MLBTR Podcast: Baseball Is Back, Will Smith’s Extension, Mike Clevinger And Jon Berti
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Dodgers and Will Smith signing an extension (3:30)
- The White Sox re-sign Mike Clevinger (9:30)
- Live reaction to the breaking news of Joey Bart being traded from the Giants to the Pirates (16:25)
- The Yankees acquiring Jon Berti in a three-team trade with the Rays and Marlins (22:05)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Let’s say it’s trade deadline time and the Diamondbacks are basically a longshot to make the playoffs and want to dump payroll. Do you think there could be a reunion for Jordan Montgomery to be traded to the Rangers? The contract is right with the option or does he have a no-trade clause? (31:40)
- Are international free agents eligible for extensions right away or is there a certain waiting period? I ask this because of the impending Roki Sasaki situation. Could he sign with an MLB team next year and play that first year for peanuts knowing that he has a handshake mega deal agreement in place that kicks in the following year? (34:10)
- Is there a particular reason that you can’t trade a draft pick in the MLB the same way you can in leagues like the NFL? I know you there is a system in place for trading competitive balance picks, but I mean for just normal picks. I ask because I am a Mets fan and a Gators fan and it hurts that Jac Caglianone probably isn’t going to fall to 18. (41:55)
Check out our past episodes!
- A Live Reaction To The Jordan Montgomery Signing, Shohei Ohtani’s Interpreter, And J.D. Martinez Joins The Mets – listen here
- Mutiny In The MLBPA, Blake Snell Signs With The Giants And The Dylan Cease Trade – listen here
- Injured Pitchers, Brayan Bello’s Extension, Mookie Betts At Shortstop And J.D. Davis – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Padres Acquire Jackson Wolf From Pirates
The Padres have acquired left-hander Jackson Wolf from the Pirates, per announcements from both clubs, with minor league infielder Kervin Pichardo going the other way. Wolf had been designated for assignment by the Pirates last week and has now been optioned to Triple-A El Paso. The Friars had an open spot on their roster and won’t need to make a corresponding move.
Wolf, 25 this month, returns to his original organization. The Padres selected the lupine lefty in the fourth round of the 2021 draft but he was sent to the Bucs in the deal at last year’s deadline that sent Rich Hill and Jiman Choi to San Diego. Prior to that trade, Wolf had made 18 Double-A starts with a 4.08 earned run average, 29.8% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate. He also made one emergency start in the big leagues, allowing three earned runs in five innings.
His numbers after changing organizations were not as impressive. He made eight Double-A starts after the deal with a 4.25 ERA, 19.9% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate. Perhaps he was surpassed on the Pirates’ depth chart by guys like Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. The Bucs needed three Opening Day roster spots for Jones, Ryder Ryan and Hunter Stratton and Wolf was one of the casualties.
But losing his roster spot with Pittsburgh gives him the chance to rejoin the Padres. Pitching depth has been a concern for the Friars all winter as each of Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Nick Martinez and Hill reached free agency. They added Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and Drew Thorpe in the Juan Soto trade and then added Dylan Cease, sending Thorpe out in that deal.
They currently have a rotation consisting of Cease, King, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Matt Waldron, with Brito in the big league bullpen as Vásquez and Jay Groome are on the 40-man and pitching in Triple-A. Wolf will join the latter two in that category and try to earn his next trip to the majors. He still has two option years remaining.
To reacquire Wolf, the Padres will part with Pichardo, whom they acquired from the Phillies in the 2022 deal that sent James Norwood the other way. He split 2023 between High-A and Double-A, striking out in 25.9% of his plate appearances but also drawing walks 12.5% of the time. His combined batting line of .257/.370/.402 translated to a wRC+ of 120.
He didn’t crack Baseball America’s list of the top 30 Padres prospects coming into the year but will give the Bucs a bit of extra minor league infield depth. He has played all four infield spots in his minor league career and a little bit in the outfield as well.
