Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Pirates Rumors

International Signings: 10/7/20

By and | at

A couple of notable international signings:

  • The Pirates announced they have signed 19-year-old pitcher Po-Yu Chen. The Taiwanese righty will receive a $1.25MM signing bonus, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). Chen has evidently been on the organization’s radar for quite some time, with GM Ben Cherington noting the club has scouted him extensively over the past three years (via Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic). Notably, the Bucs’ only trade at this summer’s trade deadline netted them additional international pool space, as outfielder Jarrod Dyson was dealt to the White Sox for $243,300 in bonus availability.
  • The Rangers signed 17-year-old outfielder Alejandro Osuna out of Mexico, per Baseball America’s Ben Badler (via Twitter). As Badler notes, Osuna is the brother of Astros’ reliever Roberto Osuna. Alejandro Osuna also has a twin brother, Pedro Osuna, who also plays outfield, but bats and throws right-handed, unlike Alejandro, who bats and throws lefty.

JT Riddle Elects Free Agency

By | at

Infielder/outfielder JT Riddle has rejected an outright assignment from the Pirates in favor of free agency, as indicated on the Triple-A International League transactions page. Pittsburgh designated Riddle for assignment last week, and as a player with more than three years of MLB service, he has the right to opt for the open market after being outrighted from the roster.

Pittsburgh signed Riddle to a one-year deal worth $850K over the winter, but the former Marlins utilityman scuffled through the least-productive season of his career — albeit in a small sample of just 63 plate appearances. As a Pirate, Riddle managed just a .149/.174/.224 slash with a homer, two doubles and a stolen base. Despite only playing 23 games with the Bucs, Riddle appeared at all four infield positions and all three outfield slots, demonstrating some of the defensive versatility that appealed to the Pirates in the first place.

Riddle, who’ll turn 29 next week, was a career .229/.269/.368 hitter with 18 home runs, 29 doubles and five triples in 718 plate appearances with Miami prior to signing in Pittsburgh this winter. He’ll likely find some minor league offers and Spring Training invites this winter due to that versatility and his career .284/.321/.457 slash in parts of five Triple-A seasons.

Changes In Pirates' Baseball Ops

By | at

  • Pittsburgh Pirates GM Ben Cherington continues to re-make the organization that hired him as General Manager back on November 18, 2019. Lots has changed in the year plus that Cherington has been in charge, but a long rebuild still lies ahead. Given the revenue dips caused by the pandemic, it’s not particularly surprising that today’s news regards a “mix of firings and not renewing contracts,” per Jason Mackey of PG Sports Now (via Twitter). Among those not returning to Pittsburgh are strength coach Jim Malone, head athletic trainer Bryan Housand, and senior advisor Nick Leyva, among others it seems. Given the trends we’re seeing in the industry, it would not be surprising to see these positions either filled internally or not filled at all.

Francisco Cervelli Announces Retirement

By | at

Longtime MLB catcher Francisco Cervelli announced his retirement in an Instagram post today (h/t to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Daniel Álvarez Montes of Elextrabase (Twitter link) was first with the news of Cervelli’s forthcoming announcement.

Signed by the Yankees as an international amateur from Venezuela in 2003, Cervelli broke into the big leagues as a September call-up five years later. He would go on to see big league action for New York every year from 2008-14 but only eclipsed 200 plate appearances in a season once. Following a 2014 trade to the Pirates for reliever Justin Wilson, Cervelli finally got an opportunity as a team’s #1 catcher. He made the most of it. In 2015, Cervelli hit .295/.370/.401 (117 wRC+) in 510 plate appearances while rating as one of the league’s premier receiving catchers.

Unfortunately, a worrisome series of concussions kept Cervelli from matching that lofty workload in the following seasons. Nevertheless, he generally continued to produce when healthy over the rest of his five-year Pittsburgh tenure. A miserable 2019 season eventually led to Cervelli’s release from Pittsburgh, although he did latch on with the Braves for their playoff run last season.

