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Pirates Rumors

Tristan Gray Elects Free Agency

By Steve Adams | January 27, 2025 at 4:21pm CDT

4:21pm: Gray has indeed opted free agency. He can now sign with any club.

2:04pm: Pirates infielder Tristan Gray cleared waivers following last week’s DFA, MLBTR has learned. As a player with a prior outright assignment, he’ll have the option of rejecting a second outright in favor of free agency, if he chooses to do so. If he accepts an outright assignment, he’d likely be assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis and be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Gray, 29 in March, landed with the Bucs back on Halloween when they claimed him off waivers from the A’s. Over the past calendar year, Gray has signed as a minor league free agent with the Marlins, been selected to the majors, and claimed off waivers by the A’s and Pirates.

The Pirates were Gray’s original organization, selecting him in the 13th round back in 2017. He was traded to the Rays less than a year later as part of the deal bringing outfielder Corey Dickerson to Pittsburgh. He went on to spend parts of six seasons the Rays organization, briefly making his MLB debut with Tampa Bay in 2023. He only appeared in two games and tallied five plate appearances, but Gray made the most of that tiny look when he popped his first big league homer off righty Jorge Lopez. Gray totaled 31 plate appearances between the Marlins and A’s in 2024 and went 3-for-28 with a double.

While he hasn’t hit much in a tiny big league sample, Gray has shown plenty of pop in the upper minors. He swatted 33 homers with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A club in 2022 and connected on another 30 in 2023. He’s played in parts of four seasons in Triple-A and posted a combined .238/.306/.472 batting line.

Gray has played all four infield positions in his professional career, though shortstop has been the most frequent, with 2477 innings there. The Marlins and A’s played him at the corners exclusively in 2024, however. Overall, Gray has 1439 professional innings at third base, 1312 at second base and 911 at first base. He’s a versatile left-handed bat with some platoon issues and strikeout concerns but plenty of pop and a better-than-average walk rate in each of the past two Triple-A campaigns.

MLBTR originally reported that Gray had already been assigned outright to Triple-A, which is not accurate. We regret the error.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Tristan Gray

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Pirates Agree To Minor League Deals With DJ Stewart, Ryder Ryan

By Darragh McDonald | January 21, 2025 at 12:55pm CDT

The Pirates have agreed to minor league deals with outfielder DJ Stewart and right-hander Ryder Ryan. Stewart’s deal was first reported by Mike Mayer of Metsmerized while Ryan’s was first reported by Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Stewart is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Stewart, 31, spent the past two years with the Mets. He had a nice run for them in 2023, hitting 11 home runs in just 185 plate appearances. He struck out at a 30.3% clip but the power was enough to get him back on the team in 2024. This past year, he was only able to put the ball over the fence five times in 194 trips to the plate. He drew walks at a stellar clip of 16% but hit .177/.325/.297 overall, getting outrighted at season’s end.

When combined with his tenure as an Oriole, Stewart has 1,001 major league plate appearances now. His 12.8% walk rate is strong but he’s also been punched out at a 27.1% clip. Thanks to the free passes and his 42 home runs, he’s been a decent hitter in spite of the strikeouts. His career line of .212/.328/.401 leads to a 102 wRC+, indicating he’s been 2% better than league average on the whole.

Despite the solid overall offense, there are limits to his overall profile. Ideally, he is deployed as a platoon bat. The lefty swinger has a .214/.332/.430 line and 110 wRC+ against righties, compared to a .204/.309/.270 line and 66 wRC+ against southpaws. He’s not a burner on the basepaths and his defense has received poor grades.

Still, he’s a sensible enough flier for the Pirates. They have two outfield spots spoken for between Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz, though one corner is fairly wide open. Guys like Joshua Palacios, Billy Cook, Jack Suwinski and Ji Hwan Bae are on the roster but none of them are guaranteed a regular role and it’s entirely possible that someone like Stewart could outplay them, at least for a strong-side platoon gig. If Stewart gets a spot, he’s out of options but has less than four years of service time, meaning he could be retained beyond this year via arbitration if he still has a roster spot at season’s end.

