in ’71 and ’79. Baseball in general was great in the ’70s, except there were a lot of teams being poorly run because the people running them were using old-school stats to make their decisions. But most of you prefer it that way without metrics, so y’all would have loved that, too.
I don’t always agree with you, but I’m with you on Taylor. I get that they needed depth at CF (they actually didn’t have a CF on the roster – Suwinski is NOT a CF even if the Pirates play him there), and I guess Taylor was just about all that was left on the market after Bae went out.
Scoring a run without putting the ball in play is really limited to things like a wild pitch, walking in a run (or via HBP), a balk and catcher’s interference. Analytics-types will point to HRs as the most effective run-producing method, I can find no metric anywhere that measures the percentage of runs scored by team without putting a ball in play, but I would expect it is very low.
Maybe Taylor moves the needle slightly (perhaps one more win due to defense), and it’s hard to argue with the actual cost at this point, but his signing is more of indictment on today’s game and the Pirates lack of CF depth than something positive.
Pham X is the real deal.
Good for the Pirates!!
? What happens to Bae? Trade has to be coming! Pitching? Oakland starter maybe? Need solid number 2 or3!
Bae gets to ride buses until injury hits.
Bae is injured and will rehab in AAA when he’s healthy. If he plays well he’ll be back up.
Wow….no doubt there will be some sort of collusion case after this off season finishes…..
BTW don’t agree, but there will be a groundswell of support for it.
Collusion for what exactly?
Collusion:
secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.
Ok so now we have established that for two reasons. One for the official definition and two for that it was supposedly “proven” in the late ’80’s.
So now that it was legally established….there MIGHT be an agency trying to prove it again in this off season. Financial streaming rights constraints aside, my point was there will be an entity out there to try and make some bucks on this….
In my reality, no such thing happened, BUT after the ’80’s thing – owners do talk – but never in a way for it to be found out.
Some years the money OR (in the case of this year) true top tier talent is just not there. Just because a player is tabbed as the best hitter or pitcher free agent THIS YEAR does not mean he deserves more than last year’s offerings….
No one has established any of the nonsense you’ve spewing here, cdppoet. Conspiracies are not facts
Take Aaron Rodgers for example, his conspiracy theory is that Sandy Hook school massacre was really a government hit job.
Lay off the sauce, it’s embarrassing you
You should be the one laying off the sauce. That story about Rodgers has been disproven years ago. Never said that. But if you need to believe it, go for it.
Oddly enough he reiterated that story just today
No, some CNN reporter claims he was dumb enough to say that to her over 10 years ago. I’d call BS on it even if I was sure what it had to do with the BUCS signing an outfielder.
Of course it was a government/elite operation, like most mass shootings. They’re trying to take all guns away from the people, duh. You probably still think Oswald shot JFK, too, am I right?
@cpdpoet you okay? Do you feel pain on your left side? Too many flashing lights? Holy moly dude.
Hey BP, we will never meet, but your decision to pile on is still cool, I guess?
Look all I said was some venue will look upon this and try for a money grab…..maybe just like you trying to glom on and attempt to embarrass me….
“No doubt there will…collusion case after this off-season”…Markets and business conditions change from time to time. The last few years in MLB has seen several record $300M+ contracts given to Harper, Tatis, Lindor, T.Turner etc and this year we’ve seen revenue uncertainty over an RSN crisis. Changing markets is not “collusion”. Are ESPN, ABC and other tv networks guilty of “collusion” for laying off several thousand employees the last few years or did their business environment change?
Easy coach…I am not on the collusion side.
Just offerings that there “will be” a suit……
MLB revenue increased in 2023 despite RSN troubles. Manfred said at the Owners Meetings that it’s expected to rise in 2024.
RSN revenues are dropping for some teams in 2024. No team with a Bally contract has any idea of how much local media revenue they will have in 2025. Player contracts aren’t with MLB. They are with individual teams. Many of those individual teams are rightfully nervous. The Dodgers are spending because they will see increased revenues. The Yankees will likely see increased revenues. The Guardians will see lower revenues after seeing reduced Bally payments. Supply and demand for players has been disrupted.
It’s this 1000%. A team’s operational budget is not just for one year because they have players under contract, projected salaries, etc. That’s a hard target to hit when you can’t project your revenue within a certain margin past a year or two.
