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Pair Of Pirates’ Relievers Should Attract Trade Interest Once The Transactions Freeze Is Lifted

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Coming off their third consecutive last-place season, the Pirates remain mired in a massive rebuild. Contending in 2022 looks far-fetched, and it remains to be seen if there’s enough internal talent to be competitive by 2023. Aside from perhaps Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes, Pittsburgh figures to at least be willing to entertain offers for anyone on the current big league club. Once the lockout concludes, it seems likely they’ll draw calls from rivals on a pair of their top relievers: David Bednar and Chris Stratton.

Bednar’s a fairly recent trade acquisition, one of five young players Pittsburgh added last offseason in the deal that sent Joe Musgrove to the Padres. That proved to be an adept pickup for general manager Ben Cherington and his staff, as Bednar was rather quietly one of the league’s better relievers in 2021.

Over 60 2/3 innings, the now 27-year-old Bednar pitched to a 2.23 ERA. That was buoyed a bit by both a strand rate (84.9%) and opponents’ batting average on balls in play (.259) that might be tough to maintain. Yet it’s not as if Bednar’s success was a complete fluke. He struck out 32.5% of batters faced while walking only 8%. That’s a strong combination of punch outs and control, as the 24.5 point gap between his strikeout and walk percentages ranked 15th among the 138 relievers with 50+ innings pitched. His ERA checked in 17th among that group, while his 2.92 SIERA ranked 19th.

In addition to those strong results, Bednar boasts the kind of power stuff teams love in the late innings. His fastball averaged just shy of 97 MPH, according to Statcast, a personal high over his three MLB seasons. He backed that up with a solid splitter and a curveball against which batters made contact only a bit more than half the time they swung. Behind that three-pitch arsenal, Bednar generated whiffs on 15.5% of his offerings. That’s nearly four points higher than the 11.7% league average for bullpen arms, ranking 18th among those with 50 or more frames.

The Pirates certainly don’t have to trade Bednar this winter. The 2021 campaign was his first full season as a big leaguer, and he remains under team control through 2026. That includes the next two seasons at pre-arbitration salaries, making the right-hander an affordable option for the Bucs’ relief corps. (Alterations to the service time structure in the next collective bargaining agreement could affect that timeline, of course, although he’d come with at least two years of remaining control under any system that has thus far been reported to be under consideration in CBA talks).

That said, relief pitching can be volatile. Because Bednar didn’t settle into a big league bullpen until he was already 26, he’ll likely be 28 or 29 years old by the time the Pirates can reasonably expect to contend. Even if they don’t need to actively shop Bednar, the front office could be willing to pull the trigger on a deal if another team put enough young talent on the table.

There’s comparatively more urgency for the Bucs to trade Stratton. The righty is already 31 years old and has four-plus years of service under his belt. Without changes to the service time setup, he’d be controllable another two seasons via arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Stratton for a salary in the $2.2MM range for the upcoming season.

Stratton wouldn’t bring back as strong a return as Bednar could. Not only does he come with less remaining club control, he’s not as dominant. Yet Stratton is coming off a nice season of his own, his second straight solid year. He absorbed 79 1/3 innings of 3.63 ERA ball in 2021, posting capable strikeout and walk numbers (25.5% and 9.8%, respectively). That came on the back of a 12.4% swinging strike rate, his second consecutive season with better than average swing-and-miss numbers.

Going back to the start of 2020, Stratton owns a 3.70 ERA/3.61 FIP over 109 1/3 frames of relief. That’s come with above-average strikeout and swinging strike rates and roughly league average control. Opposing hitters own a .232/.306/.363 line against him in that time. Stratton isn’t an impact piece, but he’s a solid reliever who’d upgrade the middle or late innings for plenty of more immediate contenders around the league. Pittsburgh wouldn’t bring back a franchise-altering return, but his solid two-year run should allow the front office to recoup a mid-tier prospect on the trade market.

