TODAY: Snider says that he is “talking with multiple teams, including the Pirates,” Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on Twitter. The free agent added that he “hope[s] to have a decision made soon.”
YESTERDAY: On his radio show this morning, Pirates GM Neal Huntington confirmed that he has reached out to Travis Snider’s camp and that there is some interest in a deal, Dan Zangrilli of 93.7 The Fan tweets. Snider, of course, was with the Pirates from 2012 through 2014 before an offseason trade sent him to Baltimore.
Snider, 27, was designated for assignment by the Orioles earlier this month and was ultimately released on Saturday. The Orioles acquired Snider as they sought to mix and match pieces to fill in for the departed Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis. There was never much hope of fully replicating their collective production, but the O’s have nevertheless largely been disappointed by their Opening Day corner outfield platoon, leading the team to add Gerardo Parra last month.
The 2014 season looked like something of a breakout for Snider as he slashed .264/.338/.438 with 13 home runs, seemingly making good on his former top-prospect ratings. But, he was not able to carry that forward in Baltimore, as his current .659 OPS attests.
Snider to the Pirates? He just left. What has he done to make them want him back?
Another guy a team wants to play for 45 days. Some of these player moves are becoming too much.
Snider 1.1 WAR
Morse -0.6 WAR
Sean Rodriguez -0.6 WAR
Maybe its because Snider is better than half their bench?
You must not pay attention to stats or know anything about the Pirates then. Half the team? Where is Miami sitting right now in the standings…hmmm?
Rosters are expanding in a couple of weeks and it wouldn’t hurt to add a bench bat that did fairly well for them last year.. He will only be getting the prorated version of the league minimum.. So tell me exactly how his addition would hurt them?
I can answer you in 2 words: Travis Ishikawa. As in, Snider is better as a lefty off of the bench than Travis.
Well, it’s a shame the O’s could not work a deal for Worley for Snider.
As for Snider himself, he was so inconsistent.
He would work a good at bat, then he would have a clueless at bat.
He would make a good play in the outfield, then he would again appear clueless.
He would hit a home-run, then he couldn’t even buy a hit for the next ten at bats.
He was all over the place. Hence that is why he is currently out of a job.
Now as to why Duquette and Show thought he could replace Cruz and Kakes is a bit of a mystery given his production.
I don’t think they were expecting Snider to replace Cruz’s production.
Why would you want to sign a long term DH who had a career year for you at age 34 who wanted a 4 year deal? Its not a Baltimore-type move.
As for Cruz’s production, they were expecting a mixture of Snider, bounce backs from Machado, Wieters and Davis to replace that production, which they have done.
Agree, and signing Cruz probably takes them out of bidding to retain those FA
Most definitely.. Although keeping Markakis or Cruz would have helped mitigate the loss of Davis next year.. Markakis didn’t sign a very big contract with Atlanta.. Cruz on the other hand has a lot more risk involved.. Davis will probably be priced out of Baltimore with many “experts” (cough cough) predicting him to land a $100+ million contract this year.. If all 3 of Wieters, Davis and Chen turn down QO’s they should have a solid draft next year.. The way teams seem to be fast tracking prospects these days they might be back to a solid contender in 2017.. With all of the picks they are forecast to get they should have a rather large draft pool. Which should give them the opportunity to draft someone like Cameron, next year and go way over slot for him.. Regardless, things are shaping up for a very exciting off season this year..
Next year’s FA class is completely loaded. They can spend that ~50M or so that Cruz would have costed or the ~100M or so that Davis would cost to add other pieces and fill holes.
You’re clearing a ton of money off the books this offseason.
Davis, Wieters, Chen, Norris, Snider, etc salary is off the books.
i hope you dont mean this offseason is loaded, it has pitchers sure, but nothing out there bat wise thats great, just a couple pretty goods.
The contract Markakis got from the Braves was much more than he deserved. That was the only decent decision the O’s made the whole off-season.
I’d say bring him back, but Polanco has been hitting great for the past month and a half. He filled in great when McCutchen went down last year (damn you, Randall Delgado); maybe he can replace Travis Isiskawa?
That would be something, if the Pirates can get him back, for nothing more than $$$, and on top , got 2 pretty decent pitchers from the Orioles, for him back in March.
I wouldn’t mind having him on the expanded roster, but how many Ab’s can they expect to give him?
I say thanx, but no thanx.
Unless he is a starting pitcher, the Pirates have no real place for him, even in september.