The Pirates acquired reliever Peter Strzelecki from the Guardians for cash, the team announced. Cleveland had designated the righty for assignment on Tuesday when they set their 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft.
Strzelecki, 30, spent one season in Cleveland. The Guardians acquired him from the Diamondbacks in a DFA trade just after Opening Day. He only made 10 big league appearances, allowing three runs over 11 2/3 frames. Strzelecki fanned nine while issuing a trio of walks. He spent the bulk of the season on optional assignment to Triple-A Columbus, where he allowed a 5.01 earned run average across 46 2/3 innings. The ERA isn’t especially impressive, but he struck out 27.1% of batters faced against a 7.9% walk rate.
Cleveland’s bullpen was deep enough that the Guardians never had room to give Strzelecki a consistent look. He has fared reasonably well over parts of three MLB seasons between Milwaukee, Arizona and Cleveland. Strzelecki carries a career 3.44 ERA with a 24% strikeout rate in 83 2/3 frames. He’s out of minor league options, so there’s a decent chance he breaks camp in Derek Shelton’s middle relief group.
I wish him the very best!
A+
♂️
I was surprised they didn’t extend De la Cruz a contract if for no other reason, they have little to no power potential in the outfield. Not that he provided much here. And goodbye Connor Joe
But hey, they tendered Bae, Suwinski and a guy named Cabbage.
Gotta love it
I agree with De La Cruz. You won’t get much better utility guy than De La Cruz.
Two good columns in the past couple days. First, Madden discusses how Nutting *should* get some bats to surround the Pirates pitching staff…but won’t….and instead will just enjoy the profits of Skenes remaining years here like the carpetbagger he is
Then Mackey in today’s PG discusses 3 targets for RF now that De la Cruz has been non-tendered. Can we make a bet that if they sign anyone, it’ll be the cheapest of the three and the one coming off the worst season
It’s the Pirates way
It’s the Nutting way
@tiredcolddude Madden is a knucklehead and I haven’t taken him seriously since 2017. He made some bogus suggestions and claims back then that I lost respect for him. He literally used a “closer who shall not be named” as a battleground against Nutting as a person. Granted that player crime was disgusting and praise to Kyle Crick for doing something that many of us would love to do. But to attack Nuttings character because of someone else’s criminal activity, was disgusting. He lost all credibility
I like Madden’s takes in his columns and simply don’t listen to the shock jock role he plays in his radio show. It’s a persona and it’s done to draw attention, nothing more
That said, I’m in complete agreement with you where character assassinations and personal attacks are concerned. While I don’t know the specific topic you write of, the player you note shouldn’t be personally linked to an employer solely to prove some odd point. More shock jock vitriol
That said, his points about the owner’s professional methodologies here are on target notwithstanding. Shame, but it continues to be all about profits
Ham and cabbage signing
This is a low key solid pick up for the Pirates. Adding low cost depth in the pen is a good thing. Stratton might end up staying per reports but that might hinge on his knee injury it sounds like which isn’t bad either.
great pick up at the price for sure. Decent pick up in general. Good upside
Fair mlb performance, questionable AAA performance mostly last year.
definitely has a good chance of breaking camp on the mlb roster. though it is early in the off season, who knows what happens between now and then. Ben has done a few things I didn’t expect.
What’s your role in the Pirates front office again? So far, the Pirates picked up Trey Cabbage and this 40 man fringe reliever and DFA’d Connor Joe, De La Cruz and Hunter Stratton. World Series Bound! Oh, they climbed to a MLB leading 14 MLB coaches, too. They clearly think they’re going to coach their way out of a talent deficit but everyone not in the Pirates front office knows they won’t. They’re only fooling Robert Aloysius Nutting.
Yes – the missing piece now in place !
A+ signing?????? It’s just another minor move by a team that’s becoming a minor league team…they aren’t going to win with the MORON as manager…very frustrating…I’ve been a close fan since 1966…great franchise run by a bozo owner