Stratton looks likelier of the Pirates’ top two relievers to wind up elsewhere over the next few months, but a Bednar move would involve a more significant return. It stands to reason teams will call the Pirates to gauge the asking price on both hurlers. Moving one or both of Bednar and Stratton could serve as the Bucs’ next step in their continued efforts to strengthen the farm system in anticipation of a contention window a few years down the road.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Mets Interview Joe Espada In Managerial Search; Don Kelly Withdraws From Consideration

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The Mets have interviewed Astros’ bench coach Joe Espada as part of their ongoing managerial search, reports Andy Martino of SNY (Twitter link). He becomes the fifth known interviewee, joining Matt Quatraro, Buck Showalter, Brad Ausmus and Bob Geren.

Espada, 46, has spent the past four seasons as the Houston bench coach. His first two years were under A.J. Hinch, and he retained that position even after the club moved on to Dusty Baker in the wake of Hinch’s firing for his role the 2017 sign-stealing scandal. Before his time with the Astros, Espada spent four seasons in the Yankees’ organization, the latter three of which came on Joe Girardi’s coaching staff. Espada’s time in the Bronx partially overlapped with that of current Mets’ general manager Billy Eppler, who worked as an AGM with the Yankees from 2012-15.

To date, Espada has no big league managing experience. He’s long been regarded as a viable candidate to land a top position at some point, though. Over the 2018-19 offseason, he reportedly interviewed for managerial positions with the Twins, Angels and Rangers, and he was reported to be a finalist for the Blue Jays’ job that eventually went to Charlie Montoyo. The following winter, he met with the Cubs and Giants — making a strong enough impression with the latter organization that he was once reported to be the front-runner for a position that ultimately went to Gabe Kapler.

Espada has also drawn interest from the other club with a current vacancy in the dugout. Britt Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported earlier this week that he’s expected to sit down with A’s brass as part of their efforts to find a replacement for Bob Melvin.

Of the six known candidates for the Mets’ position, five have now interviewed. The other — Pirates’ bench coach Don Kelly — appears to be out of the running. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported this evening (on Twitter) that Kelly has pulled his name from consideration for personal reasons. Presumably, that means he’ll reprise his role as Derek Shelton’s top lieutenant in Pittsburgh in 2022.

That’s not to say the group of five known to have interviewed are the finalists for the position. Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that the Mets have an interview with an additional unknown candidate scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Update On Mets’ Managerial Search

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Not long after reports of the A’s conducting their first managerial interview surfaced, the Mets have begun an interview carousel of their own. SNY’s Andy Martino reports that the Mets conducted their first managerial interview today, and expect to keep the process going Tuesday. Among the identified managerial candidates include a trio of bench coaches— Houston’s Joe Espada, Tampa Bay’s Matt Quatraro, and Pittsburgh’s Don Kelly— as well as two veteran managers, Buck Showalter and Brad Ausmus.

Martino notes that the current list of candidates still has room to grow, but throws cold water on the notion that beloved Mets alumni Curtis Granderson and David Wright will interview after their names surfaced in earlier discussions. Whoever makes the shortlist and earns a shot at interviewing will meet with newly-minted GM Billy Eppler and his staff. Owner Steve Cohen will meet with vetted candidates some time after the initial round of interviews.

The identity of today’s interviewed candidate was none other than Brad Ausmus, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Ausmus has quite a few things going for his candidacy that surely helped net him the first opportunity to meet with Mets decision-makers. One such factor working in Ausmus’s favor is his relationship to Eppler, as Ausmus served as a special assistant to Eppler before being promoted to dugout manager in 2019 while the two were with the Angels. In other networking news, Fansided’s Robert Murray also notes that Ausmus is a Dartmouth alum like Mets president Sandy Alderson and assistant GM Bryn Alderson.

