The Pirates Dive into the Offseason by Making Space and Decisions

11-4-23 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X

It’s not like we had no idea this was coming. We toss names around like we’re trading baseball cards, but then when it happens, man it hits you. Did we move on too early? Did he get a fair chance here? Which series this year will he homer to kill my Buccos?

The offseason is bittersweet. Over time, you come to love players, and you pull so hard for them to crack through, sometimes you blind yourself to how many bites at the apple they’ve already been given.

Lets talk through this batch as we know it and start the offseason together. Before we do, I say “as we know” because team’s don’t necessarily have to announce they’ve placed a guy on waivers and they get missed on occasion. So, let’s go with to the best of my knowledge, this is what has been done and we’ll attempt to give each a “why” too.

Yerry De Los Santos – 25 – RP – Pre Arb Status
Thoughts: I was a little surprised by this. I mean, I didn’t think he was a lock to make the 26 man out of Spring or anything, but in 24.1 MLB innings he posted a 3.33 ERA, not bad, so I felt he warranted stashing in AAA at least. His bugaboo might be his K rate, it’s not where the Pirates prefer their bullpen machine.
Status: Waived. If Yerry clears waivers he has enough service time to choose free agency or he could choose to remain a Pirates farm hand.

Cody Bolton – 25 – RP – Rookie Status
Thoughts: Not shocked by this at all, in fact there was an outing in September that I clearly remember Tweeting would be the reason he ultimately was DFA’d, turns out they found a suitor. That said, Cody was intentionally ping ponged all season long in Pittsburgh this year, getting your footing was never going to happen. Wish him luck.
Status: Traded for Cash to the Seattle Mariners

Miguel Andujar – 28 – DH/OF – Year 3 Arb
Thoughts: As Miguel was tearing it up in AAA, I told you this day was coming. I can simplify this by saying it was him or Cutch. I can complicate this by adding in all the things that I’ve said over the months this has played out. Perhaps the best way to show you this was predictable is to actually force you to look at the opportunity the Pirates gave him, or, lack thereof, after his call up. A team, desperate for offense had a dude putting up 100 RBIs in the minors and they just refused, until their DH Andrew McCutchen got hurt, and even then, they barely played him 3 times a week. If you’re honest, they told you how this story was gonna end in September.
Status: Waived. Obviously this makes the decision to tender him moot. Could they sign him as a Minor League free agent? Sure, but he probably did enough to get a Major League offer from someone.

Tucupita Marcano – 24 – INF/OF – Pre Arb Status
Thoughts: As I understand it, the knee injury was fairly severe and he isn’t likely to start the season healthy. With the Pirates, his most likely path to playing time is second base, but it’s safe to say they also have some more options there with higher pedigree to work through. Still a bit surprised to see this move, but I kinda get it too. Shows something about Ben Cherington though, he wanted Tucupita badly. He went after him when he traded Joe Musgrove and missed, then he circled back with Adam Frazier and got him. To his credit, he didn’t get hung up on being right and moved on. A positive quality to have in a GM.
Status: Waived. Claimed by San Diego.

Vinny Capra – 27 – INF – Pre Arb Status
Thoughts: If I asked 100 Pirates fans the first roster casualty they saw coming from a mile away this offseason 75 of them would say Vinny Capra. He plays a position they don’t need filler, and at least up to this point, hasn’t done a blessed thing in MLB. I didn’t really understand claiming him in the first place, I further didn’t understand calling him up to MLB, I won’t act confused now that it ended this way.
Status: Waived. Claimed by Milwaukee

Alfonso Rivas – 27 – 1B/OF – Pre Arb Status
Thoughts: Thank you. That’s about it, thanks to Alfonso for being a fine defender and quietly playing out the string. Thanks to the GM for not pretending this was in any way a solution at 1B. This was always what was coming.
Status: Waived. Claimed by Cleveland

Angel Perdomo – 29 – RP – Pre Arb Status
Thoughts: Angel was on the 60-day IL, and it seemed the general consensus amongst the commentator/journalist class was that this injury would clear itself up and he’d just be back in the mix in 2024. Me included, honestly. I bring that up because, it’s entirely possible we just don’t know as much about his injury as the Pirates do. If this isn’t injury related, man, I really don’t like it. They have some nice left handed bullpen options now, but it would be nice to have more than you need too right?
Status: Waived.

That’s it for now, but it certainly won’t be all we’ll see. All in all, nothing Earth shattering here, but some signs that good enough isn’t going to be, well, good enough for this GM, something we should all welcome. You know, as long as he’s right.