Ryan, 30 in May, has a fairly limited track record at the major league level. He has 16 appearances, 15 of which came with the Bucs last year. He has allowed 5.40 earned runs per nine innings in his small sample of 21 2/3 career frames. The Pirates outrighted him off the roster in August and he elected free agency at season’s end. Over the past four years, Ryan has thrown 200 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.31 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate.

He’ll provide the club with some non-roster bullpen depth. If he gets added to the roster at any point, he still has one option year remaining and could therefore be shuttled to Triple-A and back fairly freely.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions DJ Stewart Ryder Ryan

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Pirates Designate Tristan Gray For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | January 20, 2025 at 7:21pm CDT

The Pirates designated infielder Tristan Gray for assignment, the team informed reporters (including Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Pittsburgh had not officially added Andrew McCutchen to their 40-man roster until this evening, so they needed to open a spot. McCutchen re-signed on a $5MM deal last month.

Pittsburgh claimed Gray off waivers from the A’s in the first few days of the offseason. The 28-year-old had spent a couple months on the A’s, as they’d only claimed him from the Marlins at the end of August. Gray has suited up for both those teams and had a brief stint on the Rays in 2023. Despite playing for a trio of clubs, he has just 17 games of MLB experience. He has hit .152 with one homer in 36 plate appearances.

The lefty-hitting Gray has a much more extensive minor league track record. The Rice product has taken nearly 1800 trips to the dish across four Triple-A seasons. Gray has hit .238/.306/.472 with 90 home runs in 443 games at the top minor league level. Strikeouts have kept him from getting an extended MLB look, as he has fanned in nearly 30% of his Triple-A plate appearances.

Gray has some power and a decent amount of defensive versatility. He has upwards of 1000 minor league frames at each of shortstop, second base and third base. Gray has just over 900 professional innings at first base as well. He has mostly played the corner infield in his limited big league time. He’s likely to end up on waivers again this week. Gray has been outrighted once in his career, so he’d have the ability to elect minor league free agency if he goes unclaimed.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Tristan Gray

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Andrew Knapp Announces Retirement

By Darragh McDonald | January 20, 2025 at 10:20am CDT

Longtime major league catcher Andrew Knapp announced his retirement as a player on his Instagram page. “I completely dedicated my life to the game, and the game blessed me with so much,” he said. “Baseball has given me relationships that I will have for the rest of my life. It has taught be how to fail and how to persevere. It has taught me how to be confident but humble. It has taught me that people will remember you more because of what kind of person you are rather than what kind of player you were.” He then goes on to thank the many people that helped him along the way, including his agent, his teammates and particularly his family members.

Knapp, now 33, was once a notable prospect. The son of minor leaguer Mike Knapp, the younger Knapp showed enough promise at a young age to get drafted by the Athletics out of high school, selected in the 41st round in 2010. But Knapp decided to attend Berkeley instead, becoming a full-time catcher who hit from both sides of the plate. That led to the Phillies taking him in the second round of the 2013 draft and signing Knapp with a bonus of just over $1MM.

His development was slowed somewhat by Tommy John surgery, which he required late in 2013, but he still put up strong offensive numbers. He slashed .280/.355/.435 in 1,173 minor league plate appearances from 2013 to 2015, production that led to a wRC+ of 132. That offense, especially as a switch-hitter, gave Knapp some prospect helium. Going into 2016, Baseball America gave him a spot at the back of their top 100, putting him at #96.

Unfortunately, his major league offense never quite matched his production on the farm. He showed a bit of potential in his 2017 debut, producing a line of .257/.368/.368. His 27.5% strikeout rate was a bit high but he also drew walks at a strong clip of 15.2%. The overall production led to a wRC+ of 94, a bit below average overall but decent for a catcher.

He couldn’t maintain that level of performance, however. He got into at least 33 games for the Phils in five straight seasons from 2017 to 2021 but produced a combined line of .214/.314/.322 over that time, leading to a 72 wRC+. His 11.9% walk rate was a solid mark but his 31.7% strikeout rate was quite high. That includes a huge .278/.404/.444 showing in 2020, though that was a small sample of 89 plate appearances and he crashed back to earth with a .152/.215/.214 line in 2021.

