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Jung Ho Kang Discusses Hopeful Return To Majors

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  • In a piece that’s not altogether unrelated to Kang’s situation, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette analyzes the thin margin of error the Pirates front office has to work with in light of the team’s still-limited payroll. GM Neal Huntington notes the need to find “significant value outside of the free-agent market” as well as the imperative to “get more than just a dollar-for-dollar value” in free agency. The piece highlights the challenges facing the just-extended executive as he seeks to position the Bucs for contention once again.

Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang discussed his attempt to return to the majors with Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap (here and here). Kang derailed his career when he drove under the influence of alcohol in his native Korea — the third time he has been arrested for a DUI — with a subsequent conviction leaving him unable to obtain a visa to work in the United States. Now, as he prepares to play in the Dominican Winter League, Kang says he hopes “to become a better person and a better player.” Whether or not he’ll be able to return to action in the majors — in 2018 or beyond — will ultimately depend upon the U.S. government.

Francisco Cervelli Will Not Return This Year

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Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli will be shut down for the rest of the year, manager Clint Hurdle tells reporters including MLB.com’s Adam Berry (via Twitter). Hurdle says there simply isn’t enough time for the backstop to make it back from his quad injury.

While the Bucs don’t need Cervelli to make a push for the postseason — that ship sailed a while back — it’s disappointing for his season to end this year. The veteran has been out since mid-August (apart from a one-game effort to return) and has missed out on a chance to work with the club’s young pitching staff down the stretch.

Cervelli’s absence also means he won’t have a chance to bounce back from his rough finish to the year. Over his final 17 games, Cervelli posted only a .132/.220/.151 slash with twenty strikeouts. Of course, Cervelli was much better at the plate over the full course of the season. But he has produced less than the league average with the bat over the past two years and tanked recently in the framing department (after previously ranking among the game’s best).

All said, the Pirates haven’t made out quite as well as they hoped when they inked Cervelli to a three-year, $31MM extension early in the 2016 season. While the team can still expect to get value out of the 31-year-old over the next two campaigns, he’ll need to boost his performance to warrant the $22MM he is still owed.

Huntington On Decision To Outright Hutchison

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Following this weekend’s outright of Drew Hutchison, Pirates GM Neal Huntington spoke to Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the decision to move on from the right-hander, who is now very likely to become a free agent at season’s end. While Hutchison was the lone return the Pirates received in exchange for dumping Francisco Liriano’s contract and sending two prospects to the Blue Jays, Huntington indicated that he’s been passed on the depth chart by other arms. “We traded for him with the idea that he was a controllable, young starter that could fill a rotation spot for years to come,” said Huntington. “We just also decided this year that the growth and development of our guys put them ahead of him.” The Pirates have relied heavily upon Chad Kuhl, Trevor Williams, Steven Brault and Tyler Glasnow to make starts behind Gerrit Cole, Ivan Nova and Jameson Taillon this season. With Hutchison eligible for arbitration this winter, the lack of room in the rotation makes his removal from the 40-man roster is essentially the same as non-tendering him several months in advance.

Huntington On Collaboration Between Statcast, Traditional Scouting

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  • Fangraphs’ Travis Sawchik spoke to Pirates general manager Neal Huntington about the growing presence of Statcast in today’s game and how technology can coexist with teams’ scouting departments. While some see the advent of Statcast as a threat to the scouting community, Huntington — a former advance scout — suggests that the technology could instead be an advantage to scouts. Rather than tracking the minutia of a game — pitch location, batted ball outcomes, etc. — scouts can instead be freed to watch more intangible elements of the game, such as player makeup, baserunning instincts, body language, etc. “It’s one thing to say, ‘The route was efficient, the jump was X, the max speed was Y,'” said Huntington. “It’s another thing to understand defensive instincts. How engaged he away from the ball? Is he a spectator or a participant?”

