OnlyBucs

With the signing of Hill and the acquisitions of Garcia, Velasquez (a head scratcher), Moria, and Hernandez (Rule 5), the Pirates now have 20 pitchers on the roster who pitched with the Pirates o another team last year. While I assume that Ortiz and Ramirez and maybe even DeLosSantos could start the year in the minors, that still leaves 17 or so pitchers competing for 13 spots.

A couple of comments:

1) Now that BC has added 4 or 5 pitchers, he seriously needs to consider trading 1 or 2 away; particularly because the roster is getting a bit more crowded.

2) Thompson is still with the team, but he does not appear to be in the mix for a rotation spot ('which is understandable based on last year's performance), and he does not strike me as a good reliever. Perhaps he could be a trade candidate to a team that needs rotation depth. The return target would be a player that does not need to be on the roster.

2) While I am likely wrong, I would like to see the Pirates hold onto Wilson. I believe he can be a better long man out of the pen than either Crowe or DeJong, and that he can serve as an emergency starter. He also is younger than a number of the marginal pitchers on the team.

3) Underwood. Likely not much of a market for him. That said, shop him and see. A potential candidate to release to create a roster spot.

4) Hard to tell about Stephenson. But, with the comments about the team wanting more power arms, he seems like he has a shot at sticking around.

I am not expecting a lot out of Hill, but if they pitch him like they did Quintana (start getting nervous when he reaches 70 pitches), it could work out OK. i am also curious if the Pirates' outbid other teams for his services?

Looking at the contracts, I think options may come in to play. Thompson has all three options remaining. Underwood and Wilson have none.



I think these are the three bubble pitchers to be DFA or traded. Of the three, I think Thompson is the most expendable, followed closely by Underwood. I'd keep Wilson as my choice of the three to keep just one.

I think Underwood and Thompson may be the odd players out whenever the two pitchers who have not had physicals officially sign their contracts.

I count 23 pitchers on the MLB 40-man roster, assuming that Jarlin Garcia and Rich Hill will find their way there at some point. I count 19 position players.That's 42 guys.(We will likely put Heineman on the 40-man when Kranick is placed on the 60-Day IL.) So two players have to go when Garcia and Hill are added.

Obviously every GM in baseball knows our situation, so we're not going to get much for the likes of Wilson or Underwood, but we have to try. As noted, Wilson is relatively young (25) but out of options, like Underwood. Wilson should find interested parties, but I haven't studied other teams enough to know who they are. (Will anyone take Underwood for a PTBNL?). But we can't wait until Spring Training to find out, so I'd love to hear some ideas for future homes for these guys.

As I've complained about in another thread, Velasquez was a bad signing, and will probably be the reason we give up on Wilson. But we will still have other starters on the 40-man to bring up at the trade deadline when Vasquez and Hill get traded. I've got faith in Ortiz and Burrows, and Priester will be added at some point.

We have 5 relief prospects on the 40-man who will probably start at Indy because there is no room on the 26-man roster. De Los Santos and Holderman are probably better right now than De Jong or Vasquez, but there's only room for one of them until Underwood leaves and/or injuries pile up. Moreta, Ramirez, Selby and Thompson (who may start at Indy) are all "MLB ready".

To review, here's my opening day roster prediction:

6-man MLB rotation (with Oviedo and Velasquez also doing some relief pitching):
Contreras
Keller
Hill
Brubaker
Oviedo
Velasquez

Closer:
Bednar

Righty relievers:
Crowe
DeJong
Holderman
Stephenson

Lefty relievers:
Garcia
Hernandez

Catcher:
Hedges
Heineman

1B/DH:
Choi
Santana

2B:
Castro
Bae

3B:
Hayes

SS:
Cruz

LF:
Suwinski
Joe

CF:
Reynolds

RF:
Andujar
Mitchell

In AAA Rotation:
Burrows
Ortiz
Thompson
Kranick (60-Day)

AAA Bullpen:
De Los Santos
Moreta
Ramirez
Selby

Catcher:
Endy Rodriguez

2B:
Marcano

3B:
Triolo

SS:
Peguero

OF:
Smith-Njigba
Villade
Swaggerty

Obviously guys like Bae and Marcano play multiple positions but I listed them just once to get a count.

The Hill signing surprised and pleased me. Hope that the rest of the offseason deals free up roster space before we get nothing for something.

Bryse Wilson DFA to make room for Garcia.



https://twitter.com/Pirates/status/1608257351613820928

Looks like I jinxed Wilson

296A73687B6E7F69291A0 wrote: Bryse Wilson DFA to make room for Garcia.



https://twitter.com/Pirates/status/1608257351613820928


somebody sent a player for Park and for Castillo so a minor leaguer may come back in the next week or so for Wilson.

436564736575060 wrote: Bryse Wilson DFA to make room for Garcia.



https://twitter.com/Pirates/status/1608257351613820928


somebody sent a player for Park and for Castillo so a minor leaguer may come back in the next week or so for Wilson.
It's depressing to see players DFA'd who were traded for to acquire.

A couple of comments



1) When BC looked at the assembled bag of mediocrity on the pitching staff, he chose to give up Wilson to add Garcia. While Wilson may never make it in the majors, I would rather have kept him than to have signed Velasquez.



2) I see where Park has now been DFA'd again. He needs to spend some time in AAA and have a good start to the season to rekindle some interest.



3) With the Bucs now having (unexpectedly) spent about $30 mil on free agents (includes the Choi trade), and with no apparent movement to sign players like Keller and Contreras to longer term deals as I have suggested, I would like to see the Bucs go out and spend another $6 - $7 mil or so this year and the same in 2024 to sign one of the better remaining relievers to a 2 year deal. The deal would carry some risk, but a better pen could be a boost to the rotation.



4) The DFA system is getting crazier. Marginal players are being moved 3 - 4 times in a span of 3 months during the off-season. Major league rosters have been expanded to 26 with short-term expansions to 27 for DH's. Baseball should expand rosters to 42, and should create a taxi squad of 3 players for each team in which players can be added to the ML roster during the season with no impact on the ML roster. And, because the taxi squad players would frequently be shuttled around, they should be guaranteed the major league minimum salary with per game bonuses for the time they are on the active roster.

4C60686F6443746272010 wrote: A couple of comments



1)  When BC looked at the assembled bag of mediocrity on the pitching staff, he chose to give up Wilson to add Garcia.  While Wilson may never make it in the majors, I would rather have kept him than to have signed Velasquez.



2)  I see where Park has now been DFA'd again.  He needs to spend some time in AAA and have a good start to the season to rekindle some interest.



3)  With the Bucs now having (unexpectedly) spent about $30 mil on free agents (includes the Choi trade), and with no apparent movement to sign players like Keller and Contreras to longer term deals as I have suggested, I would like to see the Bucs go out and spend another $6 - $7 mil or so this year and the same in 2024 to sign one of the better remaining relievers to a 2 year deal.  The deal would carry some risk, but a better pen could be a boost to the rotation.



4)  The DFA system is getting crazier.  Marginal players are being moved 3 - 4 times in a span of 3 months during the off-season.  Major league rosters have been expanded to 26 with short-term expansions to 27 for DH's.  Baseball should expand rosters to 42, and should create a taxi squad of 3 players for each team in which players can be added to the ML roster during the season with no impact on the ML roster.  And, because the taxi squad players would frequently be shuttled around, they should be guaranteed the major league minimum salary with per game bonuses for the time they are on the active roster.
Good ideas, Mainer!