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Pirates, Penguins Agree To Joint Ownership Of SportsNet Pittsburgh

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The Pirates announced Wednesday that they’ve entered into an agreement with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins for joint ownership of the SportsNet Pittsburgh network. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported the agreement. With the new partnership, SportsNet Pittsburgh will continue to carry all regionally broadcasted Pirates games and expand the network’s pregame and postgame coverage of the team.

“Above all else, this was the right thing to do for our fans,” Pirates president Travis Williams said in a press release announcing the agreement. “From the outset of this process, the most important thing to us was to ensure that our fans have the same level of access to Pirates game telecasts and the same high-quality production that they enjoy today. This agreement accomplishes that and more as we enable Pittsburgh sports fans to continue to enjoy a two-team, 24/7 sports channel.”

Mackey reports in a full column on the news that it’s expected to be a multi-year but still short-term agreement, giving Pirates fans some stability in knowing how to watch their team’s games while also leaving the team with the flexibility to pursue alternatives that may arise in the not-too-distant future. Pirates fans will want to check out the column in full, as Mackey chatted with Williams for a one-on-one interview regarding the new partnership.

The deal creates some eyebrow-raising partnerships due to the fact that daily operations of the network are handled by the New England Sports Network (NESN), which is owned by Fenway Sports Group. FSG owns the Penguins and holds an 80% stake in SportsNet Pittsburgh, per Mackey. That means that Red Sox owners John Henry and Tom Werner, the founders of FSG, will directly profit from the Pirates’ television broadcasts moving forward. Williams emphasized to Mackey that MLB has not deemed that to be a conflict of interest — FSG’s operations are a separate business venture from the Red Sox — and he added that the existing relationship between Henry, Werner and Pirates owner Bob Nutting actually helped to facilitate the arrangement.

Notably, Williams indicated that both the Pirates and Penguins are hoping to be able to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming option “as soon as possible,” adding that such a feature is currently at the works at NESN. Financial terms of the short-term arrangement and any potential down-the-road streaming options remain unclear, but Williams claimed the broadcast situation will not change the team’s payroll outlook.

“I don’t think payroll is a product of our television deal,” Williams told Mackey. “Payroll is a product of many different things in terms of where we are in building a team. As I’ve mentioned before, the revenue that comes from these types of deals, whether it’s this or a sponsorship or a jersey patch, any of those topics, that’s part of the overall revenues that we use to invest in the organization, areas where we’re going to make a difference.”

Endy Rodriguez Undergoes UCL Surgery, Will Miss 2024 Season

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Pirates catcher Endy Rodríguez underwent surgery to repair the UCL and flexor tendon in his throwing arm, the team announced. He won’t begin baseball activity for 10-12 months and will miss all of 2024.

Rodríguez had been the presumptive favorite to open the season as the Bucs’ primary catcher. Unfortunately, he suffered the freak injury on a swing while playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic last month. Next year will go down as a lost season for the switch-hitter.

Regarded as one of the sport’s most talented catching prospects, Rodríguez made his big league debut not long after the All-Star Break. He served as Pittsburgh’s starter down the stretch despite struggling in his first look at MLB pitching. Over 57 games, the 23-year-old hit .220/.284/.328 with a trio of home runs.

While Rodríguez doesn’t have a ton of power, he has shown excellent strike zone discipline in the minors. He walked at an 11.4% clip while keeping his strikeout rate south of 15% in 315 plate appearances for Triple-A Indianapolis, where he hit .268/.356/.415. He combines that with rare athleticism for a catcher and solid defensive reviews from scouts. Statcast graded him as an average receiver in his first 410 big league innings but credited him with better than average arm strength.

Between Rodríguez and 2021 first overall pick Henry Davis, Pittsburgh entered the season with two high-end catching prospects. The Pirates preferred Rodríguez defensively, keeping him behind the plate as a rookie while moving Davis almost full-time to right field. At last month’s GM Meetings, general manager Ben Cherington said the organization still planned to give Davis extended run behind the dish. Rodríguez’s unfortunate injury opens a path for the Louisville product to assume the #1 job.

Like Rodríguez, Davis made his MLB debut last summer but didn’t produce much at the plate. He hit .213/.302/.351 with seven longballs in his first 255 plate appearances. The 24-year-old also received well below-average defensive marks in right field. His MLB track record at catcher consists of two innings, but scouts have raised questions about his receiving skills in college and during his minor league tenure.

