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Johan Oviedo Facing Lengthy Absence Due To Lat Injury

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March 5: Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided an update on Oviedo to the team’s beat this morning (link via Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The right-hander is currently shut down from throwing, and it seems he won’t pick up a ball anytime soon. The Pirates and Dr. Keith Meister (who performed Oviedo’s Tommy John surgery) will reconvene for a fresh round of imaging on Oviedo’s lat and elbow in one month. After that MRI, they’ll establish a timetable for him to resume throwing.

That strongly implies that Oviedo will be shut down from throwing for a good bit more than a month, shedding further light on the team’s decision to place him on the 60-day IL.

March 3: The Pirates placed right-hander Johan Oviedo on the 60-day injured list. That opens a 40-man roster spot for fellow righty Justin Lawrence, whose previously-reported waiver claim from the Rockies is now official.

The news comes as something of a surprise. Oviedo had undergone Tommy John surgery in November of 2023. He missed the entire 2024 season but it seemed fair to expect him to be healthy coming into 2025 and there hadn’t been any reporting to suggest otherwise. Manager Derek Shelton tells Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that a “lat issue” has surfaced during a recent bullpen session.

This move now means Oviedo will be on the injured list for at least the first two months of the season. IL placements can be backdated to three days before Opening Day but the 60-day count doesn’t start until then, meaning Oviedo can’t be reinstated until late May at the earliest.

Prior to this IL placement, Oviedo projected to be in the mix for a back-end rotation spot, though that will no longer be the case. The Bucs have a front three in their rotation consisting of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller. They recently signed Andrew Heaney to take a spot. Oviedo and Bailey Falter were perhaps the most logical candidates for the final spot.

Perhaps this news on Oviedo will give Falter a smooth path to a season-opening rotation gig, though the Bucs have some intention of stretching out relievers Carmen Mlodzinski and Caleb Ferguson to see how they handle longer outings. The Pirates also have Braxton Ashcraft and Mike Burrows on the 40-man roster while prospects like Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington are in camp as non-roster invitees.

Pirates Claim Justin Lawrence

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The Pirates have claimed right-hander Justin Lawrence off waivers from the Rockies, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Colorado placed Lawrence on waivers over the weekend. The Bucs haven’t formally announced the claim and will need to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate Lawrence once the transaction becomes official.

Lawrence, 30, agreed to a $975K salary earlier this offseason when he avoided arbitration. The Pirates will take on that salary and hope to coax a rebound effort out of the right-hander. Lawrence was roughed up for a brutal 6.49 earned run average in 2024 but was a quality late-inning arm for the Rox in 2023, saving 11 games and picking up 11 holds en route to a 3.72 ERA.

The 6’3″ Lawrence has shown the ability to miss bats and generate grounders in the past, though command has long been an issue. He fanned 24% of his opponents and posted a 48.5% ground-ball rate for Colorado during that strong 2023 season while sitting 95.4 mph on his sinker and 83.8 mph on his slider. Both pitches lost 0.8 mph in 2024, however, and Lawrence saw his strikeout rate plummet to 16.1% while his already problematic 11% walk rate crept up to 11.8%.

Lawrence did post a career-high 53.1% ground-ball rate, and he was far better on the road than at Coors Field, as most would expect. He was tagged for a disastrous 8.49 ERA in Denver compared to a more palatable 4.50 mark on the road. He had pronounced home-road splits in 2023 as well: 5.40 at Coors Field and 1.62 when the Rockies were away. Over the past two seasons, Lawrence has a 6.69 ERA at Coors Field and a 2.98 mark on the road.

The Pirates won’t be able to send Lawrence to Triple-A. He’s out of minor league options. As such, he’s now a virtual lock to make the Opening Day bullpen, barring an injury. With last year’s poor results and several other arms ahead of him on the bullpen pecking order, Lawrence probably won’t jump right into high-leverage work. He could certainly pitch his way into that role, as he did in ’23, but Pittsburgh will likely hope for a David Bednar rebound in the ninth inning with Colin Holderman, Dennis Santana and Carmen Mlodzinski all setting up. Lefties Caleb Ferguson and Tim Mayza, both signed as free agents, give skipper Derek Shelton at least two southpaw options. Joey Wentz, Kyle Nicolas, Chase Shugart and Peter Strzelecki are all on the 40-man roster as well. Wentz and Strzelecki are out of options. Notable non-roster invitees to camp include Ryan Borucki, Tanner Rainey, Burch Smith and Hunter Stratton.

