Infielder Todd Frazier and outfielder Brian Goodwin both have May opt-out dates in their minor league contracts with the Pirates, tweets Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. Frazier had a strong spring with Pittsburgh, slashing .250/.353/.643 with three homers and a pair of doubles in 34 plate appearances, but that wasn’t enough to convince the Bucs to put him on the active roster — nor was an early injury to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. Frazier briefly opted out of his contract with the team at the end of camp in order to search for a big league opportunity elsewhere, but he re-signed a new minor league arrangement with Pittsburgh just days later. Goodwin, meanwhile, hit .229/.317/.371 this spring after a disastrous cameo with the division-rival Reds in 2020. His struggles through 55 plate appearances in Cincinnati notwithstanding, however, Goodwin batted .258/.327/.469 in 567 plate appearances with the Angels from 2019-20 and is an overall .250/.317/.455 hitter in 1124 trips to the plate as a big leaguer. If neither veteran is in the Pirates’ plans by next month, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see them latch on with a club that is struggling with injuries or underperformance at the infield corners or in the outfield.
A few more notes on the Buccos…
- The Pirates bought low on former top prospects Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler in center field, and the results to this point have been … uninspiring … to say the least. Fowler is 5-for-30 with a double, 13 strikeouts and just two walks in 34 plate appearances, while Alford is 1-for-20 with a staggering 15 punchouts in 24 trips. General manager Ben Cherington, however, told reporters this week that the club will be patient with the duo (link via MLB.com’s Jake Crouse). “We’ve got young players out there who are getting a chance to play at the Major League level for the first time with any level of consistency,” said the GM. Both Alford and Fowler were considered top 100 prospects not that long ago, but injuries and some crowded big league rosters have combined to prevent either from getting a lengthy look in the big leagues. Cherington noted that there is an “adjustment period” to be expected. That’s not to say that either has an unlimited leash, but it seems the club understandably wants more than a two-week look at a pair of 26-year-olds who can be controlled for five more years before turning things over to a short-term veteran such as Goodwin. That’s no doubt frustrating for Pirates fans who want to see a better on-field product in 2021, but for the time being it sounds like Fowler and Alford will continue to get their chances.
- Cherington also expressed some patience with Rule 5 pick Luis Oviedo despite a recent drubbing at the hands of the hands of the Padres, who tagged him for five runs in 1 2/3 innings Monday (link via Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). While acknowledging the dismal outing against San Diego, Cherington noted that it came after a weeklong layoff from pitching in a game and indicated that the club remains “really encouraged” by the manner in which Oviedo has begun the year. Most rebuilding clubs are willing to look beyond the bottom-line results when looking for positives with young Rule 5 picks such as Oviedo, who is pitching above A-ball for the first time in his career. If he continues to struggle to this extent, the Pirates will obviously have to weigh the merits of keeping him on the roster, but based on Cherington’s comments, Oviedo seems safe for now.
I’m not too worried about Oviedo. He’s 21 and hasn’t played above A-Ball but has some elite stuff. He’s averaging out around 96 MPH and has touched 99 MPH to go with a really good breaking ball. I think he’s in for the long haul. He struck out 5 of the first 10 batters he faced and I wouldn’t worry too much about him.
Alford and Folwer have looked godawful. I get both were former top prospects and the Pirates aren’t really risking anything by giving them another chance, but Alford was hitless in like his first 25 trips to the plate. When Hayes returns, I think we need to move Phillip Evans to LF and push Reynolds to CF and bring up Goodwin as a platoon/4th OF.
Sincerest condolences out to you, sir, for being a fan of the Buccos right now
We appreciate your pity Kevin,but every team goes through down times.
I was thinking Alford might finally break out in Pitt a while back, but sadly that never came to fruition.
My hopes for him were never that high. Like I was expecting a .250/.300/.400 hitter, but this is painful to watch. He’s acutally a really nice dude so I feel bad for him.
