- The Pirates announced last week that reliever Jarlín García was being shut down after experiencing some discomfort in his throwing arm. Director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided an update yesterday, telling reporters the southpaw has a nerve injury in the biceps area (via Justice delos Santos of MLB.com). He’ll remain shut down from throwing for at least four to five weeks before going for more testing late next month. It’s clear García is in for an extended absence to start the season, as even a best-case scenario in which he can start throwing again in mid-April will require a ramp-up period lasting into May. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Pittsburgh place him on the 60-day injured list at some point. García signed a $2.5MM free agent deal over the winter after being non-tendered by the Giants despite a 3.74 ERA in 65 innings last season.
Pirates Rumors
Diamond Sports Planning To File For Bankruptcy; MLB Planning To Stream Games For Free Temporarily
Diamond Sports Group, the corporation that owns 14 Bally Sports regional sports networks, is expected to file for bankruptcy March 17, according to a report from Josh Kosman of The New York Post. The timeline will be awkward for Major League Baseball since the 2023 season opens on March 30, but the league plans to step in and broadcast the games themselves.
It had been reported for some time that Diamond is in financial trouble and they forewent interest payments worth roughly $140MM to creditors last month. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said at that time that the league was monitoring the situation, hoping that Diamond would make its payments but also drawing up contingency plans. It was subsequently reported that the league had hired multiple former RSN executives for a newly-created Local Media department, seemingly to get in position to take over broadcasting duties where necessary.
The problem stems from continued cord-cutting as fewer customers are paying for cable bundles these days, opting instead to use streaming services. That leads to decreased revenue from ad sales and cable contracts, creating situations where RSNs are paying teams more for rights fees than they are able to make back from those revenue streams. Per Kosman’s report, there are at least four teams where Diamond plans to reject the contracts via the bankruptcy proceedings. The teams in question are the Reds, Diamondbacks, Guardians and Padres, with the San Diego deal currently $20MM in the red on an annual basis.
The report goes on to state that MLB’s plan is to take over the local TV broadcasts of those teams, as well as streaming them for free in those local markets as they negotiate lower deals with cable companies. It’s not yet clear if fans in blacked-out markets would be able to access those streams in the short-term. If deals are reached, the league plans to offer over-the-top service for around $15 per month. As Kosman notes, that’s lower than some other streaming deals, with the Red Sox charging $29.99 per month. The league also already tried to acquire the rights to all 14 teams currently controlled by Diamond but were turned down. Those clubs are the Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Guardians, Marlins, Padres, Rangers, Rays, Reds, Royals, Tigers, and Twins.
A similar situation has arisen with Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns AT&T SportsNet and is a minority owner of Root Sports. It was reported last month that Warner was planning to get out of the RSN business, which would have implications for the Rockies, Astros and Pirates, though not the Mariners. Warner only owns 40% of Root Sports Seattle with the Mariners owning the other 60%. Kosman’s report indicates the league plans to take over those broadcasts eventually as well, though not by Opening Day.
This is a fluid situation and many of the details are still being worked out, but it’s possible there is a sea change approaching in how Major League Baseball delivers its broadcasts to its fans. Most out-of-market games are available to paying subscribers via MLB TV, though these RSN deals have always taken precedent, leading to blackouts that prevent fans from watching their local club on the platform. Many fans have been critical of the way these blackouts are applied, with some subscribers saying that their home is covered by various overlapping blackout areas. The people of Iowa, for instance, have often complained that they can’t watch games featuring the Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Twins, Royals or Brewers. That’s an extreme example but highlights the sorts of issues with the current system. Manfred has expressed a desire to move to a new system that would allow customers to purchase broadcasts regardless of where they are, though it’s unclear how long it would take to get such a model in place.
Whenever that new system is in place, it will also have implications for the finances for teams. These RSN deals have long been a significant source of club revenue that seems to now be drying up. Streaming will present new revenues sources, of course, and already has. The league has previously agreed to lucrative deals with streaming platforms like Apple and NBC and may strike other deals in the future.
