Sept. 23: Woodford passed through waivers unclaimed and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, per the transaction log at MLB.com.
Sept. 19: The Pirates announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Isaac Mattson. Fellow righty Jake Woodford has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The 40-man roster remains full.
Woodford was just selected to the roster yesterday and it seems the plan was simply for him to make a spot start as the club plays out the string on the 2024 season. He took the ball against his former club the Cardinals yesterday, tossing 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five hitters and didn’t issue a walk, but he allowed four earned runs on eight hits, including a home run.
The righty was also on Pittsburgh’s roster earlier in the year but without much success. He now has a 7.97 earned run average through 35 innings on the year. That’s surely a bit misleading as his 44.6% strand rate is well below league average, but he’s also not doing himself favors with his 15.6% strikeout rate and 35.2% ground ball rate.
He’s been able to work around the lack of strikeouts in the past. He tossed 116 innings as a swingman for the Cards over 2021 and 2022, posting a 3.26 ERA. He only punched out 15.4% of opponents but also kept the ball on the ground 45.8% of the time. His ERA jumped to 6.23 last year due to a home run spike, which led the Cards to non-tender him.
The Bucs will put him on waivers in the coming days, as they did in late August. At that time, he cleared waivers, elected free agency and then re-signed on a fresh minor league deal. With so little of the 2024 season remaining, it’s possible he goes unclaimed and goes into offseason mode slightly ahead of schedule.
Mattson, 29, will take Woodford’s place and return to the big leagues for the first time since 2021. He made four appearances for the Orioles that year, allowing three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings, which is the total of his major league experience thus far.
He signed a minor league deal with the Pirates coming into 2024 and has had a solid year on the farm. He has thrown 71 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.17 ERA and 29.8% strikeout rate, though the 12.7% walk rate is on the high side.
He’ll give the Bucs a fresh arm for the bullpen as they finish out the season. He has a couple of options remaining and just a few days of service time, so he can theoretically be retained well into the future, though he would have to hold onto his roster spot throughout the club’s offseason transactions.
In a week they’ll be calling him back to make yet another start
Who knows or cares after last night!
yeah, Dice 66, last night’s game was yet another mismanaged attempt by a major league manager who has no business in a leadership role
They need to win the rest of their games to finish at .500 and it’s very unlikely that will happen and it’s even more likely that they will finish with a worse record than last season
And Cherington expects Shelton to return next season. To do what? Lead this team into last place again?
Your comment put me in the mood to listen to Local Natives. Thank you. Thats all.
Tough break for a former 1st round draft pick. All things considered, keep your heads up, Pirates fans. Hope to see your team become competitive again in the next few years. A longtime storied franchise deserves better.
Already a competitive team. Only Cherington and Shelton could fail to succeed with this rotation.
yeah, competitive for who finishes in last place
Yeah, “competitive”.
Nowhere near enough pieces in place to be called a truly “competitive” team
And truthfully, when Keller and Jones get hammered a few times, you even wonder about the starting staff after Skenes
I predicted 78-81 wins this year and thought I might be a little low. What a cruel joke
When your manager writes ( so far) 148 different lineups, you’re not going to have much continuity or many victories
I remember the lineups under Danny Murtaugh and Jim Leyland then compare their successes and failures with Shelton and the difference is staggering
Shelton doesn’t know what he’s doing
they need to win 4 of their last 6 games to surpass their win total of last year and playing the Brewers and Yankees, it’s highly unlikely that will happen
The only game they have a chance to really win is when Skenes makes his last start but their offense is so bad that this might not be a victory either
Depends on both of those teams’ philosophies at this point. Rest some guys? Go full tilt? But you’re right. They could throw AAA pitchers against this lineup and play bench guys, and the Pirates would still have trouble
Tired of hearing wait till next year! There are no excuses anymore. Trade young pitching for GOOD young hitters. Beginning to realize we have know scouts that can judge talent as far as hitting. Not like old days,always loaded with hitting! What happened? As a BUC fan for years it’s plain shameful. Bob Nutting doesn’t have a clue,or just doesn’t care. Just counting his money. Would love to meet him in public to tell him how stupid he is.