If the Pirates want Davis to continue developing defensively in Triple-A, their top in-house options are light-hitting defenders Ali Sánchez and Jason Delay. Veteran options available in free agency include Martín Maldonado, Tom Murphy, Austin Nola, Tucker Barnhart and old friend Jacob Stallings.

Pirates, Ryder Ryan Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates agreed to a minor league contract with reliever Ryder Ryan, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link). He’ll be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.

Ryan made his major league debut last season. He pitched once for the Mariners, turning in a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and a walk against Baltimore. The North Carolina product otherwise spent his year with the M’s Triple-A club in Tacoma. He had a nice showing for the Rainiers, working to a 3.76 ERA across 55 innings. The righty punched out just under a quarter of his opponents against a slightly high 9.6% walk rate.

The 28-year-old has appeared in parts of three Triple-A campaigns, allowing 4.24 earned runs per nine in 159 1/3 frames. While Ryan has very little major league experience, he has been of interest to a few teams as a depth arm. Originally drafted by Cleveland, he was dealt to the Mets for Jay Bruce in 2017 and flipped to Seattle in 2020 as the player to be named later in a Todd Frazier deal.

Seattle outrighted Ryan from the 40-man roster last month. He became a minor league free agent, setting the stage for him to join a fourth organization of his career. The Bucs had a middling relief group, finishing 19th with a 4.22 ERA and 14th with a 23.7% strikeout percentage.

Cubs, Mariners, Pirates Interested In Josh Naylor

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Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor drew trade interest from the Cubs, Mariners, and Pirates during the Winter Meetings, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.  There is no indication that the Guards were in serious talks about a deal, and as Hoynes notes, “for an offensively challenged club, it seems strange that they’d consider trading [Naylor].  But…it never hurts to listen.”

The 26-year-old Naylor hit .308/.354/.489 with 17 homers over 495 plate appearances last season, marking his second straight year of quality production.  The first baseman has a 124 wRC+ in 993 PA since Opening Day 2022, and this past season saw Naylor develop into more of a well-rounded hitter than just a power bat.  Naylor’s average and OBP increased greatly from 2022, and Naylor also cut back on his strikeouts without losing any of his power.  While he doesn’t walk much, that approach isn’t unusual for a Cleveland team that prioritizes contact above all.

It seems quite possible that Naylor hasn’t yet reached his ceiling, given that his early-career development was stunted by both the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and then a nasty fractured ankle that cut short his 2021 season and cost him a bit of time at the start of the 2022 campaign.  Naylor also missed about a month due to an oblique strain in 2023, and still generated positive numbers despite a very slow start over the season’s first six weeks.

Naylor’s 128 wRC+ actually outpaced Jose Ramirez’s 123 mark for tops among all Guardians regulars, and Josh’s younger brother Bo Naylor also delivered a 124 wRC+ in the smaller sample size of 230 PA.  These were among the few highlights in an overall dismal year at the plate for the rest of Cleveland’s roster, as the lack of hitting and multiple injuries in the rotation left the Guardians with a mediocre 76-86 record in Terry Francona’s final season as manager.

As Hoynes noted, moving Naylor would seem counterintuitive for a Guardians team that is seemingly looking to upgrade the lineup.  However, as is often the case with the Guards’ moves, there is a financial element at play.  Naylor is projected to earn $7.2MM in the second of three arbitration years, and he is eligible to hit free agency after the 2025 campaign.  While Ramirez is a notable exception, the Guardians generally doesn’t try to retain star talent unless they’re locked up to extensions earlier in their careers, so Naylor could potentially join a long list of notable Cleveland players who were dealt with at least one year remaining of team control.

Just this offseason, it is widely expected that the Guardians will deal Shane Bieber since the former Cy Young Award winner will be a free agent in the 2024-25 offseason.  Cleveland has already moved Cal Quantrill to the Rockies in a salary dump type of trade, and this winter in particular carries extra financial uncertainty for the small-market Guardians since the Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy proceedings could see the team lose their TV deal.  Since their payroll isn’t expected to go up, that leaves the front office with some tricky decisions to make in figuring out how to improve the roster as a whole.

With this in mind, Naylor becomes a very interesting possible trade chip in an offseason market thin on big bats, particularly in free agency.  Any number of teams would certainly have interest in a 26-year-old who might not have hit his offensive peak yet, and a new club would have two years to perhaps ink Naylor to an extension.

