1:05pm: The Pirates have now announced the deal and that Williams has been assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis. Infielder Mark Mathias has been recalled to take Stephenson’s spot on the active roster.
12:20pm: The Rays have acquired right-hander Robert Stephenson from the Pirates, reports Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. Minor league shortstop Alika Williams is heading the other way.
Stephenson, 30, came up as a starting pitcher for the Reds but has been converted to relief work over the past few years. The initial results of the bullpen move were positive, as he posted a 3.76 ERA over 57 appearances in 2019. Things took a downturn in the shortened 2020 season, however, with his ERA shooting up to 9.26 in 10 appearances that year. Prior to 2021, the Reds flipped him to the Rockies in exchange for Jeff Hoffman.
He then bounced back with a solid season in Denver, putting up a 3.13 ERA in 2021. He struggled again in 2022, running up a 6.04 ERA through August before he was designated for assignment and landed with the Pirates. He was able to finish on a high note with a 3.38 ERA in ten appearances for the Bucs down the stretch.
Here in 2023, he began the season on the injured list due to elbow inflammation but was able to return in the middle of April. He’s since made 18 appearances but has a 5.14 ERA in those. He’s still getting punchouts at a similar rate but his control seems to have fallen off this year. He struck out 26.8% of opponents from 2019 to 2022 and walked 7.9% but those figures are 27.9% and 13.1% this year.
That’s a small sample size but Stephenson has shown himself to be fairly inconsistent in his career, with notable swings in his effectiveness. Nonetheless, the Rays will take a shot on helping him harness his stuff. Given their track record of helping flawed pitchers get the best of their arsenals, it wouldn’t be a total shock to see Stephenson get back on track in Tampa.
Despite their reputation for producing an endless stream of quality relievers, they have had some bullpen struggles this year. They have five relievers currently on the injured list, which is putting a strain on their depth. The relief group as a whole has a collective 4.32 ERA on the season, a mark that places them 22nd out of the 30 clubs in the league. They have been looking in various places for reinforcements, including calling up several arms from their own system as well signing Jake Diekman after he was released by the White Sox. Now they will add Stephenson as well to see if he can be part of the solution as they try to hold onto the top spot in the cutthroat AL East. He will just be a short-term piece, however, since he’s slated for free agency this winter.
As for Williams, 24, he was the 38th overall selection in the 2020 draft. He has generally been considered one of Tampa’s top 30 prospects in the past few years, with his speed and defense standing out as his best qualities. The key question has been whether or not his bat would allow him to complement those skills. So far, the results there have been somewhat tepid. He hit .267/.312/.375 in 2021 across three different levels, producing a wRC+ of 86. Last year, he got his line up to .249/.353/.377 for a wRC+ of 104, spending most of his time in High-A. He’s been in Double-A this year, hitting .237/.314/.417 for a wRC+ of 101.
Williams isn’t a star prospect but he comes with a solid floor given his athletic abilities. Any offensive development would be a nice bonus for the Bucs, not a bad outcome for a struggling reliever that they grabbed off waivers less than a year ago.
Incoming Cy Young
Probably no stopping this team, their just going to keep on getting better. Now, if they could only get out of that dump of a stadium?
Sadly, this team is similar to the ’94 Expos (though at least there is no impending strike to wipe out the postseason). The Expos were the best team in Baseball and still finished 21st in attendance which led to the dismantling of the team and the overall end of competitive baseball in Montreal (the ’93 team, which finished in 2nd place in the NL East, 3 games behind the Phillies finished 27th in attendance). Playing winning baseball with no support is a bad sign for the long-term future of the team
That Expos team was one of the best teams in baseball history. Just thought I’d add to your statement.
The ‘23 A’s beg to differ…
@Captain-Judge…I can see a couple areas that might foul this ballclub up, and that would be continued lackluster performance from their scrap-heap bullpen and their hitting regressing to somewhere above 2022 levels but below what we saw April/May 2023. I don’t think by any means have the Rays locked up the top spot in the AL East.
