Morning Rundown: Malcom Nunez signs minor league deal, Cardinals claim Roddery Munoz
Morning Rundown: Malcom Nunez signs minor league deal, Cardinals claim Roddery Munoz
Pending minor league free agent resigns, former Pirates claimed by Cardinals
Perhaps the most notable minor league free agent the Pirates have heading into the offseason, Malcom Nunez, was reportedly taken off the market on Friday.
According to Francy Romero, the Pirates signed Nunez to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
Nunez, 23, played 128 games for Triple-A Indianapolis during the 2024 season, hitting .250/.310/.365 with 11 home runs and 65 RBI. He was originally acquired in the Jose Quintana trade along with Johan Oviedo.
He’s struggled in his time with Indianapolis, posting yearly wRC+ of 69 (2023) and 75 (2024). Nunez will be 24 by the time the 2025 season starts.
Roddery Munoz, who was with the Pirates briefly during the offseason, was claimed on Friday by the St. Louis Cardinals.
He made his major league debut this past season with the Miami Marlins, and actually got off to a good start. In his first two starts, Munoz struck out 14 batters over 11 innings while allowing just three earned runs.
The rest of the season didn’t go as well, as he finished with a 6.53 ERA over 82.2 innings pitched.
This comes the day after the Cardinals declined the options to pitchers Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, and Keynan Middleton.
Nick Martinez declined his player option for $12 million with the Cincinnati Reds, making him a free agent.
The 34-year-old righty posted a 10-7 record in 2024, with a 3.10 ERA in 142.1 innings pitched. He appeared in 42 games, 16 of which were starts.
Scottsdale wins again, improves to 9-12
Recap by John Dreker
Friday night marked the first time during this Arizona Fall League season that no Pittsburgh Pirates were in the starting lineup for the Scottsdale Scorpions. They took on the Salt River Rafters during this contest. The bullpen provided some Pirates news, as Derek Diamond came on to work during the fourth inning. Eddy Yean joined the game in the eighth inning.
Diamond entered the game with a 4-1 lead, bases empty and one out. He got a fly ball to right field for the first out, then surrendered a double on a liner to right. The inning ended four pitches later on a fly out to left field. Diamond stayed on for the fifth inning. He recorded a swinging strikeout to start the frame. A liner to right led to the second out. He then walked a batter on five pitches. Diamond threw one pitch to the next batter before picking off the runner at first base to end the inning.
This game had pitch information available. Diamond worked mainly with his four-seam fastball in the fourth inning, topping out at 95.4 MPH. He also mixed in three sliders and a changeup. He threw 11 pitches in the inning. The fifth inning saw him throw 16 pitches, with 11 being fastballs. He added four sliders and a changeup. He topped out at 94.5 MPH during that frame. Diamond threw 16 of his 27 pitches for strikes. He has given up three earned runs this fall over ten innings of work, with seven hits, two walks, and 11 strikeouts.
Yean got a ground out to third base on his first pitch of the eighth inning. The next batter battled for eight pitches until being called out on strikes. Yean finished off a clean inning with a pop-out to third base. He worked mainly with his four-seam fastball during a 14-pitch (nine strikes) inning. He topped out at 95.8 MPH.
Yean has allowed six earned runs over 6.2 innings during his seven fall appearances. He has given up 11 hits and four walks while recording five strikeouts.
Scottsdale won 4-1, moving them to a 9-12 record with nine games left. The Scorpions are off on Saturday. They will resume play on Sunday at 7 PM EST when they host the Glendale Desert Dogs (12-9 record).
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A's want defense at 3B. We should try and offload Ke'cantplay Hayes. I've got Baseball Trade Values queued up and it thinks:
Ke'Cant Hayes
Luis Ortiz
Matt Fraizer
$12M cash to pay down some of Hayes' anchor
for
Tyler Soderstrom
To date, Derek Diamond is 5th in the AFL Pitching Stats - 0-0, 2.70 ERA, 10 IP, 7H, 2BB/ 11K. The Pirates drafted him in the 6th Round of the 2022 Draft, and should be set to join a solid group at AA next year.
On the other side, Sammy Siani is 9th in the AFL Hitting with a slash of .408/.482/.592/1.074 OPS. Well rounded at the plate with 3 doubles, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 6 BB/9 K, and an excellent fielding 3 position OF. In AA this year he had 7 OF Assists and only 2 Errors.