With Pirates Out of It, Roster Spots Still at Stake

No Rule 5 Crunch Looming, But Decisions Still to Be Made

Canaan Smith-Njigba Photo Credit: WTM

In keeping with their tradition, the Pirates as a team are just playing out the string as another non-competitive season nears its end. Plenty of individual players, though, still have something to play for, specifically, 40-man roster spots.

Including players on the 60-day injury list, the Pirates have 46 players on the roster. They’re not going to need a ton of spots open to protect players from the Rule 5 draft this year. Arguably, Kyle Nicolas and Tsung-Che Cheng are the only strong candidates to claim spots for that purpose. (And Braxton Ashcraft, as Ethan reminded me below.) Still, some room will be needed for various reasons. Here’s a rundown of players who could theoretically depart.

Free Agents

Departing major league free agents aren’t going to clear many spots for the Pirates. Not with Carlos Santana, Ji-Man Choi, Rich Hill and Austin Hedges all gone in trades. Here are the pending free agents:

Andrew McCutchen, OF
Vince Velasquez, RHP
Jarlin Garcia, LHP

McCutchen in all likelihood will be back. Velasquez pitched well over eight starts before getting hurt. The Pirates may want to bring him back, too. Starting pitchers have been in short supply. So far, they’ve shown no ability to develop prospects into major league starters, and J.T. Brubaker won’t be available before late 2024. Garcia has a club option for 2024, but given the mysterious nature of the nerve problem that kept him out all year, it’s hard to see the Pirates using it. Their need for a bullpen lefty is also less pressing, with Angel Perdomo, Jose Hernandez and Ryan Borucki all showing at least some level of ability.

The Injured List

Players on the 60-day IL will be reactivated after the World Series. It’s possible, though, that the Pirates could decide to designate one or two of them for assignment. These are the players currently on the 60-day who aren’t pending free agents:

J.T. Brubaker, RHP
Angel Perdomo, LHP
Oneil Cruz, SS
Tucupita Marcano, UT

RHP Mike Burrows is not on the 60-day IL, but he is out until probably late 2024 due to Tommy John surgery. He’s technically on option to Indianapolis. He, Brubaker and Cruz obviously aren’t going anywhere. Perdomo pitched well before going out with elbow discomfort. How serious isn’t known. If it’s bad, the Pirates could conceivably choose to remove him from the roster. Marcano could simply lose his roster spot on merit, as Jared Triolo and Ji Hwan Bae look like more useful players.

Players Potentially on the Bubble

Between players returning from the 60-day IL and a small number needing to be added for Rule 5 purposes, the Pirates are going to need to clear a handful of roster spots from the players who are left. I’m sure Chuck Noll would have something to say here.

Osvaldo Bido, RHP: Bido can be good, even dominating, for stretches, but then his control just goes AWOL. He is almost 28, but the Pirates have a couple of option years to try to figure something out.

Cody Bolton, RHP: Bolton hasn’t pitched at all well in his major league opportunities. It may be time to cut bait.

Yerry De Los Santos, RHP: A year ago, De Los Santos looked like he’d be a bullpen mainstay this year, then he had an awful spring. He was awful in AAA, too, but pitched pretty well in the majors. He’s another guy it seems worth taking some time with, seeing as how he’ll have two options left.

Bailey Falter, LHP: Falter was having a pretty awful year with the Phillies and it looked like the Pirates just got him to fill in after they traded fill-in Rich Hill. He’s done better with the Pirates, although if you look at the metrics he’s been about the same guy he was with Philly. He had some very bad luck there, with a somewhat high BABIP and a very low strand rate. With the Pirates, he’s been a little lucky on both fronts. It looks like he could be a slightly improved version of Hill going forward. Given the dismal job the Pirates have done with pitcher development, they’re going to need starters, lots of starters.

Thomas Hatch, RHP: Hatch is your basic depth reliever, routinely available on waivers, which of course is how the Pirates got him. Hopefully, the Pirates won’t be taken in by the 3.20 ERA. His xFIP was much better in Toronto than in Pittsburgh, 3.52 vs. 5.15. He’s striking out only 5.0 batters per nine innings for the Bucs.

Andre Jackson, RHP: The Pirates are trying to turn Jackson into a starter. So far, he’s good the first time through the order and very bad after that.

Max Kranick, RHP: Kranick is just getting back from Tommy John. To know whether he’s a lock to get another major league trial, you’d have to know what the Pirates are seeing as he rehabs. They cut Blake Cederlind loose at about this point.

Dauri Moreta, RHP: After some wild extremes this year, it’s hard to know what to think. Moreta will still have at least one option left next year.

Hunter Stratton, RHP: Stratton’s always missed a lot of bats, but he’s been held back by poor command. Around mid-season in AAA this year, he suddenly started throwing a lot more strikes. He’s probably getting something of a tryout in the majors now, so stay tuned.

Jason Delay, C: With Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis, the Pirates have a unique opportunity to dispense with the need to carry a weak-hitting backup catcher. Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton, though, are fanatical adherents to Nichols’ Law of Catcher Defense. They could do a lot worse than Delay. They could, for instance, pay Austin Hedges another $5M to make more outs and resume helping the pitchers get worse.

Vinny Capra, IF: The Pirates kept Capra on the active roster on purpose for over a month, leaving Nick Gonzalez and, for a while, Jared Triolo in the minors. Just because. This should be one of the off-season’s easiest calls.

Alfonso Rivas, 1B: Another easy call, or would be on a major league team. Rivas is a 27-year-old first baseman with a wRC+ of 90. He’s also a little below average defensively, according to Statcast.

Alika Williams, IF: Williams is Mario Mendoza. The Pirates have Oneil Cruz, Liover Peguero, Jared Triolo, Nick Gonzalez, Ji Hwan Bae, Tucupita Marcano and Tsung-Che Cheng. They don’t need Mario Mendoza. But Ben Cherington and Derek Shelton love no-bat players.

Miguel Andujar, OF: The Pirates sure do need a right-handed-hitting outfielder, or any first baseman, who can actually hit, so Andujar gets another chance. September is no doubt a trial to see whether they want to bring him back.

Joshua Palacios, OF: Palacios has shown a flair for the dramatic, such as with an 1.143 OPS in close-and-late situations. As a result, the local mediots haven’t noticed the 79 wRC+ or 0.0 fWAR. He’s probably safe for now.

Canaan Smith-Njigba, OF: It’s hard to see a path forward for Smith-Njigba. Palacios and Connor Joe seem to be entrenched, Ji Hwan Bae is playing very well defensively in center, and the Pirates clearly are determined to decrease Henry Davis’ value by playing him in right. Smith-Njigba, meanwhile, is hitting pretty well, but nothing special, in AAA, and has gotten almost no chances in the majors. It’s hard to see the point of him being on the 40-man roster.