Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Pirates Rumors

Pirates Sign Domingo Leyba To Minor League Deal

By | at

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

By | at

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

By and | at

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

By | at

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.’”

MLBTR Poll: Will Bryan Reynolds’ Situation Be Resolved Before Opening Day?

By | at

Bryan Reynolds trade rumors have lingered over the offseason, even as there’s been nothing to indicate the Pirates have gotten seriously into discussions with any other club. As an All-Star player on a rebuilding team, Reynolds has drawn plenty of trade attention over the last couple years. The Bucs have steadfastly maintained a high asking price.

Against the backdrop of speculation has been the seeming stalemate between Reynolds and the Pirates in extension negotiations. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported over the weekend the club had offered $80MM over six years. With Reynolds eligible for arbitration through 2025, such a deal would’ve bought out three free agent seasons. According to Mackey, Reynolds’ camp had countered at $134MM over eight seasons. With discussions having stalled out, the 28-year-old requested a trade in December.

The Pirates attested that wouldn’t affect their asking price. That has seemingly borne out in the lack of substantive trade rumors over the nearly three months since then. Reynolds is back in Pirates camp. Both sides have expressed a willingness to reopen talks about an extension that could keep him in the Steel City for the long haul, though as of Saturday, the team hadn’t made a new offer.

The trade market has been dormant for the majority of the offseason. It’s entirely possible no swaps of significant note are made before Opening Day, although there are surely still plenty of teams that’d love to install Reynolds in their lineup. Teams like the Dodgers and Red Sox look likely to roll the dice on unproven options in center field. The Yankees, Braves and Rangers all have a handful of veterans for left field but explored more stable solutions at times this offseason.

Meanwhile, the Bucs and Reynolds’ camp at CAA Sports figure to touch base at some point over the coming weeks to see if they can bridge that reported $54MM gap. The deeper Reynolds gets into his arbitration seasons, the likelier it’d seem to become he prices himself out of the Pirates’ range. Perhaps they’re at that point already — even the organization’s $80MM offer would’ve represented a franchise record investment and was well shy of the asking price — but it seems each side is still amenable to negotiating despite Reynolds’ prior trade request.

Opening Day is a little over a month away. Spring Training is the most common time of year for teams and players to hammer out extensions. That’s often the result of a player setting an Opening Day deadline for those discussions, but Reynolds indicated over the weekend he had no such cutoff.

Will there be a resolution in the coming weeks, or will the uncertainty regarding the Bucs’ star carry into the regular season? Are the Pirates going to make a move with Reynolds before Opening Day: either by pulling off the long-speculated blockbuster or keeping him on a franchise-record contract?

(poll link for app users)

 

Rich Hill Had Minor Elbow Surgery After Last Season

By | at

  • Rich Hill underwent a minor elbow procedure following the 2022 season, Pirates GM Ben Cherington told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.  Described as something of a clean-up surgery, it doesn’t appear that the procedure will impact Hill’s readiness for Opening Day, nor did it seem to hurt his free agent market — the Rangers, Red Sox, Orioles, and Angels all reportedly had interest in Hill before he signed a one-year, $8MM deal with Pittsburgh.  Hill turns 43 years old on March 11, and the 2023 season will be Hill’s 19th Major League campaign.

Pirates Owner Bob Nutting Addresses Bryan Reynolds, Payroll, CBA

By | at

8:04am: Reynolds spoke with reporters this morning about contract talks with the Pirates, and said the team has made no new offers thus far (per Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic). At this stage, Reynolds has not set a deadline for a potential deal to get done.

7:59am: The future of Bryan Reynolds has dominated Pirates-related headlines ever since his trade request early on in the off-season. Speculation looks set to bleed into the spring now, and it likely won’t stop until the Pirates either hammer out an extension with their star outfielder or trade him.

According to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates’ best offer to Reynolds was a six-year, $80MM deal, while the player was seeking eight years and $134MM — both of which would have represented a franchise record contract. While a $54MM gap is significant, owner Bob Nutting said in an interview with Mackey that the team is working hard to try and bridge that at the moment.