For now, it seems the immediate concern is making sure that the broadcasts for the 2023 season are maintained. Kosman reports that the league plans to retain current local announcers for any broadcasts that it takes over and it doesn’t seem as though there are any current concerns of games being missed. Assuming the league is successful in all of these plans, it’s possible that fans won’t notice much difference in their baseball consumption here this year, but the field may be wide open for changes down the line.
Quick Hits: Bautista, Stephenson, Casas
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde says that the club is hoping right-hander Félix Bautista can make his spring debut on Thursday. “He feels great, he feels totally healthy,” Hyde said, per Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com.
Bautista, 28 in June, has been slowed in camp so far by knee and shoulder issues but seems to be on track now. If he makes his debut on Thursday as planned, he will have two weeks to get into game shape prior to Opening Day.
That’s good news for the O’s, as Bautista had an excellent debut last year. He made 65 appearances with a 2.19 ERA, 34.8% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 42.9% ground ball rate. He worked his way up the Baltimore bullpen chart and eventually took over the closer’s role, earning 15 saves on the year.
Some other tidbits from around the majors…
- Pirates right-hander Robert Stephenson has been held back by some right arm discomfort and still hasn’t thrown to hitters, per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. At this point, it seems like the best-case scenario is Stephenson getting into some game action at the end of Spring Training. That suggests that anything other than the best-case scenario would lead to Stephenson starting the season on the injured list. The 30-year-old has been inconsistent in recent years, posting a 3.76 ERA in 2019 followed by a ghastly 9.90 figure in 2020. He got that down to 3.13 in 2021 before wavering again last year. He had a 6.04 ERA with the Rockies in August when they put him on waivers. The Pirates claimed him and saw the righty get back in a good groove to finish the year, with a 3.38 ERA over 13 appearances, striking out 36% of batters faced against a 2% walk rate. That was impressive enough for the Bucs to hang on to Stephenson and tender him a contract, eventually agreeing to a $1.75MM salary for his final arbitration season. If the Pirates are out of contention this summer, Stephenson would likely be available at the deadline if he’s healthy and performing well since he’s an impending free agent.
- The Diamondbacks and Corbin Carroll came to an agreement yesterday on an eight-year, nine-figure extension. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that the Red Sox are interested in exploring similar deals with their own young players but that nothing is imminent with Triston Casas. Carroll and Casas are in similar positions, as they were each highly touted prospects that debuted late last year. The Sox showed faith in Casas by releasing Eric Hosmer, effectively clearing the first base job for him after his 27-game debut. His batting average was just .197 in that time but he walked in 20% of his trips to the plate and his five home runs. A couple of months ago, he expressed his openness to extension talks but also said that none had taken place yet. If those discussions have begun in the interim, it doesn’t seem like much progress has been made. There’s not much urgency at the moment, as Casas is still under club control for six more years and won’t even qualify for arbitration until after the 2025 season.
Rangers Trade Mark Mathias To Pirates
March 11: The Rangers announced they’re getting right-hander Ricky DeVito from the Pirates as the player to be named later. DeVito, 24, was acquired from Atlanta in the Richard Rodriguez deal, and worked to a 5.40 ERA across 70 innings at High-A last season (six starts, 29 relief appearances).
March 8: The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve traded infielder/outfielder Mark Mathias to the Pirates in exchange for a player to be named later. Texas designated Mathias for assignment over the weekend in order to open a 40-man roster spot for newly signed reliever Will Smith. The Pirates announced that righty Max Kranick, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Mathias, 28, comes to the Pirates with a minor league option and five years of team control remaining. He’s seen action in part of two big league seasons — 2020 with the Brewers and 2022 with Milwaukee and Texas. He’s logged just 127 plate appearances in that time but carries a solid .256/.307/.462 batting line (114 wRC+) with six homers, six doubles, a 7.1% walk rate and a more troubling 29.1% strikeout rate.