Huntington Explains Hutchison Outright

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  • The Pirates’ decision to outright Drew Hutchison was simply due to a pitching surplus, GM Neal Huntington told Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and other media.  “It was more things beyond Drew’s control.  We traded for him with the idea that he was a controllable, young starter that could fill a rotation spot for years to come,” Huntington said.  “We just also decided this year that the growth and development of our guys put them ahead of him….we felt like we had guys that we wanted to give the innings to at the Major League level ahead of him.  Time will tell if that was the right call.”  Huntington praised Hutchison and said that cutting ties with him now will give the young righty more time to find another team, rather than waiting until December to be non-tendered.

Pirates Outright Drew Hutchison

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The Pirates have outrighted right-hander Drew Hutchison from the 40-man roster, as John Dreker of Pirates Prospects first reported. Hutchison has already cleared waivers.

Hutchison earned $2.3MM this year and would be eligible for arbitration for two more campaigns. But he never made it up to the majors in 2017 and clearly was destined for a non-tender. Hutchison is now slated to qualify as a minor-league free agent at the end of the year, as Dreker notes.

Though it was largely inevitable — in substance, if not in timing or process — the move isn’t likely to be terribly well-received by Pirates fans. Many of the Pittsburgh faithful have already been incensed by the team’s decision to allow reliever Juan Nicasio to depart via outright waivers, a move that ultimately saw him end up closing games for the division-rival Cardinals as they seek to make a postseason run.

Hutchison has been a target of some ire ever since he was acquired in a controversial deal at last year’s trade deadline. That late-breaking swap sent two prospects — Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire — to the Blue Jays along with the expensive contract of Francisco Liriano. While the Bucs insisted they had real interest in adding Hutchison, there was clearly a financial motivation at play as well.

It doesn’t help, of course, that Hutchison has not contributed since arriving in Pittsburgh. Once a highly regarded young starter, he faltered in Toronto evidently hasn’t shown enough since finding his way to an organization oft lauded for its pitching turnarounds. Hutchison appeared briefly in the majors last year but hasn’t appeared for the Pirates in 2017, despite occupying a 40-man spot and earning his arb salary all year long. He does own a 3.56 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 through 159 1/3 Triple-A frames, but clearly the Bucs were not confident that he’d carry that into the majors.

2017 Rule 5 Roundup

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With just a few weeks left in the season, we have a pretty clear idea of which Rule 5 draft picks will stick with their drafting teams. At this point, having already carried the player this far and with expanded rosters easing any pressures, teams are quite likely to stay the course. Here’s how this season’s Rule 5 group has shaken out thus far:

Keepers

It isn’t official yet, but these

  • Miguel Diaz, RHP, kept by Padres (via Twins) from Brewers: As part of the Pads’ unusually bold Rule 5 strategy, the club kept three youngsters this year. Diaz, 22, has managed only a 6.21 ERA with a 31:22 K/BB ratio over 37 2/3 innings. But he is showing a 96 mph heater and will remain with the organization, quite likely heading back to the minors next season to continue his development.
  • Luis Torrens, C, kept by Padres (via Reds) from Yankees: The youthful backstop — he’s just 21 — has struggled badly on offense in limited action. Through 133 plate appearances, he’s slashing just.169/.246/.212 — with just four extra-base hits, none of them home runs.
  • Allen Cordoba, INF, kept by Padres from Cardinals: And then there’s Cordoba, who’s also just 21 years of age. He faded after a hot start at the plate, but on the whole his output — a .209/.284/.304 batting line and four home runs over 215 plate appearances — is fairly impressive given that he had never before played above Rookie ball.
  • Dylan Covey, RHP, kept by White Sox from Athletics: Technically, owing to a DL stint, Covey has only compiled 83 of the minimum 90 days of active roster time required to be kept. But he’s going to make it there before the season is up, meaning that the Sox will be able to hold onto his rights and option him back to the minors in 2018. Covey, 26, has struggled to a 7.90 ERA with 4.9 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 over 54 2/3 innings, allowing 18 long balls in that span.
  • Stuart Turner, C, kept by Reds from Twins: Turner has seen minimal action, appearing in just 33 games and taking only 77 trips to the plate. And he’s hitting just .141/.184/.268 in that sporadic action. Clearly, though, the Reds have seen enough to believe he’s worth the trouble to hang onto.