Marlins Claim Brett de Geus, Desigate Seth Martinez For Assignment

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The Marlins announced that they have claimed right-hander Brett de Geus off waivers from the Pirates. The latter club designated him for assignment last week. In a corresponding move, the Marlins designated fellow right-hander Seth Martinez for assignment.

de Geus, 27, has never pitched for the Pirates. They acquired him from the Blue Jays in a cash deal last month. Though when they were able to sign Andrew Heaney last week, de Geus was the roster casualty.

He has bounced around the league quite a bit, pitching for the Mariners, Marlins and Jays last year. His major league work to this point hasn’t been great, as he has a 7.48 earned run average in 61 1/3 innings. His 16.6% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate are both poor marks, but he has generated ground balls on 52.5% of balls in play.

Those grounders are likely why he keeps garnering interest from so many clubs, despite the poor run prevention. He also tossed 39 Triple-A innings last year with a 5.31 ERA, getting grounders at a 56.6% clip.

The raw stuff is also intriguing. de Geus averaged 96.4 miles per hour on his sinker last year and 98 mph on his four-seamer, in addition to throwing a knuckle curve, cutter and splitter. He didn’t translate that arsenal into good results last year but clubs clearly think it’s possible, including the Marlins, as they claimed him off waivers in August. They bumped him off the roster a month later, with de Geus claimed by the Jays, but the Fish have now taken the chance to bring him back into the fold again.

He still has options and therefore won’t need to be guaranteed a roster spot. He also has just a bit more than a year of service time, meaning he can theoretically be affordably controlled for years to come if things click for him.

Martinez, 30, was himself just claimed off waivers a week ago. He is out of options and therefore has less roster flexibility than de Geus. With the quick claim and DFA, it’s possible the Marlins claimed Martinez with the plan to put him right back on waivers in short order. He has less than three years of service time and no previous career outright, so he would stick with the Marlins as non-roster depth if he can be passed through waivers unclaimed.

The righty tossed 137 1/3 innings for the Astros over the past four years with a 3.93 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. Over that same timespan, he also threw 105 innings in the minors with a 2.66 ERA, 31.5% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. He got put on waivers at the end of last season, getting claimed by the Diamondbacks, though the Snakes put him back on waivers when they signed Kendall Graveman.

The Fish will now have one week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next for Martinez, whether that’s a trade or another trip to the waiver wire. The waiver process can take as long as 48 hours, so any trade interest would have to be explored in the next five days.

Pirates Sign Andrew Heaney

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February 27: Per Ethan Hullihen, Heaney’s bonuses start at $50K for 120 innings pitched, followed by $100K for 130 innings and then $150K for 140, 150, 160 and 170. He can therefore earn an extra $750K if he unlocks all of those. When combined with his $5.25MM guarantee, he can earn as much as $6MM this year.

February 22: The Pirates officially announcing the signing.

February 20: The Pirates are reportedly in agreement with Andrew Heaney on a one-year deal that’ll guarantee $5.25MM. The deal, which is pending a physical, also includes performance bonuses for the Icon Sports Management client. Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster is at capacity, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move when the signing is finalized.

It’s a relatively low-cost addition to the back of the rotation. Heaney has been a capable fourth or fifth starter in Texas over the last two seasons. He turned in a 4.15 ERA across 147 1/3 innings two seasons ago. Last year, he pitched to a 4.28 mark while ranking second on the team with 160 innings. Heaney took the ball 66 times for the Rangers and allowed 4.22 earned runs per nine over 307 1/3 frames.

The 33-year-old southpaw had a solid if unspectacular strikeout and walk profile. Heaney has fanned around 23-24% of opposing hitters in each of the past two seasons. After running a career-high 9.4% walk rate in ’23, he cut the free passes to a personal-low 5.9% clip last year. His 12% swinging strike rate was a little better than average.