Cervelli signed a one-year deal with the Marlins last offseason and was thrust into the lineup when presumptive starter Jorge Alfaro went on the injured list. Even at age 34, he acquitted himself well, hitting .245/.355/.453 in 16 games. Unfortunately, another concussion (at least the seventh of his career) sent him back to the injured list in August. It soon became apparent he wouldn’t factor into the Marlins’ playoff push. Miami had already placed Cervelli on the 60-day IL, so today’s news won’t affect their roster status in advance of next week’s NL Division Series with the Braves.

This surely isn’t the way Cervelli would’ve wanted his career to end, but he noted in his announcement that “for the first time in a long time, I know my health and wellness needs to be the leadoff.” Despite his various injuries, Cervelli ultimately compiled a 13-year MLB career. He hit .268/.358/.382 with 41 home runs over 2618 plate appearances, a bit better than the league average hitter overall. Baseball Reference estimates he was worth approximately 14 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs pegs his career as worth 18 WAR. MLBTR wishes Cervelli the best in retirement.

Pirates Outright Andrew Susac

By | at

Pirates catcher Andrew Susac cleared waivers and was outrighted off the 40-man roster, per John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com (Twitter link). He can become a minor league free agent this offseason.

Susac, 30, joined the Pirates’ big league roster late in the season when Jacob Stallings landed on the seven-day concussion list. The former Giants top prospect picked up only four plate appearances though, and hasn’t tallied more than 19 plate appearances in the Majors since the 2015 campaign in San Francisco. In all, Susac has a career .219/.286/.371 slash with seven homes in 304 plate appearances at the game’s top level. While Susac has never quite put things together in the big leagues, however, he’s a lifetime .247/.351/.431 hitter in 1020 trips to the plate in Triple-A.

Between Susac’s outright, yesterday’s claim of righty Sean Poppen and the corresponding decision to designate JT Riddle for assignment, the Pirates’ 40-man roster is at 39 players.

Pirates Claim Sean Poppen, Designate JT Riddle

By | at

The Pirates have claimed right-hander Sean Poppen off waivers from the Twins, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets. Pittsburgh designated infielder/outfielder JT Riddle for assignment in a corresponding move.

Poppen, whom the Twins designated earlier this week, saw brief action with the team in each of the past two seasons, but the 26-year-old Harvard alumnus struggled along the way. He’ll join the Pirates with a 6.19 ERA (but a far better 3.33 FIP), 10.69 K/9, 5.06 BB/9 and a 48.8 percent groundball rate over 16 big league innings. Poppen was effective during his Triple-A debut a year ago, though, as he threw 61 innings of 3.84 ERA/3.92 FIP ball, notched 10.03 K/9 against 3.98 BB/9, and posted an excellent 56.9 GB percentage.

Riddle joined the Pirates on an $850K deal last offseason after logging significant at-bats with the Marlins from 2017-19. The 28-year-old recorded a woeful line with the Bucs, hitting .149/.174/.224 with one home run and a 4 wRC+ in 69 plate appearances. Overall, Riddle has batted .222/.261/.355 with 19 HRs through 787 PA in the majors.

Pirates Place Jacob Stallings On 7-Day Concussion Injured List

By | at

  • The Pirates placed catcher Jacob Stallings into the 7-day concussion protocol, the team announced. Andrew Susac was added to the active roster for today’s action. To make room on the 40-man roster, Keone Kela was moved to the 45-day injured list. Susac had been on the taxi squad. The 30-year-old backstop made appearances in the bigs for five consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2018 with the Giants, Brewers, and Orioles. He spent 2019 with the Royals Triple-A affiliate. Stallings, 30, misses the final day of the season after slashing .248/.326/.376 across 42 games and 143 plate appearances. Stallings was the Pirates’ primary catcher for the first time in his career this season, starting 40 of the team’s 60 games.