Mathias lost the entire 2021 season to a torn labrum that required shoulder surgery. It was the second shoulder surgery for Mathias, who also had a procedure performed back in his college days. He returned to post a huge .318/.421/.518 batting line in 50 Triple-A games with the Brewers in 2022. Milwaukee also carried him on the big league roster for six games, but Mathias was traded to Texas prior to the deadline in the deal that sent righty Matt Bush to the Brewers.
The versatile Mathias could crack the Pirates’ Opening Day roster in a bench role, though his remaining minor league option means he’s not a lock to do so. Still, he’s played all four infield positions and all three outfield spots in his professional career, albeit with just one lone inning in center field with the Brewers in 2020. He’s moved around the diamond consistently in the Majors, with no more than 51 innings played at any single position (despite a total of 292 defensive innings under his belt).
While he’s never been regarded as a plus defender at any position, Mathias can play pretty much anywhere. He doesn’t have huge power, but he’s a career .286/.377/.466 hitter in 715 Triple-A plate appearances and has stacked up 21 homers, 41 doubles, three triples and 26 steals (in 31 attempts) in 173 total games at that level.
Second base has been Mathias’ most frequent position in the minors, and that happens to be the Pirates’ least-settled spot in the lineup, so he’s a particularly sensible add for Pittsburgh at a low cost of acquisition. He’ll compete with Rodolfo Castro, Ji Hwan Bae and Nick Gonzales for playing time there throughout the remainder of camp.
Pirates’ Jarlin Garcia Shut Down For Several Weeks
Pirates lefty Jarlin Garcia, who signed a one-year, $2.5MM deal with a club option for the 2024 season this offseason, will go multiple weeks without throwing, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk announced Wednesday (Twitter link via Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). While scans of Garcia’s elbow and shoulder have come back clean, he’s still unable to grip a baseball after leaving his most recent spring outing with tightness in his left arm. The club is still in the process of trying to secure a more concrete diagnosis, but the fact that they’re expecting a weeks-long break from throwing effectively rules Garcia out for Opening Day.
Garcia, 30, spent the past three seasons with the Giants and was with the Marlins for the three seasons prior. He’s not a household name but has emerged as a solid reliever over the past several years. Dating back to 2019, he’s tossed 202 2/3 innings of 2.89 ERA ball while picking up a pair of saves and 27 holds. Garcia’s 21.6% strikeout rate and 42.1% ground-ball rate are both a few ticks below the league average in that time, but his 7.2% walk rate is a fair sight better than league average as well. He sits 93.4 mph with his heater, his primary offering, and complements it with a changeup and slider that he uses equally as often as the other — though the former is the more effective offering of the two.
The injury to Garcia leaves the Pirates with just one left-handed bullpen option on the 40-man roster: Rule 5 pick Jose Hernandez, whom they selected out of the Dodgers organization. Hernandez has yet to pitch in Triple-A but posted a 2.14 ERA and 22-to-7 K/BB ratio in 21 High-A frames last year before moving up to Double-A and logging a 3.96 ERA in 38 2/3 frames. He fanned an impressive 29.7% of his opponents in Double-A but also issued walks at an unsightly 11.4% clip.
An absence from Garcia would certainly seem to increase Hernandez’s chances of breaking the roster, though the Bucs may not relish the idea of a Rule 5 pick with no Triple-A experience being their lone left-on-left options late in games to begin the season. As such, non-roster invitees like Caleb Smith, Rob Zastryzny, Angel Perdomo and Daniel Zamora could all see increased chances of making the club. The free-agent market still has a few lefties of note as well, including Zack Britton, Mike Minor and Ross Detwiler.
