The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve traded recently designated infielder Phil Gosselin to the Pirates in exchange for minor league righty Frank Duncan. Right-hander Nefi Ogando has been designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster, the Pirates announced. (Gosselin was designated for assignment earlier in the week when the D-backs signed Daniel Descalso to a one-year deal with a club option for 2018.)
The 28-year-old Gosselin originally came up with the Braves back in 2013, but he’s spent the majority of the past two seasons with the Diamondbacks. Primarily a second baseman, Gosselin batted .283/.338/.409 in 316 plate appearances with the D-backs over the past two seasons and is a .283/.331/.385 hitter in 501 Major League plate appearances.
Gosselin grades out as a fairly solid second baseman from a defensive standpoint, though despite the fact that it’s been his most frequent position in the Majors, he’s still logged only 487 innings there. He’s also spent some time at shortstop, third base, first base and in the outfield corners as a Major Leaguer.
Gosselin should get a chance to make the Pirates’ roster out of Spring Training, though he could vying for the same utility infield job as the out-of-options Alen Hanson. Hanson’s status could complicate matters for Gosselin, as he still has two minor league options remaining and wouldn’t need to be exposed to waivers in order to be sent down. Even if Gosselin isn’t a fixture on the roster in 2017, the Bucs have the ability to control him through at least the 2020 season, as he has just two years, 85 days of Major League service time to this point in his career.
Duncan, 25, reached Triple-A for the first time in 2016 and posted a combined 2.34 ERA with 7.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 55.7 percent ground-ball rate between Double-A and Triple-A. Despite those gaudy numbers, Duncan drew a somewhat lukewarm review from Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen in his review of the Pirates’ farm system. Longenhagen noted that Duncan “fills the zone and eats innings, but his stuff (sinker in the upper-80s, fringe-average breaking ball, below-average changeup) is that of an up-and-down arm more than a big-league mainstay.”
Losing his spot on the roster as a result of this move is the 27-year-old Ogando, whom Pittsburgh claimed off waivers from the Marlins back on Dec. 23. There’s plenty to like about Ogando, who has averaged better than 95 mph on his fastball and induced grounders on 57.6 percent of the balls put into play against him in his brief MLB sample of work (19 2/3 innings, 3.66 ERA). However, despite Ogando’s ability to overpower hitters with his fastball, he’s fanned just 10 hitters in the Majors to go along with 10 walks.
A look at Ogando’s minor league production reveals a similar tale; though he throws in the mid- to upper-90s, he’s averaged 7.4 K/9 in his minor league career and just 7.0 per nine in Triple-A. Walks have been a persistent issue for him in the minors as well, as he’s consistently averaged between four and five walks per nine innings pitched. Ogando has changed hands on waivers three times in the past 14 months, going from Philadelphia to Miami to Pittsburgh, so it’s possible that another club will want to try its hand at harnessing his intriguing velocity.
So happy for us with this trade…now we can compete with the Cubs and Cards and didn’t give up any big name prospects.
Was this sarcasm?
Wow- The Pirates had to give up their 19th prospect here! Thats nuts!! Good move for Hazen.
Only the 19th? Y’all got him cheap! Try giving up Touki Toussaint for this guy! Hahahaha!!
And cue all the lame ass “that’ll get them competitive” jokes.
Gosselin is not a bad bench piece. Ill trade a low end prospect for someone that can help a team ready to win now every time
I always thought Gosselin was an excellent and consistent bench bat with good base running skills. Solid defense as well. He’s worth a 10-20 prospect or two.
I’m still not sure what the Pirates Organization is doing?? Are they trying to be competitive or rebuilding?
They’re being competitive. One bad season doesn’t mean you have to rebuild.
Idk man when I look at their roster I don’t see them making playoffs but still finishing 3rd in the Central Division.
are we calling a depth move.. a rebuild?
You kinda have to use lame ass jokes after watching over twenty losing seasons of bad baseball. We will never see the World Series again anytime soon. If not for adding a wildcard team like MLB did they would just be known for beating the over 500 mark.
The 3 years the Pirates made the WC, they were the home team. Meaning they would have gone straight to the NLDS. At least get your facts straight, but Yinzers don’t wanna hear facts. Only want to complain about everything
Truth.
Winner.