Still In Limbo

  • Kevin Gadea, RHP, selected by Rays from Mariners: Gadea has not pitched at any level this year owing to an elbow injury. He’ll remain with the Tampa Bay organization for the time being, but will still need to be carried on the 40-man roster over the offseason and then on the active roster for at least ninety days for his rights to permanently transfer.
  • Armando Rivero, RHP, selected by Braves from Cubs: It’s the exact same situation for Rivero as for Gadea, though he has had shoulder problems.
  • Josh Rutledge, INF, selected by Red Sox from Rockies: This was not your typical Rule 5 move. Boston snagged the veteran infielder after he signed a minors deal with Colorado. He ended up seeing minimal MLB time owing to injuries and his season ended recently with hip surgery. Rutledge is eligible for arbitration this fall and isn’t likely to be kept on the 40-man roster regardless.
  • Anthony Santander, OF, selected by Orioles from Indians: Since he only made it off of the DL late in the summer, Santander can accrue only 45 days on the active roster. If Baltimore wants to keep him, then, it’ll need to put him on the Opening Day roster next year. Santander has seen minimal playing time thus far, recording two hits in twelve trips to the plate, though he put up impressive numbers on his rehab assignment.

Kept By Other Means

  • Daniel Stumpf, LHP, signed with Tigers after electing free agency upon return to Royals: This is another unusual situation. As a previous Rule 5 returnee, Stumpf was eligible to elect free agency upon being returned to his original organization. That’s just what happened when Detroit sent him back to Kansas City; the southpaw then turned around and re-signed a MLB deal with the Tigers. He has ended up turning in a rather productive year, posting 32 1/3 innings of 2.78 ERA ball with 8.6 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 at the major-league level and showing even more impressive numbers during his time at Triple-A.

Already Returned

  • Tyler Jones, RHP, returned to Yankees by Diamondbacks: Jones has thrown rather well at Triple-A since going back to the New York organization, posting 10.7 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 63 2/3 innings, though he has also allowed 4.38 earned per nine.
  • Caleb Smith, LHP, returned to Yankees by Brewers: Smith ended up earning a 40-man roster spot and spending some time in the majors after showing quite well as a starter in the minors. But he has been knocked around in his 18 2/3 MLB frames on the year.
  • Justin Haley, RHP, returned to Red Sox by Twins (via Angels): The 26-year-old didn’t stick with Minnesota, allowing a dozen earned runs in 18 innings before being returned to Boston. But he has thrown well since landing back at Triple-A Pawtucket, posting a 2.66 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 44 innings over seven starts.
  • Tyler Webb, LHP, returned to Yankees by Pirates: Webb also gained a 40-man spot with the Yankees after showing some intriguing K/BB numbers at Triple-A. He was ultimately dealt to the Brewers.
  • Aneury Tavarez, OF, returned to Red Sox by Orioles: Tavarez played his way back up to Triple-A upon his return to his former organization, but has hit just .244/.292/.400 in 145 plate appearances there.
  • Glenn Sparkman, RHP, returned to Royals by Blue Jays: Sparkman was bombed in his one MLB appearance and has been limited to just 30 1/3 minor-league frames due to injury.
  • Hoby Milner, LHP, returned to Phillies by Indians: Another player who has risen to the majors with the organization that originally let them leave via the Rule 5, Milner has turned in 24 1/3 frames of 1.85 ERA ball in Philadelphia. Of course, he has also managed just 15 strikeouts against ten walks in that span.
  • Mike Hauschild, RHP, returned to Astros by Rangers: The 27-year-old righty struggled badly in his eight MLB frames. Upon returning to the rotation for Houston’s top affiliate, Hauschild has uncharacteristically struggled with free passes (5.3 per nine).

Pirates Notes: Searage Extension, Leathersich, Kang, Cervelli

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The Pirates have agreed to a two-year extension with renowned pitching coach Ray Searage, reports Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Searage, who is widely touted as one of the top pitching coaches in the game, was on a contract that expired at the end of the current campaign but is now locked up through the 2019 campaign. The Pirates have gained a reputation for revitalizing pitchers coming off down stretches, thanks to the resurgences of arms like A.J. Burnett, Francisco Liriano, Mark Melancon, Jason Grilli, Edinson Volquez, Ivan Nova and Juan Nicasio, among others. Searage and former special assistant Jim Benedict — he’s now with the Marlins — receive a great deal of the credit for those successful reclamation projects. Biertempfel’s report also includes “educated speculation” on the fates of the rest of recently extended manager Clint Hurdle’s coaching staff, so Bucs fans will want to check it out in full.

