Morning Rundown: Pirates sign Rowdy Tellez, Endy Rodriguez out for season
Pirates sign a first baseman and lose a catcher for the season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have found an answer for their hole at first base, signing former Milwaukee Brewer first baseman Rowdy Tellez to a one-year contract.
Tellez, 28, was non-tendered by the Brewers earlier in the off-season after hitting just .215 and 13 home runs in 106 games in 2023. That was a year apart from his 35-home run campaign, where he also drove in 89 RBI and a 110 wRC+.
The deal is worth $3.2 million, which also has incentives included.
News came out that Endy Rodriguez underwent Tommy John surgery on Tuesday, which will keep him out of the entire 2024 season.
Dejan Kovacevic initially reported it, followed by Alex Stumpf, with the team finally confirming it in a tweet.
Rodriguez, 23, made his major league debut this past season, showing a good arm from behind the plate. He struggled offensively, posting a wRC+ of 65 in 204 plate appearances.
The injury occurred while playing in the Dominican Winter League on November 13. This will open the door for Henry Davis to be the Pirates' everyday catcher, and it explains the signing of Ali Sanchez a little bit more.
Every Monday during the offseason, we will be doing a mailbag article. Please send in your questions to have them answered! Either comment below with ‘mailbag’ entered in the message or email us at bucsondeckqa@gmail.com. I look forward to answering what you guys have!
To share some optimism to counterpoint my earlier comment, the Diamondbacks proved you don't have to be good to make the World Series anymore, you just need some luck to get that playoff spot and then anything can happen. They had a losing record over their final 115 games of the 2023 season. The only started off 16-14, so it's not like they were riding a great start either. They had a great 12-day stretch in mid-May that included games versus the Pirates and A's, and that's it.
That DBacks vs Rangers matchup was the worst in World Series history. I don't mean the games sucked, I didn't watch a single play (judging by the record low TV ratings, neither did you). I mean the combined records were the worst in the 119 years of World Series play by a decent margin.
So chin up, mediocre can still end well in the expanded playoff era
The Pirates have literally gotten worse.
Here's to hoping (yet again) that every single prospect magically reaches their potential all at the same time!