You get tired of guys who think ‘winning baseball’ is contending for the wild card for three years and doing just enough to get there. These are the guys who buy the small market baloney that comes from one of majors’ wealthiest owners, will tell you that is a consortium of owners after all and then make the rationalization that what a segment of fans want is to spend like the Cubs or Red Sox
You can just confine the maneuvers to the past year and understand what’s going on in Pittsburgh. You give away Walker for nothing. You fail to sign Happ. You deal Liriano–which made sense–but then you throw in two ‘top 10’ prospects, you know, from the Pirates first rate farm system, and you sign a lot of scrap
You have a limited middle infield, a hole at 1st, a weak hitting catcher and some real question marks in the starting rotation. And all you can do is continually carp that people who point all of this out are complaining ‘yinzers.’
Do you know anything about baseball at all, or is it your view that fans should just be happy they have PNC Park?
Funny….but based on your one sided view of transactions I wonder how much you really know about baseball. Your level of foresight and clairvoyance is amazing, especially after 2 months of a career below average pitcher in Happ, who signed for exactly what he asked, you knew he was going to be that good. Wow. Must be nice being you.
Oh, the “hole” we have at first, just about all teams would love to have that problem with the prospect we have. I know, I know, you already can see ahead of how this will work out. Sorry.
And I am definitely curious how you rate pitching prospects and evaluate arms, since you obviously knew how the Happ deal was going to work out ahead of time.
Sometimes its better to let people think you are an idiot, than to open your mouth and let them KNOW you are idiot….FYI
One losong season out of four and 50% of Pittsburgh jumps ship. Its a joke as is this city. when the pirates were winning you were at the games all excited. You did a great job regurgitating all mark maddens talking points. A lot of the idiots that bash the pirates for every single thing they do currently and in the past gave a former owner a standing ovation when he threw out the first pitch at the 2013 NLDS.
Remember that the bulk of the losing came under Kevin McClatchy. Wasted draft pick year after year. Brought in old washed up players and always put profit first but the idiots in this city love him now. These same idiots wanted to run the Penguins out of town when they were bad but now they all go to the games.
Pittsburgh is the biggest fair weather fan city. People pretend to be fans until things get bad, when things do get bad the fans call up the slob “double M”. Atleast I wont have to hear drunk losers screaming Steelers and here we go Pirates at games this year since they are going to be so terrible 🙁
One-sided, eh?
What did the Pirates get for Walker again? And while Liriano deserved to go, the trade of two top 20 prospects were for another minor league arm?
One-sided?
The point about Happ–and I should have mentioned Volquez, too–was that two careers were essentially resurrected and allowed to leave town with no real replacement. Never mind the outrageous salaries they commanded. Maybe I should throw in Blanton, too
Usually, I’d have to go to a bowling alley to find such a knowledgeable individual. But instead, it’s clear you are likely in middle school and get your news from Pirates PR. Maybe the Parrot will visit you and all the other boys and girls soon
Can’t stand Madden
You’re 100% right about McClatchy
Not a huge Pirates fan but rather a fan of baseball
No illusions about power structures and money. No way they can compete with Chicago or LA
Don’t bash the Pirates when they get it right. The proposed Quintana deal is one example. Meadows and 3 top prospects? Forget it
Bringing in stretch run help during those 3 years were good moves
Somehow, the philosophy changed in the past year or so. Look at the return. Look at what’s been given away. I’d like the team to win 90 games every year but there seems to be a move toward just biding time until next wave of talent matures in ’19 or ’20.
Just like I don’t need Madden to think for me, I don’t need Pirates marketing folks who show up here, either
Your logic is a complete joke.
Obviously, you think you know what you are talking about because your older and “youve been there.”
Maybe you ought to take look at some sabremetrics. Hint: if you did, you might understand why Walker, as you say, was let go for nothing. Do a little analysis, expert, before you pop off as the expert you are. For any other knowledgeable fan, that doesnt have your future seeing clairvoyance, it made sense.
Also, while you are going down the self improvement path, maybe you should begin learning the economics of baseball, unless you are a Nutting Wallet idiot. If thats the case, my case is closed.
However, in the meantime,I will be sure to contact the front office to reach out to you for consulting on any deal since you seem to be such an expert with no understanding of sabremetrics and operating within a budget.
