The Pirates announced they’ve selected four prospects — infielder Liover Peguero and outfielders Canaan Smith-Njigba, Travis Swaggerty and Jack Suwinski — to the 40-man roster. To create space, the club designated catcher Michael Pérez for assignment.
A waiver claim out of the Rays organization last offseason, Pérez saw 70 games worth of action with the Pirates behind number one catcher Jacob Stallings. Unfortunately for both player and team, Perez continued to struggle at the plate despite providing serviceable defense behind it. Through 231 plate appearances the left-handed catcher produced at a .143/.221/.290 clip, though he did hit a career-best 7 home runs. He’s likely to latch onto an organization this winter as catching depth.
Liover Peguero, acquired in the trade that sent Starling Marte to Arizona, is ranked the #5 prospect in a solid Pittsburgh farm system. The speedy 20-year-old performed respectably last season across 90 games at the high-A level, setting a new high watermark in home runs with 14 to go with 28 steals (in 34 tries). The resulting .270/.332/.444 output, plus what scouts consider to be above average defense at shortstop, gave Pittsburgh ample reason to protect their up-and-coming prospect.
The 22-year-old Canaan Smith-Njigba was a 4th-rounder by the Yankees in 2017 before they traded him to Pittsburgh as part of the Jameson Taillon deal. A solid .274/.398/.406 led to a cup of coffee at Triple-A, and a terrific showing in the Arizona Fall League has the left fielder knocking on the Major League door.
Centerfielder Travis Swaggerty, a first-round draft pick by Pittsburgh in 2018 and a one-time top 100 prospect in the eyes of some evaluators, saw little action this past season. The left-handed hitter produced a decent .220/.333/.439 line in 12 Triple-A games before incurring a season-ending shoulder injury. Well-rounded tools at a premium position, plus his pedigree, will keep him in the Pirates organization for awhile longer.
Lastly, Jack Suwinski, acquired in this past summer’s Adam Frazier deal, had a decent 2021 season in his own right. The 23-year-old popped 19 home runs across 111 games at the Double-A level, culminating in a strong .262/.383/.485 slash. Though most of that production came prior to the trade, MLB.com lists Suwinski among the Pirates top prospects (#29) and projects him as a bat-first option in right field.
Pitchers can hit better than Perez.
Pedro Severino of the Orioles is a free agent and would be an upgrade at #2 Catcher over Perez (at least offensively). He’s 3 or 4 years younger than Stallings and as a former #1 catcher with the O’s, he can share the load more evenly with Stallings, if necessary. He could be a nice placeholder until youngsters are ready.
Never mind. The Crew signed him.
Really surprised Cal Mitchell and Mason Martin weren’t protected.
Martin’s pop is legit, just not sure the hit tool is there enough to be a feasible bat-first option
Yeah but he’s close enough to the majors and has enough power and it’s hard not to see a team taking a flier on him.
Lot of other, better options at there at a position where the threshold for offensive productivity is so high.
I think Tahnaj Thomas might have the best chance at being taken, he’s the kind of high upside arm that typically goes in the rule 5, and I can’t believe they kept the likes of Cody Ponce and Eric Hanhold on the roster to expose Thomas.
I agree with you on Hanhold for sure. They must know something about this guy that folks like us do not. The numbers are not enticing at all.
Both of those pitchers will be gone once they sign a free agent or dropped before the Rule 5 draft.
Yeah it is easier to hide pitchers. That’s why it’s surprising he protected bats only. Don’t know how he didn’t protect tahnaj Thomas at least.
They aren’t at all. They probably think the orioles have misused have, which wouldn’t be a shock. I think it’s just a move you have to trust your GM on.
I wholeheartedly agree. Much easier to hide an arm than a bat on the 26-man roster in today’s game.
On board with Ben but? Not on some of these moves! Martin should of been kept! Pounce should of been gone.Hanhold really?
They just got hanhold after the season ended. Obviously he’s ahead of a few guys they have in their eyes. He’s going to get a chance in spring training. Ponce or oliva have to be 39 and 40 in some order. One of them is gone for sure when stallings new backup is signed.
Is there any way Stallings can get an Elias Diaz contract?