Latest On ONeil Cruz

By | at

SEPT. 25: Cruz’s bail has been set at RD $2MM ($34K U.S.), per Dionisio Soldevila of Periodico Hoy. He’s facing trial and up to five years in prison if convicted.

SEPT. 22, 7:55pm: Cruz was driving under the influence when the accident occurred, Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes reports.

11:55am: Top Pirates prospect Oneil Cruz was involved in a traffic accident in his native Dominican Republic, El Diario Libre reports. Cruz survived, but the crash tragically took the lives of the three others who were involved. Per the report, the three deceased were traveling on the highway on a single motorcycle with no lights in the same direction as Cruz, who was driving his Jeep. The two vehicles collided.

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that there is no indication that alcohol was involved in the accident, adding that Cruz himself did not sustain serious physical injury. The Pirates issued the following statement:

The Pirates are aware of the tragic accident in the Dominican Republic involving Oneil Cruz. We have been in contact with Oneil and he is cooperating fully with the local authorities. We will provide an update as more information becomes available.

The loss of three lives and the unimaginable mental and emotional anguish surely felt by the 21-year-old Cruz transcend any baseball-related tint to this story. We at MLBTR offer condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of all involved in the tragic accident.

Pirates Select Jared Oliva

By | at

The Pirates have selected outfielder Jared Oliva’s contract, per Adam Berry of MLB.com. They placed fellow outfielder Jason Martin on the 10-day injured list with an upper back strain and moved reliever Yacksel Rios to the 45-day IL in corresponding moves.

Oliva, who will turn 25 in November, could now get his first chance in the majors. The Pirates chose Oliva in the seventh round of the 2017 draft, and he made his Double-A debut last season. Oliva impressed at that level with a .277/.352/.398 line, six home runs and 38 stole bases across 507 plate appearances. He now ranks among the Pirates’ top 25 prospects at FanGraphs (No. 9), MLB.com (10) and Baseball America (23), with FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen writing last February that Oliva’s “on-base ability and speed might enable him to be a center field regular.”

The bottom-feeding Pirates need as many reasons for hope as possible, so Oliva could provide some reason for optimism as a rough season draws to a conclusion. The club’s outfield ranks 29th in the league in WAR (minus-1.5) and dead last in wRC+ (50), which helps explain why the Pirates own the majors’ worst record at 15-38.

Pirates Claim Carson Fulmer From Orioles

By | at

The Pirates announced Monday that for the second time this season, they’ve claimed right-hander Carson Fulmer off waivers. Pittsburgh claimed Fulmer off waivers from the Tigers in late August but lost him to the Orioles in early September before he ever pitched a game in Pittsburgh. Baltimore apparently tried to pass Fulmer through waivers themselves in order to retain him without committing a 40-man roster spot to him, but the Bucs put in a claim to bring him back.

Fulmer, 26, hasn’t lived up to the billing since being selected by the White Sox with the No. 8 overall pick back in 2015. At various points, the former Vanderbilt star was even considered a potential No. 1 overall pick, but he’s struggled in the upper minors with the ChiSox and been hit hard at virtually every point in his up-and-down Major League career.

To this point, Fulmer owns a woeful 6.34 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9 in 105 Major League innings. But there’s plenty of pedigree here, and he still possesses high-end spin rates on his heater and curveball. His time in the Orioles organization was brief but also encouraging, as Fulmer tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and without a hit. He did walk two batters and plunk another one, however, so his longstanding control issues are still making themselves plainly evident.

Fulmer is out of minor league options, so the Pirates will have to carry him on the Opening Day roster next year or else attempt yet again to pass him through waivers in order to keep him around. He hasn’t even come close to going unclaimed at this point, so that might be unlikely. The Tigers had the top waiver priority when they claimed him from the White Sox on Opening Day, and the Pirates had the top claim priority when they plucked him from Detroit the first time around. Ten teams passed before the Orioles won their claim on him earlier this month, and the Pirates again claimed him with top priority this time around.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top