Heaney has long had the ability to miss bats. Last season’s 22.9% strikeout rate, while slightly above the 22% league average for starting pitchers, was Heaney’s lowest mark in a decade. He has never really been a flamethrower. Heaney’s fastball sat in the 92-93 MPH range during his best seasons. It was down slightly to 91.5 MPH on average last year. The pitch has always had good life that allows it to play above its velocity as a swing-and-miss offering.

Despite the impressive strikeout rates, Heaney owns a 4.45 ERA in more than 1000 career innings. As a fly-ball pitcher without huge velocity, he’s quite susceptible to home runs. Heaney has allowed 1.54 homers per nine innings in his career, while he surrendered 1.29 longballs per nine last year. The Pirates hope that their park can mitigate some of that. According to Statcast’s park factors, only Oracle Park and the Oakland Coliseum have played less favorably for home runs over the past three seasons than PNC Park. Pittsburgh’s home field has been the toughest venue for right-handed power hitters, in particular, so there aren’t many more sensible landing spots for a fly-ball lefty pitcher.

Pittsburgh has a loaded top three in their rotation: Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller. Heaney projects as the fourth starter. Bailey Falter, who has a similar profile as a soft-tossing lefty, is the favorite for the fifth spot. The Bucs thinned their rotation depth when they included Luis Ortiz in the return for first baseman Spencer Horwitz. Depth options on the 40-man roster include Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows and Johan Oviedo (the latter of whom will return after missing the ’24 season rehabbing Tommy John surgery). Prospects Bubba Chandler and Tom Harrington have reached Triple-A and should make their debuts at some point in 2025.

This is Pittsburgh’s sixth major league free agent pickup of the offseason. They’ve all been one-year commitments worth fewer than $6MM. They brought back Andrew McCutchen on another $5MM guarantee and added Tommy Pham ($4MM), Caleb Ferguson ($3MM), Adam Frazier ($1.5MM) and Tim Mayza ($1.15MM). Pittsburgh’s player payroll now sits around $88MM, as calculated by RosterResource. That’s essentially where they ended last season. Cot’s Baseball Contracts projects the Pirates for the fifth-lowest payroll in MLB.

Heaney was one of the few remaining free agent starters who was sure to find a big league deal. Jose Quintana and Kyle Gibson are the best unsigned options for teams looking to deepen their rotation.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the Pirates and Heaney were nearing a deal. Jon Heyman of The New York Post confirmed the agreement. Alden González of ESPN had it as a one-year deal at $5MM with incentives. Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the guarantee was $5.25MM. Image courtesy of Imagn.

Carmen Mlodzinski Getting Stretched Out As Starter In Camp

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Pirates right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski is getting stretched out as a starter this spring, he tells Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. That seems to be a consistent position for him, as general manager Ben Cherington tells Hiles that the righty has broached the subject before.

“I think from the time he first pitched out of the bullpen for us, literally from that day, he’s been pretty consistent in his communication with us that, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team, and I don’t want to give up on starting,’” Cherington said. “We encourage that. Open communication. He’s taken advantage of the forums he’s had to continue to express interest in that in a really professional, thoughtful way. We agreed at the beginning of last season that we heard him, and we felt like we were going to ask him to pitch in the ’pen for now.

“We see examples all over the game of guys doing that and going back to the rotation at some point in the future. So at the end of the season, we had a chance to sit down again and agreed that it made sense for him to put himself in a position this offseason, give himself a chance to be a starter. We agreed that we’d get his volume built in spring training to some point, probably at least three innings, and then we’ll assess and see where we are. Just continue that communication with him.”

Mlodzinki, now 26, was drafted in 2020. He spent 2021 and 2022 working primarily as a starter in the minors. In the second of those two seasons, he logged a 4.78 earned run average in 105 1/3 innings at the Double-A level.

Since then, he’s mostly been in a relief role, which has includes some big league success. He has 86 2/3 innings under his belt at this point with a 2.91 ERA. That includes five “starts”, though those were opener outings, none longer than two innings. His 22.2% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate are each a bit shy of average for a reliever, though his 46.7% ground ball rate is strong. He has one save and 16 holds.

Despite the decent bullpen results, Mlodzinski hasn’t given up on the dream of being a starter. It’s not uncommon these days for a guy with some relief success to try stretching out. It doesn’t always work but some success stories includes Garrett Crochet, Seth Lugo and Reynaldo López.