Players believe the nonsense myth that “X owner is worth billions, therefore he can afford it”, because they don’t want to understand business operations, the brass of the MLBPA knows better and the media perpetuates the lie because they’d anger the union by doing otherwise. It would be like someone calling you a cheapskate because the sum value of your assets (house, car, personal property) is $500,000 and you won’t spend $30,000 on a Super Bowl ticket. If you only make $100,000 a year, you can’t afford that unless you liquidate assets to cover the shortfall. Your house will increase in value, the Super Bowl ticket is good for one day – where should your money be?
Players are getting a harsh lesson this offseason – their contracts are 100% tied to the projected revenue of the organization and have nothing to do with the owner’s assets outside of the team. That’s always been true, it’s just been amplified by the RSN disaster unfolding, as it is a large percentage of many organization’s operating budget, and it’s totally unknown for most teams long-term, and millions less than it has been short-term.
If there is going to be talks about collusion, it won’t be over Michael A. Taylor. Any such accusations usually pertain to much bigger fish like a Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery; not a 1.4 – 1.9 WAR CF coming off of a career best season.
Michael A Taylor is a good player and probably does deserve more than $4M per year but he is approaching 34 years old and has a career OBP below .300. It’s not out of the question that his value is perceived to be much lower by front offices than his agent or us casual fans.
And there will be no collusion because Boras May just be telling these two guys that they deserve Scherzer and Verlander money but neither will ever be considered for the HOF.
Eh, perhaps. But I wager this is the lowest salary ever recorded (in 2024 dollars, of course) for a player whose 3 previous seasons brought in 2.6, 3.2, and 1.9 bWAR.
That’s an MLB regular.. And for 1/4m?
Would 2/20m have surprised anyone? And with Bader—in much more obvious decline, and far more frail—getting 1/10m after 3.6, 1.1, and 0.6 bWAR since 2021?
Jack- I was talking about Montgomery and Snell as Dorothy was right- they are the big fish.
Bader gets an extra 2 million a year for hair styling, and another extra 2 million for slowing up to dive for a ball he could have caught chest high on a run.
In all seriousness, the market for the value of WAR was corrected to some extent this season, only teams with very stable long-term RSN projections were handing out deals and terms based on the old values.
yikes, this means Pads might still be in the running for Pham. Damn
Doubt it. Preller thinks Profar is HOF material. Padres going into the season with probably the worst LF in baseball.
As a Padre, Profar has been a better hitter
(102 OPS+ vs 97 OPS+)
and overall player
(4.8 WAR in 359 games vs 1.3 WAR in 186 games)
than Pham.
Profar
.246/.334/.376/.710 as a Padre
.241/.350/.383/.733 with a 103 OPS+ in Petco for his career
Pham
.226/.335/.370/.705 as a Padre
.216/.329/.383/.711 with an 82 OPS+ in Petco for his career
Profar is also a great teammate, while strip club Tommy always puts himself first.
There is a reason that the Padres signed Profar and have not even talked to Pham about a reunion.
Profar a negative WAR last year. Took 10 years to get to 5.0. An OPS+ of 80 last year and most of that was at freaking Coors Field. He stinks.
Profar had a 117 OPS+ and a 0.4 WAR as a Padre last season.
No matter how much you like Strip Club Tommy, he is not coming back to play in SD.
Yeah you are right. Must be the marine layer and 49 ABs that Profar needs to transform into a superstar.
I get it you don’t like Pham. I am not a fan too. But don’t tell me that Profar is a better player. He is absolutely not. Why Preller did not get Duvall alludes me. He just loves Jurickson Profar. Won’t admit he misjudged his abilities when he scouted him for the Rangers.
Duvall vs Profar could’ve been a “better the devil you know” scenario for all parties involved. I would’ve rather had Duvall, but maybe he’s only willing to take that asking price for Atlanta. I’m not keen on the LF situation unless Pauley plays his way over there or Wade has an early hot start, but it is what it is. The Padres can comb over the ST cuts in the next few weeks if they think there’s an upgrade.
In a vacuum, I like Pham better than Duvall or Profar. But I think there’s still some bad blood between him and Kim. Remember Kim trying to stretch a double into a triple last year in front of Pham? Kim is the soul of the clubhouse, and in his walk year; I don’t think Preller wants to unnecessarily do anything to upset him.
Preller’s favorite song is Charlie Pride’s “I’m Beginning to Believe My Own Lies”
You keep calling him “strip club tommy” like it’s a negative thing, I mean WTH dude? When asked about his off field activities Pham was quoted as saying, “Baseballs aren’t the only things Tommy likes hitting.” Ahahaha!
