The Pirates brought infielder Jake Lamb back on a new minor league contract after granting him his release when he triggered an opt-out clause last week, reports Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He’s headed back to Triple-A Indianapolis, where he spent the first two-plus months of the season.
Lamb, 33, has had a nice season in Indianapolis this year. The 2017 All-Star has appeared in 55 games and taken 234 turns at the plate, posting a .289/.380/.418 slash with four home runs, 13 doubles, a 12% walk rate and an 18.4% strikeout rate. It’s a fairly quick return to the same organization, though that’s not uncommon for veterans in this situation. New minor league deals in these scenarios can often include a larger salary in Triple-A, additional opt-out dates and/or upward mobility clauses that weren’t present in the prior pact from which the player opted out.
A veteran of 10 big league seasons, mostly with the D-backs, Lamb was a former top prospect who broke out as Arizona’s everyday third baseman back in 2016-17, slugging 59 home runs during that two-year peak. Shoulder troubles arose for the 2012 sixth-rounder, however, and he eventually underwent surgery to repair his rotator cuff in 2018. He’s since had calf and hamstring injuries in addition to some lingering issues with that surgically repaired shoulder.
Prior to the surgery, Lamb carried a career .247/.332/.448 batting line in his career — including a heftier .248/.345/.498 output during that 2016-17 run. He’s since bounced from around the league, spending time with the A’s, White Sox, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Mariners, Angels and Yankees organizations in addition to this year’s Triple-A stint with the Bucs. In 223 big league games post-surgery, he’s a .199/.306/.363 hitter.
The Pirates stuck with first baseman Rowdy Tellez through an awful April and May stretch, and they’ve been rewarded with a much-improved .362/.413/.552 slash this month (albeit in only 63 plate appearances). That’s likely extended Tellez’s leash, but if he reverts to his early-season struggles and/or incurs an injury, it’s feasible that the Pirates could turn to Lamb and give him a look in the majors. He’s played first base almost exclusively in Indy this year — five games in right field being the only other defensive work he’s logged — so it’ll likely take a change in Pittsburgh’s first base/DH mix to get Lamb a major league opportunity.
Finally. The old heads have been chewing on their towels for 5 days waiting for some Pirates news. Don’t fear. Cherington is hard at work.
yeah, he’s hard at work using analytics to determine the lineup, despite knowing that Morton is a strikeout pitcher and still writes Cruz’ name in the #3 hole and proceeds to strike out 3 times
Yeah, such a hard worker indeed
Lineup doesn’t matter. You got Reynolds and Cutch for sure in the top 6. And that’s it! Rowdy has been top 6 worthy past month and change. 3 other guys have to bat in top 6. Joe? 3 for 40 nah. Gonzales? In May sure. June he has been well below average. Wiffski? Taylor? Bad Back? Olivares? Toe tap Triolo? Bye bye Bae. Davis? Grandpal? Cruz is one of your 3 best hitters. Why shouldn’t he bat 3rd? Rowdy waa brought here to hit hrs but has failed so you know what you are right. Cruz should bat 4th for the 1 day a week he hits a 112 mph blast into the river. Although seems that mostly happens with no one on base.
actually Joe is now 3 for 4 in his last 5 plate appearances including 2 doubles and a walk.
Cruz is on pace to strikeout 211 times over the course of 162 games
Exit velocity only matters when your bat makes contact with the ball and Cruz doesn’t do this often enough for a player batting 3rd.
If he’s really one of the best hitters, why does he strike out so much?
He swung at one pitch in last night’s game that was 3 feet off the plate. Doesn’t sound like a good hitter to me
Putting the ball in play scores runs, striking out 94 times doesn’t
No help is coming. What is Haines gonna fix someone? There’s nothing on the farm coming anytime soon, even more nothing in the outfield department. Trades ain’t happening until after draft. It’s nice that Nutting is prepared but no reason to because he ain’t doing Nutting. When trades do start happening there is going to be a shortage because of so many teams in. By then Pirates might not be as in as other teams. Prices should be sky high. So what are the options? Punt on 2024 even though Skenes Keller are here and ready now. Pay the high trade prices and hurt your farm? Or not make enough trades and or trade for lesser talents that don’t improve your team enough? None of those are exciting options. I guess the third is the best. Then the first one.