Alternatively, Pittsburgh has a few other paths to consider. Many veterans on minor league deals with other clubs will exercise opt-outs in their contracts between now and Opening Day, upon being informed they haven’t made their current club’s roster. There’s also the waiver wire to monitor and the spring trade market, both of which will pick up in a few weeks when teams begin selecting the contracts of non-roster veterans who’ve made the club and, in corresponding moves, shedding others from the 40-man roster.
Injury Notes: Peterson, Yarbrough, Garcia,
Mets starter David Peterson will get an x-ray on his left foot after being struck by a ball there, manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including Tim Healey of Newsday). Peterson tossed two innings in the Mets 15-4 win over Miami today.
Peterson isn’t expected to crack New York’s opening day rotation, although there’s a good chance he’d be one of the first options they called on in the event of an injury to any of the other starters. We’re obviously short on detail until the results of Peterson’s x-ray come back, but any serious injury would be a blow to the Mets’ pitching depth. Peterson worked to a 3.83 ERA over 105 2/3 innings for the Mets last year, combining a 27.8% strikeout rate with a 10.6% walk rate. The 27-year-old does have minor league options remaining, so he could either operate as a starter at Triple-A or out of New York’s bullpen. The Mets do have solid pitching depth behind their projected rotation of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Kodai Senga, Carlos Carrasco and Jose Quintana, with Peterson, Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi all shaping up as solid depth options. [UPDATE May 5: Peterson’s x-rays were inconclusive, and he will now get a CT scan, Showalter told Healey and other reporters.]
Here’s a couple of other injury notes from around the game:
- Royals starter Ryan Yarbrough is dealing with a “slight groin strain” that doesn’t appear to be too serious, according to Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Yarbrough is scheduled to throw a bullpen session tomorrow to see how he feels. Yarbrough tossed 80 innings of 4.50 ERA ball for the Rays last year across nine starts and 11 relief appearances. Tampa Bay designated Yarbrough for assignment and then non-tendered him this winter, and he latched on with the Royals on a one-year, $3MM deal. The leftie owns a career 4.33 ERA over five seasons in the bigs, all for the Rays.
- Pirates left-hander Jarlin Garcia left today’s 4-3 loss to the Phillies with what the team describes as left arm tightness, Justice delos Santos of MLB.com relays. Garcia gave up four earned runs on a walk and four hits in 1/3 of an inning of work. Unsurprisingly, the language used to describe the injury is very vague, and the outcome could range from a serious injury to nothing at all, and we should know more once the Pirates have evaluated him. Garcia joined the Pirates on a one-year, $2.5MM deal this winter. He’d been a successful member of the Giants bullpen for the past few seasons, working to a 2.84 ERA over 152 innings of work between 2020-22. Like many southpaws, he worked especially well against left-handed hitters, restricting them to a .192/.245/.364 line in 2022, against a .275/.327/.450 line against right-handed hitters. Rule 5 pick Jose Hernandez is the only other left-handed reliever currently projected to be on the Pirates active roster to start the year, although the team does have a number of non-roster invitees, including Caleb Smith, Daniel Zamora and Rob Zastryzny, who could come into the picture should Garcia’s tightness turn into anything that puts him in doubt for opening day.
Pirates Sign Domingo Leyba To Minor League Deal
The Pirates have signed infielder Domingo Leyba to a minor league contract, tweets John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com. Leyba is already with the club at their spring training facility.
Leyba, 27, has appeared in parts of two big league seasons but tallied only 126 plate appearances, during which time he’s posted an unsightly .152/.238/.223 batting line. While that’s certainly not the most appealing line (to put it mildly), it’s a relatively small sample of plate appearances that has built up over sporadic playing time between the D-backs and Orioles. The switch-hitter has spent parts of three seasons in Triple-A, where he’s a career .296/.342/.525 hitter in 755 trips to the plate.
Defensively, Leyba has logged substantial time at both shortstop (3615 innings) and second base (3247 innings) in his professional career. He’s also spent more than 700 innings at the hot corner and made brief appearances at first base and in left field. He’s not a burner on the basepaths by any means, but he did swipe a dozen bags in the minors with the Padres last season while only being thrown out one time.