I don’t dislike Pjham and its more than 49 AB. Its a career.
As I said, there is a reason the Padres have not even CONTACTED Pham, but brought back Profar.
Profar has been better as a Padres.
And this twitter.com/PatrickDailey/status/16929845608693683…
This is NOT an isolated incident. There are videos like this from EVERY team he has played with including San Diego. Pham has a serious anger management issue.
I know you have your head squarely up Pham’s behind for some reason, but facts are facts.
Its a negative thing. A seriously negative thing.
In the middle of a pandemic AND a very good season for the team he was playing for Pham decided to break MLB and team rules to go to a Strip Club, then let his big mouth get him in a fight and got stabbed.
#1 – He was putting his entire team at risk by going to get his lap dance
#2 – Then he hurt his team by getting in a fight and missing games. A fight that HE purposely stepped into that was easily avoidable.
He is the antithesis of a team player, and he is the antithesis of a good human being, AND he is NOT a good baseball player. He is below average and 36 years old. There is NO reason to even consider signing him.
Like he’s the only one getting a lap dance, lol.
I think you are full of it.. Hes not the typical player but his teamates have nothing but good things to say about him everywhere he goes. i get hes not a choir boy buthes not a bad guy at all.
Hang 10 surfer boy. Ahahaha!
What part of during pandemic that could have put his entire team at risk do you NOT understand?
What teammates have said good things about him? He has anger management issues, everywhere he has gone there are videos of him in arguments with teammates, opposing players, and fans.
He broke MLB rules and put his entire team at risk to go to a strip club in the middle of a pandemic. Then after making those stupid decisions, he allowed his anger to put him in the middle of a fight and got stabbed which hurt his team. He is a selfish moron.
What does it say about you that you are attempting to defend him?
I just commented that SD probably can’t have BOTH Pham and Profar, but if Pham is primarily the DH, then yeah they have room for him.
Shildt said the Padres would not have any player that is primarily a DH. That they would rotate players into DH position to give them a day off in the field while keeping their bats in the lineup. I have to believe the manager knows what he is talking about. Don’t you?
Schildt is a stupendous manager, one of my favorites. He is easily +5 wins right off the top. Old school manager but understands and utilizes analytics. Will tell you to your face the problems with the team and won’t hide behind obfuscations or corporate-speak. I think he will be a good remedy to a meddling Preller.
I really like Shildt too. He is a huge believer in team culture, doing all the little things right because you have been continually practicing it all, and accountability. Something Melvin refused to even try to do.
Shildt said that he reaches out to Preller more often than Preller reaches out to him. That even before he was the manager that they talked baseball daily.
A GM SHOULD be involved with their team and Preller is involved less than many. He is a scout at heart and spends most of the year on the road doing just that. He is not an in-your-face type of GM.
Don’t allow the media to sway your opinion when the people actually IN the Padres organization and that used to be in it have said differently.
On board with Pham.
My bet is that whoever sticks in LF, Pauley? Profar? A vet acquired via trade? …..will hit nearly as well, or better than old Pham while not being such a horse’s arss
Pham seems Allright to me. Is it just because he’s fiery and ultra-competetive that some players don’t like him? I mean, he will call you out and show disdain if you’re not putting in 110% effort, but I love that about him. Some of these ballplayers coming into camp out of shape and immediately suffering groin strains or hammy strains is very frustrating as a fan.
One can be competitive without being overly destructive though.
Sure deplete the farm in a trade. I like Pauley, so yeah start Pauley over Profar/Azocar.
Start Pauley and make him the starter. Give him the bulk of at bats.
Pauley/Merrill/Tatis, no trades for a bat.
Pham is a better player than all of these other free agent outfielders being mentioned. And none of you have been in clubhouses with him, so you know nothing about his standing with teammates.
Pauley and Merrill need to be starting over all those AAAA players on the roster.
Agreed. Pham is the kind of player more teams need. He is all business and doesnt take sht. . Nobody works harder on all elements of there game than Pham. Hes deep into advanced metrics as well. Any team that gets him is getting an extreme bargain at this point.
Except that he isn’t very good anymore. 3 WAR over past 4 years, 36 years old.
At that price it is hard to see how SD could not have afforded him, and I would imagine that Taylor would prefer to play in SD.
Padres prospect Jackson Merrill has shown enough in CF in spring training to give reason for optimism. The same is true for Jose Azocar.