Unlike some of the candidates who have yet to interview, Ausmus also has a track record as a Major League manager. Between his time with the Angels and Detroit, he has compiled a 386-412 record as a manager, including two winning seasons at the helm and a playoff appearance. It probably also doesn’t hurt Ausmus’s case that his best season in Detroit coincided with Max Scherzer’s last season in the AL. Scherzer, one of the Mets’ marquee pickups this offseason, owns one of the game’s more fiery personalities and is perhaps best handled by a dugout operator who’s familiar with his tempo.

If Quatraro’s name rings a bell it may be because he interviewed with the A’s within the past couple of days. That the Tampa Bay bench coach has landed interviews for 100% of this offseason’s managerial vacancies is no surprise. The Rays have proven their division’s winningest team during Quatraro’s time as bench coach, no small feat considering the powerhouses that reside within those same confines. Martino reports that Quatraro is in line for a Tuesday interview.

There aren’t many updates for the remaining candidates of Espada, Kelly, and Showalter, though they all remain highly credible options in the wake of MLBTR’s profile of their candidacies last week. Jon Heyman does note (via Twitter) that Espada and Eppler share a “strong link” dating back to their time in the Yankees organization, and calls Espada a “serious contender”.

Latest On Mets’ Managerial Search

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10:04 pm: Martino tweets that while Granderson’s name had come up in initial discussions, he is not expected to interview for the position.

9:49 pm: Robert Murray of FanSided reports (on Twitter) that longtime big league outfielder Curtis Granderson is also under consideration for the Mets. The 40-year-old announced his retirement from playing in 2020 following a 16-year big league career that included a trio of All-Star appearances and a Silver Slugger Award.

Granderson had emerged as a respected veteran presence in clubhouses over the course of his career. He currently serves as the president of the Players Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at increasing accessibility within the sport for Black athletes. Granderson played four seasons with the Mets during team president Sandy Alderson’s time as the club’s GM. Prior to that, he spent four years with the Yankees — a stint that overlapped with Eppler’s time in the club’s front office.

6:35 pm: The Mets declined an option to bring back skipper Luis Rojas shortly after the end of the 2021 season. Two months later, they remain without a manager. After spending a significant chunk of the early offseason in the search for a new GM that eventually landed Billy Eppler, the Mets turned their attention to the player market last week in advance of the lockout. With clubs barred from making major league transactions for the duration of the work stoppage, the Mets and the Athletics, the other team currently without a manager, figure to zero in on those respective searches in short order.

Andy Martino of SNY reports some preliminary candidates, naming Astros bench coach Joe Espada, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and former MLB managers Buck Showalter and Brad Ausmus among those under early consideration. Martino cautions that’s not an exhaustive list, and it’s not clear whether everyone in that group will get an interview.

No one from that group registers as much of a surprise. None of Espada, Quatraro or Kelly has managed at the big league level, but they’ve all been rumored as part of searches elsewhere. Espada, 46, has been the bench coach in Houston for the past four seasons, working underneath both A.J. Hinch and Dusty Baker. He’s interviewed for a few different managerial openings in recent years and at one point even looked to be the favorite for the Giants job that eventually went to Gabe Kapler.

Quatraro’s name has come up a few times over the past couple offseasons. Kevin Cash’s top lieutenant over the last three years in Tampa Bay, the 48-year-old Quatraro has interviewed with the Giants, Pirates and Tigers in winters past and was reportedly a finalist for the Pittsburgh job that went to Derek Shelton. Kelly has worked underneath Shelton in the Steel City over the past two seasons. The 41-year-old interviewed with the Tigers and Red Sox last offseason and was reported to be among the top handful under consideration for the job that went to Alex Cora.

Showalter and Ausmus, meanwhile, come with significant managerial experience. The former has been one of the more accomplished skippers of the past couple decades. Showalter, now 65, landed his first big league managerial job with the Yankees in 1992. He spent four years in the Bronx, managed the D-Backs from 1998-2000, the Rangers from 2003-06 and the Orioles from 2010-18.