Leyba was once a fairly well-regarded prospect, ranking as the No. 3 prospect in the Diamondbacks’ system back in 2017, per Baseball America. He’s obviously yet to pan out as hoped, but he’s still just 27 years of age and has a solid track record in the upper minors. It’s little more than a depth signing for the Pirates, who have Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base, Oneil Cruz at shortstop and will hope for one of Rodolfo Castro, Ji Hwan Bae or prospect Nick Gonzales to eventually seize second base this season. Leyba can provide some insurance at all three spots, and given his Triple-A track record and defensive versatility, he could eventually pop up on the Pirates’ bench later this season.
Read The Transcript Of Today’s Chat Hosted By Former MLB Pitcher Josh Lindblom
Righty Josh Lindblom was drafted in the third round by the Astros back in 2005. Instead of signing, he went to the University of Tennessee, and then after a year transferred to Purdue. Lindblom was able to boost his draft stock during his time there, becoming the Boilermakers’ closer, and was chosen in the second round by the Dodgers in 2008.
Lindblom was quickly considered one of the Dodgers’ top prospects, and seemed on the fast track to the Majors. He nearly made the team out of camp in spring training ’09, and saw phrases like “future closer” tossed around by Baseball America.
Lindblom reached the Majors in June of 2011 and ended up making 27 relief appearances with a 2.73 ERA that year for the Dodgers. At the 2012 trade deadline, Lindblom was in the middle of a solid season when the Dodgers traded him and others to the Phillies for Shane Victorino. After the season, the Phillies shipped Lindblom to the Rangers in a deal for Michael Young.
With the Rangers, Lindblom moved back to a starting role and made his first big league start against the A’s. However, in December 2013, Lindblom was traded again, this time to the A’s. He spent most of 2014 at Triple-A without much success, and was designated for assignment after the season. The Pirates claimed him off waivers, but soon after he was released to sign with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization.
Lindblom made 62 starts from 2015-16 in KBO, and then signed a minor league deal to return to the Pirates after the ’16 season. He made four big league relief outings for the ’17 Pirates, marking a gap of more than three years between appearances in the Majors.
Having been cut by the Pirates in the summer of 2017, Lindblom returned to KBO to join the Doosan Bears for the 2018-19 seasons. This time around he dominated, pitching to a 2.68 ERA over 363 1/3 innings. He won the top KBO pitching award in both of those seasons. With KBO success, excellent spin rates, and a new approach to pitching, Lindblom was a hot commodity in free agency that winter, nabbing the #42 spot on MLBTR’s top 50 free agents list. He landed a three-year, $9.125MM contract with the Brewers.
Lindblom’s Brewers debut happened to be the shortened COVID season, though he was still able to make ten starts for the club. He began the following season in Milwaukee’s bullpen, but wound up spending 2021 and ’22 at Triple-A. In January of this year, Josh announced his retirement. He thanked those who helped him throughout his career, noting, “Most of us don’t get to choose when we finish.” Lindblom tallied 209 innings in the Majors with six different teams, striking out 200 batters. He was particularly tough on Paul Goldschmidt, punching him out six times in 12 plate appearances.
You can follow Josh on Twitter @JoshLindblom52. Recently, Josh joined the Brewers’ player development staff.
I reached out to Josh to see if he’d be up for chatting with MLBTR readers, and he spent an hour fielding questions on his fondest MLB memories, the differences between MLB and the KBO, the experience of making the transition between those two leagues, and his new role with the Brewers’ player development staff. Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat.
NL Central Notes: Taylor, Cubs, Reynolds, Chandler
Tyrone Taylor’s recovery from an elbow sprain isn’t going as well as hoped, Brewers manager Craig Counsell tells Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The team first revealed Taylor’s injury last week and said Taylor would miss at least the first two weeks of spring games, but a more pessimistic update with games already underway clouds the 28-year-old’s readiness for Opening Day.