I suppose this means it is more likely that SD signs Tommy Pham, but I think that Taylor makes more sense as he plays CF. SD probably was choosing between Pham and Jurickson Profar, and they already signed Profar. SD is currently in South Korea, so maybe they are done signing people.
Duvall was cheaper at $3M! Preller loves Profar from his Texas days. No other GM in baseball would have given him that $1M contract. Everyone else would have offered a minor league contract at best.
Profar said he turned down more money. Boras said he turned down more money. Profar wanted to play in San Diego.
Really? Well the Rockies gave him $10 million just last year.
A. It was 7.75 mil
B. And how did that work out?
He is happy in SD where he has had his most success. His 2023 performance showed that he wasn’t getting another 5 + mil / year contract.
His best chance at a 2025 co tract was in LF in SD where he was almost guaranteed to get every chance to start 150 games if he could at least he league average with bat.
Or it could be that MAT didn’t want to go to SD or liked the vibe better in Pitt knowing he would be flipped at deadline to contender.
So tired of all of the posts acting like SD didn’t even try or couldn’t afford or whatever.
Players have a say in where they go guys.
Longtime
Exactly, Duvall probably wanted to go to ATL, very familiar and had some of his best years there.
Padres have Merrill and Azocar in CF. Why would they want Taylor?
Taylor is better than Profar and Azocar combined. It is not even close. Duvall was better also. Padres right now probably have the worst bench in all of ML baseball. And a hole in LF. And a hope in CF.
Taylor is not a good hitter. He has been in the league forever and his career numbers are just bad. Once Merrill went to center that closed the door on Taylor.
I said Merrill, not Profar. Merrill is a better fielder than what Taylor was last season from what we have seen this spring, great range and incredible reaction times and burst, and Merrill may actually be a great hitter.
Azocar will be a platoon backup across the OF.
Taylor has been a league average player based on defense in CF. He is 33. Defense declines rapidly in a player’s 30s which is something we have seen each of the past 3 seasons from him. His speed has also decreased into the 84th percentile at 28.7 ft/sec.
Offense declines less rapidly with age. If Taylor was a good hitter, that would be a different thing. Taylor has been an 86 OPS+ hitter the last 3 seasons and his K rate was an alarming 33.5% last season. He is really bad at the plate.
Azocar has a strong arm, in the 98th percentile, an elite jump (both reaction and burst) in 95 percentile, and 29.6 ft/sec speed which is in the 97th percentile. All that he has lacked is health and playing time to be a great defensive OF.
This offseason he has put on 15-20 lbs of muscle and was squaring up the ball in spring training with a max exit velocity of 113.4 mph and an avg exit velocity of 90.6 mph.
I notice that you NEVER bring stats or any facts to the table. Just opinions. That is a sure sign that you have nothing to offer to the conversation, so this is the end of ours.
Taylor at 4 mil with a K rate north of 30% vs Profor at 1 mil with a K rate in the mid teens. If you were trying to decide between these 2, good pull Preller. Oh, stay away from Pham.
Best wishes to MAT in Pitt.
Taylor 95 Hrs over 10 years. Profar 87. Boy he gave OPS + below league average Taylor has a better WAR primarily due his defense being so much better. But the argument isn’t so much about Taylor as it is about Profar. Preller has had ample opportunity to fix this OF since December and whiffed. It was his number 1 priority after the Soto trade. With what is still left, Pham and yes Robbie Grossman are better players than Profar and Azocar. But Preller failed in fixing this so we go with an assortment of untested rookies and DFA castoffs.
Every rookie is untested when they first come up. I’ll take an untested rookie with the hit tool Merrill has all day.
Let’s not act like there was some really good free agent outfielders within the padres budget. The phams and duvalls of the world aren’t all that great. Profar was on left the year they went to the nlcs so he isn’t going to be the reason they don’t this year.
As a Padre, Profar has been a better hitter
102 OPS+ in 359 game
than Taylor has been the last 3 seasons
86 OPS+ in 395 games
Profar .246/.334/.376/.710 as a Padre
.241/.350/.383/.733 with a 103 OPS+ in Petco for his career
Taylor – .240/.297.381/.678 the last 3 seasons
it doesn’t matter what Profar did for the Rockies. The Padres brought back a known entity that has been an above average hitter for them and is a positive influence in their clubhouse.
ONLY Ryan and Joel would argue against those facts AND try to move the goalpost when proven wrong. So FanD, which are you?