It wouldnt matter if Nutting was the richest man in the world, nobody enters a business venture with with intention to lose money. PNC Park is gorgeous but also one of the smallest capacity ballparks in baseball which limits income in addition to 20 years of losing baseball causing them to have some of the lowest average ticket prices up until a couple years ago in all of baseball and they signed a bad tv deal (their fault but still a cause to limit payroll). Nutting actually tried to put more of his own money into payroll a handful of years ago instead of just profits from the team and the minority owners refused because they would have had to match the same percentage of their ownership stakes of the amount Nutting put forward. Kinda glad they refused though cuz now the Pirates have a lot more invested in international scouting and analytics partially because of it.
Speaking of analytics, the Pirates have been a bit of a trail blazer in sabremetrics. Certainly one of the first teams to employ the defense shift, pitching to induce ground balls and pitch framing. There has been one failure, which was shallow CF positioning last year. However, 3 successes and 1 failure isnt bad.
The success has been such that the feont office has been hit with losses of personnel to other teams.
But…go Nuttings Wallet!
Any post that refers to Nutting’s personal net worth instead of the Pirates revenue steams is pure Yinzer MM lemming parrot.
The Pirates have lower ticket prices than the majority of MLB teams.
I NEVER hear Yinzers demanding that the Pirates raise ticket prices to Red Sox levels. Just that Nutting should take his own personal money and spend like other teams.
The TV deal sucks (yes, 100% their own fault). IF they still won’t spend after they get a new deal with Root Sports, then bash him all you want.
The philosophy has changed because this core isn’t good enough to win a championship, but the 2019-2020 core might be.
Getting a Jose Quintana changes little in the short term and cripples the medium term.
Even in the short term, Tyler Glasnow figuring it out gives them a better chance to win in 2017 than JQ as Glasnow’s ceiling is higher.
This is all true.
Pittsburgh has the worst best sports fans in America.
Pittsburgh is the biggest fair weather city huh? I guess you didn’t see New York Mets Fans screaming for Matt Harvey to finish game 5 of the World Series against the Royals,but when he blew it Mets fans ripped Terry Collins for leaving him in the game. All fans are fair weather.
To ronnsnow’s point, the second wildcard actually hurt us more than it helped us. Huntington even laughed at the irony of that as year or so ago.
You left out a remarkable 98 win season…. an NL MVP… multiple gold gloves… and a pitching reclamation coaching staff that may have no rival. Oh… and one of the best farms systems in all of baseball for several years running.
And zero post season series wins. Way to go.
Are you ever going to try out some new material? Did Ray Searage or Clint Hurdle kick your dog or something? Every… single… Pirates post.
And if they won the NDLS you’d complain they didn’t win the LCS. And if they won the LCS you’d complain they didn’t win the WS.
Way to go… on your meaningful contribution.
No rival ? How about hickey in TB and bosio in Chi?
Read closer: “that may have no rival.”
Irish fan: million dollar question and they know they aren’t winning division with Cubs being a beast for at least a decade and Cards being Cards and winning game after game….Didn’t think it’s a rebuild but lower spending and no money risk and see where your at at all star game seems like the goal….I’ll bet they sell everything off by break
I think its gonna be very similar to last season where they sell some parts and try to pick up some guys as well. Most similarly, I’d expect Watson will be traded regardless of position in the standing for the same reasons/circumstances Melancon was moved at the deadline.
Duncan was really good in AAA last year, he could make it to the big leagues this year
Duncan probably didn’t have much of a chance to make the rotation this or next season but does seem odd they would trade him for someone like Gosselin.
another depth move for the pirates.
Eh, he has a nice sink on his fastball but he doesn’t have much to speak of else where. Curve is average at best and he’s inconsistent with it, the changeup is below average, and he gives up too many hits. AAAA guy, bullpen depth future.
Duncan barely breaks 90mph with his fastball…. nice pitcher, but if he cracks an MLB rotation in the next three years I’ll eat my shorts.
Soft-tossers rarely catch a break. Perhaps unfair, but it’s true. And Pgh covets velocity.
Pgh did Duncan a huge favor by shipping him to AZ.