“We’re not any closer,” Counsell said. “As we move on here, we’re starting to be concerned for sure because we want to get him started and he’s not doing any baseball activities, and we don’t have any on the horizon.”
Taylor, 29, hit .233/.286/.442 through a career-high 405 plate appearances last season, showing plenty of pop and a good glove across all three outfield spots, which helped to offset an OBP that ranked 181st among the 205 players who tallied at least 400 plate appearances. Taylor’s right-handed bat, on paper anyway, pairs nicely with lefty-swinging outfielders like Christian Yelich, Jesse Winker and Garrett Mitchell. If the club wants to keep a right-handed bat in the outfield mix, offseason signee Brian Anderson could move from third base into right field, freeing some early time for Luis Urias at third base. Prospect Brice Turang could take second base if he makes the team, but Abraham Toro and Owen Miller could also see some time at the keystone.
There’s plenty of versatility for the Brewers to mix-and-match on the roster, which has been a hallmark of their clubs in recent seasons. Milwaukee still hasn’t provided a firm update as to when Taylor might realistically be able to get back into a game, but with Opening Day just over a month away and rehab not progressing well, an IL stint to begin the season is possible.
A few more notes from the division…
- The Cubs haven’t provided a clear timetable for how long Seiya Suzuki’s strained oblique might keep him out of action — though the injury is notable enough that Suzuki has withdrawn from the World Baseball Classic. However, even in the event of some missed time, free agent Jurickson Profar isn’t a likely option for the Cubs, writes Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. The team is about $8MM shy of the $233MM luxury-tax barrier and doesn’t seem particularly inclined to cross it at this time, per Mooney, who adds that any remaining resources are likelier to be allocated to the bullpen or be earmarked for potential midseason upgrades on the trade market. If the Cubs are still pondering another addition in the bullpen, some of the top names remaining include Zack Britton, Will Smith, Brad Hand and Corey Knebel.
- Imaging on Matt Reynolds revealed a Grade 1 strain in both of the infielder’s quadriceps muscles, Reds skipper David Bell told reporters (Twitter link). Despite the pair of ailments, Reynolds is only expected to be sidelined for a few days, so he should still be in the running for a bench spot on the Cincinnati roster to begin the season. The 32-year-old appeared in a career-high 93 games for the Reds in 2022 and slashed .246/.320/.332 in 272 plate appearances while appearing at every position on the diamond other than catcher.
- Pirates prospect Bubba Chandler has been told that he will strictly be a pitcher this year, per Sam Dykstra of MLB Pipeline. A third round draft pick in 2021, he’s been playing both sides of the ball so far in his professional career. He tossed 41 1/3 innings in the minors last year with a 2.61 ERA, striking out 34.7% of batters faced while walking 16.2%. At the plate, however, he hit just .196/.331/.382, walking in 16.1% of his trips to the plate but getting punched out 33.1% of the time. It seems a return to hitting down the line hasn’t been ruled out, but he’ll focus on his mound work for the time being.
Pirates Exploring Different Outfield Alignments
In yesterday’s spring game, the Pirates tried an outfield alignment of Bryan Reynolds in left, Jack Suwinski in center and Andrew McCutchen in right. Spring Training is a natural time for teams to experiment, but it seems like this is something the club could consider for the regular season as well. “I think that’s something we could see, depending on what we do with ‘Cutch’ in terms of being on the field but I definitely think we could see Jack in center and Bryan in left,” manager Derek Shelton said, per Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “We saw, and we talked about last year that (Suwinski) became a better outfielder as the season went on at the major-league level. I think we’re going to continue to get a look at that.”
