Sept. 9: McKinney went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, per the Pirates’ transaction log at MLB.com. He can either elect free agency now or accept the assignment and become a minor league free agent at season’s end.
Sept. 6: The Pirates designated outfielder Billy McKinney for assignment Friday, per a team announcement. His spot on the roster will go to catcher Joey Bart, who’s been reinstated from the injured list.
McKinney was traded from the Yankees to the Pirates over the winter in exchange for international bonus pool space. He’s spent the bulk of the season with Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate where he’s missed time with injury but posted a sound .295/.396/.450 batting line in 154 plate appearances when healthy. Pittsburgh selected him to the 40-man roster late last month, and he’s appeared in 10 games, hitting .200/.286/.240 in that small sample.
A 2013 first-round pick by the A’s, McKinney has found himself involved in plenty of notable trades over the years. He went from Oakland to the Cubs as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade in 2014, then was flipped from Chicago to New York as part of the 2016 Aroldis Chapman blockbuster. The Yankees eventually traded McKinney to Toronto as part of their deal for veteran lefty J.A. Happ.
McKinney has gotten looks with seven different big league organizations but never topped 276 plate appearances in a single big league season with one team. He’s played in 321 MLB games and picked up 943 plate appearances, batting .209/.284/.386 in that time. The former top prospect has appeared in parts of seven Triple-A seasons and slashed .274/.359/.504 with 56 homers in 1304 plate appearances at that level.
I would have included Grandal because it will be difficult giving all three catchers playing time and the fact that Grandal won’t be on the team next year
Grandal is the best defender of the 3 unfortunately
He may be a “good defender” as long as you don’t count throwing out a base stealer. He couldn’t throw me out stealing second and I’m 59 with a bad knee. The cubs stole 7 bases on him a week ago.
Yes his pop timeis terrible. He is the better framer of the 3. If cutch is still hurt. Bart can DH
While Davis has thrown out runners trying to steal several times since being recalled
Cutch is in tonight’s lineup
And he won’t be back next year regardless
he might be better at framing pitches but his arm sucks
He was the catcher who wasn’t paying attention to the runner at third. Lobbed thr ball back to the pitcher and the runner stole home. Very overrated.
Grandal is a terrible defender. Bart and Davis are both better than him. Grandal is literally the worst catcher in all of MLB against the running game.
I believe that Grandal is Skenes’ personal catcher. Last week against the Cubs, Grandal came out when Skenes was done.
He is but since he’s on a one year contract and won’t be back in 2025, Bart and Davis need to finish the season sharing catching duties with Skenes
Now would be a good time to work in new catchers with Skenes to prepare for 2025.
Endy is still hurt he is the starting c next year
Ironic that GMBC was just stating how the Pirates need to get better at international
Scouting. Doesn’t really matter how good your scouting is if you give up pool money for guys like this.
And it’s ironic that it took 5 years for Ben to figure out that the International Scouting wasn’t developing players who would become major league ready
After all, the GM hired the scouts and oversaw their development process
He just needed someone to blame instead of taking the blame himself
Nick Gonzalez who drove in 3 runs in last night’s game is sitting in favor of Worthless Williams
Shelton and his band of worthless coaches need to be fired immediately
They already dfa Taylor no one claimed him
they need to give Taylor his unconditional release and promote either Cook or Yorke
They can add Cook or Yorke right now if there’s a opportunity to play every day they have 2 spots available on the 40 man. Indianapolis is in a playoff race though
yeah, being in a playoff race when your team is 2 games above .500, is more important than finding out if your two best hitters at Indy can hit major league pitching
You should be a propagandist for Cherington
Unless they are going to play everyday why would you call them up. You complain about them putting DaviS in RF stunting his growth but want them to do the same for Cook and York
And yet you’re fine with me most useless offensive player on the team playing in center field even though he’s only signed for this year
I never complained about Davis playing in right field but I keep forgetting, you know everything and are never wrong
“But you can’t push Billy ’round
Billy won’t go, try tellin’ everybody but, oh no
Little Billy, Billy won’t go home”. Ahahaha!
The Pirates a collection of other teams spares mingled with underdeveloped high round draft picks that don’t pan out. Looking forward to the 2028 trade of Paul Skenes. Sell the team Nutting.
If only…
Nutting is a businessman, his only concern is profit
Selling the teams doesn’t make a difference. Cuban himself said he wouldn’t operate at a loss but you have to have a 120 million dollar payroll to compete for a playoff spot
you sound like Dream who talks alot of BS, too
Milwaukee is the lowest payroll team in the playoffs
actually the Guardians payroll is $94 million but they have a good player development system and a manager who knows how to win
Adjusted payroll is 106 on spotrack. They also have a team that has over 100 losses in their division to feast on they still have a 4 game series against Minnesota
blah blah blah blah
that’s what I see when you post something and I have become tired of seeing anything that you say so effectively now you have joined the chorus of people I will have muted
TheMan knows nothing. Let him talk in his little echo chamber of nonsense.
