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Pirates To Promote Josh Bell

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The Pirates will promote top first base prospect Josh Bell to the Majors to make his big league debut tonight, according to multiple reports (Logan Stout first tweeted word of Bell’s promotion).

[Related: Updated Pirates Depth Chart]

Josh Bell

In Bell, the Pirates are promoting a player that ranks 38th on Baseball America’s just-updated Top 100 prospects list (published today). Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com currently have Bell rated as the game’s No. 43 prospect. A 23-year-old switch-hitter that was selected 61st overall in the 2011 draft, Bell has had a monster season at Triple-A Indianapolis, slashing .324/.407/.535 with 13 homers, 19 doubles and four triples in 359 plate appearances. BA notes that Bell’s defense at first base is somewhat questionable — he just transitioned to the position in 2015 after previously playing right field — but both BA and MLB.com write that he could be a difference-maker at the plate and has middle-of-the-order potential. The 2016 season marks the first in which Bell has truly tapped into the power potential that led the Bucs to give him an over-slot bonus of $5MM back in 2011 when he slipped out of the first round due to signability concerns.

Bell’s promotion could mean that incumbent first baseman John Jaso will move into a bench role. Jaso, inked to a two-year, $8MM contract as a free agent this offseason, has provided his typical brand of steady production against right-handed pitching, but he’s limited to a strict platoon and is more good than great against righties (.285/.362/.413 this season). As Bell’s excellent Triple-A production (which recently landed him on Jason Martinez’s “Knocking Down the Door” series) indicates, he carries significantly higher upside at the plate. And, with an OPS north of .900 against both lefties and righties in Triple-A this season, Bell could be a long-term option that doesn’t require a platoon partner.

Bell becomes the latest top prospect to join the Pirates’ ranks, as they’ve promoted Top 100 mainstays Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow this year and also called up highly regarded organizational prospects such as Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault to make their big league debuts. Even if he’s in the Majors to stay, Bell will accrue just 86 days of big league service time in 2016, which would leave him well shy of eventually achieving Super Two designation. If this promotion to the big leagues proves to be permanent, the Bucs will control Bell through the 2022 season and he won’t be arbitration eligible until the completion of the 2019 campaign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NL Central Notes: Reds, Searage, Bell, Piscotty

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Here’s the latest from around the NL Central…

  • The Reds’ rebuild has unsurprisingly been a big subject among fans during the team’s winter caravan tour, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon writes.  In response to one fan question during a Q & A session, president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty said the decisions to trade Aroldis Chapman and Todd Frazier were made since neither player was likely to re-sign a long-term deal to remain in Cincinnati.  “We felt they were at the peak of their value for what we’d get in return. These were not easy decisions,” Jocketty said.  In another response, Jocketty said that the team was able to accomplish “most of” its offseason goals, as the team’s lack of success in finding trade partners for Brandon Phillips or Jay Bruce is “not necessarily” an impediment to their rebuilding plans.
  • Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage is entering the last year of his contract and wants to remain with the club, he tells Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  Searage is universally regarded as one of baseball’s best pitching coaches, as his track record with veteran reclamation projects has been a major part of the Pirates’ recent success and also played a part in their offseason strategy.  As Cook notes, the “Ray will make him better” mantra undoubtedly informed the Bucs’ acquisitions of Jon Niese, Ryan Vogelsong, Juan Nicasio, Neftali Feliz and Kyle Lobstein.
  • Josh Bell is the Pirates’ long-term answer at first base and he could begin to help at the position as soon as the 2016 season, Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes.  Bell still has some questions to answer (namely about his defense, ability to hit left-handed pitching and whether he can consistently generate power) but he carries a lot of potential to solidify what has been a revolving door position for the Pirates.  As Sawchik notes, 44 different players have played at least one game at first for Pittsburgh since 2004.
  • Stephen Piscotty has big shoes to fill in taking over from Jason Heyward as the Cardinals’ everyday right fielder, but as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes, the Cards are confident Piscotty can continue his development from highly-touted prospect to star rookie to Major League regular.
  • In other NL Central news from the last 24 hours, the Brewers swung a big five-player trade with the Diamondbacks that sent Jean Segura to Arizona and brought Aaron Hill and Chase Anderson to Milwaukee…there haven’t been any new Brandon Phillips trade talks, so it looks like Phillips will begin the season with the Reds…we collected some Brewers notes containing comments from Mark Attanasio, Matt Garza and Ryan Braun.

Prospect Notes: Dodgers, Cuba, Reed

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The Dodgers’ Triple-A squad made a remarkable 334 transactions last season with 84 different players appearing in a game, writes Bill Plunkett of Baseball America. Director of player development Gabe Kapler implied that the big league club will continue to make frequent use of their minor league rosters as a way to shuffle depth around. Such a strategy can be particularly useful with back-of-the-roster pitching like spot starters and over-taxed young relievers.