Pirates Outright Canaan Smith-Njigba; Ali Sanchez Elects Free Agency
8:54AM: Sanchez chose to reject the outright assignment and become a free agent, as per his personal MLB.com profile page.
8:28AM: The Pirates have outrighted outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba and catcher Ali Sánchez to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to the team’s official transactions feed. The two players were designated for assignment on Opening Day but have now cleared waivers.
Smith-Njigba has become quite familiar with the DFA wire, as he briefly left the Pirates organization via waiver claim when Pittsburgh initially designated him back in January. The Mariners claimed Smith-Njigba but then designated him shortly thereafter, allowing the Pirates to claim him back less than three weeks after initially parting ways with the outfielder. This latest transaction allows the Bucs to move Smith-Njigba off their 40-man roster, but he’ll remain as a depth option at Triple-A.
CSN turns 25 next month, and his big league resume consists of 18 games and 44 plate appearances (with a .493 OPS) with Pittsburgh over the last two seasons. Apart from his brief sojourn as as Mariner, Smith-Njigba has also been a member of the Yankees organization, beginning his pro career as a fourth-round pick for New York in the 2017 draft. He came to the Pirates as part of the four-player trade package for Jameson Taillon in January 2021.
Over 686 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Smith-Njigba has hit a solid .273/.366/.439 while hitting 16 homers and stealing 29 bases in 37 attempts. He isn’t particularly fast despite those good base-stealing numbers, and Smith-Njigba has primarily played the two corner outfield positions apart from a handful of appearances in center field. Smith-Njigba is also a left-handed hitter and the Pirates are currently loaded with right-handed bats, even though the outfield (left-handed hitting Jack Suwinski and switch-hitter Bryan Reynolds) has more balance.
This isn’t the first time Sanchez has been outrighted off a 40-man roster, so the catcher has the right to reject the Pirates’ assignment and re-enter free agency. There hasn’t yet been any word on whether or not Sanchez will remain in the organization, though he is currently the only catcher in Indianapolis with any big league experience and would be the first call-up if either of Henry Davis or Jason Delay was injured.
Sanchez’s tenure in MLB isn’t exactly vast, as he debuted with five games with the Mets in 2020, two games with the Cardinals in 2021, and he hasn’t since returned to the Show. The 27-year-old has spent much of his career in the Mets’ farm system, but has since bounced around to multiple teams in search of catching depth. This is technically Sanchez’s second stint with the Pirates, as he was claimed off waivers from the Tigers in October 2022 only to be claimed away again a couple of months later by the Diamondbacks without ever actually suiting up for Pittsburgh in a pro game.
The Pirates signed Sanchez to a guaranteed Major League deal this past December, perhaps as an acknowledgement of his strong .311/.375/.492 slash line over 267 PA in 2023 with Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. The catcher is out of minor league options, so the Bucs had to designate Sanchez for assignment in order to remove him from the 40-man.
Yankees Acquire JT Brubaker From Pirates
The Yankees have acquired right-hander JT Brubaker and international bonus pool space from the Pirates for a player to be named later, per announcements from both clubs. Prior to the official announcements, Alex Stumpf of MLB.com reported on that Brubaker was going to the Yanks for a PTBNL. The righty is on the 60-day injured list, recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery. He won’t need a roster spot with the Yankees but won’t be available to them immediately. Per Stumpf, via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, Brubaker is targeting a return around the All-Star break. He’s controllable via arbitration through the 2025 season. The bonus pool money is worth $550K, per Francys Romero.
Brubaker, 30, missed the entire 2023 season after requiring Tommy John in mid-April. In the three preceding seasons, he had been one of the steadier arms on Pittsburgh’s staff. He tossed 315 2/3 innings over the 2020 to 2022 campaigns, one of which was shortened by the pandemic, with an earned run average of 4.99.