Here’s more out of the Steel City…

  • Left-hander Jack Leathersich spoke to Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the late waiver claim that sent him from the Cubs organization to the Pirates as well as his quick return from Tommy John surgery. Perhaps predictably, given the abbreviated nature of his rehab period, the 27-year-old Leathersich struggled upon his initial return. “I was back in games in 10 months, but I just couldn’t recover,” Leathersich tells Brink.“So I’d throw and then the next two days were pretty miserable.” As Brink notes, however, Leathersich clearly got stronger as the season carried on; he didn’t allow a run and posted a 29-to-10 K/BB ratio over his final 18 innings with Triple-A Iowa before being designated for assignment and claimed by Pittsburgh.
  • Brink also writes that Jung Ho Kang has a roster spot in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, but it’s not yet clear if he’ll get approval to play there this offseason, as he’s still on the Pirates’ restricted list. Kang has still been unable to obtain a work visa to enter the United States on the heels of this past offseason’s DUI arrest — his third DUI charge in his native South Korea. Bucs skipper Clint Hurdle said he’d travel to the Dominican Republic to meet with Kang in person and watch him on the field if he is indeed cleared to play, per Brink.
  • Injured catcher Francisco Cervelli still hopes to return this season, MLB.com’s Adam Berry writes. Cervelli took batting practice and ran today but has yet to be able to crouch behind the plate as he recovers from an ailing quadriceps. As Berry notes, the team’s preference would be to allow Cervelli to enter the offseason feeling healthy and confident, which is also why they’ve opted not to shut down Gregory Polanco, who recently returned from a hamstring issue. Cervelli is in the first season of a three-year, $31MM contract and has been limited to 81 games with a .249/.342/.370 slash line in 2017.

Latest Pirates Roster Moves

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  • The Pirates selected the contract of southpaw Dan Runzler from Triple-A Indianapolis while shifting Josh Harrison to the 60-day DL to create roster space.  Runzler appeared in 89 games (72 1/3 IP) for the Giants from 2009-12 but hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since, bouncing from the Arizona and Minnesota farm systems over the last two years before signing a minors deal with Pittsburgh last winter.  The Pirates also announced a number of minor league callups, as catcher Jacob Stallings, left-hander Jack Leathersich and right-handers Tyler Glasnow, Edgar Santana and Johnny Barbato will all join the big league roster.

Three Needs: Pittsburgh Pirates

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With less than a month remaining in the regular season, many teams still have plenty of fall drama ahead. Many clubs, though, are already looking to 2018. With that in mind, here’s the latest entry in our Three Needs series. You can track other entries in the series here.

For a team currently in the midst of a 67-76 season in which nearly everything went wrong, the Pirates have surprisingly few pronounced holes. That isn’t to say that it will be impossible for them to find ways to improve, only that they have reasonable possibilities in place for 2018 at most key roster spots. A player like Jordy Mercer is representative of the Pirates’ situation right now — he’s in the midst of a decent .254/.328/.404 season and is clearly a capable starting shortstop, but he’s also only notched two wins above replacement once in his career. A team with the resources and/or inclination to aggressively pursue upgrades over the reasonable, established assets they already have might look to add a starting shortstop, but it doesn’t seem especially likely the Pirates will. The Bucs also already did address what might otherwise have been a key offseason priority with their in-season trade to reacquire Sean Rodriguez, which bolstered the infield depth they lost due to Jung Ho Kang’s visa issues.

With that in mind, here are some areas the Bucs might address over the winter. A variety of somewhat dramatic approaches would seem defensible for the Pirates over the next few months, and with a number of key veterans potentially nearing the ends of their careers in Pittsburgh, the Bucs will have to at least consider some of them. If they do take dramatic action, though, they appear likely to do so by trading high-value veterans rather than adding them, although they could also pursue somewhat of a mixed strategy, dealing away some veteran salaries in order to bolster a decent base of young talent with veteran free agents.