Over his career, Showalter won Manager of the Year Awards at three of those four stops. He’s overseen five playoff clubs (including three division winners), taking the 2014 Orioles to the AL Championship Series. Showalter hasn’t managed since being dismissed by Baltimore after the 2018 campaign, but he’s continued to express openness to a return to the dugout.

Ausmus, meanwhile, has managed at two separate stints. He spent the 2014-17 campaigns at the helm of the Tigers, then managed the Angels in 2019. That stint in Anaheim overlapped with Eppler’s tenure as Angels’ GM, fueling immediate speculation upon the latter’s hiring with the Mets that he could look to bring Ausmus to Queens.

Prior to that stint as skipper, Ausmus spent the 2018 season as a member of the Los Angeles front office. Eppler’s Angels fired Ausmus after just one season in the managerial chair, but it was reported at the time that call was made by owner Arte Moreno (perhaps not coincidentally just one day after it was announced Joe Maddon was leaving the Cubs).

NL Central Notes: Brewers, Grichuk, Cubs, Gausman, Matz, Pirates

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The Brewers had talks with the Blue Jays about a trade that would have seen Randal Grichuk head to Milwaukee in a straight-up exchange for Jackie Bradley Jr., The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports.  This was one of multiple alternate Bradley-for-outfielder deals explored by the Brewers before finally acquiring Hunter Renfroe from the Red Sox on Wednesday.

While the Brew Crew had to surrender two prospects along with Bradley in that deal, Renfroe is both less expensive than Grichuk and has been a better player over the last three seasons — Renfroe had a 3.5 fWAR since the start of the 2019 campaign, while Grichuk has been worth 1.5 fWAR.  The Brewers’ outfield mix now consists of Renfroe, Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, and Tyrone Taylor, so barring any other transactions to shift some money around, Grichuk may no longer be on Milwaukee’s radar.

More from around the NL Central…

  • The Cubs “were on the periphery” of the Kevin Gausman hunt and “were heavily involved” in trying to sign Steven Matz, according to The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma.  However, Chicago weren’t willing to sign either pitcher to as lengthy of a commitment as the five-year deal Gausman received from the Blue Jays or the four-year deal Matz got from the Cardinals.  While the Cubs are aiming for shorter-term deals for quality starting pitchers, they have thus far been successful on that front, landing Marcus Stroman on a three-year contract and claiming Wade Miley off waivers from the Reds.  Along these same lines, Sharma suggests that Danny Duffy could be a target for the Cubs, as Duffy can likely be had for a one-year pact given his injury-shortened 2021.  The team also needs more strikeout pitchers, either in the rotation via the trade market or in the bullpen.
  • Though the Pirates signed Jose Quintana and traded for Zach Thompson as part of the Jacob Stallings deal, GM Ben Cherington told reporters (including The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Kevin Gorman) before the lockout commenced that the Bucs are still looking to add another starting pitcher to their mix.  There isn’t much settled in a rotation that is short on experience apart from Quintana, and Cherington feels the Pirates’ incumbent arms will have to translate their promise into performance to win jobs during Spring Training.  “There was nobody that we assumed is in our rotation, but there are a lot of guys who have a chance to be,” Cherington said.

Bullpen Notes: Rodriguez, Peralta, Strickland, Shaw, Marlins

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Right-hander Richard Rodriguez was one of the more prominent names cut loose before last night’s non-tender deadline, and now that the Braves have parted ways with the reliever, Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Twitter link) that the Pirates are interested in bringing Rodriguez back to the Steel City.  Rodriguez posted strong numbers throughout his three-plus seasons in the Pirates’ bullpen, which made him a hot commodity heading into the July trade deadline.  While Rodriguez’s peripherals didn’t back up his excellent on-field performance to begin this season, the Bucs were still able to move him to Atlanta for two young arms on July 30.

