The Pirates announced Wednesday that they’ve designated first baseman Lewin Diaz for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to recently signed first baseman Carlos Santana, who joined the Bucs on a one-year deal earlier this week. Pittsburgh had claimed Diaz off waivers from the Marlins earlier in the month.
Diaz, 26, originally signed with the Twins for a $1.4MM bonus back in 2013 and has at times been considered a reasonably high-profile prospect — both in the Twins’ system and with the Marlins, who acquired him in the 2019 trade that sent Sergio Romo to Minnesota.
Diaz had a particularly strong run with the Marlins in the upper minors, but he received auditions in three separate Major League seasons without establishing himself as a credible offensive presence. In 343 trips to the plate at the MLB level, Diaz is just a .181/.227/.340 hitter with a 28.9% strikeout rate against a tepid 5.5% walk rate. He drew grades for plus raw power potential as a prospect but hasn’t been able to consistently make hard contact in spite of his 6’4″ frame.
For all of his struggles at the plate, however, Diaz excels defensively. His glove received 70 grades on the 20-80 scale as a prospect, and he’s demonstrated exactly why during his limited MLB action. Diaz has just 753 innings at first base but nonetheless has tallied a whopping 16 Defensive Runs Saved and 9 Outs Above Average.
Diaz is out of minor league options, so any team that acquires him will need to either carry him on its Opening Day roster next season or attempt to pass him through waivers before sending him to the minors. He’s a .250/.325/.504 hitter in two Triple-A seasons and has been particularly effective against right-handed pitching when at his best. As such, it’s possible another team will view him as a viable platoon option at first base — one with some untapped potential.
The Pirates will have a week to trade Diaz or attempt to pass him through waivers themselves. Pittsburgh had the third priority on the waiver wire, based on last year’s reverse standings (which, contrary to popular belief, are not league-specific). That means both the Nats and A’s passed on him last time around, so it’s unlikely (though certainly not impossible) they’d claim him this time around.
Surely there’s someone else on that roster that doesn’t deserve to be on the 40 man over Diaz
Diaz just wasn’t producing for the Pirates. He had to go.
By that logic, the whole team has to go…maybe we should try that (oh wait, we did already).
I thought Lewin put up better numbers with Pittsburgh than he did in Miami.
Duane Underwood Jr should be given his walking papers, especially considering he’s arbitration eligible and will probably receive a substantial increase in his salary this year
He’s just simply bad.
Paul-Underwood will go when they sign a starting pitcher.
I was wondering who they would designate today and I came to the conclusion that the best one would be Diaz.His hitting each of the three ML years of his career has been awful.He has shown no improvement,and was probably just a filler in case they did not get Santana.
Then they need to sign a starter before his arbitration hearing or else they’re stuck paying him
Paul- That is what I did not understand.They know that they do not want to pay Underwood and that they will need his spot so why not just non tender him?A number of teams leave open spaces for free agents as long as they do not have to designate someone who they want to keep.
Diaz’ forte is defense. A team that set the franchise record for strikeouts in a single season needs offense, too. They had 7 position players who struck out 100+ times
Great defense is required if you’re only giving up 1 run but not scoring any
Pirates just have a couple of other guys until they have to start to cut potential players.
Orioles will claim, mark it.
That was quick
I would have rather watched Diaz back up Choi and save Santana’s money for something else. But Santana will at least improve upon Tsutsugo.
Well said manny.
I really don’t get the Pirates signing Santana over just rolling the dice with Diaz. Diaz is at least young, plays great defense and has some good pop. None of which Santana seems to have going for him anymore. For such a frugal team to commit almost $7 million to a washed up Santana when they already had Choi and Diaz just makes very little sense to me.
I think this has to be all about rostering seasoned power hitters they can flip at the deadline for quality prospects. Otherwise it makes no sense. You can’t tell me there aren’t already several prospects with a higher ceiling on a perennial rebuilding team who have earned a look over some of these retreads.
Then make a trade for a player with a bloated salary with a good prospect attached to the deal rather than the gamble that Santana will play well enough to flip
I said that for so many years. They don’t spend anything, so why not just trade for Eric Hosmer and assume his salary? Should have done it before the season started. Should be talking to the Nats about Corbin, etc.
I’m not really upset about Santana though, I think he can be a good leader and if he hits over 20 HR’s and gets on base at over a /300 clip, that’s better than what we’ve gotten for quite a bit.