Though that ERA may not be terribly exciting, it’s possible that it doesn’t represent his true skill level, with some underlying metrics painting a more favorable picture. He struck out 23.3% of batters faced in that stretch and walked 7.8%, with both of those numbers being slightly better than average for a starting pitcher in the modern game. His 44% ground ball rate was also right around typical league average.
The discrepancy may be down to luck, as his .313 batting average on balls in play and 70.1% strand rate have both been on the unfortunate side of par. ERA estimators like his 4.43 FIP and 4.04 SIERA suggest he may have deserved better. That was especially true in 2022, when he had a 4.69 ERA but a 3.92 FIP and 3.97 SIERA.
But it’s also possible the difference is down to Brubaker’s struggles with lefties, something explored by MLBTR’s Anthony Franco prior to Brubaker’s surgery. He only throws his changeup about 5.5% of the time and hasn’t had great results with it, meaning he doesn’t have a great weapon for tackling lefty hitters. They have hit .269/.339/.481 against him, compared to a line of .272/.342/.391 from righty-swinging opponents.
Whether the Yankees can help Brubaker find another gear remains to be seen, but there’s likely some appeal even if he remains a back-of-the-rotation kind of guy. The Yankees were looking for starting pitching this offseason, even after signing Marcus Stroman. Their need for rotation reinforcements was only increased with the recent news that Gerrit Cole is going to miss some time with an elbow issue.
Cole and Brubaker may be on somewhat similar timelines, as Cole was also placed on the 60-day IL, putting him on the shelf until at least late May but with an uncertain timeline after that. Brubaker won’t be able to help out during Cole’s absence but other injuries could crop up throughout the season that could require reinforcements. The Yankees currently have Stroman, Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodón in three rotation spots, all three of whom missed significant time last year. Luis Gil won a rotation spot out of camp despite missing most of the past two seasons recovering from his own Tommy John surgery.
Brubaker comes into 2024 with exactly four years of service time. He first qualified for arbitration going into 2023 and earned a salary of $2.275MM. After sitting out the whole campaign, he agreed to the same mark this year, with one more arbitration season remaining.
For the Bucs, they were looking at another season and a half of Brubaker’s services, including next year and the post-All-Star portion of 2024. Once healthy, he would have been entering a rotation mix that currently consists of Mitch Keller, Martín Pérez, Marco Gonzales, Jared Jones and Bailey Falter, but prospects like Paul Skenes and Quinn Priester might be in there by midseason. Bubba Chandler will be a bit behind that group and Johan Oviedo, who will miss 2024 due to his own Tommy John, will be back in the picture next year.
General manager Ben Cherington spoke to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, saying that the club preferred to get something in return now. That return is unknown at this time but will become more clear when the PTBNL is revealed. In the meantime, they will save a small amount of money.
The Yanks will be taking on slightly more than the Bucs are saving, since they are over the fourth line of the competitive balance tax and a third-time payor. That means they are paying a 110% tax on any money they add to the payroll at this point. On top of Brubaker’s $2.275MM salary, they will also have to pay $2.5025MM in taxes.
If Brubaker is healthy in a few months but the Yankee rotation is in decent shape, he has a couple of options and could be sent to Triple-A. That could provide the club with some extra depth, it could also give them an extra year of control. As mentioned, Brubaker is coming into 2024 with exactly four years of service time. He’s currently accruing more service time while on the 60-day IL but an optional assignment of a few weeks would prevent him from getting to the five-year mark this year.
Regardless of how that plays out, the Yankees are adding some rotation depth for the latter half of this year and for the future as well. Additionally, they’ve added some unknown amount of international bonus pool space. The Bucs have saved a bit of money and bolstered their system with another player who is presumably younger and more controllable than Brubaker, though the details of their return have not yet emerged.
Pirates Designate Canaan Smith-Njigba, Jackson Wolf, Ali Sánchez For Assignment
The Pirates announced a series of Opening Day roster moves, selecting the contracts of right-handers Jared Jones, Ryder Ryan and Hunter Stratton. All three of those moves were previously reported. In corresponding 40-man moves, outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba, catcher Ali Sánchez and left-hander Jackson Wolf were designated for assignment.