The righty still managed a 3.12 ERA during his 26 innings for the Braves, but Rodriguez’s home run rate skyrocketed and his strikeout rate dropped off the map to only 8.5%.  Atlanta didn’t use Rodriguez during the playoffs, and non-tendered him rather than pay a projected $3.1MM arbitration salary.  On paper, it would seem like a reunion between Rodriguez and the Pirates would work out well for both sides, as the Bucs would gain some more relief depth, and Rodriguez would try to get himself on track in a familiar environment.

More from the relief pitching market…

  • The Diamondbacks just made a splash in the relief market by signing Mark Melancon, but the club has also “at least checked on” such arms as Wily Peralta, Bryan Shaw, and Hunter Strickland, according to The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan (Twitter link).  All three right-handers had pretty decent bottom-line numbers in 2021, though the advanced metrics weren’t as impressed by their work.  Nonetheless, any could provide some help to an Arizona bullpen that badly struggled last season, and Peralta could factor into the rotation mix after starting 18 of his 19 games with the Tigers.  Shaw began his career with the D’Backs as a second-round pick for the team back in 2008, and he pitched his first two MLB seasons in a Diamondbacks uniform.
  • While the Marlins have been busy with some notable lineup additions, the club hasn’t yet done much to their relief corps.  GM Kim Ng told reporters (including The Miami Herald’s Craig Mish) that the bullpen market has been a bit slower in general, but now that the Marlins have finished some of the heavy lifting with their hitting upgrades, the pen will get more focus.  Miami’s pen posted some pretty solid numbers in 2021, and the front office has already made one move by acquiring right-hander Louis Head in a trade with the Rays.

National League Non-Tenders: 11/30/21

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We’ve now passed the deadline for teams to tender contracts to pre-arb and arbitration-eligible players. We’ll keep track of the more minor players non-tendered in the National League here. The American League non-tenders are available at this link.

As a reminder, you can view MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projected salaries for arbitration-eligible players here:

  • The Cardinals announced they’ve non-tendered utilityman José Rondon. The right-handed hitting infielder tallied 90 plate appearances this past season while suiting up at a handful of position.
  • The Giants announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Luis González, right-hander Sam Delaplane and southpaw Joe Palumbo. None of that trio was arbitration-eligible, and all three were recently acquired via minor transactions. It wouldn’t be a surprise if San Francisco attempts to work out minor league pacts with one or more of that group now that they’ve been removed from the 40-man roster.
  • The Phillies have non-tendered southpaw Kyle Dohy and re-signed him to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. He’ll remain in the organization but no longer occupies a spot on the 40-man roster. Dohy made on major league appearance in 2021.
  • The Padres announced they’ve non-tendered relievers José Castillo, Trey Wingenter, and Matt Strahm. Castillo and Wingenter haven’t pitched since 2019 because of arm injuries that necessitated Tommy John surgeries. Strahm was limited to just 6 2/3 frames in 2021 by health issues himself.
  • The Cubs are non-tendering reliever Jason Adam, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The southpaw missed much of the season after suffering a gruesome ankle fracture in Triple-A in May, but he made a triumphant late-season return to the big leagues. Adam ultimately tossed 10 2/3 innings over 12 outings. Chicago also announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Michael Hermosillo, who made a late-season appearance on the big league roster.
  • The Mets have non-tendered outfielder Mark Payton, per a club announcement. The left-handed hitter was acquired from the Reds midseason but never suited up for New York at the major league level.
  • The Reds have non-tendered righty Brandon Bailey, per a team announcement. The 27-year-old made five appearances with the Astros in 2020. He missed all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, the second such procedure of his career. Bailey is re-signing on a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation but will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster, reports C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic.
  • The Nationals announced three non-tenders: relievers Wander Suero and Ryne Harper and first baseman Mike Ford. Suero is the most notable of the group, having been an effective set-up option at times during his four-season run in D.C. He struggled to a 6.33 ERA across 42 2/3 innings in 2021, though.
  • The Mets have non-tendered reliever Stephen Nogosek, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (on Twitter). The right-hander made just one three-inning appearance at the big league level in 2021. He worked 35 innings of 5.14 ERA ball with Triple-A Syracuse.
  • The Diamondbacks are non-tendering reliever Taylor Clarke, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). The 28-year-old has pitched with the D-Backs in each of the past three seasons. The left-hander worked to a 4.98 ERA over 43 1/3 innings this past season, showing solid control but posting a 20.1% strikeout rate that was about four percentage points below the league average mark for bullpen arms.
  • The Dodgers have non-tendered southpaw Andrew Vasquez, tweets Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. Vasquez wasn’t eligible for arbitration, but Los Angeles decided to bump him off the 40-man roster without placing him on waivers. Acquired in a minor trade with the Twins, Vasquez made two appearances for the Dodgers in early September. The 28-year-old struck out a massive 37.4% of batters faced in Triple-A in 2021.
  • The Pirates have non-tendered right-hander Chad Kuhl, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). A productive back-of-the-rotation arm at times, Kuhl has developed escalating control problems over the past couple seasons. The 29-year-old throws in the mid-90s and has posted decent strikeout numbers, but he’s coming off a 4.82 ERA/4.89 SIERA over 28 appearances (including 14 starts)
  • The Mets have non-tendered reliever Robert Gsellman, reports Tim Healey of Newsday (on Twitter). The right-hander has appeared with New York in each of the past six seasons, moving to the bullpen full-time in 2018. While Gsellman showed quite a bit of promise over seven starts as a rookie, he’s yet to find much consistent success in the years since. The 28-year-old did manage a solid 3.77 ERA with a 49.5% ground-ball rate over 28 2/3 innings in 2021, but he also missed a couple months because of a lat strain and only punched out 14.3% of batters faced.