I don’t see all these teams being out of the race a month from now. And I would have the Pirates as one of the more likely teams to fall back in the race. You got 3 bats. 1 strikes out a ton. 4 if Rowdy keeps it going. 5 if Joe finds his way back. Hole in 2 outfield spots. Hole at 3b unless Hayes is healthy and vs LHP. Hole at 2b until Gonzales adjusts. Hole at catcher. Ok so they can tread water with 4 holes. I dunno who in here would say that but if they do they forgot rest days! So it’s at least 5 holes.
Jones innings are too high so he is well below half a tank. Cherington said something about help coming from within so the punt option might be where he is headed. See what happens but it’s going to be brutal baseball to watch until Cherington adds at least 2 impact bats.
Strap in. 3 for 4! #SlumpOver
I never said Cruz was a good hitter. You don’t have to be a good hitter to be one of the Pirates best hitters.
Jones isn’t pitching in his usual spot in the rotation according to Shelton because of his increased innings and tonight was his spot so expect a bullpen game
There’s no way they will become a playoff team this year and probably not next either
It takes money to put on a legitimate contender and Nutting isn’t going to allow that to happen
Speaking of slumps, Cruz is 0 for his last 17 plate appearances
he got a single in his first plate appearance in today’s game
Your hero Michael A Taylor did what he does best, he struck out and on a pitch nowhere near the plate
One of the “ old heads” was seriously contemplating being the first commenting on this post as I had never done that before.
I did not know that it had been five long days since.
But one of the “young heads” came through with the first post.
Congratulations Dream GM.
Next time you have a chance to comment first, don’t hesitate.
Quite frankly,I couldn’t think of anything even half way intelligent to say.
Thus I chose to remain silent,and be thought stupid,than to write,and remove all doubt.
Wish he hadn’t gotten hurt. Our third base situation hasn’t exactly been rosy. Escobar was fine but Lamb started out pretty well in his early twenties……
Lamb can play first base. He started at that position once Goldy was traded away, but injuries got to him soon and Christian Walker seized the opportunity.
Can and will in AAA.
Jack could use a trip to Indy to change his swing, as there’s no longer any lift and instead it’s just to make contact
His bread and butter is his raw power. Changing his swing is a result of the failure of the hitting coach and the failed development of this management team overall
It’s hard to fathom a player going from hitting 26 homers and driving in 71 runs to a paltry 6 and 20 without questioning his swing
I suspect that when Bae is activated from the IL, after his rehab stint at Indy, Jack will replace him.
Regarding Lamb, this is a team that lacks any depth of offense and there’s a few current players who aren’t contributing on a regular basis, Rowdy being one, despite his partial resurgence
If this team has wild card aspirations, changes are inevitable
l
The Pirates promise a future that never happens.
By this time next year or early in 2026 they’ll be talking another rebuild because everyone will be a few years older, production, if that’s even possible, will be worse and injuries will start striking the elite pitchers
they moved Skenes back a day and is scheduled to start today rather than tomorrow
But it might not matter since they can’t seem to score enough runs again
At least Cruz isn’t playing and neither is Jack but those automatic outs are now in Taylor’s hands
Michael A Taylor needs to be dfa and Matt Gorski added to the roster then promoted
He can’t be any worse
Taylor couldn’t hit a ball even if it was placed on a T using a whiffle ball bat
I stand corrected, Taylor used his whiffle ball bat and got a single out of it
I could live with the Pirates being below .500 and not making the playoffs, if they weren’t so boring. Sadly, they are both bad and boring. They keep repeating the same actions even though those actions keep failing. Lead off runner on in a close game, what do you do? Why, swing away of course. Doesn’t matter that the next three batters live at the Mendoza line, maybe this time, they magically become better hitters. Really? Playing the game unencumbered by the thought process. The Pirates lack the talent to score with power, so do something different. Make the game exciting even if you lose. Sad, but boring.
You had better live with it because they won’t have a winning record this year, not with an offense near the bottom of the league in runs scored
But you make a valid argument, Skeptical
They fall to play fundamental baseball, bunting is out of the question, trying to move a runner into scoring position or even trying for a bunt single
And no one is held accountable. I do not fault Nutting for not spending money (his money, not mine and spending money is not the only way to make a competitive team), but I do blame him for tolerating a management group that appears not to hold people accountable and that misuses the Pirates’, hence Nutting’s, assets.
Wish the Pirates could bring AJ back to instill a little fire in the team.
They need a manager who can do that.