Smith-Njigba, 25 in April, has clearly been on the margins of the roster in Pittsburgh since this is the second time he’s lost his spot in the past two months. He was designated for assignment in January and claimed off waivers by the Mariners. The Mariners put him back on waivers a couple of weeks later and the Bucs claimed him back. In between those two moves, the 60-day injured list had opened up, allowing the Bucs to put JT Brubaker there and squeeze Smith-Njigba back on, but he’s now been nudged off again.
He has hit .279/.373/.452 in Triple-A over the past two years but has a measly slash of .135/.250/.243 in his 44 major league plate appearances. Given his strong minor league work, which also includes 21 steals last year, he could attract the attention of other clubs. He also has one option year remaining, so a claiming club could keep him stashed in the minors until his services are needed.
Sánchez, 27, signed a major league deal with the club in December but the club’s catching situation has changed since then. In 2023, they largely relied on Endy Rodríguez behind the plate with Henry Davis playing right field. But Rodriguez required UCL surgery in the offseason that is going to keep him out of action for the entire 2024 campaign. This spring, the Bucs moved Davis back behind the plate and also signed Yasmani Grandal for a bit of insurance.
Davis seems to have taken well to moving back behind the plate and is now slated for the lion’s share of the work back there this year. Grandal is starting the season on the IL but the Pirates will roll with Jason Delay as the backup for now. Delay has options and can be sent to Triple-A when Grandal returns. Sánchez is out of options and wouldn’t be in the same position.
Sánchez hit a paltry .125/.263/.125 this spring, which surely didn’t help, and he has just 14 major league plate appearances on his track record. But he’s coming off a strong season in the minors, as he hit .311/.375/.492 for the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A team last year.
Wolf, 25 in April, came over to the Pirates in last year’s deal that sent Ji Man Choi and Rich Hill to the Padres, having made one career start with the Friars. He’s not an overpowering arm, with a fastball that sits in the low 90s, but has nonetheless found some decent results. Between his two clubs last year, he tossed 124 1/3 minor league innings with a 4.13 earned run average, 26.8% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate.
He came into this year as the club’s #21 prospect, per Baseball America, but has been nudged off the roster as guys like Jones, Paul Skenes and others have seemingly jumped ahead of him on the depth chart. He still has a couple of options and could intrigue clubs, especially with starting depth always being in demand.
The Bucs will have one week to find trading partners for Smith Njigba, Sanchez or Wolf or else try to pass them through waivers.
Jared Jones Makes Pirates’ Roster; Jared Triolo Likely To Be Named Second Baseman
Top pitching prospect Jared Jones has won a spot on the Pirates’ Opening Day roster, the club announced to its beat writers this morning (X link via Alex Stumpf of MLB.com). He’ll likely slot into the team’s rotation. The Bucs will select the contracts of Jones and of right-handers Hunter Stratton and Ryder Ryan (X thread via Stumpf). Pittsburgh will place catcher Yasmani Grandal and infielder/outfielder Ji Hwan Bae on the 10-day injured list to begin the season. Relievers Colin Holderman and Carmen Mlodzinski will open the season on the 15-day IL.
Also making the roster are out-of-options pitchers Bailey Falter, Josh Fleming and Roansy Contreras, as well as outfielder Edward Olivares and righty Luis Ortiz. The Bucs will not carry non-roster invitees Brent Honeywell Jr. and Billy McKinney on the roster to begin the season. Those aren’t the only key roster decisions Pittsburgh has faced this spring; Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that manager Derek Shelton last night called it a “very safe assumption” that Jared Triolo will be the Pirates’ starting second baseman to begin the season.
Jones, 22, was the Pirates’ second-round pick back in 2020 and entered spring training ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects at each of Baseball America (No. 74), MLB.com (No. 62), The Athletic (No. 39), FanGraphs (No. 62) and ESPN (No. 53).
