The Pirates have announced a handful of roster moves prior to tonight’s game, with infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar, who was claimed off waivers from the Yankees yesterday, reporting to the team to take his place on the active roster. Additionally, catcher Jose Godoy has had his contract selected. In corresponding moves, infielder Michael Chavis and outfielder Greg Allen have been designated for assignment.
Chavis, 27, was drafted by the Red Sox and spent the first few years of his MLB career there as a highly-touted prospect, cracking Baseball America’s top 100 in 2018. After a tepid showing in his first tastes of the majors, he came to Pittsburgh in a July 2021 trade that sent Austin Davis the other way. Chavis’s tenure in Pittsburgh got off to a good start as he hit .357/.357/.500 after the trade last year, though an elbow strain limited him to just 12 games. He’s had a much larger sample here in 2022, making 426 plate appearances over 129 games, but hasn’t been able to do much with it. Despite launching 14 long balls on the year, he’s struck out in 29.6% of his plate appearances while walking in only 4.5% of them. On the whole, his batting line for the year is .229/.265/.389, production that’s 21% below league average according to wRC+.
Despite that lackluster output at the plate, Chavis has at least provided defensive versatility, spending time at first, second and third base this year. He passed three years of MLB service time this year and was going to be eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason. It seems the Bucs weren’t planning on keeping him around with a higher salary next year and have effectively given him an early non-tender. With the trade deadline long gone, the Bucs will have no options except to put Chavis on outright waivers or release waivers. If any team believed Chavis could take his bat to another level, they could put in a claim. As mentioned, Chavis would be due an arbitration raise for next year if he finds another roster spot, though he also has an option year remaining.
Allen, 29, is in his sixth MLB season, having donned a few jerseys in that time. He began his career with Cleveland before bouncing to the Padres and Yankees. The Pirates claimed him off waivers from the Yanks in November but placed Allen on the 60-day injured list on Opening Day with a left hamstring injury. He was activated in July but has hit just .186/.260/.271 in 46 games since, striking out in 31.3% of his plate appearances. Like Chavis, he crossed three years of MLB service time this year and was headed into the arbitration process for the first time. He’ll be placed on waivers in the coming days to see if any team is intrigued enough to give him a roster spot and pay bump. Despite the poor showing at the plate this year, he stole eight bases and provided above-average outfield defense. Neither player would be eligible for postseason play with a new club, as players must be in a team’s system prior to September 1 in order to qualify.
Godoy, 27, began the year with the Mariners before going to the Giants, Twins and Pirates on a series of waiver claims. He’s a well-regarded defender behind the plate but hasn’t shown much with the bat at the major league level. His career batting line is .128/.212/.149, though in a small sample of just 52 plate appearances. The Bucs have been using Jason Delay as their primary catcher with Zack Collins as the backup, though Collins has also been spending some time at first base. Godoy’s promotion will give them a more traditional backup catcher for the final stretch of the schedule.
Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the moves before the official announcement.
Eovaldismemes
CHAVIS!?
RobM
I can never quite remember the rules here, Can he reject the assignment and become a free agent?
kellin
I think only if he’s out of options and has been DFA’d before.
cpdpoet
…depends on his yrs/service time…..Someone should chime in with his exact servicetime #’s…
RobM
Hopefully Darragh adds it to the story on the update.
MuleorAstroMule
He’s got just under three years of service time and this is the first time he’s been DFA’d so he shouldn’t be able to refuse the assignment.
Latino Heat
They have to be on the 40 man roster and have at least 5 years of MLB service time
hiflew
Not true. It is 3 years in order to refuse the assignment and forfeit pay. At 5 years they get to refuse the assignment and not lose salary.
Latino Heat
Perhaps I read wrong info if so my apologies. This is what I was referring to
Per Article XIX-A of the CBA, any player on an MLB 40-man roster who has accrued at least five years of MLB Service Time (as well as an international player with Article XIX-A contractual rights) has the right to refuse an Outright Assignment to the minors, or the player can elect to be a free-agent immediately upon being outrighted, or he can accept the Outright Assignment and defer his option to elect free-agency until after the conclusion of the MLB regular season.
Robertowannabe
Service Time (01/2022): 2.089 per Baseball Reference
hiflew
He should be over 3 years now. The number on B/R’s site is at about 2.5 years as of January. That should put him just shy of 3.5 years right now.
hiflew
Which means he is at about 3.075 ish now.
deweybelongsinthehall
Article says he has one option left but at this point, does it matter?