With all due respect,some of these guys would clearly be better hitters if they lived at my Mendoza Line 215.Or even 200.
the great manager Derek Shelton who uses analytics to pinch hit, chose Oneil Cruz to pinch hit for Connor Joe, despite his getting on base twice with a single and a walk, struck out by violating the pitch count
I partly blame Cruz for his shear ignorance and partly blame Shelton for using him as a pinch hitter in the first place
Cruz now has 96 ks on the season and is among the leaders of this stat
Jack Suwinski, pinch hitting for Taylor, does what he does best
Strikes out on 3 pitches
Shelton isn’t very good at choosing pinch hitters in this game, nor is he good at anything period
0 for 12 with runners in scoring position they deserve to lose and the coaching staff needs to teach these players how to slide into home plate
Olivares should have either started his slide earlier or slid head first
The Braves will sweep this series and the Pirates unless they go on a win streak, their season is yet another one of the losing variety
Gotta be tough being a bucs fan right now
Actually it’s easy. You know the games are going to be boring until they add some bats so all you need to do it watch the 10 min condensed game or check box score. They don’t make major trades. Don’t sign major free agents. Don’t bench lazy or poor performing players. Don’t fire any staff. Easiest team in baseball to be a fan of. Go in a cave for months and come out and it’s the same players, same hitting approach, from the same coaches. You won’t miss a thing. So easy.
It’s been tough to be a Pirate fan for 45 years
The tough part is that many of us knew what changes needed to be made several years ago and nothing has happened.
yeah as if Nutting would approve of $50 million in salaries going to waste
Starting from scratch instead should be management, including coaches on the major league staff and ultimately new player development staff for the entire organization
Paul-Much if what you are saying has been consistently said by you,me,Tired,aka the “old heads”,and several of the other younger but fine Bucco posters on this site.
Why do we know but others do not?
Nutting has to strike soon.It has been five years and they are barely mediocre.
This is not rocket science.
both Cruz and Rowdy hit homers and today’s game which is a good sign but as a team they still managed to strike out 12 times
there is not a single chance these swings and misses are all on the players alone
Only managing 6 hits is a pathetic performance from a major league team
Should have been 9 or 10 hits. Moron Shelton put Reynolds and Cutch in the lineup and they both went hitless.
And Jack ( your favorite player ) should have hit 2 homers
Reynolds to his credit did hit successfully in 25 straight games, which is 24 more games than Cruz had managed until yesterday
On Cherington’s weekly radio program on the Fan, he said that the team’s improvement needs to come from within as he expects current players to get better
Which essentially means that the fantasy of trades to improve the team are closer to slim to none
As a team the Bucs are last in batting average and slugging and have the third most strikeouts by an offense
Another disappointing season by the buffoons who manage this franchise and who still think that long time, knowledgeable fans will buy into the nonsense that the likes of Haines and company have the ability of making them better and competitive
They aren’t last in average. They aren’t last in slugging. Shows what you know. Not much.
as of today, at MLB.com, the Pirates team batting average is .227, last in the national league
shows that you aren’t as knowledgeable about baseball that you claim
Wow. Impressive you actually said something that was correct. Unfortunately it was a desperation correction. In the same sentence you used the batting average you also used strike outs and slugging. For both those other stats you included American league teams lol. Same as you originally did with average. Other two stats have NL team so yoi can’t pretend like you meant NL all along. Busted loser! Nice try but I am not a dum dum like you and easily caught it lol. Good save attempt though. In all seriousness you are sad and pathetic and need help. There is something wrong with you mentally. This isn’t normal behavior. You should seek help. There’s no need for all these lies and manipulation. You are human. Humans make mistakes. It’s ok to be wrong.
It’s okay to be wrong
You said that the Bucs weren’t last in batting average
And since you have this idea that I have mental problems, you ignorant arrogant POS, you are now muted
it’s going to be nice to offer my opinion without having to read Nightmare GM’s responses
6 batters faced by Gibson and he’s already struck out 5 Pirates. Swinging at pitches nowhere close to the plate
Andy Haines must be proud
there’s no way this pathetic offense will come back from a 6 run deficit and Grandal can’t just not hit, he can’t throw and can’t catch without the threat of an interference call
Haines and Shelton must be proud
how long before Nutting begins to put pressure on Cherington to improve the offense ?
Striking out in double digits with less than 10 hits, and not drawing walks at any rate, lack of XBH , at some point, Haines has to be given an ultimatum for improving the offense
they are being shut out by a 35 year old pitcher who has an era of over 5
If they have serious playoff aspirations, something has got in change and fast
Other than myself, no one has been in here since June. You muted me. Yet you are still talking. You are talking to yourself. Seriously go see a therapist. No one will know. Nothing to be ashamed of.