Based on what Cleveland usually seeks out in such trades of established talent, the Guardians could try and obtain an MLB-ready who can help the team in 2024, as well as a longer-term prospect or two.  Turning to the clubs in Hoynes’ report, the highly-ranked farm systems of the Pirates and Cubs could certainly have the assets to fit what would surely be a big asking price from the Guardians.

Acquiring Naylor would instantly fill the Cubs’ needs at first base, and provide a nice pivot after Chicago missed out on Shohei Ohtani.  Cubs GM Carter Hawkins is very familiar with Naylor, as Hawkins previously worked in Cleveland’s front office before heading to Wrigleyville following the 2021 season.  As much as Jed Hoyer’s front office has been hesitant about dealing from its stash of young talent, two years of relatively inexpensive control over Naylor is a tempting proposition, and it would allow the Cubs to then devote extra dollars to free agency.

There is some irony in the Pirates looking to land a player from another team looking to cut costs, given Pittsburgh’s long history of low payrolls.  However, the Bucs have a clear need at first base, and acquiring Naylor would also be another major sign that the team is preparing to finally return to contention.  That push might even come as early as 2024, given the NL Central’s state of flux.

The Mariners are looking for a particular kind of offensive upgrade, as Naylor would fit Seattle’s prioritization of good contact hitters.  The M’s have already parted ways with Teoscar Hernandez, Eugenio Suarez, and Jarred Kelenic in their pursuit of more contact, and acquiring Naylor could also give the Mariners cover to trade current first baseman Ty France.

Steven Brault Announces Retirement

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Left-hander Steven Brault has retired, as he announced on his personal Instagram page last month. A veteran of seven MLB seasons, Brault spent almost his entire major league career as a member of the Pirates. According to a recent report by Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Brault has his sights set on a second act in broadcasting now that his playing career has come to a close.

“I cannot possibly describe what it feels like to achieve a childhood dream,” Brault wrote in his announcement,  “Playing Major League Baseball was everything I could have ever imagined and so much more… I may be retiring from playing, but I plan to continue in this game for life. Baseball is my passion, and I plan on sharing that passion with the world. ”

Drafted by the Orioles in the 11th round of the 2013 draft, Brault was acquired by the Pirates as the player to be named later in the deal that sent outfielder Travis Snider to the Orioles back in January 2015. Brault made his major league debut for the Pirates the following year and served as a swingman while shuttling between the majors and Triple-A from 2016 to 2017. In those first two years of his big league career, Brault posted roughly league average results, with a 4.76 ERA and 4.70 FIP in 68 innings of work.

In 2018, Brault got his first chance to stick on the major league roster, pitching to a 4.61 ERA (85 ERA+) in 91 2/3 innings of work primarily as a multi-inning reliever out of the Pittsburgh bullpen. While Brault held his own in his first full-season taste of big league action, his effectiveness was limited by control issues that saw him issue free passes to 13.8% of batters faced while striking out just 19.9%.

Brault’s role shifted again in 2019, as he began to pitch primarily as a member of the starting rotation. Brault posted a 5.16 ERA during the 2019 campaign that was virtually identical to his previous season by measure of ERA+ (84), but he eclipsed 100 innings for the first (and only time) in his career and posted more solid numbers when looking exclusively at his 19 starts that season. In 95  2/3 innings of work as a starter in 2019, Brault posted a 4.99 ERA with a walk rate under 10% while striking out 20.1% of batters faced.

The shortened 2020 campaign was by far the strongest of Brault’s career. Pitching almost exclusively as a member of the rotation, he posted a strong 3.38 ERA, 34% better than league average by measure of ERA+, with a 3.92 FIP and a career-best 21.3% strikeout rate in 42 2/3 innings of work. Unfortunately for Brault, he’d be left unable to build upon his strong campaign during the shortened season the following year as he was limited to just seven appearances due to a recurring left lat strain that saw him make his first start of the season in August before prompting returning to the injured list in September.

Brault’s injury woes led the Pirates to designate the lefty for assignment following the 2021 campaign, at which point Brault caught on with the Cubs on a minor league deal. Brault once again battled injury issues early in the season but managed to make his debut with the big league Cubs on the Fourth of July. He would ultimately make nine appearances in short relief for the Cubs, posting a 3.00 ERA and 3.33 FIP with a 20.5% strikeout rate before a shoulder strain ended his season.

