8:16pm: As expected, Moran has decided to accept the outright assignment, the club announced (via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer).
5:58pm: The Reds announced that corner infielder Colin Moran has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Louisville. He has the right to refuse a minor league assignment as a player with between four and five years of big league service time, but doing so would require forfeiting what remains of his $1MM guaranteed salary. C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic tweets that Moran has not yet informed the Reds of his decision.
Cincinnati hadn’t previously announced that Moran had been designated for assignment. The outright drops the club’s 40-man roster tally down to 39, although they’ll need a spot for reliever Jeff Hoffman whenever he’s ready to return from the COVID-19 injured list.
The Reds signed Moran to a one-year deal during Spring Training. He’d been cut loose by the division-rival Pirates after a four-year run in Pittsburgh. He typically offered league average production at the dish during his time in the Steel City, combining for a .269/.331/.419 line. After struggling defensively at the hot corner, however, he was increasingly limited to first base time of late. His solid but unspectacular offense at a bat-first position wasn’t enough for the Bucs to keep him around through his arbitration seasons.
While Cincinnati hoped they’d add a productive left-handed bat to their bench, Moran hasn’t performed especially well in 2022. He’s posted a .210/.299/.360 line with four home runs through 117 plate appearances during his major league action. That’s led to a pair of optional assignments to Louisville, where he’s punched out in 16 of his 52 trips against upper minors pitching. Those struggles made it such that no other team wanted to assume the remaining guarantees on his contract.
If Moran stays with the Bats on outright assignment, he’ll try to play his way back onto the 40-man roster before the end of the season. He’d technically remain controllable via arbitration through 2023 in that instance, but the 29-year-old would need an excellent second half to convince the club to tender him a contract. Moran would have another opportunity to qualify for minor league free agency at the end of the season if he’s not selected to the major league roster by then.
Redbeard walks the plank.
Forwhomthejoshbelltrolled just got flushed
Good idea, & keep Moustakas, another great long contract.
Cincinnati is Anaheim-lite
Yes, the Ohio-LA connection. Stupid travels the nation
In an effort to be fair I will say kudos to John Mozeliak for dodging this bullet.
I railed against the signing of Moran at every opportunity and was very relieved when Cincy signed him. Thought the DH would go to Nootbaar/Yepez but then Mo found Dickerson. Hoping he gets designated if he ever comes back from rehab. Yepez is a man-beast. Awful in the field but he can blast it and he hits vs RH as well as LH.
But his offense wouldn’t have been any more acceptable at 3B, as that is also an offensive position.
I certainly find Moustakas’s numbers offensive
Assuming Moran accepts the AAA assignment he’s likely to get added back to the big league roster in a few weeks. Reds will be looking to trade Drury and Solano, among others, before the deadline.
Another dumb signing by Nick Krall. For a team with a cheapskate owner, the Reds sure waste a lot of money.
He’s getting one million. That’s basically nothing in baseball terms. He didn’t work out but waste of money? What else would you get for that? One half of a meh reliever?
I’d gladly take a million dollars. I would take 1/16th of the contracts they give out. Like with Harper’s deal. 1/16th is just over 20mol.
The sad part is Moran at his lifetime average would be about the best hitter on the Pirates.
The pitchers have been told that they need to pitch a shutout,and then there is no guarantee of a win.
This offense is horrid. Reynolds gets it going, but Hayes hits a massive slump. Cruz is here, but he’s still just one ddude. He could be hitting .400 with 10 home runs and our offense would still be bad. Jack Suwinski is super streaky. It’s a real shame too. Starting pitching has been great for nearly the last 2 months.
MLB- I guess that we have to look at the small things like the starting pitchers because now the bullpen is letting the Pirates down.
If they cannot beat the Nationals what are they going to do against the Yankees and the Brewers.?
I do think that it is time to bring Bae up.They have several players that they can release to add him to the roster.
It is home run or no count with Castillo and Suwinski.Such are the ways of very young players.They both need more seasoning in AAA but the Pirates cannot afford to lose their power.
Reynolds is in his even year swoon,but he has no one to follow him in the lineup.
I had hopes for Chavis but he is going downhill too.
And Hayes has shown how he was projected- a 270 average with doubles power but that is it.He has also made too many errors this year.
I think that these young players will get better and become at least decent Ml players but I do not see numerous all stars in the future.Maybe the pitching will become the Pirates’ strong point.
Or I hate to say it maybe they will just continue to be a bad team.
Hayes’ defense is fine. He’s leads all third basemen in DRS, UZR/150, and is second to just Manny Machado in outs above average. 3B’s make errors all the time. Brooks Robinson averaged 10 errors every 1000 innings, and Mike Schmidt averaged 16 errors every 1000 innings and made 20+ at the hot corner seven different times. Errors at third base are about as worthless as pitcher wins/losses because no matter how good you are, even good defenders make 10-12 on average. This is just the third year ever the average 3B F% is above .960.