“We’d love to see Bryan as a long-term part of the team. The piece that I was most concerned about was his level of frustration in the sense that he felt disrespected by the team. If there’s a way we can bridge the gap, we’re working hard to do that. We’re continuing this week to work hard to do it. Bryan’s important. We want to do what’s right for him, for his family and for the team. We absolutely have respect for Bryan. We want to keep lines of communication open,” Nutting said.

The trade request came on the heels of that impasse in contract negotiations, but Reynolds has still maintained his preference is to stay in Pittsburgh if the right deal can be found. On that front, however, it does appear to be make-or-break time. Another strong season of production would likely push an extension next winter well out of Pittsburgh’s price range, and while the Pirates could still likely get a strong package in return for Reynolds next winter, his dwindling years of control and increasing arbitration salary will make it trickier to justify the bounty they might receive this season.

Reynolds can be a free agent following the 2025 season, which would not appear to line up perfectly with the Pirates’ projected window of contention, which may well be just opening around 2024-25. As such, an extension which keeps him in Pittsburgh beyond 2025 or a trade for younger players with more years of control makes plenty of sense. Reynolds, 28, has established himself as one of the game’s top outfielders in recent years. The switch-hitter has compiled 12.5 fWAR, averaging an excellent .281/.361/.481 line while belting 74 home runs over the past four seasons.

In any case, there seems to be little chance of the Pirates following the Padres anytime soon, and turning their small market payroll into one more resembling that of the game’s heavy hitters.

“It’s a model that we have belief in and have had success with. As we varied away from that model, which arguably we did in ’17, ’18 and ’19, it doesn’t work very well. I think we’re right at the brink of seeing success. I think what we’re continuing to do and what we have done is try to show discipline and make sure that we’re investing in the right places. I continue to look at baseball as one part of a much broader bucket,” Nutting said.

The Bucs’ payroll has ranked 30th, 30th and 28th in the past three seasons, failing to clear the $60MM threshold. The Pirates were at a similar stage of their rebuild in 2011-12, and were running out bottom-three payrolls in those seasons. As their window of contention opened, payroll more than doubled from 2012-15 (according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts) as the Pirates enjoyed a trio of playoff seasons.

Nutting’s brief but wide-ranging interview with Mackey also touched on the new collective bargaining agreement which was agreed upon a year ago between the league and the MLB Players Association.

“There’s no question the CBA contained several things that were not good for the Pirates and very few things that were excellent for us. You also have to remember there was no baseball going on. We had a real risk of losing the season. I felt a significant sense of urgency to get on the field. Could have had a protest vote. That’s not really who I am. I’m not sure it would be good for the team, and I don’t think it would be good for baseball,” Nutting said.

“It’s the single biggest issue facing the Pittsburgh Pirates. Competitive disparity, revenue disparity and payroll disparity are all real challenges. I think it’s great [Commissioner Rob Manfred] is publicly talking about it. We simply can’t be here in the next cycle. We’ve got to see fundamental change in the economic structure of the game. I believe that we’re positioned to do it — not this year or next year but over the longer-term cycle.”

Warner Bros. Discovery Planning To Leave RSN Business

By | at

Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of AT&T SportsNet and a minority shareholder of Root Sports, has informed teams it’ll cease participating in the regional sports network business, according to reports from John Ourand of Sports Business Journal and Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal. WBD has local broadcasting agreements with a handful of teams in MLB, the NBA and the NHL.

The MLB teams affected are the Rockies, Astros and Pirates. The Mariners also have a relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery; Ourand writes the Mariners own 60% of their Root Sports Seattle venture, with WBD owning the other 40%. However, Flint reports the Seattle regional sports network is not part of WBD’s ongoing proceedings.

