The Pirates have claimed outfielder Anthony Alford off waivers from the Blue Jays. Alford was designated for assignment by Toronto last week.
Alford is still only 26 years old, and was still garnering top-60 prospect buzz as recently as the 2018 preseason. Over nine pro seasons, however, Alford’s production has been inconsistent, though his development has been hampered by multiple injuries. Alford has a .265/.358/.393 slash line over 2098 career plate appearances in the minors, along with 34 homers and 114 stolen bases (out of 146 chances). At the big league level, Alford has appeared in each of the last four seasons, though he has played in only 46 total games and amassed 75 total plate appearances (with only a .454 OPS over that small sample size).
The Bucs are hoping that a change of scenery can help unlock Alford’s potential, and it’s possible Alford could immediately jump onto the Pirates’ roster as a backup outfielder. With the trade deadline just around the corner, it also isn’t out of the question that Alford could see more playing time if Pittsburgh opted to move another outfielder in a future deal.
Lewis Brinson 2.0
No even close. Brinson was a top prospect that produced results. This guy was just a raw lotto ticket prospect that was never developed.
to suggest Alford never performed in the Minors?
To suggest Brinson produced results? Lol.
I thought brinson did well in minors and Alford was meh. Just going by memory, not digging into numbers for this move. I know mlb both have been awful. Brinson can be a 1 war player if used properly.
Brinson definitely was a pretty good batter in the minors, slashed .313/.383/.499 with 106 home runs and 116 stolen bases at Triple-A.
Alford didn’t perform in the minors. Unless a .751 OPS in the minors is a huge performance to you?
I’m trying to find something positive to say about this move but I can’t come up with anything besides “Well, why not?”
“Well, why not?” Works for me. Cherington’s familiarity could be viewed as a positive.
His negative war will fit right in with his new teammates!
Yep, have to give cherington the benefit of the doubt here since familiarity
The orioles are still in rebuild mode. Grabbing former top prospects in hopes that you find a bit of lightning is always a good move. Braves did it. At best they got short burst of lightning that got us through the rebuild and were able to flip for prospects, at worse a little cash was wasted and they stunk like the rest of the team
By flipped for prospects, i should be clear…. it was like packaged in trades or junk
Something positive: Alford has more upside than Jarod Dyson.
Alford can be fun to watch. Great 10th inning pinch runner. Not the best outfielder but can make some impressive plays. Still has a shot to develop a bat. As a Jays fan I’ll miss him (although not terribly much).
Longtime prospect but just too much baggage for nothing
What baggage?
Yea what baggage? Lol
Trouble with the law in his ole miss and minor league days
Good pinch runner.
Thank You Anthony for your years with the Jays. I will still be cheering for and glad your are with a familar face (Ben)..who also clearly knows you well. Best of Luck to you and I hope you light it up with the Pirates! Good Pick up Pirates Fans! Anthony is a real team player and just a super nice guy aswell as being very talented. Enjoy Baseball All!
Can we DFA Dyson already? The dude has a 6 OPS+ and isn’t close to what it was the last few years.
I think he made things clear when he said he was here because he needed a contract. He was never here to play.
I’m fine with this. It’s not like the Pirates MLB roster is overflowing with talent. If it doesn’t work out, it won’t cost them anything. And really, Cherington should be using his WW spot to grab whatever interesting players that become available.
It sounds like he may be a better version of Jarrod Dyson.
Way better because he is cheaper and has at least some upside.
Another successful dumpster dive by the free spending Bucks of Nutting. I can see a bobble head in the works for 2021.
A lot of you pirates guys are going to have to change your user names when they are good in 2024.
This could be a shrewd move by Pittsburgh. Thought he’d be a fit the Pirates for a while.
Good on Cherington. The upside of Anthony ALford is tremendous. He had lousy development in the BlueJays organization because of injuries and poorly timed callups.
This guy can be better than Lloyd Moseby, another former Jay; I still believe that.
I hope he can put the bat on the ball and something clicks. He belongs in the bigs just because of his speed, arm and defense.
He will never be Lloyd Moseby. He won’t even be Rick Leach. He is a below average defender and his arm is meh. Great speed. Great athlete. Great athletes do not translate into good baseball players. He’s never produced. Ever. Doubtful he ever will.
He never fully committed to baseball until it was too late. He missed his window.
Never too late as long as you are healthy. I never thought the upside was a big as others but guy could still be a solid player. Just takes that one guy to get through to him. One adjustment. Highly unlikely but speed is always useful either way.
If the adjustment is he can figure out how to catch up to 93 mph and above, he might turn into a serviceable player. His athleticism is unquestioned. Starting late hurt the development, injuries hurt the development, he also came up at a time when the Blue Jays weren’t churning out position players growing through the system. Atkins and company has changed that for the better.
I remember an outfielder that kicked around from team to team. (6 teams I believe.) He was a great athlete but just couldn’t put it together. Ended up with the Blue Jays and some adjustments were made to his swing. Lo and behold he started hitting the ball out of the park and almost instantly became one of the most feared hitters in the game for the next 7 or 8 years. Before you dismiss a 26 year old that is a great athlete with great defensive skills but struggles at the plate please remember the name Jose Bautista.
Jose Bautista and Anthony Alford are polar opposites. And for every Bautista there are hundreds of Alfords. Nice little story though.
I think top prospects have to have a lot of drive, work ethic and mental toughness in Baseball. Because they are top players all through-out their youth, college and through-out the minors. They get every opportunity. Then if they get to the majors and slide a bit; they don’t seem to get it back until they are moved to another team. Look at How Glasnow and Meadows were with the Pirates. Everyone was screaming bust. Same w/ players like Lucas Giolito. They seem to get a fire lit under them when they see it can be taken away and a team gives up on them and trades them. Not saying that’s gonna happen with Alford but I’ve seen it happen many times and I can see how/why it does happen. When they become the player they are supposed to be on their 2nd or 3rd team.
Meadows didn’t really struggle with the Pirates, they just never really gave him a chance to play. In the 50 games that he was given with the Pirates he was about a .300 hitter with a couple homers. I don’t think anyone was screaming bust for Meadows, I think more people were upset we dealt him for an “ace”. Glasnow on the other hand, has had barely any success anywhere. Yes, he was good last year for the 60 innings he was healthy, but this season he is back to putting up his Pirates numbers.
I thought Glasnow was already in the HOF!
I wish nothing but the best for Alford, but it is extremely unlikely he turns out to be another Bautista.
Compare to other speedsters.
5th OF/pinch runner role with a chance to grow into more?
Mallex Smith, Jarrod Dyson, Billy Hamilton, Dee Gordon, Juan Pierre, Rajai Davis, Eric Young Jr are players that come to mind for me considering how Alford has been used so far in his career. None super exciting bats, but all had serviceable careers due to their wheels.
Now I don’t have #mrmagoo_scoutseyes and I rely on stats and hearsay because I don’t watch baseball, but they used to say that Alford had that unspeakable crack of the bat that certain elite bats have. There is bigger upside if given opportunity.
Guy got 16 PA in 3 weeks, I’m impressed that he even got 1 HR. How to develop any timing when not facing pitching?
Alfonso Soriano showed nothing at 24, then was given a chance at 25. This kind of upside for Alford is what I’d love to see. Major stretch because he’ll need that chance, hoping the Pirates give him at least 20 PA/week to see if he can find some timing.
I think if he had consistent playing time in the majors he would have been good. I wish him the best
He might already be their second best outfielder.