Chavis should only face LHP. Going into today, he has a .621 OPS vs RHP and .882 OPS vs southpaws. They need an actual platoon partner because he’s basically unplayable vs same-handed pitching. Same with Castillo. Reynolds, I’m not worried about. Idk how you can call it an even year swoon when the only other even year he played in was 2020 and we all know we can’t take those numbers beyond face value. He has a .891 OPS this June.
Bae definitley needs to be called up. Hoy Park has done better, but no way should Josh VanMeter be here and not Bae. I think we have a few all-stars coming up. Mike Burrows, Roansy Contreras, Quinn Priester, Cruz, Nick-Gonzo, Liover Peguero. There’s at least 2 or three all-stars in that group. The only starter the Pirates have in the current rotation who isn’t controllable beyond this year is Quintana.
If Keller is starting to come into his own since adding his sinker, going into 2023 with Contreras, Brubaker, Keller, and Thompson is decent. Burrows is already at Triple-A, and Priester may have been by now too had it not been for injury. Maybe one of Bolton, Yajure, Kyle Nicolas, or Carmen Mlodzinski breakout and all of a sudden, the pitching staff is pretty deep. Relief pitching will come. Their Double-A closer, Tyler Samaniego has dominated all year. Guys will get moved to the bullpen, etc. etc.
I still would like to see us add at least one bat and one starter and releiver in the off-season. We don’t need to go out and spend a ton, but first base is a real issue if you’re not going to find a decent platoon partner for Chavy. Could see them deal from their wealth of outfield prospects for a proven comodity. In any case, I think they’re fine for now. Just keep moving the youngsters up and they’ll show improvement.
MLB-I was not aware of the stats of B Robinson and Schmidt.I guess it is called the “ hot corner” for a reason.You sit and sit and sit and then all at once someone barrels a line drive right at you.
I played there two or three games in American Legion ball and I hated it,Shortstop was much more enjoyable.
I think Chavis is a good player but that stat is enlightening also.
I hope that you are right about the young players but Gonzalez gives me cause for concern at AA and he was supposed to be the best one.
I actually think that the starting pitching next year has the potential to be clearly better than decent,and I think that BC could pull another Anderson or Quintana out of the hat.A major problem with small market teams though is depth so it would not hurt to do what you say and sign a few good free agents to reasonable deals.
I still think to consider signing Josh Bell but it would depend on what he wants and can get.He May be a front runner though and rest on his laurels once he gets a three year contract but he may be worth it with the DH in the NL now.
I’d consider Bell too, but I need to see a full season of him performing well. He’s the definition of inconsistent. I mean just go back to his 2019 season and you’ll see what I mean:
April/May ’19: 1.109 OPS
June/July ’19: .766 OPS
August/September ’19: .892 OPS
He was good, but it was a rollercoaster. It was like that before and seemingly after. 2017: 26 homers, .200 ISO. 2018: 12 homers, .150 ISO. 2021 first half: .756 OPS, 2021 second half: .887 OPS. He’s good, but you need to be ready for his ebs-and-flows. He can carry an offense for two months, but needs carried for two more months.
I know we’re probably gonna deal him, but I totally wish that we would extend Quintana. I just feel he’s going to be J.A. Happ 2.0. Heck, he might be J.A. Happ 3.0 if Tyler Anderson can keep this up. I get that nobody perdeicted Anderson having an ERA better than Walker Buehler, but I also felt the Pirates should have held onto Anderson. I hope if and/or when we trade Q, we get back a better package than we did for Anderson.
Heck, even in the small sample size of 2020, Bell wasn’t immune to his ups and downs. First 25 games, he had a .507 OPS. Final 32 games, had a .817 OPS. Again, remember it is 2020 so we’re looking at a small sample size under abnormal conditions, but the point still remains.
too long…next!
To me, the kids are playing as you’d expect right now. I mean, they can lose 100 games with the castoffs or with the kids and as such, go with the latter
To me, the only caveat in all of this is the hope that someone is closely monitoring psychological development of the kids. I wonder about guys like Castillo and Suwinski, who will homer, have a great game or two, and then look lost for a couple weeks
You’d hope these young guys are professional enough to understand the process, the highs and lows, but the mind is a funny thing. Nothing wrong with keeping the shuttle to Indy or Altoona moving
Back to the topic here, Moran and Bell are best suited as DH’s, no? Didn’t we see enough of their work defensively to know they just are no help?