Tried to tell you about Alford. The prospect rankings he received over the years were solely based on athleticism and never on overall production.
My hopes for Alford were never super high, but he’s been about 10x worse than I could have ever imagined. I was never saying he should be a long term OF option, but there was no risk in trying him this year.
Absolutely. If you are a team like Pittsburgh, or in a similar spot in the rebuild, you take the shot on a guy like Alford.
I too was hopeful for Alford after his start to his Pirates career last year. Looked good for those 5 games. Wonder where that guy went…..
As a jays fan i have to say that every time alfford looked ready to finally break out injuries got him
Oviedo has nasty, nasty stuff. The Pirates do need to stop putting him in high-leverage situations, though–he’s been a big leaguer for less than a month, and they need to give him time to get acclimated. There should be ample opportunities to ease him in with low-leverage stiuations.
W-I mainly agree with you,although the Padres game I think was just a test.
I think that it is very tough for any relief pitcher to pitch just once per week.The Pirates have been decent since the Reds series,but that could very well change.If and when it does they can see we what they have.
I think that Felix is a comp.The last few years he has been decent in low pressure situations but folds otherwise.I think that they are trying to get the bullpen fully vetted for when the relief pitcher inevitable trades begin.
I think that Evans goes to right field sooner rather than later.
They are going to have to just release Polanco and eat the money.
Alford/Fowler are a combined 6 for 50 with 28 strikeouts and Goodwin is sitting around waiting for the minor league season to start? It must be rough to be a Pirates fan…
I’d rather go with the young guys and see if we can catch lightning than go with an old dude. It’s not like we’re a playoff caliber team.
Goodwin is less than four years older than Alford. More importantly, Alford and Fowler help the Pirates lose games and get them to a better draft position.
A productive Goodwin gets you a lotto ticket or two in july. Pirates don’t need any help losing games they’ll lose plenty regardless of who plays CF
Goodwin not being on the team is a severe indictment on their finances – even more then the normal indictments on such.
give these guys a long leash and they’ll strangle the whole team.
Well, the Bucs gave up next to nothing to acquire both Alford and Fowler, and so far that’s exactly what the team has gotten from the pair, next to nothing. I understand wanting to have some patience with Alford and Fowler but at some point you really have to put a competent lineup out there.
Or at least give the opportunity to some young guys like Oliva or Stroke Jr too.
Oliva and Stokes are, at best 4th OFers. Fowler and Alford have (supposedly) some upside.
I’m fine with them giving Alford and Fowler a few more weeks, but if they can’t at least show some signs of life, then they need to turn to Oliva. Oliva hasn’t done bad in the minors and they need to do something. Trotting out two guys with a sub-.500 OPS everyday isn’t feasable, even for a club in the middle of a rebuild.
Oliva is trash
standards…
Centerfield and shortstop have been essentially black holes. Kevin Newman has a 12 wRC+ in 47 plate appearances. 12. His 2019 season was a complete fluke. The man can’t hit the ball hard at all and has a career 51% ground ball rate. Like at this point, you have to at least give Cole Tucker a shot. If he can put up a wRC+ of 60, he’ll be better than what Newman has done in the past 2 seasons.
But he hit .606 in ST! Heck, he set some kinda record. 🙂
Alford is the worst hitter I’ve ever seen
Can’t be worse the Stephen drew
Wonder why the stadium is EMPTY
The stadium is empty because any Pirate fan that cares about winning, won’t spend $200+ dollars to see this team play. It probably will never happen, but unless Nutting spends some cash on players this team needs, they will remain EMPTY!!!
Spending cash won’t help the team. Look at Phillies, Angels, Rangers, and Cubs and the cash they spend. Jury is still out on Padres, Blue Jays, and a few others. While teams who haven’t spent much like A’s, Rays, Twins, and Marlins are doing pretty well for themselves.
I do agree that today you have to develop your core set of players, but you need to spend at least a little bit to suppment it. Whether that means spending prospects or cash, you need to bring in at least a few acquisitions to support the foundation.