Look how bad the GM is….cervelli at almost 9 million this year for 1 HR and 33 RBI….Bastardo back for 6.5 million and ERA 5.00 from a trade that send a producing Neil walker to Mets because they didn’t want to spend resign money, only to get Bastardo back from a failed pitcher from Neil Walker trade…so that’s what twenty some percent of payroll on two players that suck so they didn’t have to pay Neil Walker….sad part is they spend money but just the wrong players…..don’t even have to mention the resign blunder of Josh Harrison for 7 million this year….what GM in a real place job would still have have job
You are very misinformed and uneducated
Agreed.
Simon, you cant fix stupid people. Idiots like this guy are told their opinions by others. They are merely parrots.
Misinformed. Uneducated. Stupid. Idiot.
You’re all being rather kind. A bit of a white wash, really.
Give me two guesses and I’ll tell you who told him his opinion.
Lets put it out there: he is a fan of a loser afternoon radio mouth that thinks he knows more than ownership groups of all three teams in Pittsburgh, yet, mysteriously, those elusive GM jobs seem to elude him. “Hmm, that’s a mystery.”
Yep. Most likely.
But, DK more or less parrots the same thing about the Pirates, too.
The thing I find funny….IF they believe what they say about Nutting…that he’s the worst and cheapest owner, etc. (and he might be, we’ll find out after the new Root Sports deal) then they should be AMAZED at what Huntingdon is able to achieve.
Bad GM’s don’t win 98 games for bad owners.
Huntindon and Searage are the absolute pillars of this franchise.
Cervelli didn’t have any power because he broke his hamate bone, which saps power for over a year. Bastardo had better numbers with us the year before than with the Mets–we didn’t resign him previously because we couldn’t afford him on the open market. We still may flip him since I can’t see taking 5 LHRP into the season. I agree on Harrison–overpaid based on a career year. With this addition I wonder if something might be in the works regarding Harrison–and no I don’t think Gosselin is better than Harrison, but I don’t think he’s that much worse on the field.
Prior to last year, Niese was a legitimate mid rotation arm- which the Pirates needed so trading Walker (who was in his walk year and had struggled with injuries while gettong expensive via arbitration) wasn’t terrible.
Niese for Bastardo was simply a change of scenery swap hoping for the best.
Harrison had played amazingly prior to the extension and was hurt most of last season.
Huntington has had some bad luck but the good outweighs the bad by a wide margin (although the Liriano trade was putrid last deadline).
Cervelli hits for average, not power. Plus his defense makes him a top 5 catcher in the NL and he is a fan favorite. Bastardo is a bad contract, but he has a history of success and is still a solid middle reliever. And also, don’t use ERA to evaluate relievers as one bad inning can make it rocket. Walker has back issues and is on the wrong side of 30; he’s injury prone. Sure, they probably could have gotten some good prospects but at the time Niece was a solid 4th/5th left handed starter, and that carries value.
What GM in a…real…place…job would still have…job?
This is some heavy hitting criticism.
No periods or commas, completely uneducated. I lost interest quarter way through reading this. Proper periods and commas, would have made it much easier to read. All I really understand was that Pirates don’t spend money because of a lousy G.M?
First off, G.M doesn’t control the payroll each team has. Owners control the spending and budget of payroll. Neil Huntington is doing his job at the best of his abilities.
Second, Pirates are NOT the Yankees, Nationals, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc. and make decisions (in MONEY) of signings are a hit and miss. You easily point out the negatives of parts of these saying since they haven’t worked out to expectations.. Here are some positive signings (in words of production):
Kang, outside of recent outside of baseball events, this has been a great signing. He’s played better than anyone and everyone who doubted KBO players. A gamble that paid off.
Sterling Marte, another excellent signing at affordable price. Gold glove winner and his offense is well above Average. A gamble that paid off.
Gregory Polanco, another signing at affordable price. He still has some maturity and can be a Gold Glove winner. His maturity is probably in needs a bit better of plate discipline. All around, gamble paying off.
And to throw out a wild card:
Harold Ramirez, another international signings. So far, good gamble.
Fransico Liriano, played parts of 4 seasons with the Pirates and 3 being good years. Gamble paid off.
AJ Burnett, signed back to finish his career. Gamble paid off
Ivan Nova, re-signed and could be the back bone of the rotation.
I can go on and on, but you look at a few negatives and think the Pirates make horrible decisions all the time. Every team makes good or bad decisions, it’s all a gamble. Some pay off and some don’t. Pirates make not make big splashes on players like Yu Daverish, Jung Choo (whatever his actual name is), Ichiro Suzuki, and so on. Be they gamble the same way but on low cost.