I’m hoping that they continue to let the kids play and be patient with the losses that are bound to come. See who really flourishes, who truly has potential, and who needs refinement
Tired- I agree with you on your first paragraph.None of these players were busting up their league except for Suwinski and that was AA.I do think that the Pirates were wise in bringing them up,but there is nothing wrong with sending them back down so that they can prove themselves in AAA.
My point about Bell is mostly about using him as DH although he really is an up and down hitter.I have been surprised,though,that the Pirates have been this bad of a hitting team,although somewhat pleasantly surprised 9f their initial bullpen results and the later starting pitching results.Who knew?!
I am expecting a call at any time to DH,and you may get one too Tired.
Mendoza, they are a really difficult team to watch. Guess I coached enough teams over decades to realize that these things take time and truly, patience is a virtue
Game by game, you see things that are kind of extraordinary at this level.
And then, you throw in some really strange decisions from their manager and well, it’s the stuff great comedy is made of
I’m still more excited about the future thanks to the kids than at any point in Pirates baseball in a long time. Guess I’m just worried about this process being screwed up. If anyone can do it, it’s the Pirates
I live near Philadelphia so I do not see what you see nearly as much.Do you think Shelton will be there next year?From what I can tell it is a thankless job and they seem to have been trying hard but I wonder if they are going to start to “ throw in the towel” with over half of the year left.
Girardi had completed two years like Shelton but his fourth option year had not been picked up and I think that that is Shelton’s situation.
I had just gotten a little excited after the last Dodgers and D-Backs series so shame on me.
They do seem for the most part to be competitive with fairly good teams but they just do not have the oomph to put together a decently long winning streak.
I think that you are right about the patience as one needs it with every young team but this rebuild cannot go on much longer.I have a good friend who I grew up with north of Pittsburgh who was ardent on the Pirates and he has given up on them over the last thirty years but to me it is almost like giving up on my youth.
I guess that we just have to be happy with the little things that they may learn to do better and hope for the best.
It’s funny that you mention Girardi. In watching the Phils a number of times, and knowing of their injuries, it seemed to me that he was in the “try anything” mode as the Mets kept winning and his team fell farther behind. When you are supposed to be a contender, I imagine the fan base wasn’t too happy
In a similar way, I think Shelton uses the same approach albeit in an “MLB tryout” way of thinking. I’m not justifying his decisions, but some of his personnel moves with the kids sometime defy logic or really, any “Baseball Book for Dummies”. This doesn’t excuse him for playing the castoffs too much for my liking or going against the book in situations—batting a lefty against a tough left hander, bringing in a righty reliever against three tough lefty bats, etc.
I think he’s here for another season to continue the process, really, unless they have someone in minor league management who they feel can get more out of the kids, is positive and patient. Don’t know who that is, and there certainly isn’t anyone in the MLB managerial circus who could come here and get markedly better results
Agree about the Dodger series. You even had sports radio geniuses whispering “wild card” at the time. Those whispers have died off
Like I said, game in and game out, it’s a tough team to watch. I don’t blame your friend for finding better things to concern himself with—he’s certainly not alone
The drug trial era, the John Russell period and the end of the Huntington reign likely killed a lot of interest here. To his credit, Cherington has done a lot to inspire hope.
But this process is going to take time and continued hopes that ownership doesn’t screw it up
Look at his career OPS. He wouldn’t be an improvement even for the Pirates.
Cosmo- If you checked out the stats you would find that he would be the second one in OPS behind Reynolds.
His problem was more that he was limited to first base and DH and did not hit enough to be on any good team.,especially at those positions.
He is the definition of meh.
But meh on the Pirates right now is not all that bad.
Yea, looking further into it I’m confusing OPS+ and OPS and conflating career and 2022 stats. You’re right, he’s better.
While meh might not be bad for the Pirates right now, I would not take the risk on Moran. I would never want to see him in the field ever again. I’d rather play a guy with a .180 average and .600 OPS with great fielding than Moran with his .270 average and .741 career OPS. Dude was an absoulte butcher on the infield corners. You had to hold your breath every time a ball was hit his way. He didn’t have the range or reaction to get to balls, and when he did, there was a fair chance his stone hands would bobble it.
Cosmo- Which says more about the current Pirate team than Moran,whose time had run out In Pittsburgh because he was not going to get any better.
MLB- I was not implying to get Moran back.
And he was not any worse than Bell as a first baseman.
That of course is damning with faint praise.
I kind of guessed that, but to even the thought of bringing Moran back, ugh.
Pirates don’t want you. Reds don’t want you.
Good luck in the KBO Colin!
I really want the cardinals to sign him so this guy can feel justification
amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/get-a-brain-morans
Garg- Thank you for your post.
I like to laugh.
Photos like this one cannot be made up.
Get a brain Moran
He’ll be batting 5th for Seattle by Friday.
Fair winds and following seas, Captain Obvious!