  • Cuba’s Ciego De Avila club will represent the island nation in the upcoming Caribbean Series, writes Ben Badler of Baseball America. The tournament begins on February 1. International tournaments are a commonly used opportunity to defect and join the majors. The most notable players in attendance will be Yulieski Gourriel, his young brother Lourdes Gourriel, and Alfredo Despaigne. Badler calls Yulieski, 31, the top player in Cuba, citing a .494/.586/.861 line in 215 plate appearances. Lourdes better fits the role of prospect – he’s 22 with a .340/.400/.561 slash. Badler calls him one of Cuba’s top five players. Despaigne is the best Cuban slugger. He hit .258/.352/.462 in 409 plate appearances last season for Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines. While those are the biggest names to watch, there’s no telling which, if any, players will defect.
  • MLB.com’s Jim Callis has unveiled his first base prospect rankings with the Astros’ A.J. Reed taking the top spot. Reed’s excellent first full season included some truly gaudy stats – 34 home runs, 113 runs, and 127 RBI. Callis notes that he still has to prove he can hit advanced left-handed pitching. Pirates prospect Josh Bell and Mets first baseman Dominic Smith are next up in Callis’ Top 10.

Pirates Notes: Morton, Pitching, Melancon, Niese, Nicasio, Kang

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The Pirates are one of several teams holding a FanFest today. Reporters, including MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth, were on hand for the Q&A with GM Neal Huntington. The Pirates’ GM admitted that today’s Morton swap was mostly about payroll relief, although the club does like David Whitehead.

Here’s more Pirates notes:

  • Today’s trade of Charlie Morton will likely instigate “multiple moves,” tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. After the move, the Pirates payroll is around $88MM with a target of about $105MM per Biertempfel (tweet). Huntington told reporters including MLB.com’s Adam Berry (tweet), “A big part of the motivation was to free some dollars to allow us to deepen the club, to reestablish some depth.“
  • Industry sources implied to Biertempfel (tweet) that pitchers like Scott Kazmir, Mike Leake, or others over $10MM per season are not on the Pirates radar. However, there is no doubt that at least one starting pitcher is on the agenda. The rotation presently consists of Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, Jon Niese, and Jeff Locke. Presumably, the club prefers for Locke or Niese to fill a long relief role with Allen Webster serving as minor league depth. Top prospect Tyler Glasnow is not expected to reach the majors early in the season.
  • Closer Mark Melancon is expected to earn $10MM in arbitration per MLBTR estimates, but the club is under no pressure to trade him, tweets Biertempfel. The team could potentially get by in the late innings with Tony Watson, Arquimedes Caminero, and new acquisition Juan Nicasio. However, a bullpen with Melancon is certainly more robust. With the market for quality closers at a premium, Pittsburgh would find it difficult to replace Melancon. Per Huntington, “if somebody steps up and gives us a return that’s significant enough to motivate us to get a little bit uncomfortable, then we get a little bit uncomfortable.” (h/t to Wilmoth for the quote).
  • In commenting on Nicasio, Huntinton told Wilmoth, “We do think there are some things we can help him with. Now, is it going to be enough to make him a good starter? Time will tell. Is it going to be enough to make him a really good reliever? Time will tell.” The Pirates have developed a reputation as a haven for reclamation projects which could make Nicasio an interesting player to watch.
  • Comparing recent acquisition Jon Niese to the market, Huntington said “he’ll continue to put up numbers similar to guys who are getting sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety million dollars in free agency — we have three, essentially, one-year contracts with Jon Niese.” While Niese comes with less cachet than somebody like Mike Leake, it’s true that they project to perform similarly. As such, Huntington may very well beat the market with this swap.
  • Huntington says Jung-ho Kang is more likely to return in April than May, per Berry (tweet). If true, this is a lucky break for the club. They currently have some combination of Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer, Alen Hanson, and Pedro Florimon penciled in for second base, shortstop, and third base. An injury or poor performance from Hanson could leave the club scrambling for reinforcements.
  • The Pirates will retrench in 2016 with an aim to contend again in 2017, writes John Perotto of the Beaver County Times. While the club will still pursue a postseason berth next year, they’ll have their eyes on developing top prospects like Josh Bell, Glasnow, and Jameson Taillon.

Added To The 40-Man Roster: Friday

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Tonight at 8:00pm ET is the deadline for teams to add players to their 40-man roster and thereby protect them from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. In other words: there will be a significant amount of 40-man roster moves made over the course of the next 13 or so hours. Six clubs already made moves to protect prospects from the Rule 5 yesterday, and each of the remaining 24 clubs should make moves today as well.

