Morning Rundown: Pittsburgh Pirates sign Michael A. Taylor, Domingo German
The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed free agent outfielder Michael A. Taylor to a one-year contract worth $4 million, which Jeff Passan first reported.
Taylor, 32, hit a career-high 21 home runs with the Minnesota Twins last year.
In nearly 1,000 games at the major league level, Tayor has hit .239/.294/.389 to go along with a wRC+ of 82.
The defense is his carrying tool, as Taylor is one of the best in the business while playing center field.
He was in the 94th percentile for Outs Above Average on Baseball Savant and the 90th for arm strength.
Taylor will give the Pirates a legitimate right-handed option to play center field along with Jack Suwinski, even with the capability to put both in the outfield. That’d give them two players who finished in the positive in OAA while playing center field last year.
On Friday, the Pirates also signed right-handed pitcher Domingo German to a minor league contract.
German, 31, has pitched for the Yankees his entire career and has a 31-28 record in the majors.
He won 18 games in 2019 but has just 11 in the three years he has played since.
Last year, he went 5-7 with a 4.56 ERA across 108.2 innings pitched. According to Baseball Savant, he threw his curveball 40% of the time while mixing in a four-seam, change-up, and sinker.
He joins Eric Lauer as a veteran pitcher the Pirates have recently signed to minor league deals.
Quinn Priester had perhaps his best Spring outing, pitching 4.2 innings of one-run, two-hit ball and striking out five.
He mixed all of his pitches well, with 41% of them either being a called strike or whiff.
Fighting for one of the last two rotation spots, Priester is a grand slam away from having the numbers to match his overall success over his last couple of starts.
Only Gleyber Torres got to Priester, doubling and hitting a solo home run off of him.
Jack Brannigan opened up the scoring with a solo home run in the third inning. He would also later drive in a run on a single.
Also competing for a rotation spot, Luis Ortiz pitched four innings, allowing one Run on four hits and two walks while striking out two.
Jack Suwinski had a big day, picking up three hits, including a home run and double.
The Pirates play two games on Saturday. The first is against the Detroit Tigers at home in Bradenton, and part of the team will travel to face the Atlanta Braves.
According to the MLB.com website, Mitch Keller is listed as the starter against Detroit, with Jared Jones scheduled to face Atlanta.
Top Exit Velocity
Jack Suwinski - 106.4 mph - Single
Jack Brannigan - 104.6 mph - Single
Jack Suwinski - 103.3 mph - Double
Edward Olivares - 100.5 mph - Double
Jack Suwinski - 99.8 mph - Home Run
Top Pitch Velocity
Kyle Nicolas - 97.6 mph
Kyle Nicolas - 97.3 mph
Luis Ortiz - 96.8 mph
Luis Ortiz - 96.5 mph
Luis Ortiz - 96.4 mph
Most Whiffs
Quinn Priester - 13 (48.1%)
Luis Ortiz - 10 (24.3%)
The Pirates released a pair of minor leagues, Josh Bissonette and Eybert Escalona.
Bissonette was a 31st-round pick out of Baylor and had a career minor league OPS of .611 with two home runs in 231 games.
Listed as a catcher, Escalona split time there and at first base while in the field, playing for the FCL Pirates. He had a .661 OPS in 71 plate appearances.
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Not sure why MAT is so polarizing to some…plus defender with some bottom of the order pop, great platoon option for Suwinski in CF, gives Shelton flexibility to play Suwinski in RF against lefties if he doesn’t want to take him out of the lineup, could be a nice late inning defensive replacement, and at about half of his previously perceived market value. This is a great allocation of $4m; very Raysesque assuming he is deployed correctly.
I really like both these moves, and have been advocating for them for a while.
German is probably the best starter they acquired this offseason (faint praise, but true). Good K rates, good BB rates, he's a homer problem away from being good. Nonetheless, he's should be a legit 3rd/4th starter type. Reports are the Pirates met extensively with him and his wife and interviewed others collaterally involved and feel as though he is addressing his issues.
Taylor is a legit CF, and gives them an actual CF, particularly when lefties start. Reynolds-Taylor-Suwinski is a strong defensive OF, and Olivares is a nice 4th OF.