Tender Deadline Signings: 11/30/21

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With the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players looming tonight at 8pm ET — the MLBPA and MLB jointly agreed to move the deadline up a couple days due to the looming expiration of the collective bargaining agreement — we’ll likely see a slew of arbitration-eligible players signing one-year deals.

It’s commonplace for a large batch of players to sign deals in the hours leading up to the tender deadline. “Pre-tender” deals of this nature often fall shy of projections due to the fact that teams use the looming threat of a non-tender to enhance their leverage. Arbitration contracts at this juncture are often take-it-or-leave-it propositions, with the “leave it” end of that arrangement resulting in the player being cut loose. Given the widely expected lockout, there could be more incentive than usual for borderline non-tender candidates to take those offers rather than being cast out into free agency just hours before a transaction freeze is implemented.

As a reminder, arbitration contracts are not fully guaranteed. In a typical year, a team can cut a player on an arb contract at any point before the halfway point in Spring Training and only be responsible for 30 days’ termination pay (about one-sixth of the contract). Releasing a player in the second half of Spring Training bumps the termination pay to 45 days of his prorated salary.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for each team’s arbitration-eligible players last month, although for many of the players listed below, this isn’t so much avoiding arbitration as it is avoiding a non-tender. Here’s a look at today’s agreements…

  • The Yankees have agreed to deals with infielder Gio Urshela and right-hander Domingo German, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links). Urshela will make $6.55MM, while German has agreed to a $1.75MM deal. Urshela has two seasons of control remaining; German is controllable for three years. Urshela is coming off a .267/.301/.419 showing while playing third base and shortstop. German tossed 98 1/3 innings of 4.58 ERA ball.
  • The Twins have signed three arbitration-eligible pitchers, per reports from Feinsand and Darren Wolfson of SKOR North (on Twitter). Right-hander Jharel Cotton signed for $700K, reliever Caleb Thielbar lands $1.3MM and reliever Tyler Duffey signs for $3.8MM. Thielbar and Duffey were both productive members of the Minnesota relief corps in 2021. Cotton was recently claimed off waivers from the Rangers.
  • The Giants have agreed to terms with outfielder Austin Slater on a $1.85MM deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). The 28-year-old (29 next month) appeared at all three spots on the grass while hitting .241/.320/.423 over 306 plate appearances in 2021.
  • Reliever Emilio Pagan and the Padres have agreed on a $2.3MM deal, reports Rosenthal (on Twitter). The 30-year-old worked 63 1/3 innings of 4.83 ERA/3.93 SIERA ball this past season.
  • The Diamondbacks agreed to a $2MM deal with left-hander Caleb Smith, reports Zach Buchanan of the Athletic (via Twitter). The 30-year-old posted a 4.83 ERA/4.68 SIERA across 113 2/3 innings in a swing capacity in 2021.