[Related: Pittsburgh Pirates Depth Chart and Payroll Outlook]

1. Figure out what to do with Andrew McCutchen. In what’s become a semiannual tradition for the Pirates, they’ll attempt this offseason to chart a course for Andrew McCutchen, on whom they have a $14.5MM option or a $1M buyout in his last winter before free agency. McCutchen has posted a .583 OPS in August and .536 in September, but two very hot months this June and July should ease fears of a steep decline following a poor 2016 season. This time, of course, the Pirates can only offer suitors one season of McCutchen, but from the Bucs’ perspective, at least they can offer a McCutchen whose .273/.363/.467 line and improved defensive work look like significant upgrades on the McCutchen they had on offer last winter. The Pirates nearly traded Cutch to the Nationals then, and it seems very likely they’ll strongly consider trading McCutchen for young talent this winter, too.

2. If McCutchen goes, figure out what happens next. The Pirates are already pretty far removed from the Bucs teams that made three straight playoff appearances from 2013 through 2015, but dealing a franchise player like McCutchen would sever ties with the past even more decisively. Actually, whether the Bucs deal McCutchen or not, they need to develop a plan (or, more likely, continue implementing a plan that understandably hasn’t completely been publicly articulated) that’s designed to get them back to the playoffs at some point in the future. Neither of their last two teams have been good enough, and it’s not yet clear that the next wave of young assets (including Gregory Polanco, Josh Bell, Austin Meadows, Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl, Tyler Glasnow and Felipe Rivero) form a good enough core by themselves to return the team to glory, even though all of them are clearly useful or at least have the potential to be. With all that in mind, the possibility of a McCutchen trade raises obvious questions about other veterans the Pirates might trade, including Gerrit Cole and Josh Harrison. Other names, like those of David Freese and Francisco Cervelli, could be bandied about as well.

The Pirates can control Cole for two more years, and with his pedigree, stuff, and performance, he’d undoubtedly yield plenty of talent coming back. The Bucs might not be able to top the fine returns the Athletics and White Sox received in dealing controllable veteran starters Sonny Gray and Jose Quintana, respectively, but they’d be able to point to those trades as potential starting points.

Harrison’s season is now over due to a broken finger, but he could be on the market this winter as well. After a solid .272/.339/.432 2017 campaign, he’s pretty clearly an asset, particularly given the structure of what remains on his contract — he’ll make a modest $10MM in 2018, and the team that controls him will also have relatively cheap options for both 2019 and 2020. That makes Harrison a very low risk for any team that might acquire him. The fact that he’s capable at both second and third could also create a variety of potential fits.

Any big trades the Pirates do make will create other potential decisions that could shape their winter. After Meadows’ injury-plagued season, the Bucs probably won’t be comfortable with having him replace McCutchen right away, which might mean they’ll look for outfield depth if they trade McCutchen. The same could be true of the infield should Harrison be traded. The Pirates would also have to determine how much space, if any, they want to carve out for interesting but lesser-known young players like outfielder Jordan Luplow and infielder Max Moroff. (From there, the Pirates can sort out the composition of their bench, perhaps adding a left-handed bat to replace free agent John Jaso.) If the Bucs were to trade Cole, they’d have a variety of young options to take his place, but it also wouldn’t be a shock if they looked for a veteran starter to provide stability.

3. Look for bullpen help. The Bucs’ recent trade of Tony Watson and their bizarre loss of Juan Nicasio on waivers have left their relief corps a bit thin. (Of course, both players would have been eligible for free agency after the season anyway.) The team recently made one significant move to improve the 2018 bullpen by claiming George Kontos from the Giants, but they’ll likely make one or two more this winter to add to a group currently headed by Rivero and Daniel Hudson. Like many teams, the Bucs have young or young-ish arms that could play bigger roles in next season’s ’pen, like Edgar Santana and Dovydas Neverauskas. The Bucs’ bullpen does, however, currently appear short on both veteran stability and overall talent. A buy-low move or two like the one that landed Hudson last winter wouldn’t be a surprise.

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