I remember growing up seeing Bonds, Bonilla, Drabek, Van Slyke, Bell, Smiley ect. 3 straight NLCS appearances with Jim Leyland at the helm. I lived in Buffalo NY briefly and the Bisons were the Pirate’s AAA team so I got to see some of those players for an exhibition at the ballpark downtown one time. Bonilla was really nice and signed autographs for a bit. Bonds, not so much.
the words “ next year “ should be sewed into every player’s jersey to remind fans of what they have to look forward to after the current last place finish ends
@theman replace the sheet’s sponsorship with, “Tanking again” or “management is our worst enemy “
the problem with that, Dice 66, is that Nutting doesn’t care what people think
As long as his profile aren’t effected anyway
Here’s more 70’s hitters Oliver, Zisk,Parker, Robertson, Clines,Madlock,Garner,Stennett,Stargell ,Cash,sh..it it goes on and on! With no hitter development, well 20 years of losing!
What a surprise!
No one will claim him again.
Isn’t the definition of an idiot is doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result?
Happy for Matson! Got to watch him pitch a few years ago for the Washington Wild Things when I worked there for a summer.
Why couldnt the Pirates call up one of their prized young pitchers and give him a start instead of journeyman Woodford? Total fkn joke, this organization is going backwards.
Mlb should step in a take team for the fans sake and good of game! They could sell team next day! Get legit owner who cares!!
IKF leads off the game with a double and never even makes it to third base
Only a few players try to hit the ball in the opposite direction to move runners into scoring position
But Cherington expects Shelton to return next season
He’ll be put in to close out tonight’s game. Too soon? Remember who the manager is. Shelton plays to win.
About as a half you know what attempt to win a major league game as it gets for last night. Why not see what Burrow has to offer before the season. Doing that with position players.
If I ever see Woodford pitch for the Pirates again, it will be too soon. It will also be worse for my eyes than gouging them out of their sockets with a rusty grapefruit spoon.
I’ve been saying the same thing about Bednar months ago and yet Shelton still uses him in pressure situations only to watch him blow leads and saves
5 strikeouts in the first 3 innings and no doubt it will be another double digit play by this Haines led putrid lineup
Keller is getting creamed, the Bucs are down 6 runs to nothing, have struck out 7 times in 4 innings and only have one hit
But Cherington expects Shelton to return as manager next season because someone has to lead this team to a last place finish and who better to do that than Shelton since he already has experience with this
Simple moron Shelton
The oft chance of a .500 season has come and gone, another failure in a long list of them under the current leadership
With an off day Monday combined with the season coming to an end in another 9 days, the moron at the helm allowed Keller to stay in the game until it was so far out of reach for a comeback, his decision again shows how he misuses his pitching staff
Some here will say that they out hit the Reds but won’t emphasize that they only managed 2 XBH.
They did manage to add to what will be their record setting season strikeout with another 11 while failing to draw even one walk
Every year I can’t wait for baseball season to arrive and at the end of every season, I am both happy it’s over for the Pirates and equally disappointed with how awful they were as a team
This season is no different
It’s time to make changes to the management staff
For some reason the lords of MLB trade rumors deleted my account and all my posts. No reason given and no notice. I’m guessing it had something to do with a troll named Winslow Wilson
Who is Winslow Wilson? I have never seen a post from him before
It’s good that you came back though Bucco
Endy hurt his forearm in last night’s game trying to throw out a runner trying to steal second
I hope Cherington didn’t bring him back too early from having TJ surgery
Yes they probably did bring Endy back too soon..typical of mismanagement by the going squad
Carl Wilson the troll
I think you mean, Carl Winslow and even if you did, I still can’t see anything he’s posted and am a better person for it
A few weeks ago Shelton said that he wanted to win as many games possible even after not having made the playoffs
If that’s true why does he continue to play has beens or those who aren’t coming back next season?
I dunno man3…that’s the only thing I can think of that would delete my account.
Winslow , Wilson all the same troll
DLC is only batting .195 since being traded to the Pirates and is now second on the team with 164 strikeouts
I hope Cherington is happy with his decision to trade for him and hope even more he finds another team to trade him to in the offseason
This offense is so bad, it should force Nutting to make serious moves after the season ends
by the way, the Pirates are again getting their rear ends kicked, down 6 runs in only the 4th inning
I thought the trade made sense, young controllable guy but you have to also work with him and coach him up. I seen a stat that shown everyone traded at the deadline and he was almost -2 war, the worst pickup from the deadline.
Yesterday’s game marked a historic milestone in Pittsburgh Pirates baseball when as a team they broke the record for most strikeouts in a season when they recorded number 1435, breaking the record previously set in 2021, also under the tutelage of Andy Haines
I guess there are two ways of looking at the Pirates striking out so much.
Pessimist: God, the Pirates suck. Grumble, grumble, grumble.
Optimist: God, the Pirates suck, but maybe, just maybe sucking this bad will force them to make a coaching change. Not counting on it, but the more they suck, the greater the chance we will see some coaching and management changes. One can always dream.