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Pirates Release Cody Ponce To Pursue NPB Opportunity

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The Pirates have released right-hander Cody Ponce, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. The right-hander is pursuing an opportunity in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Reports out of Japan have suggested he’ll be signing with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

Ponce has appeared in the majors in each of the past two seasons, combining to work 55 1/3 innings over 20 outings. Most of that work has come as a multi-inning reliever, but Ponce did make a more traditional five-inning start against the Cubs in May. Altogether, he’s managed a 5.86 ERA. Ponce has only punched out 19.6% of opponents and struggled with home runs, but he’s also been quite stingy with walks (6.9%).

Transactions of this ilk aren’t uncommon, as players on the fringes of a 40-man roster can often make more in foreign professional leagues than they’d stand to earn as up-and-down players with a big league club. It’s not out of the question Ponce returns to the majors at some point down the line, particularly if he settles in as a productive member of the Fighters’ rotation over the next season or two.

The move clears a space on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster. That’ll be needed for the signing of Roberto Pérez, who reportedly agreed to terms on a $5MM guarantee this afternoon.

Pirates To Sign Roberto Perez

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1:00pm: The Pirates and Perez have agreed to a one-year contract, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The MDR Sports Management client will be guaranteed $5MM on the contract, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette further reports (Twitter link).

11:08am: The Pirates are in talks with free-agent catcher Roberto Perez, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Pittsburgh has an obvious need behind the dish after trading Gold Glover Jacob Stallings to the Marlins yesterday. Perez would give them a defensive-minded backup with some power in his bat — albeit one who has struggled mightily while battling injuries in Cleveland over the past two seasons. The Guardians declined their $7MM option on Perez following the season.

Roberto Perez | Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Perez, 33 next month, has long rated as one of the game’s premium defenders behind the dish and looked to have turned a corner at the plate in 2019, when he hit .239/.321/.452 with a career-high 24 home runs. However, he’s limped to a .155/.253/.277 slash with eight homers in 276 trips to the plate since.

Perez missed significant time in 2020-21 due to a pair of shoulder injuries and a fractured ring finger. It’s certainly plausible that the shoulder and hand injuries contributed to his decline at the plate, but the 2019 season looks increasingly like an outlier campaign for a defensive-minded backstop.

While Perez may not have stacked up to Stallings’ defense in 2021, he’s a two-time Gold Glove winner himself, taking home the American League award at catcher in both 2019 and 2020. Perez had never posted a season with negative marks in Defensive Runs Saved or FanGraphs’ pitch framing prior to 2021 but did rate ever so slightly below par in both categories. Of course, he was limited to 364 innings and wasn’t at 100% health this past season, and his body of work behind the dish is otherwise stellar.

From 2017-20, Perez’s 55 DRS ranked not only tops among all catchers but fifth among all players in Major League Baseball — regardless of position. He also led the American League with a gaudy 41% caught-stealing rate in 2019 and led all of baseball with a borderline-comical 71% caught-stealing mark in 2020 — nabbing 10 of the 14 runners who tried to take a base against him. Even with a lowly 16% mark in 2021, Perez still has a 39% mark in his career. And, given that the pair of shoulder problems he’s had recently (one in 2020, one in 2021) were in his throwing shoulder, it’s eminently plausible that he could rebound in that regard with better health in 2022.

Photo courtesy of Imagn/USA Today Sports.

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