6:34pm: Southpaw Wade LeBlanc is also on irrevocable waivers, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets. LeBlanc is earning just $750K this year and can be controlled next year via arbitration or a $1.25MM club option (with a $50K buyout).
The 33-year-old lefty has thrown 61 1/3 innings on the season, working to a 4.99 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. He has surrendered ten long balls in that span. As has been the case for most of his career, LeBlanc has posted reverse platoon splits, with lefty batters hammering him and righties managing only a .234/.288/.418 slash.
6:14pm: The Pirates have placed right-handed reliever Juan Nicasio on outright waivers, according to a report from Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Unlike revocable trade waivers, outright waivers cannot be rescinded — meaning that any team can simply claim Nicasio at this point.
That’s a surprising decision, at first glance. Nicasio, who’ll soon turn 31, has been nothing shy of outstanding this year. Over sixty frames, he owns a 2.85 ERA with sixty strikeouts against 18 walks. He’s also throwing harder than ever before, averaging 95.8 mph with his fastball while working in high-leverage spots.
On the other hand, the Bucs have now slipped so far in the standings — eight games out of a postseason spot entering action today — that there’s just no realistic hope for the team to contend. Nicasio is still set to earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $600K, as Brink notes, after avoiding arbitration for $3.65MM last fall.
Surely, the club would prefer to get something for Nicasio via trade; MLBTR’s Steve Adams ranked him second among remaining August trade candidates a few days ago. But it could well be that Nicasio was claimed and then pulled back from revocable waivers earlier this month. In that event, it makes good sense for the club to simply hope to find a taker for the salary, though it’s somewhat curious that the team did not utilize irrevocable trade waivers (rather than outright waivers) in case he does clear.
It seems reasonable to expect multiple teams to place claims on Nicasio. Because Nicasio is on outright waivers, rather than irrevocable trade waivers, teams can claim him in order of record (worst to first) regardless of which league they are in. (Otherwise, he’d have been available first to N.L. clubs.)
What is the possibility he will fall to Milwaukee?
I doubt he gets past the Marlins.
And if not the Marlins, the Cardinals would seriously consider grabbing him.
Especially now thast Leake has been traded.
Do they really want to trade him or did he do something wrong and is getting punished…?
A’s please step in…
Step in how? Waivers work in reverse order of the standings in the division that the player is from (National League), so the bottom feeders like the Phillies, Giants, Padres, Reds will all have first dibs but most likely won’t claim because he is a free-agent at year’s end and with them out of the race it would be highly unlikely he goes to the bottom 6-7 teams. That leaves teams like the Cubs, Brewers, Marlins
If he makes to the Cardinals he will be claimed there. I don’t see a reason foe them to pass.
The A’s don’t need a pending free agent reliever regardless of how the waivers work.
Phils should jump on this. Nicasio is the kind of reliever they’ll be looking for this off-season $600,000 is for them a cheap audition price. The Phils have no relievers ready for a September call-up and only possibly 1 coming off the DL. So signing Nicasio wouldn’t block anyone in September and serves as a lower cost replacement for the departed Neshek and Benoit. No brainer to me.
This can’t be financial. Even for Scrooge McNutting, 600k is chump change.
Haha, what a joke of an organisation.
The players deserve better.
And the fans too.
True. Hopefully, there’s something not reported, but at this point, who knows!
He’s listed in the bullpen, so ,
Actually, it’s hard to imagine a worse fan base…aside from those teams that just have no fans.
Just to clarify that…no fans in MLB “deserve” to win less than Pirates’ fans.
The team has to win 98 games for them to show up. Even then, they only play AAA tickets prices and demand cheap beer. They generate less than 10% of the revenue that Cubs, Yankees or Dodgers fans do for their teams, but they feel absolutely THEY are the ones entitled to championships. And if they don’t get everything they want, they genuinely feel like victims and openly talk about “getting back at” the owner for not subsidizing them with baseball welfare.*
It’s fascinating/funny to watch, actually.
*About 5% of Pirates fans are reasonable, understand the realities of a small market team without a salary cap and hope for a Royals like run while knowing that it’s only happened once in the past quarter century.