Those rankings come on the heels of a strong 2023 season split between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, wherein Jones logged a combined 126 1/3 innings of 3.85 ERA ball with a 27.6% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate. The right-hander’s dominant spring showing surely didn’t hurt his chances of making the Opening Day roster; Jones pitched 16 1/3 innings without an earned run during Grapefruit League play, yielding just nine hits against eight walks with 15 punchouts.
The Athletic’s Keith Law writes that Jones has made huge gains with both his heater and his slider since being drafted and now has the potential for three plus pitches. The former two-way standout is an excellent athlete and, as noted by Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin at FanGraphs, has also improved his strike-throwing as he’s shifted his focus solely to pitching. Scouting reports on Jones generally agree that there’d mid-rotation potential, and further improvements to any of his command, curveball or changeup could further boost his upside.
Jones tossed 122 2/3 innings in 2022 and 126 1/3 innings last season. That should set the stage for a decent uptick in his workload this season. The Bucs might still be cautious with him on a start-by-start basis, particularly early in the year, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if a healthy Jones approached or exceeded 150 frames this year. Since he’s a consensus top-100 prospect who’s making the Opening Day roster, his performance this season will particularly important for the Bucs. If Jones wins Rookie of the Year this season or finishes top three in National League Cy Young voting, he could net the Pirates an extra pick in the 2025 draft under the 2022-26 CBA’s newly implemented prospect promotion incentives.
Triolo, 26, made his big league debut in 2023 and spent the bulk of his time at third base, filling in for an injured Ke’Bryan Hayes. That’s Triolo’s natural position, but Hayes is one of MLB’s best defensive players at any position, so Triolo will slide over to second base in what could be his first full big league season. The writing for him winning the second base job was on the wall after the Bucs optioned Liover Peguero and Nick Gonzales — particularly with Bae also banged up (and now headed to the injured list).
In 209 plate appearances last season, Triolo batted .298/.388/.398 — production that was buoyed by an enormous .440 average on balls in play and came in spite of a grisly 30.1% strikeout rate. The punchouts and good fortune on balls in play have both continued this spring. Triolo has taken 45 plate appearances and batted .325/.400/.525 — excellent surface-level numbers that are propped up by a more suspect .458 BABIP. Couple that with a 31.1% strikeout rate, and his production looks similar to his 2023 output — though this year’s pair of homers in his limited spring playing time is a good sign, as Triolo hit just three long balls in last year’s 209 trips to the plate.
Triolo is a strong defender who draws plenty of walks, which should help set a decent floor for him, but he’ll need to cut down on the strikeouts and/or significantly improve his quality of contact (86.6 mph average exit velocity; 32.8% hard-hit rate) if he’s to sustain much in the way of success at the plate in the majors. Strikeouts were an issue in his first taste of Triple-A work last year (26.5%) but weren’t a problem for him in the lower and mid-minor league levels, so perhaps he’ll drop that rate over a larger sample as he gains more experience. If nothing else, a plus defender at multiple positions with a keen eye at the plate has the makings of a useful utility option, but Triolo will get the opportunity to show he can be more than that right out of the gate in 2024.
The 27-year-old Stratton made his MLB debut with the Bucs in 2023 and pitched 12 innings with three runs on nine hits and three walks. He fanned 10 of his 47 opponents (21.3%) and kept the ball on the ground at a hearty 51.5% rate. He was non-tendered in November but returned on a minors deal two months later. Stratton will now get a second big league look after firing seven shutout frames with a 7-to-2 K/BB ratio this spring.
Ryan, 29 in May, pitched a scoreless frame with the Mariners in 2023. That represents the entirety of his MLB experience. He’s fanned 28.6% of his opponents in 7 2/3 innings for Pittsburgh this spring and done so with a staggering 73.7% ground-ball rate. Ryan has pitched to a sub-4.00 ERA with a strikeout rate north of 24% in each of the past two Triple-A seasons (one with the Mariners and one with the Rangers). The Pirates will give him his first real look in the majors to see if he can carry any of that success over to the game’s top level.