Gwynning's Anal Lover
Yep. Thumbs down.
fre5hwind
As a Pirates fan I confirm this move irresponsible l.
3Rivers
Nah
socalbaseballdude
I could see the Dodgers taking a chance on him…
bucsfan0004
He’s going to get scooped up by someone. Perfect backup for a good team, just not an everyday player for a bad team
jtkuch
Chavis has not been good overall, but I can’t see DFA’ing him over several other nothingness guys on the 40. At least he has pop and can hit lefties.
TheMan 3
Chavis played a fearless first base and could hit lefties so this comes as a surprise to me.
I’d have DFAed Zack Collins who couldn’t hit at all going 1-18 since being taken off the waiver wire from Toronto
MuleorAstroMule
In his career he’s got an 87 wRC+ against lefties or 13% below average. He’s had over 1000 PAs and he’s never come close to being an average hitter. He’s not a great defender so it’s probably time to move on.
TheMan 3
compared to what they had at first base he was better than average fielding wise
fre5hwind
I would’ve DFA Collins he’s not a permanent 1B man.
TheMan 3
Collins is now 1-24 as a Buc
Shelton really knows how to pick ‘em
fre5hwind
They need to get rid of him and get him get back Chavis and release VanMeter.
Roguesaw2
I dont know, but I can’t imagine it matters. He can’t possibly pass through waivers unclaimed, can he?
Joe says...
Make the most of it Miggy!!!
tiredolddude
Surprised they go this route with Chavis. Allen, not so much. Who plays first?
LarsAnderson
Andujar.
louwhitakerisahofer
Thinking they’ll mix Andujar and Collins at first for the rest of the year
Joe says...
That would be a mistake. Andujar is a left fielder.
tiredolddude
Yes, Yankees fans saying he wasn’t bad out there.
jimmyz
I agree that Andujar is better suited to play LF than 1B but given the state of the Pirates organization with having a gaping black hole at first and a plethora of capable if unspectacular options to sort through for corner outfield work (Mitchell, Suwinski, Smith-Njiba when healthy, Swaggerty potentially pushing Reynolds to a corner spot or playing in left himself, etc.) it would probably make the team better in the aggregate to have Andujar play first base.
mils100
Does it matter at all. Put the parrot out there.
LarsAnderson
The parrot has a really big glove, might work.
fre5hwind
They should’ve DFA Zach Collins Derek Shelton classic always doing the wrong move.
jimmyz
Shelton mismanaged a lot of things but roster construction is above his pay grade. That’s Cherington’s mismanagement.
3Rivers
That’s GM’s call. It’s been all year.
birdsfan415
why chavis tf
biffpocoroba
Zaidi will grab Chavis if he gets the opportunity.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
Yankees table scraps > Red Sox table scraps.
Rsox
Its bizarre that First Base has been such a tough position for the Pirates to fill since trading Josh Bell to Washington before last season
TheMan 3
only bizarre because Nutting prohibits Cherington to spend money to sign a decent first baseman
Robertowannabe
It will have to be a trade because there have been no quality FA 1b except for Freeman and Rizzo (both in last year’s crop. Nothing in this years crop.
Robertowannabe
Since before Bell. Bell was ugly at times at 1b in the Burgh.
Macbeth
Even with Bell 1B has long been an issue. Hasn’t seen consistency since Adam LaRoche. When LaRoche is the bar for consistency you know you’re in trouble.
panj341
LaRoche would be awful at beginning of year then when you fell out of contention he would start hitting so he could get his 20+ Hrs.
jimmyz
The half year of Derrek Lee wasn’t bad but I’m 37 years old and the only two first basemen the Pirates have had who were actually good for multiple seasons in the almost four decades of my life are still Jeff King and Kevin Young.
Brick House Coffee Tables Inc
Frank Schwindel is available for the Pirates. Be bold and salvage both the Tank and Andujar.
Robertowannabe
Chavis is an ok player but there are several guys that will need 40 man spots after this season just hitting the upper minors. This offseason should be the time that Cherrington looks to add to the major league roster finally. Some top guys made it to the show this year and several more on the cusp. They will need 40 man spots to add better FA than guys like Chavis and Allen.
TheMan 3
Yeah, Cherington should add but don’t expect any high priced free agents
He’ll be dumpster diving at the end of spring training
That’s how the Nutting regime functions
panj341
The key phrase here for both players is that they were eligible for arbitration next year.
Nutting’s goal is to pay league minimum unless you are a star like Reynolds.