How do you figure that? You’re an idiot!
You are a clueless moron. The team is worth 1 billion so don’t give the crap that he can’t spend money. And the fans have shown up. I have had season tickets since 91 you clown.
Please feel free to change your user name and get off our bandwagon. The other 95% don’t want or need your elitist crap. Real Pittsburgh fans would never say things like that. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
“Real Pittsburgh fans would never say things like that.”
This is very true. It’s definitely not a crowd that’s big on self awareness or introspection or critical analysis.
Pittsburgh has THE MOST OVERRATED fans in all of sports.
By far.
Steelers win ONE game: “Here we go, Stillers, here we go. Super Bowl, baby!!!”
Steelers lose ONE game: “The sky is falling!!! They need to fire that ****** Tomlin!!!”
The Penguins were tied 2-2 with home ice in the Stanley Cup finals and yinzers were giving up or calling for the backup goalie. People from other cities were confused and required explanation as to why the fans of the favored team were so hopeless. (Mostly because they are clueless.)
FYI: The team’s worth is mostly tied to MLB Advanced Media. What the ball club does in the W-L column is mostly irrelevant to it’s value. The club is run like a business. You are asking for deficit spending AKA baseball welfare.
“Pizza Hut makes billions, I should get $3 pizzas!!!”
So…let me ask you….IF Pirates fans want to win a championship, should they…
A) Be willing to pay higher prices to help the team generate revenues more commensurate with the teams that actually win championships AKA big market teams? (Do you know how many tickets the Dodgers have to sell to meet their $260 million payroll? ZERO. Their local TV money pays for all of it and more. The ticket, parking, concession and national TV money are all icing on the cake. The Pirates local TV money pays for Cutch and Jaso.)
B) Whine and whine and whine about how the rich guy should take money out of his own pocket?
A lot of good and valid points in spite of the backlash from the “the owners are cheap ” crowd. There are too many examples of teams trying to buy a championship. The Buccos took a step back because of performance on the field was lacking…simple as that. Off years…DUI….injuries..etc.Most teams go through phases and how they come out of a down phase says more about the quality of ownership than anything else. Been a fan since the late 60s….win ir lose they’re still my Buccos.
I would be in your crowd” Been a fan since I was old enough to remember going to games at Forbes Field in the 60’s. forwhom forgot one comparison the local talking heads and fans always try to make but it is not apples to apples. They want to point to how the Stillers and the Pens “spend to win championships” but they all discount the fact that both the NFL and the NHL (the NBA too for that matter) operate under a salary cap system. Neither team can get out bid for players by other teams in their leagues because of the caps.
If they get something for him, great. If they get nothing, Pirates fans will be as frustrated with this move in the same way with what they experienced with Liriano.
He is free to go to any team with no trade required. Basically, Huntington said “Have fun guys! Free player!”
Pittsburg owner and office is content to ALWAYS disappoint the fans.
And once again Huntington shows his total ineptitude to be a GM. If he couldn’t get even a warm body for Nicasio, then he doesn’t deserve to be a GM of even the Little Sister’s Academy.
He got Rivero for Melancon at least
I am beginning to agree. Between his last two offseasons of doing almost NOTHING to improve the team and this (and other) quizzical moves, I am beginning to lose almost all faith in him.
The one good thing I can say about him is that he hasn’t totally DESTROYED the
farm system like certain other GM’s.
Well to be fair he did get George Kontos essentially for free (haven’t seen how he’s done since the move).
Procedural question: does a designation after July 31 make a player not subject to trade waivers? I.e., could the Pirates have designated Nicasio, assuming he has been claimed on trade waivers and pulled back, and, given the new 10 day window where he is no longer a 40-man player but still in the organization, shopped him around the league?
There are three different kinds of waivers
Trade Waivers: Revocable the first time–if the player clears he can be traded anywhere, if he is claimed the original organization has 48 hours to negotiate a trade, allow the player to be claimed or pull him back. If a player who has been pulled back is placed on waivers, he cannot be pulled back, however if he clears waivers he will remain on the 40-man roster.