Pirates Release Chase Anderson
TODAY: The Pirates have agreed to release Anderson, Alexander reports (via X), and the veteran righty is now free to sign with any team.
MARCH 22: Right-hander Chase Anderson is expected to trigger an out clause in his minor league contract with the Pirates, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (on X). If the Bucs don’t add him to the MLB roster, he’d become a free agent.
Anderson is among a host of veterans who faced opt-out decisions on Friday. He’s one of 31 players who had an automatic opt-out right in a minor league deal. That’s a CBA provision for Article XX(B) free agents — typically those with over six years of service time who finished the preceding season in the majors — who sign a non-roster pact more than 10 days before the start of the season. Anderson closed last season with the Rockies before inking a minor league deal with Pittsburgh in February.
The 36-year-old had been competing for a spot at the back of the rotation or as a long reliever. Pittsburgh called him out of the bullpen for three of his four outings this spring. Anderson has fared reasonably well, tossing 11 innings of three-run ball with nine strikeouts and three walks. However, the Bucs have a number of players competing for similar jobs.
Eric Lauer, Domingo Germán, Wily Peralta and Michael Plassmeyer all inked deals with non-roster invites to camp. Prospect Jared Jones might have pitched his way to the top of that group, while the Bucs have a few out-of-options arms (e.g. Roansy Contreras, Bailey Falter, Josh Fleming) who could block the path to middle relief reps.
Anderson tossed 86 1/3 innings at the major league level last season, his highest workload since 2019. Most of that came in Colorado, where he held a rotation spot for the second half. Anderson allowed a 5.75 ERA with a middling 17.5% strikeout rate while pitching his home games at Coors Field.
Pirates Option Liover Peguero
The Pirates announced Friday evening that they’ve optioned infielder Liover Peguero and lefty reliever José Hernández to Triple-A Indianapolis. After the Bucs optioned Nick Gonzales last night, that seemingly leaves Jared Triolo as the starting second baseman to begin the year.
Triolo, 26, appeared in 54 games as a rookie last season. The Houston product ran a .298/.388/.398 line with a trio of homers over his first 209 plate appearances. It’d be hard for him to maintain those results without making contact more consistently, though. Triolo punched out at a 30.1% clip, so it took an unsustainable .440 average on balls in play to keep his on-base percentage up.
It has been more of the same this spring. He has knocked a pair of homers, while 10 of the other 20 batted balls have dropped for hits. He has walked five times and struck out on 12 occasions over 39 plate appearances. The overall batting line — .353/.436/.559 — has been excellent. Even if Triolo’s batted ball results eventually take a turn, he could be a solid all-around contributor. He draws plenty of walks and should be a quality defender. Scouting reports credited him with a potential plus glove at his natural third base position. While Ke’Bryan Hayes will keep him from playing there frequently, his hands and athleticism could translate to the right side of the infield.
Peguero had a solid exhibition showing himself. The right-handed hitter turned in a .269/.345/.423 mark while striking out in just four of his 29 plate appearances. He’s a few years younger than Triolo and only appeared in seven Triple-A games before being called to the big leagues last season. Peguero struggled against MLB pitching in the second half, fanning at a 31.5% rate en route to a .237/.280/.374 slash. The Bucs evidently prefer to get him more run against Triple-A arms to start the year. Defensive specialist Alika Williams remains in camp and could secure a bench spot behind Triolo and Oneil Cruz up the middle.
Pirates Move Roansy Contreras To Bullpen
The Pirates are moving right-hander Roansy Contreras to the bullpen, Derek Shelton told reporters after tonight’s Spring Training contest (X link via MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf). While the Pittsburgh manager left open the possibility of giving Contreras another rotation look down the line, he’s viewed as a reliever for the moment.