Mlodzinski has thrown six pitches in his major league career, according to Statcast: a four-seamer, slider, cutter, sweeper, changeup and sinker. He also has fairly neutral splits. Righties have hit .222/.312/.324 against him with lefties actually posting a worse line of .216/.289/.302.

His diverse arsenal and platoon-neutral results could perhaps allow him to turn a lineup over a few times, but he will have a hard time cracking a crowded Pittsburgh rotation. The Bucs have a controllable core three of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller. They signed Andrew Heaney to add a veteran back-end guy. Bailey Falter and Johan Oviedo are options for a spot, as are younger guys like Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows, Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington. Like Mlodzinski, Caleb Ferguson is going to get stretched out in camp to see how it goes.

With all of those options, it’s likely Mlodzinski ends up in the bullpen, but it’s still notable that it’s on the table. In such situations, a pitcher sometimes needs the stars to align in order to find the right opportunity. As an example, Michael King worked mostly as a reliever for the Yankees for a while. In 2023, they fell out of contention and gave him a rotation job down the stretch. He pitched well enough that the Padres acquired him in the Juan Soto deal and gave him a starting role in San Diego, which he flourished in.

Now is the best time of year for a club to experiment with roles like this. After being stretched out, it’s fairly easy for a guy to then pivot to a relief role for the season, whereas doing the opposite in the middle of the summer is difficult. Mlodzinski and the Bucs can try it out and see what happens, even if it doesn’t immediately get him a rotation job. He also still has options, so staying stretched out in the minors is another possibility. It’s always possible that injuries or midseason trades open up some doors over a long season.

Pirates Designate Brett De Geus, Release Yerry Rodriguez

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The Pirates officially announced the Andrew Heaney signing today, as well as a pair of other roster moves.  Right-hander Brett de Geus was designated for assignment to create 40-man roster space for Heaney, and the Bucs also released right-hander Yerry Rodriguez.

This is the fourth time de Geus has been DFA’ed since the start of August, and each of those three designations saw the righty switch teams.  The Marlins claimed de Geus when the Mariners DFA’ed him in early August, the Blue Jays picked the reliever up on another waiver claim in September after Miami designated de Geus again, and Pittsburgh just picked de Geus up a little over a month ago after Toronto designated him and then traded de Geus in a cash transaction.

All of these moves come after two other DFAs earlier in de Geus’ career, as both the Rangers and Diamondbacks looked to move him through waivers back in 2021.  Because Arizona’s designation was followed by an outright assignment, de Geus now has the ability to reject any future outright assignments in favor of free agency, should he pass through the waiver wire without being claimed or traded this time.

De Geus’ only big league experience came during those two DFA-laden seasons.  He tossed 50 innings with Texas and Arizona in 2021, then resurfaced in the Show this year to pitch 11 1/3 combined frames for Seattle, Miami, and Toronto.  De Geus has a 7.48 ERA over his 61 1/3 career innings in the majors, plus a 6.66 ERA in 50 career innings at the Triple-A level.

Despite the lack of bottom-line results, de Geus has a 52.5% grounder rate at the MLB level, and a sinking fastball that averaged 96.4 mph last season.  The righty has been such a popular figure on the waiver wire during his career that it wouldn’t be surprising if yet another team elects to acquire the 27-year-old to see if its pitching development team has the magic touch in turning de Geus’ promising stuff into an arsenal capable of handling big league hitters.

Rodriguez signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in November, but he’ll make an early exit from Pittsburgh’s camp.  Rodriguez is also a former Ranger and Blue Jay, and he has an 8.17 ERA over 36 1/3 innings with the two clubs since the start of the 2022 season.  Control has been an issue for Rodriguez in both the majors and at Triple-A, and the strikeout potential he has showed in the minors hasn’t translated within the small sample of his MLB playing time.

Quintana Declined Offer From Pirates Before Heaney Deal

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The Pirates added to the back of their rotation this evening with the $5.25MM agreement with Andrew Heaney. Robert Murray of FanSided writes that the Bucs pivoted to Heaney after first making an unsuccessful push to bring Jose Quintana back.

According to Murray, the Pirates offered Quintana a stronger guarantee than the sum which they eventually agreed to pay Heaney. Quintana declined the offer. It’s not clear what kind of contract the 36-year-old southpaw is seeking. It’s unlikely that Pittsburgh would circle back after landing Heaney. Quintana and Kyle Gibson are the top two unsigned starting pitchers.