And I am definitely dreaming, Skeptical, especially since they have achieved yet another double digit strike out performance in today’s game and it’s only in the 6th inning
Players like DLC rarely takes a pitch no matter where it is thrown and is second most on the team.
What Cherington saw in him when he was traded for is beyond my comprehension
I want them to be competitive
Since you’re old enough, it kind of makes you miss Matty Alou’s 18 strikeouts in 677 at bats in 1970. Granted he only batted .297 which was a down year for him.
I remember Matty Alou vividly. He was mostly a singles hitter but always hit for average
In his first year as a starter in 1966, he won the batting title with a. .342 average
I remember him dropping the “can of corn” fly ball in Wrigley that cost them the division in ‘70, I believe. Just a hazy memory of Bob Prince making that call and then……
The memory of GG winner Barry Bonds’ weak throw to get one of the slowest players in baseball, Sid Bream out at home during a playoff game against the Braves
Don’t forget Chico Lind misplaying a routine grounder that allowed them to get to that point
Joe DiMaggio in over7700 career at bats hit 361 home runs and struck out 369 times. Amazing… maybe they should conjure up Joe’s ghost as a hitting instructor.
Another great games by Skenes, but why did moron pull him after 5?
They want to limit his innings this year, Bucco, though the way he was pitching he could have gone another inning
Plus he was efficient and hadn’t thrown as many pitches as usual
I’m glad he got the win and the bullpen didn’t blow the lead but still the Bucs struck out 14 times and only drew one walk
Haines, at least needs to be replaced
Well at least they know they have a closer next year…if they don’t let him go .. Chapman needs to be back…got a lot left in his tank .. Dead arm Bednar is toast
Not ready to write off Bednar yet, my friend
The crux of his problem is the inability to master his spin pitches. And does he even have a change up?
Didn’t notice a loss of speed per se, which along with not having some anxiety/confidence problem is most important. But he needs to work on his variety of pitches. As is, batters are sitting on his fastball which is too often coming down Main Street
are we Tiredolderdude by chance?
Well, I’m revitalized now. Hence the name change
but no longer a paid subscriber?
Ah, I’ll get to that. I need the little badge
it’s good to have you back
if David Bell deserved to get fired, there’s no reason why Shelton shouldn’t get the ax, too
Expect Woodford to be on the major league pitching staff next year because this franchise simply doesn’t want to be giving worthless players their unconditional release and please don’t hand me nonsense about him being a depth piece
They will never improve if they continue to keep worthless players
Pirates Keller reminds me of Jason Schmidt when he was with Bucs. 2 good starts 2bad 1good 3 bad!! Move this guy now! Let him figure it out somewhere else. Trade him and ss at AAA indy for hitters.Sick of up and down pitchers,you can never count on them. Time to move on. Big contract was a big,big mistake. Sure are many on this board that would agree.
Keller should’ve been traded last year when his stock was high. He’s too erratic now but might bring back a good hitter if Ben could find some trading partner
I read today that all of the position players traded at this year’s deadline, DLC has the lowest WAR and has struck out at the highest rate at 29.7%
nice trade Ben
I disagree about Keller…he’s a horse…my view is that after pitching good games and being taken out with the lead and losing or pitching great ball and the hitless wonders get shutout. Keller is just frustrated. This happens to some players when you have an idiot moron as a manager. So come on Nutjob Nutting fire this idiot today….don’t let this albatross destroy more players.
His inconsistency is disappointing, to say the least. He got a nice contract extension then turned into a number 4 or 5 starter over the past two months. Again, he’s a lot like Bednar in that he can’t get the feel of his spin pitches. This makes three years in a row where we’ve heard the same comments over a stretch of starts
He could use a real pitching guru to work with him next spring
Keller is just tired and worn down. Fantastic until August. Not everyone is a tuff guy. Maybe he can become. Get a better training program. Nutritionist. Something. A guy struggling every year when it matters most is a problem. But could be fixable. I wouldn’t count on Pirates staff though. They obviously haven’t figured it out. Mitch better fix it himself.
“ mitch better fix it himself “
famous last words for every Pirate hitter who has regressed this year at the plate and can’t count on anyone from the team to correct their offense
I think Ray Miller is deceased
Leo Mazzone is alive. Even Searage would be a benefit
Sources say he’s planning to open a ‘Frequent Waiver Flyer’ club for pitchers who are one more DFA away from earning a free Triple-A ticket. Membership perks include a complimentary stress ball and a spot-start loyalty card.