Knapp’s glovework was never especially well regarded, with outlets like Baseball Prospectus and Statcast giving him negative grades for his framing, blocking and throwing. As a prospect, it was hoped that his offense could compensate for that, though it didn’t quite come to pass.

The Phils decided to move on after that rough showing from Knapp in 2021, outrighting him off the roster, which kicked off the journeyman phase of his career. He signed a minor league deal with the Reds going into 2022 but didn’t make the club out of camp. That led to him joining the Pirates, Mariners and Giants, though he only got into 16 major league games between those three teams that year. In 2023, minor league deals with the Tigers and Astros didn’t lead back to the big leagues. In 2024, he was with the Rangers on a minor league through the end of June. After being released, he got a major league deal with the Giants, but he was designated for assignment less than a week later after getting into three games. He was outrighted off the roster and elected free agency at season’s end.

Knapp has now decided to hang up his spikes and move onto the next phase of his life. His retirement statement didn’t lay out his career plans, though he has previously expressed a desire to become a manager someday, so perhaps he could start making moves on that trajectory now. He retires with 158 hits in 756 at-bats, including 31 doubles, four triples and 13 home runs. He scored 83 runs and drove in 66. We at MLBTR congratulate Knapp on carving out a major league career and wish him the best on whatever comes next.

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Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates San Francisco Giants Seattle Mariners Andrew Knapp Retirement

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Pirates To Acquire Chase Shugart

By Steve Adams | January 17, 2025 at 12:54pm CDT

The Pirates are acquiring righty Chase Shugart from the Red Sox in exchange for minor league right-hander Matt McShane, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Boston designated Shugart for assignment earlier in the week. The Pirates will need to make a 40-man roster move of their own to finalize the swap.

Shugart, 28, made his big league debut with the BoSox last season and allowed four runs in 8 2/3 innings out of the ’pen. He averaged 96.1 mph on his heater in that brief cup of coffee. He’s pitched in parts of three Triple-A seasons, struggling in the first two before finding more success there in 2024: 4.46 ERA, 25.6% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate, 44.4% grounder rate.

During his brief look in the majors, Shugart showed five pitches — a four-seamer, cutter, sinker, slider and changeup. He didn’t induce many whiffs in the majors but logged a solid 11.7% swinging-strike rate in Triple-A. Shugart has a pair of minor league options remaining, so he’ll provide the Bucs with some flexible bullpen depth.

McShane, 22, was the Pirates’ 13th-round draft pick just last summer. He’s yet to pitch in pro ball. McShane posted a 3.76 ERA in parts of three seasons as a reliever at St. Joseph’s University and also pitched in the Cape Cod League in each of the past two summers. The 6’4″, 220-pound righty has a strong pitcher’s frame but amounts to little more than a lottery ticket. Odds are that the Sox also liked him coming out of St. Joe’s and might’ve considered him with their own pick in the later stages of the 2024 draft. He’ll likely head to a Class-A affiliate to begin the 2025 season.

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Boston Red Sox Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Chase Shugart Matt McShane

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Pirates Acquire Brett de Geus

By Steve Adams | January 15, 2025 at 2:32pm CDT

The Pirates have acquired right-hander Brett de Geus from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash, per announcements from both clubs. Toronto designated de Geus for assignment last week to create 40-man roster space for Jeff Hoffman.

The 27-year-old de Geus pitched 11 1/3 innings in the majors last year over the course of brief stints with the Mariners, Marlins and Blue Jays. He yielded nine earned runs in that time (7.15 ERA) and has a career 7.48 ERA in parts of two big league seasons (61 1/3 innings).

Obviously, that number is an eyesore, and de Geus’ career marks in Triple-A don’t inspire much more confidence (6.66 ERA in 50 innings). However, teams looking beneath the hood will see a sinker that averages better than 96 mph, consistently plus ground-ball rates, and interesting swing-and-miss data on the 6’2″ righty’s secondary offerings (cutter, knuckle curve, and seldom-used splitter). A former Rule 5 pick, de Geus has seen time with the Royals, Mariners, Marlins, Jays and now Pirates over the past two calendar years.

While de Geus will have to earn a spot in Pittsburgh’s bullpen — if he survives the rest of the winter on the 40-man roster — he won’t necessarily have to break camp with the club if he doesn’t. He has two minor league option years remaining, so the Bucs can hold onto him as relief depth to begin the season if they’re so inclined, with no risk of exposing him to waivers.

