Morning Rundown: Phillies sign Max Kepler, Pirates sign Darick Hall to a minor league deal
Phillies sign outfielder, Pirates add more depth
The Philadelphia Phillies have added an outfielder to the mix, signing Max Kepler to a one-year contract worth $10 million.
Kepler, 31, hit .253/.302/.380 with eight home runs in 399 plate appearances last year for the Minnesota Twins, where he had spent his entire career up to this point. He hit 36 home runs in 2019, with another 24 two years ago in 2023.
He joins an outfield with Brandon Marsh, Nick Castellanos, and Johan Rojas.
While he was never connected to the Pirates, there was a fit there as a corner outfielder.
Pittsburgh has yet to acquire a free-agent hitter on a major league deal this offseason but traded for Spencer Horwitz.
The Pirates have appeared to sign first baseman Darick Hall to a minor-league contract, according to multiple Phillies-related accounts on Twitter.
Hall, 29, batted .236/.320/.387 with 16 home runs and 72 RBI in 114 games played in Triple-A with the Phillies organization. He’s hit 10 home runs in 198 plate appearances in the majors but has struck out over 30% of the time.
The deal comes with an invite to Spring Training as well. This is a depth move that seemingly replaces Seth Beer in the upper levels for the Pirates.
The Athletics continue their aggressive push this offseason, signing Gio Urshela, who played with the Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves this past season.
In 128 games, Urshela hit .250/.286/.361 with nine home runs and 52 RBI.
Urshela could factor into the third base picture going into Spring Training. He joins Luis Severino (free agency) and Jeffrey Springs (trade) as some of the aggressive moves they’ve made this offseason.
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There is a guy I met once, who is one of the three great geniuses of our times, named Clem. He has some BBQ spots out Rt 22 between the Burgh and the Laurel Highlands.... His wife ran them last I heard in the divorce settlement. It turns out Clem was gay, not that that is important. But he and his sons came to Port Matilda, Pa for a while and they set up shop along SR 220 smoking pork and chicken all day long in a parking lot that used to be a gas station run by some middle eastern folks who disappeared suspiciously right after 9/11....
Well, the point of the story is Clem makes the best BBQ sauce I have ever tasted in my life.
I think they were quite successful and I believe they now supply a lot of product to restaurants in State College now.
Man you stick some good slaw on one of Clem's pulled pork sammies and whooa-nellie!
Cabbage was better - and I don't even like cabbage that much.