The Pirates are in agreement on a deal with infielder Wilmer Difo, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). The contract is pending a physical. It is a minor league deal, worth $1MM with incentives should Difo make the Major League roster, adds Murray.
Difo had spent the past decade-plus in the Nationals’ system, with Washington originally adding him as an international amateur. He has picked up big league playing time in each of the past six years, with the bulk of that work coming from 2017-18. All told, Difo has a .247/.309/.348 career slash line across 1,060 MLB plate appearances. He’s made contact at an above-average rate and drawn a decent number of walks, but Difo has well below-average exit velocities and has never been much of a power threat.
The bigger appeal is what Difo brings to the table defensively. The 28-year-old has plenty of middle infield experience, as well as some time at third base and a few innings in the outfield. Advanced metrics like Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved have generally pegged Difo as a slightly above-average defender up the middle. Difo has three-plus years of MLB service time, so he’d be controllable through 2023 via arbitration if he emerges as a long-term piece in Pittsburgh.
Big moves!
He does bring a World Series ring so at least there’s that i guess…
Same Pirates, Difo-rent look
Lol
The fallout of the DJLM signing.
2020 – J.T. Riddle
2021 – Wilmer Difo
2022 – Johan Camargo? Luis Gullorme?
Yeah. Go away.
I thought Difo was very good in The Last Temptation of Christ.
Pirates were looking for a Platoon player
And some Speed 2
This one doesn’t make much sense to me, unless they are trading Frazier. Just seems redundant since I imagine they want to give Gonzalez, Newman, and Tucker all a chance up the middle this year.
I think they are trading Frazier, either now or at the deadline.
I don’t uderstand how Frazier and Gonzalez both got close salaries for next season. Frazier is a lot better than 70k above Erik Gonzalez IMO.
They have an interesting mix in the middle but it is pretty good though
Is this signing designed to prevent Cole Tucker from playing CF, SS, or all the above?
More like push Adam Frazier out so Tucker can play SS.
I still think Tucker at short, Newman at 2nd and Frazier traded. Not sure where Gonzalez fits except utility.
HA! In your face Yankees, we got the real prize today.
Yet another player spurning Toronto…..
Frazier on the move?
Big breakout candidate….I can feel it. The Bucs once had Bautista, ya know.
To all those who thought that I was serious…shame on you.
We sorely needed another light hitting infielder?
Perfect signing for the poor pitiful pirates.
Whip it good!
Dumpster diving by yours truly, Pirates Organization. Their motto is, “We piece it with trash, you get our gems!”
Nutting should just sell the team! Come on MLB and do something by enforcing Nutting to sell the team! Do Pittsburgh and us fans of baseball a favor!
IMO, I wonder if all of baseball fans would boycott the league until Pirates are sold when we can go to the stadiums again…
Pirates are not getting a great player with Difo, but he can become a fan favorite and well liked teammate.
Really not a bad signing. They need depth if Frazier fans out and Tucker has to play CF.
Too bad he couldn’t get a major league offer.
Bob Nutting : “Hey ben, I was watching Spiderman and I sure liked Willem Dafoe. Can we get him to throw out a first pitch?”
“no but I can get Wilmer Difo”
The ONLY thing the Pirates had going for them was their plethora of talent in the middle infield pipeline. So what do they do? They block them all from getting to the bigs with this average fielding-below average batting journeyman! Even if they trade Frazier, which I’m sure is coming, WHY wouldn’t you just let the kids battle for this spot?!
The next Pirates owner will immediately be as beloved as the Rooney’s and Mario in PIT.
It’s a good move to add flexibility for whatever comes next.
Start printing the playoff tickets after this signing. Who thinks the next move will be that they will trade this guy for cash??? Does anyone outside Pittsburgh observe the way the Pittsburgh Pirates ownership conducts business. The Pirates Fan deserve better!!!
If Frazier is traded, Difo will be competing with González for the Backup MI job, as Newman and Tucker would likely be the 2B and SS in 2021. Although, Gonzalez could also be competing with Evans for the Backup CI job. After all, how many UT infielders can a team keep. With Polanco as the Bucs starting RF, they would be better off having a 5th OF as he may not hold up very long. I’m thinking Polanco, Reynolds, Goodwin, and either Alford or Oliva, plus one more OF signing before the regular season, unless Stokes wins the job.