@Truth what would make you imagine he’d prefer playing in SD?? He was born and raised in FLA and has spent his entire career on East or Cantral div teams.
Get the eff in!
Called the Pham mis-info piece…. lol.
Where does he fit
In CF most days and every inning beyond seven in close games.
Useful, an actual major league outfielder. $4M too? I could see a Suwinski/Taylor platoon
High K rate and this close to the start of the season probably drove down the price tag
Great signing.
Good for them.
Kinda like a Buxton Lite. Without all the pesky IL time. Good signing.
This team just got a lot better they needed a true CF. Now go get Lorenzen and it’d be a nice offseason.
I think Clevinger’s upside would be preferable, but yeah, Lorenzen would help too.
I too would prefer Clevinger.
I feel that spring training showed some young pitchers potential That will allow the pirates to pass on league avg pitchers.
Except they were relying on Roansy and he is pitching like he did last year.
At this point, the guys they have as depth (Lauer and German) are at least as good as Lorenzen, can start in AAA, and in most cases have higher ceilings. Lauer even has another year of control to boot. I don’t see Lorenzen as a want, let alone a need – we already have 3 or 4 guys capable of being equally mediocre for millions less.
Solid move. I think i would’ve stuck with one of the prospects but if the offense is holding their own his defense could make a nice difference later in the season.
Still rather the money be spent else where if it is an absolute choice between here or there but can’t really fault the signing.
Welcome to the Burgh.
Real good signing. I think the central is gonna be a better division then people expected.
A lot of great farm systems in the NL Central, too. I think the division is going to be real good the next few years.
For the rest of the decade.
I presume he’s the everyday CF? Where does that leave the rest of the OFs? I guess Palocios goes to Indy now.
Presumably Reynolds moves to left, where he should have been for a while, and Henry Davis plays right most days. Suwinski fills in since he’s a lefty. Cutch moves around and does some DH’ing. Connor Joe is screwed. More or less.
Davis is catching bro…. and Joe has always been the weakside of 1B platoon.
If you think Davis is a catcher I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
He’s doing a decent fake job in Spring Training.
Keep up.
Davis is playing the position of catcher.
@Seamaholic, he was drafted as a Catcher which he had played in college.
He has been in left all of last year
Yep…seamoholic has no idea at all of how the Pitrates played last season and will set up in 2024.
Connor Joe will platoon against lefties with Tellez at first base so in my opinion the player odd man out is probably Delay since Davis will catch more than play right field
When was the last time you looked at a pirate lineup, or read an article? Reynolds played left all last season, Davis has been catching all spring, Cutch played very little in the field last season, and is unlikely to this year. Joe can still play first as a platoon. Bae is the odd man out here.
Reynolds LF…. Taylor CF….. Suwinski/Olivares RF.
Bae/Palacios/McKinney 5th OF
Joe/Cutch/Triolo 1B/DH/Util who can spot OF
Davis …. CATCHER 😉
Davis is a horrible catcher. Good hitter though.
I only seen 1 game this spring but he didn’t look horrible. Looked slightly below average and that’s fine. Maybe he can get to average. Doesn’t matter though. If his bat is as good as projected you only want him catching half the games at most.
every time i’ve seen davis catch he did okay.
I think it was Bob the other day who said something to the effect of… I didn’t even realize he was catching… and that was a good thing as he wasn’t doing anything really wrong. I believe the was the radio broadcast.
If you have no one better and Davis is hitting then there is no problem with him being back there based on what I’ve seen so far. The reason he hasn’t caught much is that Endy was better and both were hitting well before getting called up. the Davis injury last year didn’t help much either.
Until this spring he actually was horrible. Got some help from non pirates catching and put in the work.
Actually Davis has shown to be a better catcher than previous thought this spring.
IF Endy will still be clearly the better catcher they will have to find a long term position for Henry.
I still think that he can be taught to play right field.
I actually made an account to specifically tell you how wrong you are and point out the fact that you clearly haven’t watched pirates baseball. Reynolds was moved to left field for the entirety of 2023, and Davis will be the starting catcher for 2024, I bet he doesn’t see a single inning in right. If you would’ve watched a single inning of spring training or read a single article you’d know that not only has Henry been serviceable defensively catching, he’s actually been pretty damn good. The eye test proves it, the stats prove it, and by all accounts the media proves it.
