The Pirates have agreed to a minor league deal with outfielder Brian Goodwin, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter). He’ll be invited to Major League Spring Training. Goodwin will earn a $1.6MM salary with up to $900K in bonuses if he earns a roster spot, according to Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (on Twitter).
Goodwin, 30, was the No. 34 overall pick in the 2011 draft but never cemented himself with his original organization, the Nationals, despite a few productive stints. He was eventually traded to the Royals and later claimed by the Angels off waivers — enjoying a fair bit of success in both spots. The Angels traded him to the Reds at last summer’s deadline, however, and Goodwin’s bat cratered in Cincinnati, where he batted just .163/.236/.357 in a tiny sample of 55 plate appearances. The Reds non-tendered him in December.
Setting aside that ugly stint in Cincinnati, though, Goodwin has been a productive big league hitter more often than not. He’s a .250/.317/.455 hitter overall, and as recently as 2019 he slashed .262/.326/.470 in near-regular playing time with the Angels (136 games, 458 plate appearances).
Goodwin doesn’t have particularly strong defensive ratings and probably won’t be seeing much (if any) time in center field with the Bucs. He’s best deployed in a corner, which the Bucs can certainly accommodate. Bryan Reynolds, Anthony Alford, Cole Tucker and Gregory Polanco are the likeliest names to vie for outfield time in Pittsburgh at the moment, though the Pirates will jump at any chance they’re provided to shed the remainder of Gregory Polanco’s contract. Alford has yet to establish himself at the MLB level, while Reynolds will be seeking a rebound after a disastrous follow-up to his brilliant rookie showing. Tucker, meanwhile is a converted shortstop who’ll need to earn a job as himself.
Based on his track record and the dearth of established outfield talent on the rebuilding Pirates’ roster, Goodwin seems to have a good chance at both cracking the roster and earning a fair bit of playing time. If he does indeed make the roster, the Pirates would be able to control him through the 2022 season via arbitration. Of course, if he makes the team and rebounds at the plate, he’ll immediately become a potential summer trade piece for a Pirates club that will be looking to move any and all short-term assets for additional prospect depth.
Nice little pickup. He’s a quality OF on a bad club.
Good signing. I thought we’d sign this guy because we need a centerfield capable outfielder and he brings that plus some pop. Pirates were one of the worst teams in baseball in general, but more specifically power when it came to their offense.
Good place for Goodwin to have a shot at getting regular MLB at bats. He produced reasonably well for LAA in 2019 and 2020. Rooting for him.
wow! they did something! Hopefully, he plays well enough to get traded for a prospect and a bag of peanuts!
They’ll probably just settle for the peanuts.
Nice pickup. His OPS+, discounting his stay with the Reds, is about 105, which leaves him slightly above average. And he’s excellent on the corners, and not at all shabby in CF.
A minor league deal? Why not; he’s at worst a 4th OF with some upside.
I was hoping the Angels would pick him up again for RF. He’s a solid player when given the chance. The pirates just got better.
Good signing. I was hoping ATL would consider him for a 4th OF position as he can defend most OF positions well with some pop and ability to post some good numbers with regular playing time.
Surprised that a minor league deal is the best he could get. I would have thought he’d be worth a guaranteed deal around $1.5M/$2M. He’s a fine platoon OF and hope he has a rebound season.
Good Signing, if/when Frazier gets traded, Cole will be at Short Cole’s plus is his defense, playing everyday with Hayes will likely give them one of the best left side infields in baseball… of course unless Cole hits his way out of the lineup.
If the pirates some how get out of Polanco’s contract or when he gets hurt again…. Also if Alford isn’t able to come back like he was in his short stint last year… Goodwin has a fair shot at being out there every day.
Of course that doesn’t include prospects like Cruz and Swag coming. Pirates have to find some playing time for all these guys MLB or not.
I think Cruz ends up in RF with his size, interesting prospect with a lot of power and strong arm
Definitely possible.. where ever there is an opening he’ll be there.
TL;DR: he will be in the line up regardless of what position he plays. his potential is way to high to not be giving him at bats.
With regular playing time I think he could get it done. It took an injury for him to get into 130+ games with the Angels and he showed up. Good pick up.
Beats the Dyson signing of last year. The guy who said that he’s with the Pirates because no one else wanted him.
Plenty of opportunity for playing time with the Pirates, nice mive.
Kind of surprised he didn’t land an MLB deal. Think I’d prefer him to Fowler at this point.
They had Jarrod Dyson at the start of last season so this is sort of a improvement. As for the Pirates jumping at the chance to get rid of Polanco, unless they are willing to take pennies on the dollar they are stuck with him until his contract is over or Nutting decides to eat it and they release him
They would not make another horrible trade and send two prospects along with Polanco to get rid of him. Nah.
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another great pickup by nutting wallet pirates can keep their salary flexibility
on a minor league deal cards should have been in on this guy. May outhit oneill, Nader and lane
To be fair, Ralph Nader IS 86 years old…
Good move for the Bucs. They’re in total rebuild mode, but good to see them make a quality signing.
Pirates on a spending spree today. Where are all the nutting haters at now?
Yep, Pirates are right there now along side The LA Dodgers. MLB not have a hard floor and ceiling cap makes for a ridiculous unbalanced spending by teams.
Really happy about this signing. Goodwin is a good OF with some speed and pop. He will certainly help the Bucs. Also like the Wolters and Shreve signings. All three should make the Bucs better.
Spending spree…..Let’s order season tickets