In brief: players drafted/signed at 18 years of age or younger must be added to the 40-man roster within five years of signing or be exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. Players drafted/signed at 19 or older must be added within four years. Those interested in all of the specifics can refer to articles from MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. Perhaps of greater interest is that Mayo lists all of the prospects from MLB.com’s Top 100 list and from their organizational Top 30 lists that much be protected in advance of tonight’s deadline, while Cooper provides brief write-ups on each player that has been protected (and will continue to do so as additions are made).

Here are today’s additions to the 40-man roster. You can check out Baseball America’s coverage to learn more about the individual players listed below …

Earlier Updates

Pirates Notes: Analytics, Walker, Alvarez, Park

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Much like every other team, the Pirates are striving to adjust to a pitcher friendly era, writes Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Pitchers have benefited greatly from the inflow of data. They’ve learned about specific hitters tendencies, strengths, and weakness in ways that weren’t available in the past. Now hitters are beginning to get more of that same information about pitchers. Per Pirates GM Neal Huntington, “So much of the advance work gave an advantage to pitchers in identifying hitters’ weaknesses…We…have worked hard to try to capitalize on how to give our hitters some advantage back.”

Here’s more from the Pirates as they gear up for free agency:

  • Pittsburgh hopes to improve their offense over the offseason, writes Sawchik in a separate article. Sawchik suggests that power could be a priority. Interestingly, the club has tough decisions to make on Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker. Both players are non-tender candidates – Alvarez is projected to earn $8.1MM via arbitration while Walker is pegged for a $10.7MM payday. However, they’ve also accounted for 84 of the club’s 296 home runs in the last two seasons (28%). If power is truly a priority, then it will be hard to replace their production for less money. It’s trendy to look to the Royals as an example, but they’re probably a great model for the Pirates. Pittsburgh has focused on pure hitters in the draft rather than power, and their cavernous ball park plays similarly to Kauffman Stadium. Perhaps aggression and athleticism are better traits to target.
  • Byung-ho Park of the Nexen Heroes will be posted tomorrow, but he’s unlikely to join the Pirates, writes John Perrotto of Today’s Knuckleball. Obviously, the Pirates have already received great value from fellow KBO import Jung-ho Kang. That’s part of the reason Pittsburgh won’t win the bidding for his services. Kang provided a successful use case for transition from the KBO to the majors. Teams should be willing to bet more upon Park’s success. With Michael Morse under contract for 2016 and top prospect Josh Bell lurking at Triple-A, the club also has some solid in-house first basemen.

NL Central Notes: Schwarber, Park, Chapman

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ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers dispels the notion that the Cubs will (or even that they should) shop Kyle Schwarber this offseason due to his perceived defensive shortcomings. While Schwarber undeniably struggled in the outfield this postseason, Rogers notes that no one was clamoring for such a move in the regular season. Schwarber logged about 300 innings in the outfield during the regular season, and while his inexperience showed, he wasn’t egregiously bad over that sample of games, either. It’s hardly a representative sample, but Rogers notes that extrapolating Schwarber’s Defensive Runs Saved mark to a full season would leave him about 10 to 13 runs below average, and his bat is capable of making up the difference. He also points out that with his work ethic, Schwarber has plenty of time to improve at a position that’s still pretty new to him. I’d agree that the notion of trading Schwarber — which I’ve heard from many fans — is an overreaction, to say the least. Over the course of a full season between the outfield corners and behind the plate, I’d expect Schwarber’s bat to make him a plenty valuable player, even if he doesn’t develop into an everyday catcher or above-average outfield defender.

Elsewhere in the NL Central…

  • Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review examines whether or not the Pirates should be bidders for Korean first baseman Byung-ho Park. Sawchik spoke to former MLB scout Daniel Kim, who said that the posting fee for Park could be at least double the $5MM Pittsburgh bid to secure negotiation rights with Park’s former Nexen Heroes teammate, Jung Ho Kang. Sawchik writes that as many as 20 teams have scouted Park, with the Rangers having sent “top executives” to watch him. Sawchik also points out the presence of top prospect Josh Bell, who isn’t far from the Majors and projects as a power-hitting first baseman himself. While Bell could be a trade chip, the Pirates also need to address the starting rotation, so perhaps spending money on Park while an internal option is present isn’t the optimal use of their resources. The Pirates, like other MLB clubs, don’t have too long to decide, as Park will be posted next Monday with bids due by next Friday.
  • The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Bill Brink writes that the Pirates have at least cursory interest in Park, reminding that they applied for credentials to watch him earlier this season. However, he also notes that Kang’s success will probably boost the market’s valuation of Park, possibly pricing him out of the range of Pittsburgh, who also has $8MM committed to Mike Morse next year. Earlier today, Sawchik examined at length how Kang’s success could drive up the market for Park.
  • While no one’s quite certain whether or not the Reds will trade Aroldis Chapman this winter, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports writes that the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays and Nationals would be at the forefront of trade talks for Cincinnati’s All-Star closer this offseason should they listen to offers. The D-Backs, of course, pursued Chapman aggressively prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, while the Nats could have a very different-looking bullpen next year. Drew Storen seems like an obvious trade candidate, and the Nationals will almost certainly shop Jonathan Papelbon this winter as well.