Entering 2023, Brault caught on with the Spire City Ghost Hounds of the independent Atlantic League, though he did so as an outfielder, not as a pitcher. Brault had hit well during his college days with a .971 OPS in 199 trips to the plate, and was one of the better hitting pitchers in the majors as well, with a career .258/.275/.337 slash line in 101 major league plate appearances. Brault’s stint with the Ghost Hounds ultimately lasted 58 games, during which he slashed a solid .283/.327/.465 with an 18% walk rate in 200 plate appearances.

Ultimately, Brault ended his big league career having posted a 4.73 ERA and 4.64 FIP with 299 strikeouts in 352 1/3 innings of work. Those of us at MLBTR would like to congratulate Brault on his playing career and wish him all the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Vic Davalillo Passes Away

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Longtime major league outfielder Vic Davalillo has passed away at the age of 84, according to a Spanish-language report from El Extrabase.

A native of Venezuela, Davalillo began his pro baseball career in 1958. He signed with the Reds as a relief pitcher. After two and a half minor league seasons, he was traded to the Indians for cash. By the 1962 season, Cleveland had converted him to almost full-time outfield work. Davalillo spent that year in Triple-A before debuting in the big leagues the following season.

Listed at 5’7″ and 150 pounds, Davalillo was a high-contact hitter with a strong defensive reputation. He won a Gold Glove in his first full season in 1964. He was an All-Star selection the following year, receiving down-ballot MVP votes after hitting .301/.344/.372 and stealing 26 bases. The left-hander’s offensive numbers varied over the next few years, although he continued to play regularly in Cleveland for a while.

During the 1968 campaign, the Indians dealt Davalillo to the Angels for former All-Star Jimmie Hall. He swiped 25 bases while combining for a .277/.301/.355 batting line between the two clubs. That was the final year in which he reached 500 plate appearances, but he carved out an extended run thereafter as a depth outfielder.

Davalillo played in the big leagues through 1980. He had multi-year stints with the Cardinals, Pirates, A’s and Dodgers over that stretch. Davalillo was part of pennant-winning rosters with the latter three of those organizations.  He was part of the 1971 Pittsburgh team and ’73 Oakland clubs that won the World Series.

Over a major league career that spanned parts of 16 seasons, he hit .279/.315/.364. Davalillo picked up 36 homers, surpassed 1100 hits and swiped 125 bases. He was a Gold Glove winner, All-Star, and two-time champion. MLBTR sends our condolences to Davalillo’s family, friends and loved ones.

2023 Rule 5 Draft Results

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The 2023 Rule 5 draft will begin at 1pm Central time today at the Winter Meetings in Nashville.

As a refresher, the Rule 5 draft is a way for players potentially talented enough for the big leagues but blocked by their current clubs to find opportunities elsewhere. Any players that were 18 and under at the time of their original signing and have played five professional seasons, and any players who signed at 19 years of age or older at signing that now have four professional seasons, who are not on a club’s 40-man roster are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft.

The clubs will draft in reverse order of the 2023 standings, with no club obligated to make a selection when it’s their turn. If they do make a pick, they will have to pay $100K to the team they select from. The selected players must stay on the active roster (or injured list) for the entire 2024 season or else be placed on waivers. If they clear waivers, they must be offered back to their original team. They cannot be optioned to the minors. Last year’s edition saw some key players change clubs, such as Ryan Noda going from the Dodgers to the Athletics and Blake Sabol going from the Pirates to the Giants.

This post will be updated as the draft continues. Here is the order…

1.  Athletics: RHP Mitch Spence (Yankees)
2. Royals: RHP Matt Sauer (Yankees)
3. Rockies: RHP Anthony Molina (Rays)
4. White Sox: LHP Shane Drohan (Red Sox)
5. Nationals: SS Nasim Nuñez (Marlins)
6. Cardinals: RHP Ryan Fernandez (Red Sox)
7. Angels: pass
8. Mets: RHP Justin Slaten (Rangers); Mets later traded Slaten to the Red Sox for LHP Ryan Ammons* and cash considerations.
9. Pirates: pass
10. Guardians: 3B Deyvison De Los Santos (Diamondbacks)
11. Tigers: pass
12. Red Sox: pass
13. Giants: pass
14. Reds: pass
15. Padres: RHP Stephen Kolek (Mariners)
16. Yankees: pass
17. Cubs: pass
18. Marlins: pass
19. Diamondbacks: pass
20. Twins: pass
21. Mariners: pass
22. Blue Jays: pass
23. Rangers: RHP Carson Coleman (Yankees)
24. Phillies: pass
25. Astros: pass
26. Brewers: pass
27. Rays: pass
28. Dodgers: pass
29. Orioles: pass
30. Braves: pass

The minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft also occurred this afternoon. Those players will not go onto the selecting teams’ 40-man roster. A few former major leaguers changed uniforms. They include 1B Seth Beer going from the Diamondbacks to the Pirates while the Yankees took RHP Kervin Castro from the Astros.