On the other hand, seems they should have never gotten rid of Vogelbach. Sure he can’t play defense but he can DH and get some HR’s. 2 million option for him is a deal.
Teams giving enough prospects to actually be worth taking on salary doesn’t happen often. Or has my memory failed me? If it does than I imagine the competition to get those prospects would be fierce.
Vogelbach isn’t worth 6 years of a nice arm. Guy can’t run, weak at 1b, can’t hit lhp. Trade value was in Pirates favor.
Hole-That was a good trade for the Pirates as Holderman was a good reliever for the Mets.Vogelbach hit well and NY s keeping him at the very low salary but he is one dimensional and had very little future in Pittsburgh.
I think that BC realized the vast chasm that he created at first base last year and tried to overdo it this year but his trades have generally been reasonably good.This one will not ripen for another year to wait to see how good Holderman can be.
Hole? You referring to me?
No,hole camels.I was agreeing with you.
@Mendoza Line 215 I was making a weak attempt at humor. Like I should be answering because I am A Hole. I know you wouldn’t be calling me that.
Ps
I love you Mendoza Line 215
I thought that it might be that,but figured that I would take the safe way out.It was pretty clear that I agreed with you.
I have been close to calling a few posters that name over my six years on this site but never knowledgeable ones like you.
I get along with almost all posters as I have learned over my many years that we are all in this thing together.
@Mendoza I don’t have a single user muted. I used to mute people who muted me but someone pointed out I could say whatever I want to them for everyone else to see and they will never know. I will always have the final word. Put that way it sounded pretty good.
I don’t even know how to do it but wouldn’t even if I could.
Yeah, like Tsutsugo, Choi and Santana fit in perfectly with the Pirates hitting philosophy of strike out often, hit an occasional bomb, and have Pirates announcers proclaim what a great signing they were
Pathetic organization.
I agree, Dude, except unlike numerous other players who strike out frequently, Santana has a history of drawing walks
I have a feeling that this is what they eventually planned to do with Diaz whether or not they signed Santana: wait until a good time to try and sneak him through waivers. If so, a calculated risk but possibly worthwhile.
I’m guessing that’s part of the calculus since teams had to make 40 man decisions for the upcoming rule 5 draft. But if any team with an open spot likes him more than the rule 5 crop of players he’s gone.
This is exactly the kind of guy Cleveland will pick up. I’d prefer Mancini but they will try and platoon him with Naylor.
Neither one can hit lhp.
He definitely has some upside but the Guardians don’t seem like a fit to me. Diaz and Naylor both hit better against righties so that wouldn’t help the platoon issue, and they already don’t really have an obvious DFA candidate that’s worse than Diaz is. Basically, would you rather have Diaz or Richie Palacios?
While I’m not thrilled they signed Santana, it’s my belief they were looking for veteran leadership that could speak to Cruz, for example in his native language. There’s numerous young players on this team that might have a better chance of developing from one of their own as opposed to the current hitting coach that wasn’t very effective with the core of these young players
Lew never wins.
The real question is why they picked up Diaz in the first place. He was not going to platoon with Choi who is also left handed. There is no room on the roster for a defensive only first baseman who can’t play any other position and who can’t hit.
As to Santana he hits very well against left handers and plays good defense. This makes him a good platoon partner with Choi. The GM says he is going to spend some additional money on pitching which if true then let’s keep signing guys. Santana is better than anything they had at first last year.
my 2 year old Havenese would be better than anyone that played 1st base last year
The only questions about Choi and Santana are this: will they yield *more* prospects at deadline time, or will they be DFA’d somewhere along the line? I’m going to go with the latter but will be happy to remind you about Cherington when this team is comfortably dead in the water in late July
You might as well have kept Huntington. There is no difference
AAA depth and not like Choi Santana are going to be there long.
Agreed. Both can DH as well. Diaz was never a good fit, glad they just moved on now instead of forcing the issue. Not like they lost anything by picking him up.
The A’s are gonna get him, hopefully.
A’s would have had a shot at him before the Pirates already. Not likely.
It all makes sense now. Get Diaz in case you can’t sign Santana, but if you can, Diaz could be nice depth option if he can improve his hitting. Good work. I don’t understand all the negativity about the Santana signing. He can help the Bucs in many ways. The Bucs now have 11 Dominicans on the 40-man roster. I’m excited about all of them and about what Santana brings to this club.
.
Santana time is up! Has not done much for at least 2 or 3 seasons. I feel sorry for you guys signing him. Time to move up all of your vaunted prospects. Barrell man #1 was a lot better., but you sacked Vogelbach out of Pittsburgh!