Despite the lack of success in the majors and upper minors, de Geus has been on four different 40-man rosters since April and six dating back to 2021. On the one hand, it’s easy to argue that’s because he’s routinely proven expendable. On the other, it’s also indicative of the fact that even with the unsightly earned run averages, teams have had a hard time sneaking de Geus through waivers. It’s clear that clubs are intrigued by his raw stuff, even if the results have yet to line up.

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Pirates Sign Burch Smith, Bryce Johnson To Minor League Deals

By Steve Adams | January 13, 2025 at 11:58am CDT

The Pirates announced a slate of 13 non-roster invitees to spring training Monday, revealing within that they’ve signed right-hander Burch Smith and outfielder Bryce Johnson to minor league contracts.

Smith, 35 in April, split the 2024 season between the Marlins and Orioles, pitching to a combined 4.95 ERA with a below-average 19.1% strikeout rate but a superlative 5% walk rate. The Truth Sports client averaged 94.9 mph on his heater and kept the ball on the ground at a 43.9% clip that’s nearly two percentage points north of the league average of 42.2%.

Originally a 14th-round pick by the Padres back in 2011, Smith has pitched for seven big league teams across parts of six major league seasons. He’s pitched all over the globe, including a brief appearance with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2023, a solid run with the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in 2022, and some work with los Gigantes de Cibao in the Dominican Winter League as well.

In 247 1/3 big league innings, Smith has a 5.79 ERA, although it’s worth pointing out that the 2024 version of Smith looks far different from the version we saw in the majors between 2013-21. He’s throwing harder than he ever did early in his career, when he averaged 93.1 mph on his fastball from 2013-21. He’s also scrapped his changeup and sinker — both offerings he once leaned upon heavily — in favor of a four-pitch mix including a four-seamer, cutter, curveball and sweeper (used in that order of frequency). Smith’s ground-ball rate climbed by more than eight percentage points with that new-look arsenal, while his 5% walk rate was less than half the 10.1% rate he showed over his first five MLB campaigns.

Smith will give the Bucs some veteran bullpen depth and compete for one of the final spots in Pittsburgh’s relief corps this spring. At least five spots feel locked into place with now with David Bednar, Colin Holderman, Dennis Santana, Carmen Mlodzinski and free-agent signee Caleb Ferguson all staking their claim.

Righty Kyle Nicolas was solid for 54 1/3 innings last year (3.95 ERA) but walked too many hitters (12.8%) and has minor league options remaining. DFA pickups Joey Wentz (claimed last September) and Peter Strzelecki (acquired for cash this offseason) are both out of minor league options and will need to make the Opening Day club or else be removed from the 40-man roster themselves. Others in the running could include Elvis Alvarado (on the 40-man roster) and non-roster invitees Yohan Ramirez, Tanner Rainey, Yerry Rodriguez, Isaac Mattson and Eddy Yean.

Turning to the 29-year-old Johnson, he’ll give Pittsburgh some depth at a corner outfield spot where they’ve been seeking help throughout the offseason. He’s played in each of the past three big league seasons, spending time with both the Giants and Padres, but carries a tepid .177/.248/.226 slash over a small sample of 140 major league plate appearances.

Those numbers clearly don’t impress, but Johnson also had his best Triple-A season in 2024, hitting .288/.407/.431 with the Padres’ El Paso affiliate. He’s played in parts of four Triple-A campaigns and touts a sharp .286/.381/.429 slash. Johnson is lacking in power — he hasn’t reached a double-digit homer total since hitting ten round-trippers across three minor league levels in 2019 — but he’s been a fleet-footed on-base machine in the minors. The former sixth-rounder (Giants, 2017) has walked in 10.9% of his minor league plate appearances, including an 11.6% clip in his four Triple-A seasons. He’s 181-for-226 in minor league stolen base attempts (80%) and has a trio of 30-steal seasons under his belt. Last year, he went 20-for-23 in just 74 games at the Triple-A level.