* (Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that Ammons was going to the Mets. Joel Sherman of The New York Post added that Ammons and cash were being exchanged for Slaten.

Pirates Acquire Marco Gonzales

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The Pirates announced the acquisition of left-hander Marco Gonzales and cash considerations from the Braves. Atlanta receives a player to be named later or cash in return. The move comes just two days after Atlanta landed Gonzales as part of a five-player trade with the Mariners, yet it was already expected that Gonzales would be quickly flipped to another team.

Pittsburgh will presumably now be Gonzales’ final landing spot of the offseason, as the southpaw brings some experience to a Pirates team sorely in need of rotation help.  Beyond ace Mitch Keller, the Bucs’ projected starting staff is thin on MLB service time and lacking in quality results at the big league level.  Roansy Contreras, Bailey Falter, Luis Ortiz, and Quinn Priester were lined up as the next four in the rotation, as Johan Oviedo will miss all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and JT Brubaker and Mike Burrows won’t be options until closer to midseason due to TJ procedures of their own from last April.  2023 first overall draft pick Paul Skenes is expected to be on a fast track to the big leagues as early as next season, yet with only 6 2/3 pro innings on his resume, it is too early to assume Skenes is a lock for his MLB debut in 2024.

This isn’t to say that Gonzales (who turns 32 in February) is necessarily a clear-cut upgrade for the Buccos, as he is trying to bounce back from essentially a lost season.  Gonzales’ 2023 campaign was cut short by a forearm strain in May, and he had struggled to a 5.22 ERA over 50 innings and 10 starts for Seattle before going on the injured list.  While the forearm problem was a painful new wrinkle to the proceedings, the overall dip in form wasn’t a total surprise, given how Gonzales has been outperforming his peripheral numbers for years.

Gonzales posted a 3.94 ERA over 765 2/3 innings for the Mariners from 2018-22, with a more unflattering 4.64 SIERA reflecting his lack of strikeouts.  Though Gonzales isn’t a hard thrower and he doesn’t miss many bats, he still achieved success with a recipe of solid control and limiting hard contact.  Despite the lack of velocity, Gonzales’ four-seamer was quietly one of the more effective pitches in baseball before 2022, when it suddenly dropped into being a below-average offering.

If Gonzales can stay healthy and get back to his pre-2023 results, that alone represents a nice boost for the Pirates’ staff.  It might help that the lefty is leaving Seattle for another pretty pitcher-friendly locale in PNC Park, as home runs also became an increasing problem for Gonzales in 2021-22.

2024 is the last guaranteed season of the four-year, $30MM extension that Gonzales signed with the Mariners prior to the 2020 campaign, and the deal also contains a $15MM club option for 2025 with no buyout.  Since Gonzales received a $250K assignment bonus for being traded from the Mariners, the $4.5MM Seattle included in the trade package to Atlanta left $7.75MM remaining in owed salary to the left-hander.  The Braves have eaten part of that portion to facilitate this next deal with Pittsburgh, only increasing Gonzales’ affordable nature — no small matter for a Pirates team that is always looking to keep its spending in check.

Though the Bucs are intending to raise their modest payroll by some extent, obtaining Gonzales for less than $7.75MM allows the club to fill one rotation hole without taking up much of whatever spending capacity GM Ben Cherington has been allotted this winter.  Since Jack Flaherty is another name on the Pirates’ radar, it could be that Pittsburgh will address its rotation with veterans on short-term deals, hoping that at least one reclamation project like Gonzales or Flaherty can bounce back to become solid starter.

From Atlanta’s perspective, taking on the contracts of Gonzales and Evan White was the price necessary to obtain Jarred Kelenic from the Mariners.  White’s injury history makes him more or less immovable outside of a total salary dump, yet Gonzales’ history as a decently effective and durable starter prior to 2022 made him a better candidate to be flipped, considering the league-wide need for pitching depth.  The Braves are known to be looking for higher-tier pitching upgrades themselves, after missing out on Aaron Nola earlier in the offseason.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Pirates were acquiring Gonzales and cash for a player to be named later.