Ourand writes that the channel has informed teams they’ll have until March 31 to reach an agreement to reclaim their broadcasting rights from the RSN’s; if no deal is agreed upon, the networks are expected to liquidate via Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Flint quotes from WBD’s letter, which told clubs “the business will not have sufficient cash to pay the upcoming rights fees” and proposed for teams to retake ownership of broadcasting rights for no purchase price beyond a relinquishing of civil claims against the networks.

Colorado, Houston and Pittsburgh join the list of nearly half the teams facing some uncertainty about the potential bankruptcy of the Diamond Sports Group that operates the Bally networks. Diamond, which is responsible for broadcasts of 14 clubs, missed an interest payment to creditors last week and is evaluating whether it’ll be able to abide by its own broadcasting deals.

The difficulties facing both conglomerates come in response to declining rates of cable ownership. Cord-cutting has increased significantly over the past few years and is expected to continue given the rise of streaming alternatives. Warner Bros. Discovery provided a generic statement to Ourand alluding to financial problems: “AT&T SportsNet is not immune to the well-known challenges that the entire RSN industry is facing. We will continue to engage in private conversations with our partners as we seek to identify reasonable and constructive solutions.”

The franchises’ next steps are unclear. Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters last week the league would be in position to take over in-market broadcasts, if necessary, from the Diamond-operated networks. That’s presumably also true of the three clubs affected by WBD’s decision. There’s no indication fans in those markets should be concerned about forthcoming blackouts because of the RSN collapse. Ourand reports that WBD informed clubs it’d allow them to use the same production staff/equipment of the current agreement if those teams agree to reclaim their broadcast rights.

Nevertheless, events of the past few weeks have highlighted questions about the long-term viability of the regional sports network setup. WBD’s withdrawal from RSN’s affects only one-tenth of MLB teams, but the ongoing Diamond uncertainty could put many more in a difficult position over the coming weeks.

Pirates Notes: Reynolds Talks, Oviedo's Role

By | at

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said yesterday that he expects star Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds and club officials to resume discussions regarding a possible extension at some point soon. That Reynolds and the Pirates would resume talks is of little surprise. While the sides were around $50MM apart in previous discussions and Reynolds went as far as to request a trade back in December, since reporting to camp last week Reynolds has reiterated that he would still be interested in extending his stay in Pittsburgh, so long as a deal that’s fair for all parties is presented.

Whether Reynolds ultimately signs an extension with the Pirates or departs, either by trade or as a free agent following the 2025 season, he seems likely to find his payday somewhere. The 28-year-old outfielder has largely looked the part of an All Star-caliber player since his debut in 2019, barring the shortened 2020 campaign where Reynolds struggled thanks in large part to a deflated .231 BABIP and an anomalous uptick in strikeout rate. The 2021 season in particular was a stellar one for Reynolds, as he slashed .302/.390/.522 (good for a 141 wRC+) while playing strong defense in center field and accumulating 6.1 fWAR throughout a campaign that would ultimately see him garner down-ballot MVP votes. That could prove to be a ceiling, particularly if defensive metrics continue to sour on his glovework in center (as was the case in 2022), but the widespread trade interest in Reynolds and the Buccos’ own interest in extending him speak to the caliber of player he’s become in his four big league seasons.

  • Sticking with the Pirates, Mackey discussed right-hander Johan Oviedo’s role ahead of the coming season, indicating it’s likely he will begin the season as a member of the starting rotation in Pittsburgh. Following his arrival in the deal that sent lefty Jose Quintana to the Cardinals at the trade deadline last season, Oviedo made seven starts for the Pirates, pitching to a 3.23 ERA that was 30% better than league average by ERA+ in 30 2/3 innings of work. While the Pirates added both Rich Hill and Vince Velazquez over the offseason, both of who seem likely to join Mitch Keller, Roansy Contreras, and JT Brubaker in the rotation this year, Mackey notes that it’s possible that Pittsburgh will opt for a six man rotation to begin the year rather than bump Oviedo or Brubaker either to Triple-A or the bullpen.
Show all

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

hide arrows scroll to top