Reynolds LF. Suwinski Taylor CF. Olivares Joe Cutch RF. Suwinski will see some RF and move there when Taylor comes in CF late innings defense.
Not bad for 4m. Good enough weak platoon. Even at 33 still a better cf than Jack. Taking advantage of a late season discount. Not a A+ but can see a B. C at worst.
The team’s biggest strength is the bullpen so having a good defensive CF even just for end game situations is a big plus. Taylor is the third best outfielder on the roster and making starter money for this franchise, he’s playing most days and pushing Suwinski to right which creates a very good defensive outfield alignment and has offensive potential. Learning from Taylor for a year could be huge for Suwinski’s long term development as a CF. Adding some pop to the bottom of the batting order, albeit with some serious contact issues, is something this franchise hasn’t had in years. A+ signing
Good sign. Bae will be traded for a RP soon mark my words
He doesn’t have much trade va;lue
Bae is clearly hurt enough that he’s starting the season on the IL. I’m sure he could be had for a price, but probably not for an RP at this point – with the injuries going on in places like Seattle, teams with available arms can get back more than a guy like Bae.
I’d actually say the Pirates are more apt to trade from their current pitching depth than add to it. Falter has been terrible, but teams might be desperate enough to take him for a middling AA guy with upside, which is more than Bae would fetch at this point.
Theman and tired old dudes ain’t gonna like all these strike outs.
And don’t want the D…. but they’ll be loving it come playoff time.
I don’t like the K’s either but that’s why he cost 4 million vs 10.
We won’t make the playoffs if we can’t increase our run total from last year.
They ranked 3rd worst in the league in scoring
Runs will increase unless something drastic happens. Playoffs will come down to injuries. I like Pirates depth but if the other teams are healthy it won’t matter. Central is so tight it will be decided by health and luck.
Cruz alone will see the runs increase.
If Cruz can stay healthy I agree but his running ability scares me.
Thanks Dream, you read my mind
Awesome, that will push Jack to RF mor often where he can platoon more frequently with Olivares. Now go sign Lorenzen or clevinger.
First, like this for Pirates!
Second, Padres had Tatis, Merrill and Azocar for outfield.
Could they be bold enough to go after JD Martinez to DH? Was certain Padres and Duvall was a match but Atlanta realized their mistake in going to Jerad
I dunno man..He seems to be holding out for a 2yr deal in the 25m range. Not sure if he fits payroll wise..but I’d LOVE to see it.
I thought he was one year at 15-17 million a couple months ago, now I am thinking one year at 5-12 million
Man..if AJ could pull that off, I’d actually be fine with Profar in LF.
Seems like they want Pauley to get consistant AB’s though, while cycling everyone through the DH spot. We’ll see..
Prob is we have no idea how long manny will need to dh. So I doubt they sign a dh only type.
Right now when Manny M. Is healthy I see
C Campu
1B Crony
2B Bogey
SS Kim
3B Manny
RF Tatis
LF Merrill
CF Azocar
DH Profar
Seems like Merrill is gonna start in center with Profar in left.
They need lefties/switch hitters in the lineup, and Profar gets on base at around a .330 clip with occasional pop. Seems like they’re content with the bats they have around him..
And he’s solid on D in LF..
Merrill will be playing center, even if Azocar plays. They have made that clear, that’s where he is the most comfortable.
Yesssss!!!!!!! Love it
He could have gotten $4MM, maybe more, and on a better team if he wasn’t dead set on an eight-figure deal that was never coming.
Blue Jays could have used him versus lefties for one of their LH outfield bats. Good news is Springer is ready to play 150 games in the outfield this season.
Better options our there for a RHH 4th OF/PH, well there were, although Taylor is still better than the current 4th OF who is also the everyday 3B and backup catcher.;..IKF!
Not better CF options and that’s why they wanted him.
There weren’t better options as of 24 hours ago. Jays decided to play PR and bring in Votto when that ship should have sailed the moment they paid Turner to DH. Now Kiermaier and/or Varsho will be asked to face lefties regularly, and if neither hit them well….
Between this and Kenny Pickett getting shipped out of town, busy day for sports media in the burgh
They don’t care about Pirates. Will talk about Pitt basketball ball, old washed up mismanaged Pens, anything other than Pirates.
Pitt basketball is playing in the ACC tournament and the Bucs are still in ST
Besides the sports media. 93.7 the Fan is broadcasting the Pitt- NC game tonight
Anyone else feel MLBTR played us beautifully with this?