As things stand, the Pittsburgh outfield will have Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz locked into two of the three spots (with Cruz set in center field, in particular). Joshua Palacios, Jack Suwinski, Ji Hwan Bae and Billy Cook are all on the 40-man roster and hoping for outfield at-bats. The Pirates have also been looking outside the organization, though, with recent reports indicating interest in Alex Verdugo and Randal Grichuk.

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Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Bryce Johnson Burch Smith

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Pirates To Sign Dodgers-Committed Int’l Prospect Darell Morel

By Mark Polishuk | January 11, 2025 at 3:20pm CDT

Dominican shortstop prospect Darell Morel had been set to sign with the Dodgers once the 2025 international signing period opened on January 15, but Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports that Morel will now be signing with the Pirates for a bonus worth close to $1.8MM.  This represents roughly twice the amount of money Morel would’ve received from Los Angeles.

There isn’t anything improper about such a transaction, as none of these signings are official until pen is put to paper on January 15.  That said, teams, prospects, and the prospects’ unofficial advisors/trainers known as “buscones” often have these deals lined up far in advance of a player’s eligibility year.  The 2025 class features players who are at least 16 years old or will be turning 16 prior to September 1, yet many prospects are regularly linked to teams as early as age 13 or 14.

What makes the 2025 international signing class so unusual is the presence of Roki Sasaki, whose move from Nippon Professional Baseball to the big leagues at age 23 qualifies him as a member of the int’l market.  Waiting until age 25 would’ve allowed Sasaki to qualify as a free agent (within the boundaries of the MLB/NPB posting system) and thus put him in line for what likely would’ve been a hefty nine-figure contract a la Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but Sasaki has opted to bet on himself and get an early start to his big league career.

Sasaki is such a hugely sought-after prospect that it is expected that his future Major League team will surrender its entire international bonus pool to sign him.  It should be noted that money is obviously not the chief factor for Sasaki in picking his MLB franchise, but since this bonus will represent all of his official MLB earnings for the time being, it stands to reason that he will look to score a big payday within the constraints of the bonus pool system.

Since Sasaki won’t sign until after January 15, it has created quite the ripple effect on the international class as a whole.  As Badler puts it, “at least half a dozen teams that think they are still in the running to sign Sasaki.  That means at least 20 percent of the league has their 2025 international signing class in limbo.”

Morel isn’t considered one of the elite members of the 2025 class, as MLB Pipeline doesn’t have the shortstop listed within its top-50 ranking of the year’s top international prospects.  Yet because the Dodgers are viewed as one of the top candidates to sign Sasaki, Morel had no guarantee that his pre-arranged deal with L.A. would be honored, so he opted to sign with the Pirates instead.  Naturally, it probably also helped that Pittsburgh was willing to add $900K or so to Morel’s bonus figure.

It isn’t specified if the Pirates walked away from some deals of its own in order to sign Morel, or if they had enough leftover space in their own int’l bonus pool to fit Morel under their $6,908,600 pool limit.  Badler notes that some clubs left some money open within their pools specifically to capitalize on some prospects who might become available due to the Sasaki-related uncertainty.  “Some clubs are already scouting committed players with other teams,” Badler writes, with the trainers in turn taking the unusual step of getting their players ready for a fresh round of tryouts.

Some players have already received offers from other teams, so for the Dodgers and the other six clubs who have reportedly met with Sasaki in person, their continued interest in Sasaki represents a potential red flag for those seven teams’ 2025 international commitments.  The “worst-case scenario” for a team, as Badler notes, would be that “they hold off on their signings in the hopes of landing Sasaki, their top commits bolt elsewhere after Jan. 15, only for Sasaki to sign with a different team anyway.”  That could leave a few unlucky clubs without Sasaki, without much of their 2025 int’l pool, and with some damaged relationships amidst the buscone community for future dealings.

While the trainers might view 2025 as a unique circumstance due to the Sasaki situation, even if the door isn’t closed completely with certain teams who renege on handshake deals, it can’t help those teams’ chances of signing any star prospects these trainers might be handling in the future.  The biggest impact, of course, is on the 2025 prospects themselves, some of whom will find themselves without the life-changing bonus money their families have been counting on for years.  Some prospects like Morel will be fortunate enough to land larger bonuses, yet a significant number of teenage prospects will see their careers and lives altered in the fallout.