The secret is talent assessment not payroll amount
I’m an avid Brewer fan and I don’t remember Mckinney on that 2021 team
I have a feeling that you’re not the only Brewer fan who doesn’t remember him.
Prevagen
Great example of why players should not get a signing bonus when they haven’t proven they deserve one
He got $1.8 million dollars to sign
He never earned that
Seems like a massive scam by the players and the union to me
But what do I know, I only have an IQ over 200
Captain-That is indeed quite an impressive IQ.It means that you are twice as smart as the average bear.
You are in Einstein’s realm.
How have you used your genius to better mankind?
Get every cent you can. Especially baseball. Even if you make the majors it’s 3 years service time before you can truly earn what you’re worth. Now I understand a player on a mlb min isn’t starving but neither is the owner who is paying him. Now please go cure cancer with that 200 IQ
except that the owners agreed during their negotiations so to only place blame on the players doesn’t exactly sound like someone with an inflated IQ
M
Cm1
Counterpoint
His market value was much more than $1.8 million
If players weren’t bound by the draft system they would get much more coming out of amature baseball.
You can see that with players who weren’t subjected to those same rules.
Ben cherington at a used car lot and offered a 1994 Chevy Cavalier with low mileage and he’s like how much and where do I sign! Breaks down 3 weeks later.
Could have saved this money for the international pool Benny bot
And it didn’t rain until way after the game would have been over. I found out it was postponed when I showed up at the gate. Fortunately, I’m only a 45 minute walk from the ballpark.
the umpires decide whether to call the game because of rain not the moron pretending to be a manager
Help. Please help me. I’m hooked on this team for life and can’t kick the habit.
it’s especially bad to be hooked on this team when you’re wondering if at your age, you will ever be able to enjoy a winning season
no hits through 4 innings including Bucs players watching strike 3 thrown past them
I am secretly hoping they get no hit again for the second time in a week
Maybe this would seal the fate of the worst manager and hitting coach in baseball
no hits through 5 innings now
IKF’s average has dropped from .293 to .268 since being traded from Toronto and De la Cruz has struck out 34 times since being traded and someone needs to explain how Haines could still have his job
no hits through 6 innings
HAINES NEEDS TO GO and NOW!
2 hits and 2 runs through 8 innings and Haines is still employed
at least Pitt came back to beat Cincinnati by scoring 22 unanswered points
Moron brings in Bednar to pitch the 9th and he gives up a run
Bednar gave up one run on 3 walks. Why the Moron keeps using him is beyond imagination
but the “ slumper” company managed 5 hits and Haines still has a job
Several teams are making roster moves even Miami who has as much of a chance as this team to make the playoffs but Cherington sits idle and continues to keep totally worthless offensive players on the roster, even those only on one year contracts
two of the team’s most worthless players are in the lineup, Taylor who is sure to strike out several times and Alika Williams who can’t even hit his weight
And the fact that Taylor is playing in left field, a position he’s only played once this year, it should be an interesting night
useless Williams couldn’t get the glove down fast enough on a perfect throw by Grandal
Worthless and useless. Big Daddy says that Ben shouldn’t promote players who wouldn’t play every day but Williams doesn’t play every day either and he’s at the major league team
It’s all nonsense by these people who think they know everything
Connor Joe should be one of those players who doesn’t return for next season
He sucks
I called it. Taylor struck out on ball 4
and IKF sucks too
Michael A Taylor strikes out with the bases loaded but let’s just keep playing him until the season ends
What a complete joke of a franchise
Borucki has been horrible since being activated from the IL, Taylor shouldn’t be playing in left field let alone being in the starting lineup, Connor Joe should never bat clean up and wouldn’t be a starter on any other team and the team collectively struck out 14 times to keep pace with setting the all time record in that dubious category
This team deserves to be in last place
I would rather have Syd Thrift and Leyland
Trading fan favorite and AS Tony Pena to St. louis for Andy Van Slyke, Mike Lavailere and Mike Dunne was one of the best trades in recent Pirates history
hopefully on October 1, the article that stands out most on this site will feature the firing of Derek Shelton and his entire coaching staff
We don’t often agree, but on this we are in complete agreement.
I just hope that if it comes to pass, it doesn’t turn into a c.f. Like last time.
everything this franchise does becomes a c. f especially when Cherington is involved
The last manager-general manager c.f. brought Cherington to the Pirates who then hired Shelton.
I wonder if Cherington has any regrets about trading for De la Cruz
He’s absolutely awful at the plate since coming over from Miami
they managed just 3 runs against the second worst team in the league, 2 of which came after an error and again nearly lost in the 9th inning
on the Fan this morning, and during an interview with Shelton, he dodged the question of whether he was be back next season as manager, instead saying his only focus was winning as many games as possible before the season ends
That suggests to me that his job is on the line and if they don’t finish strong, he’ll be fired
I don’t want to read Shelton complaining that his bullpen is overused since tonight’s game is actually a bullpen starting pitcher
so much for wanting Cutch to retire after this season
the hottest player on the team, whose hit 7 homers in the last 17 games he has played in is sitting in this afternoon’s game in favor of worthless Connor Joe who won’t even be on the team next year