I get the impression that Pirates chat is as good a bang per sub as they have and they milked this one to the max by threatening a Pham signing before revealing the buried treasure.
Well played, sirs.
mlbtr is just reporting what Passan and others tweet out, like most outlets
They dangled Pham and gave us Taylor within an hour. Perfect timing, IMO.
Off topic, but Brew’88,
Do you have another account? On another thread with you, I saw a user go by Brew88, but without the apostrophe. Just wondering if that’s a troll.
Hey across., just my home computer which uses a newer account with subscription.. I need to get rid of this older one.
Pirates had interest and checked in with Pham. It’s true and mlbtr reported what was reported. Taylor CF ability was preferred. Still wouldn’t rule Pham out. Much less likely but if no one else wants him Cherington might not be able to pass up on the value. I imagine someone else will want him but you never know especially this year.
Absolutely…. I’d take Pham at $4m to push Olivares/Cutch.
They aren’t going to cut Cutch no matter who else is signed.
He’s a fan favorite and puts fans in the stands. Attendance means dollar signs to Nutting
Cutch may not be able to perform on a daily basis and if BC wanted to carry him a passenger I’d be effing fuming.
He’s a legacy player. They will do right by cutch
They’ve already done right by him. I’d be happy to see him retired ASAP if he can’t play the OF.
He didn’t play OF last year. The team also doesn’t have a better DH option. Cutch isn’t getting booted but I’d like to see Connor Joe leave. Unfortunately the Pirates don’t believe in employing a real first baseman so Joe will get a bench spot.
I am not a Connor Joe fan and he is not particularly good at first base.
He did hit lefthanders fairly well and seems to be a positive and good teammate.
Maybe next year if they do well this year they will go after a bona fide first baseman..
The last good one that they had was probably Kevin Young.
The Padres couldn’t top this?!?
No reason to with Merril taking over center field. Most of Taylor’s Value is from playing center.
Pirates spending some money
They always do when they have a contender.
Their Shortstop has to be fully healthy
Looks to be. Say’s he is.
Well that is good news
Lol look I’m a fan but even I know they won’t contend this season. Cards and reds will probably get in before them
Cardinals. They signed 2 over the hill starters and a guy who parlayed one good season with the Twins and now. Cardinals fans are running their mouths again?
That’s funny
Make sure you stop back in September
Not saying I think the Pirates will contend. Just laughing at your comment
If the Pirates get another decent starter it will be anybody’s division to win.
Between Priester, Ortiz and possibly Jones they might aready have that stater. Remember, an 84 win team made it to the World Series last year. The Pirates aren’t that far away.
J-I wouldn’t get my hopes too far up.
Priester is a AAA pitcher,Ortiz has two pitches,and plenty of young pitchers look good in spring training.
The Pirates are several years away at competing for a pennant.
Their starting pitching is not even mediocre at this point.
Yes,teams get lucky,but rarely so.
I would be very happy with 84 wins,and even more so if it wins the division.
But they are at best a 500 team this year.
Is there another Michael Taylor in baseball?
Was. Also an outfielder in the early 2010s per BaseballReference. The careers of the 2 Taylors overlapped slightly, so I suppose that’s why the use of the middle initial.
Nice 4th outfielder for the bucs. How couldn’t fans like this?
Should start in CF and solves RF since Suwinski can slide over there.
Solid addition. I guess that means Pham back to Padres?
“Suwinski, a lefty swinger, has a .234/.344/.488 slash in his career against righties but just .164/.263/.300 against righties.” Guessing that second one is supposed to say lefties?
Well the buccos didn’t sign the FLIMPHAM MAN,which is good. But they signed a Taylor who isn’t a Don Baylor
$4M was just way too much for CLE. Besides, Straw + Florial almost equal Taylor on a bad day, and that’s good enough. We’ll be just fine with multiple holes in the lineup.
Crazy that he couldn’t do better than this. Him and Kiermaier should have gotten at least double the amount they signed for. The market didn’t end up being all that kind to outfielders this offseason.
Fine signing for his defense,versatility,and pop.One only has to compare his batting to Jack’s against lefthanders to see the great improvement.
They still need a bona fide starter but if they get a decent one they can contend if few injuries and things generally go right for them.
The Padres couldn’t pay 4? Come on, man!
They clearly didn’t see him as a real upgrade. Especially with Merrill in center now. Almost all of Taylor’s value comes from defense.