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Pirates Sign Caleb Ferguson

By Darragh McDonald | January 10, 2025 at 9:05am CDT

The Pirates added to their pitching staff Friday, announcing a one-year deal with free agent left-hander Caleb Ferguson that will reportedly pay the Excel Sports client $3MM. The Bucs have open roster spots and thus do not need to make a corresponding move.

Ferguson, 28, has been a solid southpaw reliever in the big leagues for a few years now. He missed the 2021 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery but put up good numbers in the three seasons before that, followed by the three seasons after the procedure. Overall, he has logged 261 2/3 innings, allowing 3.68 earned runs per nine. His 9.4% walk rate is a bit higher than average but barely so, while his 27.5% strikeout rate is a few ticks better than par and his 45.6% ground ball rate above average as well.

His ERA ticked up a bit in 2024, though a deep dive on the numbers suggests he was as effective as before, with bad luck contributing to the extra runs allowed. Between the Yankees and Astros, he tossed 54 1/3 innings with a 4.64 ERA. But his 26.9% strikeout rate, 10% walk rate and 46.7% ground ball rate were all pretty close to his career norms. His .340 batting average on balls in play and 66.6% strand rate were both on the unfortunate side of average, which is why metrics like his 3.74 FIP and 3.43 SIERA were closer to his career ERA.

He’s a sensible pickup for the Pirates, who lost each of Aroldis Chapman, Jalen Beeks and Ryan Borucki to free agency at season’s end. The departure of those three southpaws left them with Joey Wentz, a September waiver claim with a 5.56 career ERA, as the only lefty reliever on the roster. Ferguson immediately becomes the top southpaw in Pittsburgh’s bullpen.

That doesn’t mean he’ll be limited to a specialty role, as his splits aren’t too drastic. He has naturally been better against left-handed hitters, holding them to a line of .231/.333/.375 in his career, but righties have been only marginally more effective against him with a .245/.321/.381 line. He has earned six saves and 49 holds in his career, so perhaps he will step into a setup role, depending on what other moves the Pirates make for their bullpen this winter.

There also seems to be some possibility of Ferguson ending up in the rotation, as MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf reports that the Bucs will stretch him out in spring training. That would be an interesting pivot for Ferguson, as he has almost exclusively been in the bullpen in his big league career. He does have 14 starts on his ledger, but most of those were of the “opener” variety for just an inning or two.

He did come up as a starter in the minor leagues, however, so it wouldn’t be totally foreign to him. As mentioned, he has fairly neutral splits, perhaps allowing him to pitch through a full lineup. He also has a fairly diverse pitch mix for a reliever. Per Statcast, he threw four different pitches at least 9.8% of the time last year: a four-seamer, sinker, cutter and slurve. He didn’t lean on any one pitch too much, topping out at 43.3% usage with the four-seamer. Statcast also categorized 0.2% of his pitches as a sweeper.

Converting relievers into starters has been a popular trend in recent years, with guys like Seth Lugo, Michael King, Garrett Crochet and Reynaldo López some of the better success stories. On the other hand, the results with Jordan Hicks were mixed and the A.J. Puk conversion was quickly abandoned.

It’s an understandable gambit, given the high prices of starting pitchers, as even fliers on high-risk guys have been getting into eight-figure territory this winter. Walker Buehler got $21.05MM coming off a bad year. Guys like Alex Cobb and Justin Verlander got $15MM despite being fairly old by big league standards and coming off injury-marred seasons.

Making a $3MM investment in Ferguson and turning him into a passable backend starter could be a nice bit of business, but there are reasons to think it might not come to pass. As mentioned, the Bucs have an obvious need for a lefty reliever, whereas the rotation is the strongest part of the roster. They are going into the season with a strong starting core of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller, with guys like Bailey Falter, Johan Oviedo, Mike Burrows, Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington all candidates for the back end.

The simplest and perhaps most likely outcome is that the Bucs simply use those guys in the rotation and move Ferguson to the bullpen, but there’s little harm in stretching him out in the spring to see what it looks like. It’s far easier to go from long outings to short ones early in the year, as opposed to getting stretched out midseason. The spring is the right time to do a little experimenting, as Ferguson can easily slide to the bullpen if it doesn’t work out or if the Pirates ultimately prefer other arms in that role.