Quintana spent the first half of the 2022 season in Pittsburgh. He’d signed a $2MM deal as a buy-low free agent with a then-rebuilding Bucs club. The Pirates hit on the common hope for rebuilding teams of turning a low-cost free agent pickup into a midseason trade chip. Quintana turned in a 3.50 ERA across 20 starts in black and gold. The Bucs flipped him to the Cardinals alongside reliever Chris Stratton for righty Johan Oviedo and minor league first baseman Malcom Nuñez. Oviedo lost last season to Tommy John surgery but could find himself at the back of Derek Shelton’s starting staff this year.

A strong finish in St. Louis positioned Quintana much more strongly for his return to the market. He landed a two-year, $26MM guarantee from the Mets over the 2022-23 offseason. It turned out to be a good investment on New York’s part. While he missed a good chunk of the ’23 season, Quintana was a key rotation piece last year. He fired 170 1/3 frames of 3.75 ERA ball. He chipped in another 14 1/3 innings of 3.14 ERA ball in the postseason — including six scoreless in a winner-take-all Game 3 against Milwaukee in the Wild Card series.

Effective as Quintana was last year, the Mets haven’t seemed eager to bring him back. The New York Post’s Mike Puma reported shortly after the Frankie Montas injury that the Mets hadn’t reciprocated the veteran lefty’s eagerness for a reunion. Francys Romero suggested yesterday that the Mets, Padres and Rangers could show interest. The Padres have already added Nick Pivetta and Kyle Hart to the back of their rotation. The Rangers seem unlikely to seriously pursue Quintana unless they first offload salary in a trade, as they’re projected within $6MM of the luxury tax threshold. The Post’s Jon Heyman wrote this evening that the Mets have “limited” interest in Quintana because of concerns about his underlying numbers.

That’s presumably mostly about his lack of swing-and-miss. Quintana posted an 18.8% strikeout rate in consecutive seasons. He generated swinging strikes on only 8.5% of his offerings last year. It’s the third consecutive year in which Quintana succeeded despite middling whiff rates. He’s a quality strike-thrower who got grounders at a solid 47.4% clip and has rattled off a trio of consecutive sub-4.00 ERA showings.

Scott Sauerbeck Passes Away

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Former major league reliever Scott Sauerbeck has passed away, the Pirates announced on Thursday morning. He was 53.

Sauerbeck was a Cincinnati native who attended Miami University in Ohio. The Mets selected him in the 23rd round of the 1994 draft. Sauerbeck pitched four years in the New York system. They lost him to the Pirates in the ’98 Rule 5 draft. The 6’3″ southpaw would spend the majority of his career in Pittsburgh.

As a rookie, Sauerbeck fired 67 2/3 innings with an even 2.00 earned run average. He tossed a career-high 75 2/3 frames the following season, posting a 4.04 ERA. He struggled in ’01 but rebounded with arguably his best season the year after that. Sauerbeck pitched to a 2.30 ERA across 62 2/3 innings while striking out nearly 28% of opposing hitters.

Pittsburgh dealt Sauerbeck to the Red Sox at the ’03 trade deadline. While he struggled down the stretch in Boston, the deal allowed him to pitch in the postseason for the only time. He made one appearance in that year’s ALCS loss to the Yankees. Sauerbeck missed the following season to injury. He concluded his career with brief stints in Cleveland and Oakland.

Over parts of seven seasons, Sauerbeck pitched to a 3.82 ERA. He recorded 20 wins, struck out 389 hitters, and finished 98 games. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, loved ones, former teammates and friends.

Bryan Reynolds Expects To Be Pirates’ Right Fielder

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There have been some whispers that perhaps the Pirates would move Bryan Reynolds from the outfield to first base but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. “It sounds like I’m a right fielder,” Reynolds said today, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It helps to focus on that. Just focusing on that, being a right fielder.” He added that moving from left to right seemed to be “more of a permanent” transition “for now.”

Reynolds has spent his entire career in the outfield, playing all three spots, but the first base rumors started late last year. Back in September, manager Derek Shelton told Hiles that Reynolds had been talking about playing first for years and had recently got a first baseman’s glove.