Pirates Planning To Increase Payroll

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Never known for their big spending, the Pirates are planning some level of a payroll increase in 2024, GM Ben Cherington told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey and other reporters.  “I’d anticipate us ending up above where we landed last year,” Cherington said.  “Generally speaking, we expect that as we get better, the payroll will continue to climb with us.  To some extent, it’s motivation for us is if we can actually push that as we get better.”

This isn’t different from statements Cherington has made in the past about the Bucs’ spending, and in some sense, there’s really nowhere to go but up for a team that has traditionally been at or near the back of the pack in payroll even during its last playoff seasons (2013-15).  According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Pirates’ Opening Day payroll hasn’t ranked higher than 27th in the league in any of the last six seasons, with last year’s Opening Day number sitting at just under $73.28MM.

That 2023 payroll figure represented a notable jump from the Pirates’ $55.76MM figure at the start of the 2022 season, which might provide some hint about what kind of increase we might be able to expect this winter.  A similar-sized bump would bring the Bucs into a payroll range of around $91MM, and since the 2024 payroll ledger sits at roughly $53MM at the moment, Cherington and company could have a comparably large amount of money to work with as they look for roster upgrades.

Expecting quite such a payroll increase is far from a lock, of course, and the Pirates are one of many teams around baseball whose revenues are impacted by TV broadcasting uncertainties.  Mackey recently explored the Pirates’ situation, as the team seems to have the option of either letting MLB handle broadcast rights, or airing games on SportsNet Pittsburgh, the recently-rebranded channel that has been the Pirates’ cable TV home for years.

After losing 201 games in 2021-22, Pittsburgh’s 76-86 record represented a solid step forward in the team’s rebuilding process.  The team’s extension with Bryan Reynolds in April was another important turning point, as both the biggest contract in franchise history and a clear sign that the Pirates want to start turning towards contending.  Expecting the Bucs to make that leap in 2024 is perhaps a tall order, yet stranger things have happened, and there might be some particular opportunity within an unsettled NL Central.

It is hard to imagine this current Pirates pitching staff carrying a contender, however, and it seems clear that the bulk of whatever dollars Pittsburgh has available this winter will be focused on rotation help.  Given the ever-rising cost of pitching and the Pirates’ multiple needs in the staff, it is safe to assume that the team will go after multiple mid-tier starters rather than splurge on a Jordan Montgomery-esque ace at the very top of the market.  Reports surfaced earlier today that Jack Flaherty was a target of interest for the Pirates, with the former Cardinals standout looking for a one-year deal as he tries to rebound from a few underwhelming and injury-plagued seasons.

Pirates, Ben Heller Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates have agreed to a deal with free agent reliever Ben Heller, as first reported by Jomboy’s Jack Oliver. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette adds that it’s a minor league deal for the right-hander. Heller is a client of Onyx Sports Management.

Heller, 32, pitched 18 2/3 innings for the Braves in 2023, logging a 3.86 ERA with a 19.5% strikeout rate, 13.1% walk rate and 49.1% ground-ball rate. He also notched a tidy 3.27 ERA with a 28.9% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate in 44 2/3 Triple-A frames between the Braves and Rays organizations.

Once a fairly well-regarded bullpen prospect who went from Cleveland to the Bronx (alongside Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield and J.P. Feyereisen) in the 2016 Andrew Miller trade, Heller has seen his career decimated by injuries. From 2018-22, Heller dealt with bone spurs in his pitching elbow (2018), underwent Tommy John surgery (2019) and was plagued by a nerve injury in his right biceps (2020-21). He was limited to just 35 2/3 innings between the big leagues and minors combined during that brutal stretch of health woes.

When he’s been healthy enough to pitch in the majors, Heller has been quite effective. He touts a career 3.06 ERA in 50 frames, albeit with suboptimal strikeout and walk rates of 20.9% and 11.8%, respectively. While he was working to rehab all those injuries, Heller restored some zip on his fastball; he flashed a 96.2 mph average as a rookie in 2016 before dipping to 94 mph in 2017-20. He was back up to 95.9 mph on his seldom-used four-seamer with Atlanta this past year, however, and averaged 94.9 mph on his newly implemented sinker.

He’ll need to make the big league roster as a non-roster invitee, but if Heller works his way back to the big leagues in Pittsburgh, he can be controlled for at least three more seasons via the arbitration process.

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