At the very least, stretching Ferguson as a starter in spring training could open the door for him to function as a true multi-inning bullpen piece. He worked more than one inning on 11 occasions last year — more with Houston post-trade than with the Yankees prior — but topped out at two innings. Given his pitch mix and neutral splits, it’s not out of the question that he could have success working in slightly longer relief outings while also keeping the door cracked for the occasional spot start or opener assignment in the event of a bullpen game.

Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported the agreement. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com first reported the terms of the deal.

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17 Players Exchange Filing Figures

By Anthony Franco | January 9, 2025 at 10:15pm CDT

This evening’s deadline to exchange filing figures has come and gone. The majority of arbitration-eligible players agreed to contracts to avoid going to a hearing. There were 17 instances where the player and team did not come to terms.

Technically, nothing prevents players and teams from continuing to negotiate. However, virtually every team takes a “file-and-trial” approach to the process. Clubs will mostly refuse to continue talks about one-year deals after this date. They’ll often make exceptions for discussions involving multi-year contracts or one-year deals with a club/mutual option. It’s unlikely that all of these players will end up getting to a hearing, but the majority probably will.

If the sides go to a hearing, a three-person arbitration panel will either choose the player’s or the team’s filing figure. They cannot pick a midpoint. That’s designed to prevent the parties from anchoring by filing at extremely high or low figures. Teams’ preferences for the file-and-trial approach follows a similar logic. The idea is to deter players from submitting a higher number from which they could continue to negotiate until the hearing begins.

The list of players who could go to a hearing this winter (service time in parentheses):

Angels

  • Luis Rengifo (5.043): Filed at $5.95MM, team filed at $5.8MM (per Jon Heyman of the New York Post)
  • José Quijada (4.046): Filed at $1.14MM, team filed at $975K (per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com)
  • Mickey Moniak (3.027): Filed at $2MM, team filed at $1.5MM (per Feinsand)

Brewers

  • William Contreras (3.112): Filed at $6.5MM, team filed at $5.6MM (per Feinsand)

Cardinals

  • Lars Nootbaar (3.076): Filed at $2.95MM, team filed at $2.45MM (per Feinsand)
  • Brendan Donovan (3.000): Filed at $3.3MM, team filed at $2.85MM (per Feinsand)
  • Andre Pallante (2.145): Filed at $2.1MM, team filed at $1.925MM (per Feinsand)

Cubs

  • Kyle Tucker (5.079): Filed at $17.5MM, team filed at $15MM (per Jesse Rogers of ESPN)

Dodgers

  • Alex Vesia (4.078): Filed at $2.35MM, team filed at $2.05MM (per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic)

Nationals

  • Nathaniel Lowe (4.145): Filed at $11.1MM, team filed at $10.3MM (per Alden González of ESPN)

Orioles

  • Jorge Mateo (5.000): Filed at $4MM, team filed at $3.1MM (per Feinsand)

Padres

  • Michael King (5.004): Filed at $8.8MM, team filed at $7.325MM (per Heyman)

Pirates

  • Dennis Santana (4.126): Filed at $2.1MM, team filed at $1.4MM (per Feinsand)
  • Johan Oviedo (3.079): Filed at $1.15MM, team filed at $850K (per Feinsand)

Rays

  • Taylor Walls (3.092): Filed at $1.575MM, team filed at $1.3MM (per Feinsand)

Red Sox

  • Jarren Duran (2.155): Filed at $4MM, team filed at $3.5MM (per Feinsand)

Yankees

  • Mark Leiter Jr. (4.031): Filed at $2.5MM, team filed at $2.05MM (per Heyman)

—————————————

Tucker and the Cubs have the biggest gap in filing figures at $2.5MM. He’s one of the top two free agents in next year’s class and is unlikely to sign an extension, so they’re almost certainly headed to a hearing. King, who will be one of the best pitchers on the open market next winter, is the only other player with more than $1MM at stake depending on the results of the hearing. The smallest divide is the paltry $150K gap between Rengifo’s and the Angels’ respective filing figures. Hearings are scheduled to begin on January 27 and could run through February 14.

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