It seems this is something the players are all on board with, as they are all quoted by Gorman as supporting the potential plan. “I’ve talked with them and that’s going to be probably a mix of both, probably a little more left than center, I guess,” Reynolds said. “I think I grade out better in left, anyway, so that’ll be better for everybody. In the past, I’ve been good in left.” Center field is generally considered the most demanding of the three outfield positions, but PNC Park in Pittsburgh is a little unique in that the deepest part is actually in left-center.
Reynolds saw more time in left in 2019 and 2020 before spending most of his time in center over the past two seasons. The defensive metrics are a split on whether Reynolds is correct that he grades out better in left. Ultimate Zone Rating has generally not given him strong marks anywhere, while Outs Above Average thought him to be exactly average in left in 2019-2020 before a +10 in center in 2021 but then a -7 there in 2022. Defensive Runs Saved is the metric that is most aligned with Reynolds’ self assessment. It gave him a +7 in left over his first two seasons but a -19 in center over the past two. All three metrics were in agreement that he was subpar in center last year, with a -14 DRS, -2.6 UZR and -7 OAA.
Reynolds has been frequently the subject of trade rumors over the past few years, as he’s been playing at an All-Star level on a rebuilding team. A deal hasn’t come together yet with the Pirates apparently putting forth a huge asking price in any trade talks. Moving Reynolds from the premier center field position and into a corner potentially decreases his trade value, but with all the metrics souring on his work up the middle in 2022, perhaps there’s sense in moving him to the less-demanding position at least part of the time. Either way, his bat will still play, as he’s hit .281/.361/.481 for his career even with a nightmare showing in the shortened 2020 campaign. That production is 26% above league average by measure of wRC+, and he’s capable of more, producing a 141 wRC+ in 2021.
While Reynolds arguably fits better in left than in center, moving him to left will require Suwinski to be a viable option in center. That’s not a position where he has spent a ton of time, either in the majors or the minors, getting much more action in the corners. He did log 107 innings up the middle in the majors last year and was graded well, including positive grades from all three of DRS, UZR and OAA. Statcast placed his sprint speed in the 84th percentile but his jumps in the 42nd. These are small sample sizes but perhaps the Bucs feel that more reps at the position could lead to him being a viable candidate there, making this spring experiment a worthwhile path to explore.
Another issue for Suwinski will be his bat. He hit 19 home runs in just 372 plate appearances last year but also struck out in 30.6% of his trips to the plate. He’s generally been able to combine power and on-base ability in the minors, even with high strikeout rates, to be an above-average hitter. Perhaps he can keep that up at the big league level, but pitchers will likely be looking for different ways to attack him in his sophomore season and he will need to adjust.
As for McCutchen, he seems to be ticketed for right field, which he calls “the easiest position to play” at PNC Park. He’s the oldest of the trio at 36, but his sprint speed was still in the 90th percentile last year. He’ll be tasked with covering the smallest part of the outfield in Pittsburgh, though he will have to deal with the tall wall in right. “I’ve seen enough baseballs hit off that wall to know what balls may do and know the ones I’ve got to watch out for,” McCutchen said. “I know that when it goes above that fence (and caroms) off that little bit of wall there, I have to make sure I’m far enough away so I can get to it (because) that’s when you see those triples happen. They don’t happen a lot, but they happen. You do your best just to get the ball. It’s pretty simple. I don’t overthink it. I know what I’ve got to do.”
The Bucs have other outfield options on their 40-man, such as Ji Hwan Bae, Connor Joe and Calvin Mitchell and others, though it seems like this alignment with Suwinski heavily involved is at the forefront of their plans. “He’ll be fine doing it,” Reynolds said. “We’ll just work through it in spring, with him communicating in center versus me in center and getting to know each other in the new positions.” McCutchen also voiced his confidence in the plan. “Us having the understanding of who the center fielder is, what a center fielder does, we know that he has priority,” McCutchen said. “So, it’s me letting Jack know, ‘The ball is yours, regardless. When the ball goes up, it’s yours. If the ball is in the gap and I’m iffy on whether I can catch it, you should be catching that ball.’”
