Morning Rundown: Pirates sign Chase Anderson, Canaan Smith-Njigba DFA, Sal Frelick position change

Pirates make minor league signing, a former prospect was DFA, and a division rival moves former prospect to new position.

Photo Credit: WTM

The Pittsburgh Pirates added free agent right-handed pitcher Chase Anderson to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.

Anderson, 36, has a 4.35 ERA over 1,000 career innings in the majors. Most recently, he pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays and Colorado Rockies during the 2023 season, posting a 1-6 record with a 5.42 ERA over 86.1 innings pitched.

In 2017, he won a career-high 12 wins with the Milwaukee Brewers, posting a 2.74 ERA across 141.1 innings pitched.

Last year, he was recorded to throw seven different pitches on Baseball Savant, three of which he used over 20% of the time - four-seam, cutter, change-up. The cutter has generally been graded out as his best pitch.

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Former Pirates outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba was designated for assignment by the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.

The Mariners claimed him after the Pirates also DFA him. He was originally acquired from the New York Yankees in the Jameson Taillon trade. Smith-Njigba struggled in his small stint in the majors last year and has a 38 career wRC+ in 44 plate appearances.

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The Brewers are going to have a bit of a youth movement this year, which was signaled when they signed top prospect Jackson Churio to a long-term contract before he made his major league debut.

They also have an influx of options when it comes to the outfield, especially with Churio now involved.

So, it looks like they will experiment with moving some players around, namely Sal Frelick. Ken Rosenthal wrote an article mentioning Frelick’s work with Dustin Pedroia to learn the infield, and then there was a video of him taking grounders at third base yesterday.