I remember back in about 2016-2018, the Pirates were actually spending a decent amount overall in free agency. The problem was where the money was going to. About $30 million of their payroll in 2016 went to guys like Jon Jaso, Ryan Vogelsong, Juan Nicasio, etc. The following year, they, again, commited about the same amount of money to Jaso, Daniel Hudson, Antonio Bastardo, Sean Rodriguez, etc. It’s not the amonunt they spent, it was where they spent it. They could have acquired 2, $15 million players or 3, $10 million players. Instead, they acquired like 6, $5> mllion players.
@MLB1225 I agree and that was the old office before new one came in. Only time will tell what this front office does. I totally agree that you need a core to make that happen as it work during the Pirates 2-3 years of winning under the old system. I don’t see the Pirates being in that position until 2025 the earliest. But that requires a lot of right moves and all those prospects panning out.
Eh, I think it’s more like 2023. By then, they should have guys like Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Miguel Yajure, Travis Swaggerty, Liover Peguero and Oneil Cruz should be fully established with others like Cody Bolton, Tahnaj Thomas, Roansy Contreras, and Mason Martin also contributing.
While they may not play as big of roles, they may debut guys like Quinn Priester, Brennan Malone, Nick Gonzales, Hudson Head and Endy Rodriguez in 2023 as well. I think they’ll majorly improve in 2022 alone. I know it might sound insane, but a 80-83 wins isn’t impossible for them next season.
Hayes, Yajure, Cruz, Reynolds, Bolton and Contreras will help form a pretty solid core. Let’s also not forget about all the talent in the pen. I think David Bednar, Luis Oviedo and Nick Mears can be a very fierce trio at the back end. That’s easily an 80 win squad with potential to win 83+ imo.
Every stadium is ! You must be in jail and can’t watch games.
The Bucs might as well roll with whatever young kids they can and see if they get lucky and also get those early picks in the draft.It worked for the Astros.
Frazier’s a guy who always seems to turn into a trade chip come the deadline, Pirates would be stupid not to at least give him an audition. I understand wanting to let the kids play, but when your system’s that bad I’d think you’d want as many opportunities as possible to collect more prospects.
I’d call him up and put him in CF. I know he’s never played there, but at least the guy can hit around .250 as compared to the .100 they’re getting out of the current platoon.
The farm system isn’t that bad as you suggest. Maybe that comment was miss information you received
I agree with @mlb1225 that Oviedo is going nowhere. Left out of this article was his 2nd appearance against the Padres yesterday where he pitched 2 innings and gave up 1 run. He has looked very good for the most part. Had the one crap outing in his 1st game against the Padres. Shelton said in hindsight he should not have had the kid go in for a high leverage appearance when he had not seen action for a week. He bounce back well yesterday. Just glad that he will be given work and not hid in the pen for most of the season considering he lost last season to the shutdown. He will have a few rough outings but he seems to be well worth the paying time.
Once the Angels lost Dexter Fowler for the season, I thought Brian Goodwin would be a good player to bring back to platoon in RF. He played well in his time with the Angels.
I think Todd Frazier could do well in Atlanta. He is a good teammate and could take the pressure off Austin Riley to perform. And he could spell Freddy Freeman at first once a week
He’s got awesome walk up music too. Who doesn’t like some Frankie Fly Me to the Moon
Fowler’s starting to look like he may become at least replacement level as he gets more playing time, but Alford just can’t hit at all – which is a shame because he plays CF really well and comes across as a good guy.
Anyone who saw Goodwin in the field in spring training knows he not any kind of answer for what a rebuilding team needs as a 4th OF. He’d be better served as a 5th OF/DH on a team that has enough pitching to split the 26 man roster at 13/13.
Jays would have a bit of interest in Todd Frazier as a bench bat, I would think
White Sox go get Frazier. Wanna see a clubhouse beatdown w the irritable Adam Eaton
There is my Brian Goodwin sighting.. Goo Angels!