Chavis could have hit 10 more HRs and still be DFAed. He was not a star but was one of their more productive dumpster dives.
They dumped Bell because he would make too much in arbitration.
Robertowannabe
Neither player fits into the future due to their bats. Bae is a better option than Allen. Chavis is behind a slew of MI for 2b and not good enough for 1b. Neither worth keeping even if cheap. They dumped Bell because was going to be a FA after this season and he had not been hitting since before the AS game in 2019 was ugly the 2nd half.. Ugly in 2020. Washington stay was good but fell off the cliff since the trade to SD again. Always was very streaky but was really ugly with the glove at 1b in Pittsburgh. As streaky as he has been with the bat and the issues in the field, a really big risk for any team and he has Boras as an agent.
UWPSUPERFAN77
Nice pick up from the Yankees. MA the best player DFA this year! The other guys being DFA, kind of BLAH for a feeling!!
jimmy-jr.
Would love to see Andujar start EVERY game the rest of the way… totally forgot about this guy, only 105 MLB games since 2019 after that solid 2018 season. Only one way to go…
JoeBrady
Chavis’s tenure in Pittsburgh got off to a good start as he hit .357/.357/.500
==============================
It’s good if you ignore the BABIP of .452. All you need to do is to ignore the ‘back of the baseball card’ numbers, and then extrapolate 1 HR in 42 ABs (14-15 in 6oo ABs) and combine that with a 10/0 K/W.
The dude refuses to go the other way. With the RS, I’ve seen him step in bucket trying to pull a pitch that was 6 inches outside.
uvmfiji
Why give him that many at bats?
Bruin1012
Michael Chavis can’t catch up to the high fastball he can hit off-speed stuff and he crushes mistake off-speed. I’m sure the league and the Pirates have figured that out. I can’t see him ever being able to catch up to the heater he has what was once known as a slider speed bat.
cbee
Godoy would bat 9th on a men’s league team.
3Rivers
Godoys add has nothing to do with his Offense, obviously.
Gwynning's Anal Lover
If anybody has been watching the games, Michael Chavis would sacrifice himself to make a play at first. I think he would have done well in the long run, even serving as a bench piece for the Pirates. One of the better players that you wanted to see get a chance.
extreme113
Another Red Sox bad 1st round picks
TheMan 3
There’s no reason why they couldn’t have waited until after the season to DFA Chavis and instead DFA Collins who’s now 1-21 since joining the Pirates
But Collins isn’t arbitration eligible next year and is the cheaper alternative
After all, the Nutting regime is all about profit over competitiveness
What an embarrassing time to be a Bucs fan
joew
when you are running a full roster of players on rookie contracts… your payroll is going to be crazy low.
this ‘should’ also give them some headway if things start turning around sooner than later. Talking players in to signing with the Pirates when that time comes around maybe difficult.
TheMan 3
payroll has been crazy low for the past 6 years. Nutting’s on record that being a businessman his only concern is profits
joew
everyone knows hes a business man and not so much a baseball man… but do you have a source for him saying his only concern is profits?
around the time you say is right around when a rebuild actually started rather than this soft rebuild NH liked to say he was doing
Buccrazy
It was ok to get rid of Chavis at the end of the season, but should have waited until then. They cant seriously be keeping Collins after this season. Hes terrible. Maybe you are right and they are though because he would have been the DFA otherwise.
They are going to try and make andujar into a 1B essentially taking chavis’s place. Also may try and move someone else over there (mitchell?). I cant see any real reason to keep collins at all. You cant use him as the backup C and 1B, that would be way too many games for a guy who isnt any good anyways.
3Rivers
Yes Mitchel seems perfect for 1B. He’s a good defender in OF but no arm. Hopefully he can translate that defense to being a good defender there too.
joew
Mason Martin over Collins for sure but I don’t know about Andujar at 1b. has almost no experience there.. but hey if you are going to try it and see.. now’s the time regardless of who you want to slap there 🙂
wkkortas
The Pirates tried to shoehorn two guys–Vogelbach and Chavis–with significant platoon splits into full-time roles, when they could have kept them both and had an effective and reasonably affordable platoon arrangement. If the Bucs are lucky, Andujar makes that a moot point, but that’s as much hope as anything else.
Buccrazy
they play a lot of guys too much, thats because of the lack of talent they have.
loaded with platoon backup types, some of which start and shouldnt
TheMan 3
Watching Zack Collins go 1 for 25 now since joining the Bucs including striking out 3 times last night, I hope Shelton is pleased.