Minor Moves: Paterson, Nash, Parker, Cerse, Bell, Ryan

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Here are the latest minor transactions, with the newest moves at the top of the post…

  • Lefty Joe Paterson has reached a minor league deal with the Athletics, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Paterson, who just turned 29, had opened the year at Triple-A in the Royals organization after spending his previous seasons with the Giants and Diamondbacks. He threw 40 1/3 innings of 6.25 ERA ball for Arizona at the major league level. This season, he has tossed 12 2/3 frames at the highest level of the minors, striking out 12 and walking six while permitting eight earned runs.
  • The Astros released 2009 third-round pick Telvin Nash, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports on Twitter. Nash, 24, was repeating Double-A this year and owned a .228/.318/.456 slash with seven home runs over 130 plate appearances. Despite generally excellent power numbers and solid walk rates, Nash has been unable to avoid the strikeout. He has spent most of his time at first or in the corner outfield.
  • The Cubs re-signed right-hander Blake Parker to a new minor league contract, team director of player development Jaron Madison tells Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register (Twitter link).  Parker was released by the Cubs earlier this month.  The righty posted a 3.68 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 3.54 K/BB rate over 73 1/3 innings out of Chicago’s bullpen from 2012-14, but he’s been limited to only 3 1/3 Triple-A innings this season due to an elbow injury.
  • The Red Sox have officially signed second baseman Yoilan Cerse, according to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy.  MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reported earlier this month that the Cuban second baseman was close to a minor league deal with Boston.
  • Also from Eddy, the Padres released third baseman Josh Bell.  The 28-year-old signed a minor league deal with San Diego in February but has yet to see any action in 2015.  Bell appeared in 100 games with the Orioles and D’Backs from 2010-12 and has since played in the minors with the White Sox and Yankees, as well as spending 2014 in the Korean Baseball Organization.
  • The Yankees moved shortstop Brendan Ryan from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL and also optioned righty Branden Pinder to Triple-A.  Both moves created 25-man roster space to accommodate newly-promoted southpaw Jacob Lindgren.  Ryan suffered a calf injury during Spring Training and isn’t expected back in action until early June.

Josh Bell Signs With LG Twins In South Korea

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The LG Twins of Korea Professional Baseball have signed Josh Bell, Dan Kurtz of MyKBO hears (Twitter link).

Bell, 27, signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers last month. However, he apparently found a more favorable situation with the LG Twins. A former top prospect, Bell has only amassed 282 plate appearances at the Major League level in three years, slashing just .195/.223/.265. He hit .226/.324/.356 at the Triple-A level in 2013, splitting time between affiliates for the Yankees and White Sox.

The Minnesota Twins were reportedly in discussions with the LG Twins in December to transfer Chris Colabello's contract to the South Korean team. However, Colabello apparently turned down the offer. A corner player with a potential power bat, Bell may have become the LG Twins' target when their pursuit of Colabello failed.

Minor Moves: Bell, Marrero, Tigers, Goedert

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Here are today's minor moves from around the league…

  • The Dodgers have signed third baseman Josh Bell, tweets Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. The one-time top prospect has only seen 282 career MLB plate appearances, over which he has a meager .195/.223/.265 triple slash with four home runs. Spending time at Triple-A in the Yankees and White Sox systems last year, Bell hit a combined .226/.324/.356 in 210 plate appearances.
  • The Orioles have signed first baseman Chris Marrero to a minor league contract, according to Baseball America's Matt Eddy (on Twitter). Now 25 years old, the former No. 15 overall draft pick and top prospect has a .232/.256/.272 batting line in 133 career Major League plate appearances but has a solid .281/.353/.413 line in 1140 career PAs at Triple-A.
  • Right-hander Luis Marte and infielder Danny Worth have both cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Toledo, the Tigers announced. Marte, 27, was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for Rajai Davis. Worth, 28, was DFA'ed to clear a roster spot for Joba Chamberlain.
  • The Blue Jays have signed infielder Jared Goedert to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter links). The 28-year-old spent last season in the Pirates organization, batting .241/.316/.390 with 11 homers in 519 plate appearances. The longtime Indians farmhand is primarily a third baseman and owns a career .261/.332/.459 batting line in 1562 Triple-A plate appearances.
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