Pirates Claim Ildemaro Vargas, Designate Troy Stokes Jr.
The Pirates have claimed infielder Ildemaro Vargas off waivers from the Cubs. Outfielder Troy Stokes Jr. has been designated for assignment to create room for Vargas on Pittsburgh’s active roster.
Chicago DFA’ed Vargas on Saturday, after the 29-year-old hit .143/.250/.238 over 24 plate appearances this season. Vargas came to the Cubs via a waiver claim off the Diamondbacks roster last September, and this is the second time he has been designated for assignment by the team — Vargas cleared waivers in April and was outrighted to the Cubs’ alternate training site.
This time, however, Vargas found a home with a new team, joining a Pirates squad in search of depth. With Ke’Bryan Hayes, Colin Moran, and Phillip Evans all on the injured list, Vargas can add some versatility to the bench. Vargas has mostly played second base over his five MLB seasons, but he has experience all over the infield, and has also made a couple of appearances as a corner outfielder. This multi-positional flexibility has been Vargas’ calling card rather than his bat, since he has hit only .246/.280/.380 in 322 career PA with the D’Backs, Twins, and Cubs.
Stokes also joined the Pirates through the waiver wire, as the Bucs claimed the outfielder off the Tigers’ roster back in January. Like Vargas, Stokes already has one DFA under his belt in 2021, as the Pirates designated and outrighted Stokes not long after acquiring him from Detroit. Originally a fourth-round pick for the Brewers back in 2014, Stokes made his Major League debut this season, hitting .111/.200/.167 in 20 PA over eight games with Pittsburgh.
Pirates Notes: Stallings, Hayes, Moran, Polanco, Keller
Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings left this afternoon’s game against the Giants in the seventh inning after being struck by a Buster Posey foul tip. The Pirates announced he’s dealing with a left quad contusion (via Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). He was replaced by Michael Pérez. Stallings has rather quietly gotten off to a very good start to the season, hitting .257/.370/.446 over his first 119 plate appearances. Stallings and Pérez are the only backstops on Pittsburgh’s 40-man, so the team would need to make a roster move if the 31-year-old is forced to miss time. The Pirates have a pair of former big leaguers, Andrew Susac and Joe Hudson, splitting time at the position with Triple-A Indianapolis.
More out of Pittsburgh:
- The organization is hopeful third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes will be ready to embark on a minor league rehab assignment within the next several days, general manager Ben Cherington said on 93.7 FM The Fan (h/t to Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). One of the sport’s top prospects and a popular preseason pick to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award, Hayes has been limited to seven plate appearances this season by a wrist injury. He isn’t eligible to return from the 60-day IL until June 3. The 24-year-old got off to an incredible start to his big league career last season, hitting .376/.442/.682 over his first 95 plate appearances.
- Cherington also noted that there’s some hope each of Colin Moran and Phillip Evans can return from the injured list without needing to embark on rehab assignments (via Gorman). Moran went down last week with a left groin injury, halting a strong .297/.352/.468 start to the year. Evans began the season blistering hot but quickly cooled off. He went on the shelf earlier this week with a hamstring strain.
- Corner outfielder Gregory Polanco and starter Mitch Keller will continue to get opportunities despite disappointing starts to the season, writes Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic. Coming off back-to-back down years, Polanco has managed just a .206/.284/.351 line over 109 plate appearances to start 2021. Those struggles make it highly unlikely the Pirates will wind up exercising their $12.5MM option on Polanco for next season, and it’s difficult to imagine the rebuilding club will find much of a market for him at the trade deadline. Nevertheless, Cherington pointed to Polanco’s somewhat promising batted ball metrics (including an 80th percentile hard hit rate) as reason for continuing to hope for a bounce back. Keller has been up and down over his first three MLB seasons, but it’s not particularly surprising the Pirates plan to give the 25-year-old time to work through his struggles given his prospect pedigree and mid-90’s velocity.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/15/21
The latest minor league moves from around baseball…
- The Pirates outrighted Hunter Owen to Triple-A, the team announced. The outfielder was designated for assignment earlier this week. A 25th-round pick for the Pirates in the 2016 draft, Owen made his MLB debut this season, and is still looking for his first hit after five plate appearances over three games.