The Pirates acquired Spencer Horwitz this offseason and he seemed to be slated to be the club’s regular first baseman. However, it was recently revealed that he has undergone wrist surgery and will be sidelined for six to eight weeks. That means the Bucs will need to find alternative solutions there, at least for the beginning of the season.

Despite Reynolds having an interest in the position, it’s understandable that the Bucs don’t want to put him there right now, as it would just further thin out an outfield that already has some questions. Center field is going to be manned by former shortstop Oneil Cruz, who only has 195 innings of experience at his new position. It seems like the favorite for left field is Tommy Pham, who is about to turn 37 years and has has an up-and-down career of late.

Moving Reynolds in to take first would leave a hole on the grass to be filled by a clump of guys including Joshua Palacios, Adam Frazier, Jack Suwinski and Ji Hwan Bae. Next to Cruz and Pham, that doesn’t have the making of a strong group.

Moving from left to right is somewhat notable for Reynolds, as right field is the outfield position he’s played the least. He was primarily a center fielder earlier in his career before moving to left field in the past two years. He does have 398 innings in right, though that’s far less than the 3,062 1/3 frames he’s logged in left.

Metrics are divided on his work in left, as he has four Defensive Runs Saved but -12 Outs Above Average. His sample of work in right is a pretty small sample and tough to draw conclusions from, though he has 75th percentile arm strength and right field is smaller at PNC Park, so perhaps it’s a good move for him.

The Bucs will still have to figure out what to do at first base until Horwitz is back. Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently took a look at some of the options, mentioning Jared Triolo, Darick Hall, Matt Gorski, Malcom Nuñez and Suwinski as possibilities.

Triolo just won a Gold Glove for the utility position in the National League last year, spending time at all four infield positions and right field. The larger question would be his bat, since he has a line of .242/.325/.341 in his big league career so far. Hall isn’t on the roster and has minimal big league experience but a big .253/.342/.458 line in his Triple-A career. Gorski isn’t on the roster either and hasn’t made it to the show yet but he had a nice line of .257/.319/.522 in Triple-A last year. Nuñez also has no major league experience and isn’t on the roster. He’s also coming off a poor .250/.310/.365 showing in Triple-A last year.

Suwinski has only played the outfield in his career but there’s potential upside with his bat. Over 2022 and 2023, he hit 45 homers for the Bucs and drew walks at a 12.8% clip. His 31.6% strikeout rate was a problem but the power and on-base abilities made him a productive hitter. Unfortunately, he had a dismal 2024, slashing just .182/.264/.324 and struggling in the minors as well. The first base opening provides a path for him to earn back some playing time but his bat will obviously have to rebound for that to be a realistic possibility. Per Gorman, the Bucs haven’t approached him about playing first but Shelton isn’t opposed to the idea, while Suwinski is open to the switch in order to improve his versatility.

Pirates Sign Tommy Pham

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TODAY: The Pirates officially announced Pham’s deal, and moved right-hander Dauri Moreta to the 60-day injured list in the corresponding move.  Moreta underwent a UCL surgery in March 2024 and will miss at least the first two months of the season rehabbing.

FEBRUARY 6: The Pirates and outfielder Tommy Pham are in agreement on a one-year, $4MM contract, per Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com adds, slightly more specifically, that Pham is guaranteed $4.025MM. The Vayner client can earn an additional $250K via incentives. Pittsburgh has a full 40-man roster already and will need to make a corresponding transaction to accommodate their latest signing.

Pham, 37 next month, split the 2024 season between the White Sox, Royals and Cardinals (his second stint with the team that originally drafted him). He’s suited up for nine teams in his 11-year big league career, including seven teams in the past three years alone, as he’s settled into a journeyman role player signing a series of affordable one-year deals that frequently render him a trade chip. The Pirates make an even ten teams as Pham heads into his 12th big league season.

Pham hit well for the White Sox last season, slashing .266/.330/.380 in 297 plate appearances before heading to the Cards as part of the three-team Tommy Edman/Erick Fedde/Michael Kopech swap between the Sox, Cardinals and Dodgers. His return to St. Louis sparked an immediate feel-good moment, as Pham belted a pinch-hit grand slam in his first plate appearance wearing Cardinal red since 2018. He followed that up with three multi-hit performances in his next four games and went on to pop his second Cardinals homer just a few days later. Through eight games back with his original club, he posted a Herculean .379/.400/.759 slash and looked to be just the jolt the lineup had needed.