Outright Waivers: Whenever a player is DFA’d the team has 7 days to trade them, release them or place them on outright waivers. I guess another option to get them back on the roster in the event of an injury would be to release them and sign them on a major league deal. Either way, outright waivers give every team the chance to claim the player thus taking on his salary and adding him to their 40-man roster.
Release Waivers are essentially the same as outright waivers. Before a player who had been on the 40-man roster can be released from their contract, every team will have the option to claim them. Small market organizations typically do this if they don’t believe that player would sign with them if he became a free agent. A recent example would be Andrew Triggs to Oakland. Going back a bit- Kevin Millar to Boston (One of theo’s finest and most unconventional moves).
For all types of waivers, the claiming team must pay $20,000 to the team from which they are claiming the player from. So even if your team loses a player on waivers, their essentially getting cash considerations. ITs not a total loss.
I appreciate the waiver rundown (genuinely, not sarcastically), but my question was more about the lag time between a designation and waiving.
Generally, a team has 10 days to waive, release or trade a player following a designation. In August, if the player has not previously cleared trade waivers, does the option to trade no longer exist, so that they must either outright or release immediately?
“Nutting is cheap” is the go to simple narrative in Pittsburgh for anything Pirates related, even when the baseball reasons are obvious to most.
But, this time it’s absolutely right.
Short sighted and pound foolish. Just stupid.
I understand it to a degree
They had slim hopes of competing early in the month, probably placed both on waivers, both were claimed and pulled back and the recent skid made it all the more unlikely for them to compete.
Outright Waivers, however, defies ALL logic. With outright waivers- Huntington is shooting himself in the foot. The ceiling for what they can get back is the $20k waiver fee and salary relief and if they clear, they’re down money AND solid relievers.
With trade waivers- players are almost definitely claimed, just as a gesture you might be able to get a warm body in A ball and salary relief and if they clear you can negotiate with any team.
Just poor decision making all around here.
How could they not trade him?
He must have already cleared revocable waivers, or they would have used that option. ….???
I hope the Cardinals get Nicasio. They could certainly use him, and they aren’t out of the race completely yet.
be careful what you wish for, you just night get it
I gotta think that with the AL Wild Card situation putting so many teams in striking distance of that last spot, Nicasio will be of interest to at least one of those just-below .500 AL teams. KC, TEX, TB, and SEA all would rank ahead of St. Louis in waiver priority, right?
Unless there’s an out-of-contention team that goes for a spiteful blocking claim…but why would they? That’s a lot of money to spend on such a thing.
No they go by league. So in this respect NL teams get first dibs. He’s not getting passed the NL. Free player, in terms of prospects.
No. All NL teams get dibs on him before the AL teams. No way he makes it past the NL contenders.
Dave Cameron saying outright waivers don’t go by league (see fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/anyone-want-a-good… in the comments.) He doesn’t seem positive about it though.
Ah thanks, didn’t know it was by league. So I see now why people think St. Louis a likely spot for Nicasio.
Marlins are ahead of the Cardinals……I’m guessing they will grab him, since they traded Phelps (similar player)
This is odd, to say the least–if Nicasio’s salary was such a problem, why not move him in July and at least get something for him?
NH is a buffone !!! other GM’s must laugh at him !!!!
We got zip for Nicasio,,,, hard to say if anyone offered anything for him….
Cardinals trade Leake to Seattle,,, at least Cards get something back not NH !!!!!
This organization does not want to WIN !!!!
The Cards traded a guy under contract for a fixed amount of payroll through 2020. Could have been no one wanted to trade for Nicasio for the end of this year only considering he has been ok as a reliever but has had a few ugly outings over the last month were he helped blow some ballgames. Getting him with out giving up a player might be more appealing to the acquiring team than having to give up anything for him..
what is a “BUFFONE”? because getting something for someone no one wanted even the under .500 Pirates screams Quality
That would be 70s era Bears linebacker Doug Buffone.
I think it’s buffoon
Or maybe he’s trying to quote George Agdgdgwengo by calling him a “puffoon”.
And here we are. The pirates proving that they have the worst management ever in sports, yet for the bell trolls jumps on her rag time special and PMS’s all over the Pittsburgh fans.
Some one needs to slap her.