- Right-hander Luis Madero cleared waivers and accepted his outright assignment to the Marlins‘ Triple-A affiliate. The Marlins designated Madero for assignment earlier this week, and he had the option of becoming a free agent since he had previously been outrighted during his career, back in February 2020 when he was a member of the Giants. After signing a minor league contract with Miami in the offseason, Madero made his MLB debut by pitching three innings over two appearances this season.
Reds Claim Michael Feliz, Designate Sal Romano For Assignment
The Reds have claimed right-handed reliever Michael Feliz off waivers from the Pirates, per a club announcement. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Cincinnati designated righty Sal Romano for assignment.
Feliz, 27, was one of four players the Pirates acquired in the 2017 trade that sent Gerrit Cole to Houston. He came to the Bucs with a heater that averaged better than 96 mph and a 33.8 percent strikeout rate compiled between the 2016-17 seasons. Those numbers have all taken a step back since the trade.
Feliz posted a 3.99 ERA for the Pirates through 56 1/3 innings in 2019 — his best season in the big leagues to date. However, he was hampered by shoulder and forearm issues during his time in Pittsburgh, and his fastball was averaging a career-low 94.1 mph through 7 2/3 innings in 2021. He still posted an above-average 27.7 percent strikeout rate in Pittsburgh, but his walk rate rose a bit (to 10.6 percent) and Feliz was also quite homer-prone, serving up 18 long balls in 113 1/3 frames.
Overall, Feliz has pitched 234 1/3 innings in the Majors and has only a 5.07 ERA to show for it. Fielding-independent marks are more bullish on the righty (4.01 FIP, 3.31 SIERA), so the Reds will hope that a change of scenery will help him get on track and tap into the potential that once made him one of the Astros’ most promising farmhands. Feliz is out of minor league options, so he’ll immediately join the Reds’ bullpen and try to sort things out at the MLB level.
The 27-year-old Romano showed some promise as a rookie back in 2017, when he logged a 4.45 ERA through 16 starts (87 innings). He’s struggled through every big league opportunity he’s had since that time, working to a collective 5.48 ERA through 184 frames with a well below-average strikeout rate (16.3 percent) and roughly average marks in terms of grounder and walk rates (44.4 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively).
Like Feliz, Romano is out of options, meaning any club that claims him or acquires him in a trade would have to carry him on the big league roster. The Reds will have a week to see if there’s a team interested in acquiring him or to try to pass him through outright waivers.
Todd Frazier Elects Free Agency
MAY 13: Frazier has elected free agency, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette tweets.
MAY 10: The Pirates announced that infielder Todd Frazier has been designated for assignment. Ben Gamel, recently claimed off waivers from the Indians, will take Frazier’s spot on Pittsburgh’s roster.
“The Toddfather” initially signed a minor league deal with the Pirates during the offseason, then opted out of that contract near the end of Spring Training only to re-sign with the club a few days later. Frazier did end up seeing some time on the Bucs’ big league roster, but he hit only .086/.200/.114 over 40 plate appearances.
Despite this lack of offense, the timing of Frazier’s DFA comes at something of an unexpected moment, given that Colin Moran was just placed on the 10-day injured list and Bryan Reynolds is also day-to-day with an unspecified lower-body injury. Gamel can fill in for Reynolds, and Phillip Evans seems like the logical choice to be moved to first base, with such other internal options like Troy Stokes Jr., Hunter Owen, and minor league signing Wilmer Difo all vying for playing time until Reynolds, Moran, and Ke’Bryan Hayes are all healthy.
A veteran of 11 MLB seasons and a former two-time All-Star, Frazier was still swinging a productive bat as recently as 2019, when he hit .251/.329/.443 (104 OPS+, 106 wRC+) over 499 PA for the Mets. Since that season, however, Frazier has only a .616 OPS over 212 PA with the Mets, Rangers, and Pirates. Assuming he clears DFA waivers, the 35-year-old figures to get some looks from teams in need of corner infield help. Frazier is still a capable fielder at first base and third base, and apart from his 2021 numbers, he has still been solid against left-handed pitching.