Vogelbach was only signed for 1 year, so it made sense to trade him.
We don’t have many more vaunted prospects to bring up. I’m not sold on Swaggerty either.
Not time to call up any 1b prospects. Vogelbach isn’t good enough to play 1b and the reliever was worth the trade. Santana should be a perfectly fine 4 month place holder.
I love how so many here seem to remember the Santana of 2018 or earlier. Yeah, maybe he’ll resurrect his career here but it’s hard to fathom after having a pretty dreadful 2022. I don’t see Choi as much better
But I get it
Chavis was short and a landlocked down there. At least the kid was a gamer.
He doesn’t need to resurrect anything. He still plays good defense and hits the ball hard. As long as he stays healthy he will continue to be a plus war player.
Tired- Chavis was a gamer.He always hustled and seemed to know how to play the game.He had a good attitude,and seemed to always be positive.The Pirates had him out of position although I was impressed with his stretch.He struck out way too much and walked way too little,but hopefully he gets a job where he can emphasize his strengths and strike out less and walk more.
I liked Chavis, as you said, Mendoza, he was a scrapper. But he’d swing at pitches so far out of the strike zone, and repeatedly in the same AB.
That said, in my opinion, he was the best fielding first baseman we had.
Paul-He was the only first baseman that the Pirates had.
Good luck. If you aren’t good enough for the pirates your career isn’t in a good place.
Dream- I know that you think that Chavis was too short to play first base but Shelton did not have a lot of options and at least Chavis was a gamer.
I hope that he can rebound and partially correct his flaws and remain in the ML’s.
I can over look his height if he could hit. He was even fine hitting only lhp 200 times a season. But when he couldn’t even do that anymore he became completely useless. Diego only hits lhp and is younger cheaper. So are we just keep Chavis because he plays with energy? I like the guy but no room on 40 man for him.
I thought that he was a decent player until I saw that he struck out 125 times and only walked 25 times.
I felt bad when they released him but knew that they couldn’t carry a player who did not hit like that.Castillo is very young but is a perfect example of someone who needs at least a full year in AAA..
I dunno if a year in aaa would help. He hit mlb lhp above average. Awful vs rhp. Probably destined to be a weak platoon utility player no matter what.
He only had one month there in 2021 so it will definitely help. He is very young and was rushed to the majors because of his spring training stats.
You May be right but I would give him at least one year there to learn how to hit.
I think that Marcano can become a fine utility man anyway.Castillo could actually become trade bait.
If they move Bae to centerfield I am not sure what they do with Suwinski and Mitchell as Andujar needs to play every day.That is why I thought that they would try to teach him how to play first base.
If the Pirates get into a. Logjam in the outfield I think that that spells trading Reynolds as he is going to want to become a free agent after 2025.
Castillo won’t have much trade value as a weak weak platoon. If he doesn’t improve he will just be a utility man until he demands millions. Hope he can improve but doesn’t look good.
I am more concerned with Bae Mitchell and Suwinski. Much rather they start. After 2024 Andujar will be a 30 year old free agent. If he does good this year he should be traded. Plenty abs for him. Choi shouldn’t see lhp so Andujar should dh those games. Suwinski doesn’t look like he should play vs lhp either. Pinch hitting. Sheltons 2x a week Sunday lineup. Should be plenty of abs.
Makes sense. They didn’t want him once they got Santana, who I wouldn’t have signed but I guess we’ll find out
I would think and hope they still want him.
No loss here. Just picked him up in case we couldn’t sign someone else. Have plenty of other money to spend but who wants to come to Pittsburgh as a free agent
Only got him in case they didn’t sign someone else.
I doubt that’s true.
No loss here
No loss- picked him up just in case they couldn’t sign someone
Test
Man, if Lewin ends up figuring out how to get the bat on the ball more often, this move may make the Pirates look just plain stupid…more than they have been doing.
Marlins-I would say the exact same thing about the Marlins.
What’s the advantage of a team picking up a player like this only to dump him a few weeks later? It seems a waste.
The advantage is that they were not sure that they had Santana when they claimed Diaz as Cherington does not have a crystal ball.He wanted insurance so as to not repeat last year’s fiasco which dwarfed the catching situation.
It cost the Pirates nothing.
Diaz is in limbo for a while but he provides good AAAA depth in case the Pirates lost both first basemen to injury if he clears waivers.