The Pirates announced the signing of right-hander Steven Wright to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. The deal reunites the former Red Sox hurler with Pittsburgh general manager Ben Cherington, who led the Boston front office from 2011-15.
Wright worked mostly as a swingman for the Red Sox from 2013-19. He peaked in 2016, tossing 156.2 innings of 3.33 ERA ball en route to an All-Star selection. A knuckleballer, Wright unsurprisingly has never gotten many strikeouts but has induced plenty of weak contact throughout his major career.
The 36-year-old hasn’t pitched much over the past few years. Various injuries and a pair of suspensions (fifteen games for domestic violence in 2018, then eighty games for performance-enhancing drugs in 2019) have kept him to 84 MLB innings since the start of the 2017 season. Wright hasn’t pitched since undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2019.
Pirate management is brutal. This is a joke. The Big Sexy is next.
Nah, Ben Cherington is actually doing stuff that will improve the team long term. He has a good plan in place and knows what he’s doing. Far cry from what the organization looked like when Neal Huntington was let go.
In the land of opportunities, the only harm is the spot he takes is from a young player should he go to the minors. As much as I’ve supported him in the past, I hope that theoretical doesn’t become a reality.
Lol a lot of faith in cherington good luck
I think he will be better than Neal… but his accomplishments people spout off are over hyped.
Makes me remember Tim Wakefield who went on to have a nice career with the Boston Red Sox
Ah…Tim Wakefield.
See, now Wakefield makes me think of Aaron Boone.
Opening Day Starter
A minor league contract with the Pirates.
When you know your career has hit rock bottom.
I gotta be honest- I’d rather pitch for the Pirates than the Long Island Ducks.
F ….. Y… Go to another board ! Cubs fan .
Nah he’s the pinch runner
He has a pony.
What’s another word for Thesaurus?
I can’t ever remember another knuckleball pitcher who needed Tommy John surgery.
Charlie Haeger had TJ surgery in 2011. Steve Sparks had it in 1997.
Good to know, thanks.
I bought some batteries but they weren’t included, so I had to buy them again.
I have a friend who’s a radio announcer. When he walks under a bridge, I can’t understand what he’s saying.
I spilled spot remover on my dog, now he’s gone…
I had 4 biscuits then I ate one, now I only have 3
Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country.
There’s Olympic opportunity in that.
Doubled if you can half a** shoot a rifle. Speaking of… How does one become a bobsledder by the way?
Would have been a great setup reliever for the White Sox with all the heat in their bullpen
This is kind of a weird signing, but depth is depth I guess. Though would be fun to see him in the majors.
I loved him on those Cam Neely benefit concerts
I liked this guy as a pitcher. Never reached his ceiling with injuries and suspensions but there was one time when his knuckleball was dynamite.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
Boycott shampoo! Demand the REAL poo!
He once turned the key to open his front door, and the house started up. So he drove it around for a little while.
I hope that he is better as a baseball pitcher than he was as a comedian.
I never was able to appreciate his “schtick”
That’s on you…
Hi, I’m Bucky Goldstein.
Knuckle baller takes steroids for what? To enhance finger tip strength? Are you kidding me?
This is the height of absurdity.
Was it the height of absurdity when Andy Pettitte used HGH to recover from an injury? No? So then why is it absurd for a fringe MLB pitcher to use a Growth Hormone Peptide after missing much of the prior two seasons because of injuries to his left knee? Don’t get me wrong, I never condone any type of PED usage. However there’s a difference between using PED’s to boost performance and using them to help recover from injury.
There’s also the difference of using PEDs when they were banned and when they aren’t banned. Pettite used them when they were not banned. Wright KNEW they were banned and still used them.
But in all honesty, it’s not like they helped Wright very much.
We can’t jump to conclusions. Did Wright truly not know what he was using and that it was illegal? Nobody here can answer that question. Did it help him? Again, nobody here knows the answer to that. He came back in 2018 to pitch 53 innings with a 2.68 ERA in a very tough division. Without using PED’s, maybe he doesn’t even pitch at all. Nobody here is God and knows all.
Ya tell that to mark mcgwire then who is a villain for using it when he said he took it for injuries and no one believed him
First off, the absurdity was Wright. Don’t tell me there’s a difference. You’re either taking them or you’re not. They’re not necessary! People are lazy and looking for shortcuts or they want to beat someone who is better than them or they want to be the best. All of those things are accomplished by people without taking drugs. But that’s not enough for some people. So they cheat. Lame.
So are you saying cortisone shots should be banned as well, since they basically do the same thing and are not necessary?
“Last night i stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died”
I had a skylight installed at my apartment. The people who live above me are furious.
I was hoping they’d sign Emo Phillips, but this will do, I guess.
At least, it wasn’t Goldwaith.
This is as a very low-risk and low-cost signing for Cherington and the Pirates. I hope Wright makes it back to the majors.
Two babies were born in the hospital, they put them in the same room. Each family came in and took their babies away. Babies lived their entire lives. 85 years later by a bizarre coincidence they end up in the same hospital in the same room, laying there on their death beds, just looking at each other. One of them says to the other one “so, what did you think?”
7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Go to Youtube & watch “Steven Wright Showing Off His Knuckleball’. If his injuries are healed he will be the steal of the 2021 season.
If he’s healthy he’ll probably make the mlb team. With the infield defense looking like it could be pretty good.. or at least not bad… might have some success.
If Keller gets blasted again today in his start against the Orioles, they will have to seriously consider sending him to AAA to start the season. This pickup of Wright may be a quick fix.