I agree with you but…
Harold Ramirez is a blue jay and was pretty much given away.
nova probably won’t be anything more than a back end starter.. but looked decent in his handful of games as a pirate could be come a solid mid rotation guy.. for the price.. not a bad gamble.
I’m at a loss as to where the writer is misinformed. Why? Because he doesn’t drink the kool aid like you?
For the record, I hate Madden. I don’t subscribe to DK. But I have been a fan dating back to Forbes Field. I have to wonder where some folks here have accumulated their baseball knowledge. Perhaps the team website?
You make a number of salient points that any fan would agree with but you pigeonhole the dissent of many into the misguided notion that spending like the Cubs, Red Sox or Dodgers is the only thing that would appease. That’s nonsense
In their three year ascent, the team constantly tried to augment its roster with available talent. Morneau and Byrd come to mind here, among others. A nice change of course in this town
After the failures however, the team seemed to look at the window as closing. The gambles you write of often entailed giving away players and their contracts in return for prospects
Painting it with a broad brush is nice for argument sake, but big splash trades and signings were never the point to many long time fans
Like it or not, you have an average middle infield, question mark at first and a youth movement in the rotation that will be hard pressed to push the team into contention this year
I’m good with all of that if the idea is to wait until the prospects mature. But don’t tell me this is an admin trying hard to compete this year. I forgot more baseball than Madden will ever learn, but this looks like an effort to be a 500 team
Lol….OK…..in your five word sentence
What’s the misinformation then brains of the Web.
Cervelli and Harrison are worth every penny they’ve paid… given the cost/WAR (between 6M and 8M depending on where you look) They probably will be again next year as well. Especially if you feel like i do, the team in general will rebound from the roster wide poor play last season.
Bastardo will probably be gone by the start of spring
Yeah the Niese/Wakler trade ended up blowing up, but seeing how walker had no place with the pirates in the future and they needed a starter. seemed like a good idea at the time.
If you want to get on Neal about something talk about the Liriano trade.
Only smart people use from one to five words to bully on Internet
Smarter people try to express their thoughts coherently. They also don’t make assertions like “any other GM would lose his job” when cherry-picking 2 deals of theirs that haven’t worked out, while ignoring numerous others that have worked out. Neal has made his share of mistakes and head scratchers, like any GM. Claiming that any other GM would have been fired for making the Walker trade and the Harrison extension is simply not true.
This looks to be a useful piece for the Dbacks. Duncan appears to be a nice fit for Chase Field. Snakes need all the pitching help they can find.
No, no, and no.
Don’t like it one bit. No Sir, not at all.
Lol…your funny dude
Evidently it’s hard to get Antonio’s last name past MLBTR’s comment filter. I’ve had at least 3 comments not posted because of it
hahaha i was wondering what it was.. now that you say that i’m like.. well duh…
well if he hits .270 and scatters a hr here and there, contributes, it’s a good move
Gosselin is not a bad player at all. Sort of a Sean Rodriguez replacement in some ways, I suppose. Also some Kang insurance if that dumba@@ gets suspended or otherwise disciplined. I’m not familiar with Duncan but nothing I’ve read suggests he had much of a future in Pittsburgh.
I so much wanted to hate this move because Frank Duncan is a useful part to lose, but upon reading this guy Phil Gosselin’s statistics over his minor and major league career at baseball-reference.com, I have to say this was a great deal for the Pirates.
What I see is a Billy Almon/Jimmy Morrison type of player (surprisingly good hitter who can fill in all over). Longtime Pirates fans will know what I’m talking about.
This is an obvious move towards a winning team, and to even mention ‘rebuild’ is beyond ridiculous. A good team needs guys like this.
Morrison with a bit less power, or Almon with a bit less speed, are nice comparisons. Or like I said above, a Sean Rodriguez “lite” version. I like the pickup actually.
I doubt it happens but I hope Ogando clears waivers. The Bucs have a lot of high risk/reward bullpen arms including Ogando, if he stays in the system, to fill in if necessary by virtue of injuries or trading off some relievers throughout the season.
Sample size isn’t huge but Gosselin isn’t bad at the plate. Not a bad guy to have as a PH.