That’s a nice move by the Bucs. He’ll sure up their outfield nicely and will hit well enough to stay in the lineup.
marmol
extend
funny
Not simply saying this because of Taylor, but this is the best Bucs lineup I seen in quite some time, maybe better than when they were in the playoffs years ago. So much power potential. I remember the days when Gregory Polanco was their top HR hitter and that was sad. Taylor is a good fit in CF with a little pop, and Suwinski, Cruz, and Davis all have 30 HR potential, not to mention Tellez/Joe platoon, Reynolds, an emerging 2B, and steady bats of Cutch and Triolo. Very optimistic this year, but I think they really need to go for it and be agressive with the young pitchers. Jones or Skenes need to be here early.
I think 2025 is their year to start shining again. They are absolutely loaded with good pitching prospects, but most of them won’t be ready until next season. I think they are playing the waiting game with their developing pitching staff. They also badly need to upgrade the bullpen, as it’s pretty weak beyond David Bednar. The offense is really starting to look promising though, I agree. I’d like to see them add a legitimate 1B for once in 2025, and if they do (in addition to getting Endy Rodriguez back from injury to take over at catcher) that lineup could be scary as soon as next season.
Bednar is very good but I think he was banged up this spring. Still having Chapman, Holderman, and Mlodnski gives them a very good pen. They all have unreal stuff but Holderman had some homer problems.
Hole- The key word is potential.Everything has to click.
Regarding the young starters,other than Skenes,they will have to pay their dues for a year or two or maybe more.Keller did not get good overnight.
I think that the key for this year is to at least get to 500 and get several 9f the young starters some games so that the Pirates can gauge their progress.Few have even been proven at AAA yet.
It just seems like young players never work out for the Pirates, but as this point they stacked the deck with so many of them that there should be enough for a potentially solid rotation out of some of them by at least next season at latest. Same with the infielders. I don’t really think players need to play much at AAA. Double A is where the talented prospects are and if they do well there, they have the talent to perform in the bigs.
I think that talent first shows up at AA but is not proven until 2 or 3 months in AAA.There is a huge jump between the MLB and AAA,and if the player struggles in AAA it is better to keep them there so that they are confident when they do get to MLB.
Bob Prince said it best.
You got a round ball,and a round bat,but you have to hit it square.
An agent should know what teams are looking for and act accordingly. Taylor should have jumped on the 1st multi-year deal offering 3/18M. He got stuck with 4M/1yr. I believe he thought he’d get 3/30M offers. when the ones left wanted 1 year only.
With all these extra infielders and outfielders, do the Pirates now go with a five man bench?
Taylor will be a part-time player for the Pirates and provide very good defense in CF. Against lefties Taylor will be in CF and Joe/Olivares will be in RF. Against righties Suwinski will be in CF or RF and they’ll probably play the hot hand between Taylor/Olivares/Joe along with Suwinski and Reynolds in the outfield.
I think this rounds out the roster well and allows the Pirates to send Palacios and McKinney to AAA for depth. Plus, at some point Bae will be healthy as well and another option for CF. I think Taylor is a good replacement for Bae since Bae is hurt and they don’t have a timetable when he’ll be back yet.
Great singing for Pitt. Worth way more than $4m.
He’s worth at least double what he got. I was thinking he may get a two year deal worth $6-8 million per year. Great signing by the Pirates, and I am shocked no other teams were willing to beat this offer. Elite defensive centerfielders with 25+ HR power don’t grow on trees.
He won’t hit 25+ HRs with half his games at PNC… but that cavernous LF/CF is exactly why the Bucs needed him more than other teams. I’d be happy if he plays top five CF with an OPS of .700.
First time I’ve had a comment deleted. Cherrington should be ashamed and of his off-season. You cannot endorse Chapman, incentivize German and say the negative or from Bauer is the reason he’s not on an mlb roster. As a pirates fan I’m morbidly furious over this.
I like the signing for Pittsburgh. Sets solid anchor in CF. Reynolds in LF, Suwinski in RF makes OF palatable. McCutchen and a youngster makes 5 of to work with. Still could use another SP, like Clevinger or Lorenzen.
Got to wonder why the padres aren’t making moves for the outfielders. Eddie, Taylor, Duvall.. all signed for cheap contracts and they essentially have no outfield. Like tatis and that’s it
Pity the Twins didn’t re-sign him instead of that knackered carthorse, Margot. Could have got him for less than they paid it seems, even though they got a ‘never heard of’ prospect as well.