Good question bucsfan.He certainly deserves one.Not sure that Diaz did after the previous two years were horrible,but he showed promise in 2018 with the Pirates,and played reasonably well this year.The Rockies may soon regret it though.
Awesome to see Canaan Smith get selected. Have really liked following him since the trade from the Yanks.
dude’s gonna be a good piece for them.
Yanks DFA’d Clint Frazier. Someone will grab him. Bucs decided that their pitching was so good that they need not protect any more prospects. They’d already rostered Contreras and Yajure and didn’t need to protect Priester.as he was not Rule 5 eligible. It should be interesting to see which prospects the Bucs lose to the draft.
The Guardians released Harold Ramirez. He, like Clint Frazier, is a 27 year old RH hitting OF. In fact, they were both born on the same day (9/6/94). Their career hitting stats are remarkably similar, with Ramirez having a higher batting average and Frazier having hit more Homers. Ramirez had a solid year in 2021, but Frazier was dreadful in 2021. Both of these guys will be picked up soon, I suspect. I would actually prefer Ramirez to Frazier as his righty-lefty hitting splits are almost identical. The Bucs should take a look at this guy. He’s better than Alford by a wide margin and maybe a bit better than Gamel.
Correction: The Guardians DFA’d Ramirez (not released).
Too late. The Cubs picked up Ramirez. Frazier is still out there, but the Bucs last offensive move may be trying to sign Tsutsugo.
Ramirez could have played with the Pirates this year and done decently but he is only a Jose Tabata or Lastings Milledge type of player.Frazier has a potential high upside.He needs to get healthy and get a consistent chance.They will know early if Alford tanks again and it would be nice to have Frazier slot in if necessary.They need Tsutsugo but I am more comfortable with him at first base or DH if it starts this year in the NL.
Agreed. BC has said he’d use Yoshi in the OF if necessary, but that he’s interested in bringing him back for 1B/DH. Interestingly, I compared Alford’s September to Tsutsugo’s and the numbers were very close. Alford did show a great deal of improvement late.
September starts:
AB/R/H/2B/3B/HR/RBI/BB/SO/SB/BA/OBP/SLG
Alford
68/10/18/3/1/4/7/6/23/3/.265/.342/.515
Tsutsugo
85/12/23/5/0/3/13/10/22/0/.271/.347/.435
Budget-Thank you for the comparison.I have seen comments on here from Blue Jays fans that said that all Alford needs is a chance.I think that he does have ability but he needs to produce this year.I think that his skill set seems impressive so hopefully he can finally establish himself and fill one of the Pirates weak spots.
Pirates used to have Ramirez, they originally signed him.
Yep — left in that super odd deal with McGuire also going to Toronto. Ramirez was a pretty in-demand MiLB signing before signing with the Marlins, too. Have always been a fan of his hit tool.
Gave him away to shed Liriano.
Maybe the Pirates thought that they could grab one or two decent players from some of the better teams.They certainly have two or more pitchers that they could dfa.I am also surprised that they kept Oliva although he could also be a dfa candidate to claim someone new.
Remember that the young players drafted would need to stick on a major league team for a certain amount of time and unless they have produced decently at AAA they are probably not ready to play in the ML’s..Also,only the worst teams could dedicate a roster space to them.
Ramirez might be an acceptable stopgap and I definitely think that they should go after Frazier.Let Alford and Gamel fight for outfield spots with them in spring training.
We shall see how well BC has evaluated his own players.
Both of those pitchers will be gone once they sign a free agent or dropped before the Rule 5 draft.
I was a little surprised they got rid of Perez. Not like there’s a ton of catchers out there. Yeah, he can’t hit but he managed the young arms well IMO. Of course it would make sense to dump him for an in house guy, but he’s going to be replaced on the open market. They must have a pretty high opinion of their pitching based off who they protected. Only Travis Swaggerty was a neal Huntington guy. The rest of the protected are all guys cherington brought in on trades. They couldn’t protect everyone because they will need some depth for at least the first few months of next year, so we will see who they are able to keep after the rule 5 draft. They will sign a replacement for Perez and maybe a dumpster dive or 2.
there are a handful of players on the 40man that i would’ve dumped to put players like Mason M. on the 40man.
Someone is going to take him pretty quick.