At this time last year, the 24-year-old looked like one of the more promising starting pitchers in the organization. The Bucs had made him the arguable centerpiece of their 2021 trade return from the Yankees for Jameson Taillon. Contreras was viewed as a fringe Top 100-caliber prospect before turning in a solid ’22 campaign as a rookie. Contreras held a spot in the Pittsburgh rotation for a good portion of that season. He tossed 95 innings of 3.79 ERA ball with a strikeout and walk profile that wasn’t far off league average.
That showing earned him a spot in last year’s rotation. Contreras’ raw stuff and results all backed up, though, and he was tagged for 6.59 earned runs per nine innings. His strikeout rate dropped nearly three percentage points, sitting at a middling 18.8% clip. His walk rate went slightly up. The average velocity on his four-seam fastball ticked down from 95.8 MPH to 94.6 MPH. Contreras’ slider remained an effective offering, although he even lost a few percentage points on that pitch’s swing-and-miss rate.
As the struggles mounted, the Bucs first kicked him to the bullpen and eventually back to the minors. He made eight appearances in Triple-A, where he had an ERA just below 5.00 in a hitter-friendly league. The Pirates even assigned him back to their Florida complex for a few weeks to work through his mechanics outside of a game setting.
Those paths aren’t on the table this year. Last season burned Contreras’ final minor league option. The Pirates can no longer send him down without first exposing him to waivers, where he’d very likely be claimed. If they don’t want to risk losing him, they need to keep him in the majors. Yet Contreras’ performance this spring has been far from encouraging.
He has started three of five outings in exhibition play but only gotten through 12 1/3 innings. Contreras has issued 13 walks against nine strikeouts while allowing nine runs. His fastball velocity has sat in the 94-95 MPH range, but the inability to find the strike zone is alarming. It would’ve been difficult to justify giving him a spot in the MLB rotation coming off that kind of performance. A relief role will afford Shelton some flexibility in keeping Contreras out of high-leverage spots while he tries to recapture the form that he’d shown through 2022.
In other Bucs news, the team announced they’ve optioned Nick Gonzales to Triple-A Indianapolis. That takes him out of the mix in the camp battle for the Opening Day second base job. The former #7 overall pick had a middling spring, hitting .235/.278/.412 over 36 plate appearances. Liover Peguero and Jared Triolo are the top options to start at the keystone. They’ve each hit well in camp. Peguero has a .292/.370/.458 line in 11 games, while Triolo has turned in a .344/.432/.469 mark over 12 contests.
Dauri Moreta Undergoes UCL Surgery
Pirates right-hander Dauri Moreta underwent surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com, and will be out of action for the next 14 to 16 months. The righty is already on the Pirates’ 60-day injured list.
This news confirms what was already expected. Two weeks ago, it was reported that Moreta was dealing with a ligament injury in his right elbow. Though he and the club were going to gather more information, it was acknowledged that he was going to miss “an extended period of time.” When the Bucs signed Michael A. Taylor last week, they moved Moreta to the 60-day injured list as the corresponding move.
It seems that the further information gathering did nothing to give Moreta any hope of avoiding surgery. Based on the timeline from Stumpf, it seems like Moreta had full Tommy John surgery. That’s just speculation as the club has not yet made an official announcement, but the internal brace surgery usually comes with a lesser timeline of around a year.
Moreta, 28 next month, seemed to have a breakout year with the Pirates in 2023. He pitched 58 innings out of the bullpen, his largest workload in a major league season, and finished the year with a 3.72 earned run average. His 10% walk rate was a tad high, but he paired that with an excellent 31.8% strikeout rate.
He would have been looking to build on that here in 2024 but it will instead go down as a lost season. He’ll be aiming for a return in the middle of 2025, by which point he’ll be 29 years old. In the meantime, he’ll spend this season on the injured list, collecting major league pay and service time. For the Bucs, this means they will be without one of their more interesting young arms for the next year-plus.