The good vibes didn’t last, however. Pham fell into a deep slump that saw him go 3-for-39 as the Cardinals faded from contention. He was placed on waivers in late August and claimed by the Royals, who plugged Pham in frequently as they pushed toward their eventual postseason berth. He didn’t hit well in Kansas City overall but had a few big hits, including a three-run homer against the division-leading Guardians that proved to be a game winner. Overall, he finished out the season at .248/.305/.368 in 478 plate appearances.

Over the past four seasons, Pham has produced offense almost exactly in line with the league average. He’s a .242/.322/.391 hitter (98 wRC+) with 57 home runs, 94 doubles, nine triples, 51 steals, a 10.1% walk rate and a 23.7% strikeout rate in that stretch. He’s been a bit better against lefties (.238/.328/.413) than righties (.243/.319/.383) but has generally held his own in the batter’s box regardless of opponents’ handedness. He did see a notable dip in batted-ball quality (albeit with still-strong marks in exit velocity and hard-hit rate) as well as a notable dip in walk rate (down to 7.3%).

Results-wise, Pham’s 2024 output doesn’t look all that different from former Pirate Connor Joe, whom the Bucs non-tendered earlier this winter. He’d been projected for a $3.2MM salary. Like Pham, Joe is a righty-hitting corner bat who’s provided almost exactly average offense in recent years. He’s slashed .238/.330/.396 in 888 plate appearances from 2023-24. Pham provides more speed and a more natural outfield glove (Joe split his time between first base and the outfield corners.) Pham does have far better quality of contact, so perhaps that made the Pirates a bit more bullish on his outlook than the comparably priced Joe, but it’s nonetheless quite arguable that this is a lateral move.

With the Bucs, Pham can be expected to play frequently in a corner, perhaps forming a de facto platoon with lefty-hitting Joshua Palacios or Jack Suwinski. Both struggled against lefties in 2024, with Suwinski also struggling so much versus righties that he was optioned to Triple-A at multiple points. Given that neither is established as a consistent big league presence, it’s possible that Pham simply emerges as a regular alongside Bryan Reynolds and center fielder Oneil Cruz.

The Pham signing isn’t especially exciting but is emblematic of the Pirates’ free agent approach under owner Bob Nutting, who is staunchly against taking virtually any risk on the open market. The Pirates have never given a free agent more than Francisco Liriano’s three-year, $39MM deal more than a decade ago. Russell Martin’s two-year, $17MM pact (also more than a decade ago) is the largest free agent position-player signing the team has issued.

Under general manager Ben Cherington’s watch, the Pirates have never signed a free agent to a multi-year deal. Aroldis Chapman’s $10.75MM pact last winter is both the largest signing for Cherington and the lone time Nutting has authorize an eight-figure free agent salary in the current front office’s tenure. The Bucs have spent more on extensions for Bryan Reynolds (seven years, $100MM in new money) and Mitch Keller (four years, $71.6MM in new money) but there has been no appetite for any meaningful risk when it comes to open-market spending.

On paper anyhow, the Pirates looked well positioned to dip into a solid crop of free agent first basemen and/or corner outfield bats as they looked to beef up a lineup that generally lacked punch in 2024. They’ve instead brought in a new first baseman via trade (Spencer Horwitz) and signed veteran role players Pham, Adam Frazier and Andrew McCutchen, with short-term deals to match on the pitching side (Tim Mayza, Caleb Ferguson). The Pirates’ hope seems to be that a young rotation anchored by Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Keller can make further strides in 2024, with rebounds and/or breakouts from Horwitz, Cruz, Suwinski, Nick Gonzales and other young bats (Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez, Billy Cook) can spur a more productive offense.

That’s a big bet to make, when the first full season of Skenes/Jones dovetails with the Cardinals taking a step back and the Brewers seemingly unable to add to their payroll whatsoever this winter. The Pham signing pushes Pittsburgh’s payroll to $83MM, per RosterResource, a few million shy of last year’s $87MM mark. The Pirates haven’t run a $90MM payroll since 2017.

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