Pirates Select Will Craig, Designate Sean Poppen
The Pirates announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of first baseman/outfielder Will Craig from Triple-A Indianapolis and designated righty Sean Poppen for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Craig will take the active roster spot of infielder/outfielder Phillip Evans, who is going on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported earlier in the day that Craig would be brought back up to the MLB roster.
Pittsburgh designated Craig, their first-round pick from the 2016 draft, for assignment back in November after claiming righty Ashton Goudeau off waivers. Craig went unclaimed on waivers and remained with the organization and headed to Spring Training as a non-roster player.
Craig has opened the year just 6-for-26 in Triple-A, but he’s fanned only three times and three of those six hits have been round-trippers. With Colin Moran and Evans on the injured list and Todd Frazier having been recently designated for assignment himself, it seems like Craig will have an opportunity to another look at first base — at least in the short term.
Poppen, 27, was claimed off waivers out of the Twins organization over the winter but hasn’t found much success in his short time with the Bucs. He tossed just 4 1/3 innings this season and was tagged for seven runs (four earned) on 11 hits and a couple of walks with four strikeouts. He’s served up a pair of runs in four Triple-A frames as well.
Poppen, a Harvard product, has spent parts of five seasons in the minors since being selected by the Twins in the 19th round of the 2016 draft. He’s compiled a 3.39 ERA in 413 2/3 minor league innings, punching out 23.5 percent of opponents against a 7.6 percent walk rate.
Pirates Announce Roster Moves
The Pirates announced that they have reinstated outfielder Gregory Polanco from the injured list, selected left-hander Chasen Shreve and designated outfielder Hunter Owen for assignment. They also placed righty Kyle Crick on the 10-day IL, retroactive to May 1, with a triceps strain.
Polanco went on the COVID-related IL on May 4, and it was revealed a few days later that his placement came as a result of a violation of MLB’s health and safety protocols. Now that Polanco’s back, he’ll try to rebound from a subpar 90-plate appearance stretch in which he hit .200/.289/.350 with three home runs and four stolen bases.
Shreve, 30, joined the Pirates on a minor league contract last offseason after appearing in the majors in each year from 2014-20. The former Brave, Yankee, Cardinal and Met has thrown 228 2/3 innings with a respectable 3.74 ERA/3.70 SIERA and a 27.1 percent strikeout rate against an 11.5 percent walk rate. Along the way, Shreve has produced almost equal results against right-handed hitters (.228/.328/.422) and lefties (.227/.315/.434).
The Pirates selected Owen when they put Polanco on the IL, but he only totaled five plate appearances before his designation. The former 25th-round pick (2016) owns a .266/.341/.473 line with 55 home runs in 1,425 minor league plate appearances.
Gregory Polanco’s IL Placement Due To Protocol Violation
TODAY: Polanco is expected back with the Pirates within a few days, manager Derek Shelton told reporters (including Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).
MAY 8: The Pirates placed Gregory Polanco on the COVID-related injury list on Tuesday, without any specific details (though none are required in COVID situations) given about why Polanco would be missing time. However, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Polanco’s placement was due to a violation of healthy and safety protocols. Polanco “utilized a training service that was outside of the Pirates’ bubble,” according to Mackey’s sources.
It isn’t yet known how long Polanco will be away from the team, or whether or not he’ll face league-mandated punishment for breaking protocol. According to the 2021 Operations Manual, “Any Covered Individuals who are found to have violated the Code of Conduct are subject to potential discipline, including suspension or forfeiture of salary for days spent away from the Club while in mandatory self-isolation or quarantine resulting from the violation.”
In short, a suspension would cost Polanco some game checks (he is earning $11MM this season, as Pittsburgh’s highest-paid player) and it isn’t out of the question that he could also lose some money for the time he has currently missed on the COVID-IL. It remains to be seen how the Pirates, the league, and possibly the MLBPA could approach this situation due to the lack of known information about the exact circumstances of Polanco’s violation.
Polanco tested positive for COVID-19 last July, costing him some time during the Pirates’ Summer Camp and delaying the start of his 2020 season by a few games. Since undergoing shoulder surgery in September 2018, Polanco has hit .197/.263/.369 over 431 plate appearances, missing significant time in 2019 dealing with more shoulder problems. Beyond the shoulder injury and the positive COVID test, Polanco also suffered a wrist fracture in December.
Pitching Notes: Greene, Ynoa, Braves, Twins, Kuhl
Shane Greene‘s long free agent wait ended yesterday when he re-signed with the Braves on a one-year deal worth a prorated $1.5MM. “It seemed early on that a return to the Braves was his preference,” SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson writes (Twitter link), as Wolfson notes that the Twins were willing to offer Greene more money. This focus on Atlanta could explain why it took until May for Greene to land a contract, as David O’Brien of The Athletic estimated back in mid-March that the Braves were only willing to spend in the neighborhood of $1MM on Greene — given the prorated nature of Greene’s contract, he’ll end up earning around $1.1 or $1.2MM.
More pitching-related items from around baseball…
- Another Braves/Twins link is explored by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, regarding how Atlanta acquired breakout star Huascar Ynoa from Minnesota back in 2017. The Braves wanted to move Jaime Garcia at the trade deadline, and initially discussed a trade with the Yankees that would have sent Garcia to the Bronx for then-Yankees prospect Nick Solak. Once those talks fell through, Atlanta pivoted and sent Garcia to Minnesota, and the Braves “did not do as much diligence on Ynoa as they normally would on a prospect” since their top priority was just to dump the rest of Garcia’s salary. In fact, Ynoa wasn’t even Atlanta’s first ask from the Twins‘ farm system, as Nick Burdi was initially part of the proposed trade. From being a rather anonymous rookie ball pitcher and an apparent “plan C” type of pickup for the Braves, Ynoa has become an unexpected stalwart of the Atlanta rotation in 2021. The righty has a 2.23 ERA/3.19 SIERA and an above-average 28.4% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate over 40 1/3 innings, plus Ynoa has augmented that pitching production with two home runs and a 1.267 OPS over 15 plate appearances.
- Pirates right-hander Chad Kuhl threw a live batting practice on Saturday as he continues to recover from right shoulder discomfort. In a radio interview on 93.7 FM (hat tip to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Pittsburgh GM Ben Cherington said Kuhl will return “before too long” but will first require a minor league rehab assignment. Kuhl has struggled in his first four starts of the year, posting a 6.32 ERA with more walks (16) than strikeouts (14) over 15 2/3 innings.
Pirates Claim Ben Gamel, Designate Michael Feliz
The Pirates have claimed outfielder Ben Gamel off waivers from the Indians, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was among those to pass along (Twitter links). To create space on the 40-man roster, righty Michael Feliz was designated for assignment.
Gamel signed a minor-league contract with the Indians over the offseason and earned an Opening Day roster spot with a productive Spring Training. The 28-year-old couldn’t carry that over into the regular season, though, going just 1-17 with three walks and six strikeouts before Cleveland moved on. Tough start to 2021 notwithstanding, Gamel has been an acceptable role player for much of his MLB career. Also a former Yankee, Mariner and Brewer, the left-handed hitter has managed a .259/.330/.385 line (95 wRC+) over parts of six major league seasons.
The Pirates have cycled through a handful of outfielders in the season’s first month-plus. Dustin Fowler and Anthony Alford were quickly waived after terrible starts, and the Pirates are currently without Gregory Polanco due to a COVID-19 protocol violation. General manager Ben Cherington did say this afternoon on 93.7 The Fan that the Pirates expect Polanco back shortly (h/t to Mackey). Left fielder Bryan Reynolds is currently day-to-day with lower body soreness (via Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic), so Gamel will add some depth to a shortened outfield.
That outfield shuffling comes at the expense of Feliz, who joined the Pirates as part of the Gerrit Cole trade. The 27-year-old reliever has tossed 113 1/3 innings of 5.00 ERA ball since, mostly between 2018-19. Feliz has only allowed three runs (two earned) through 7 2/3 innings with quality strikeout and walk rates, but he’s been fortunate to not allow a home run despite a paltry 13.6% grounder rate. The Pirates have a week to trade Feliz or expose him to waivers, where his affordable $1MM salary could appeal to a rival club.