I called it. Please contact me Rays (or Padres) FO, we can be a special asset to your scouting squad. Now my arm is sore from patting myself on the back, off to the ice bath.
you’re worth being muted
Don’t threaten me with a good time? Lol
Nice shoes
They’re technically flip-flops… but mahalo!
Called what and where?
As long as there’s a luxury tax on the wealthiest franchises, owners of small markets have no reason to relocate
Example
Bob Nutting, owner of the Pirates, a small market team, average home attendance of less than 15,000, profit for last year alone was $54 million.
Why should a long time franchise need to relocate? Only a large market apologist would suggest that rather than identify the real problem, which is there is not a level playing field across the board like in every other successful sport.
I’m not a small market apologist, I’m trying to make the point, had you read my initial comment.
Or does being a Reds fan mean you suffer from reading comprehension?
I am guessing because they have a 60 year old stadium with sewage running down the aisles and are not getting a new one. I doubt a team that has been in Pittsburgh practically since the league existed in a beautiful ballpark recently built has that issue.
Not sure what the point is, except that like many, there is a surprise a billionaire runs a business at a profit or a belief that salaries are the only expense of a baseball team.
Just saying, the Pirates aren’t going anywhere. You don’t install a brand new jumbotron, a new bar in center field, a brand new kids area, along with several other smaller renovations in two years post-COVID if you have any inkling of leaving within the next decade.
I’m not poorly educated, I understand that there’s expenses beyond paying salaries
I get the impression, you think you know everything about everything
Source?
Google is your friend. The discrepancy in income from local TV deals is well documented.
what does that have to do with the trade?
Assume that $54m number is correct while remembering past estimates were wildly wrong from the late 00’s to early teens. Granted they had less info to guess on back then.
Last years profits does not cover this start of the year 25man salary, let alone the 40man nor does it count the ton of other expenses the franchise has, nor does it account for the owners expenses. Not that the owners are taking a loss but the profit we talk about isn’t going right in to Bob or the others owners pocket and ignoring the team.
Note: Pirates given out their largest contract ever this year. Pirates given another large contract in 2022. I expect to see more this and next year.
Not an excuse, just pointing out to the average passer by that there is way more context. Again I would like to see more money spent to the on the field product where it makes sense. Just like their mid-teens window when it made sense.. it is starting to make sense now.
Forbes publishes each franchise’ expenditures, salaries and profits from the previous year during the spring
The franchise is also valued at $1.3 billion
Forbes publish estimates. Off the top of my head only one team has their financials public.
Pirates are also in the bottom third in franchise value
they’re estimates according to MLB because they don’t want people not associated with baseball to know the truth about how wealthy the owners become from baseball
and before you tell me about capitalism, most stadiums’ construction were funded by tax dollars
I always said that you can always estimate but in the end the orice us what soneine will pay fo it.
The only real sale price we have been lately was in a large market. We’ll see when a franchise sells in flyover country what the difference is. I bet it will be substantial.
they are estimates because private businesses do not have to release their financials to share holders.
There are reasonable discussions to have if that is good policy or not, Im a fan of transparency but also have to understand that it is their right and should not be faulted for it. If I were a MLBPA negotiator making it policy to release a good portion of the information would be high on my list of asks.
capitalism still applies
But still, none of this has anything to do with the trade.
I understand Williams hasn’t lived up to his 1st round billing, but this still feels like an overpay.
Ya that stock has definitely fallen. It’s crazy that a 2020 first rounder already had that value drop to that of a depth pitcher like Stephenson.
As a Pirates fan when I just saw the headline it brought up a lot of questions then when I realized/remembered who Williams is the answer to all of them was that this is probably just too good of a value for the Pirates and Ben Cherington to pass on.
Having watched the failures of the Pirates player development over the past decade, I’m certain Williams won’t be living up to his first round hype here either
Except for Delay, Keller and Cutch on the current major league roster, all of the other players began their careers with other organizations
Hayes, Joe, Castro, Ortiz, and probably a few more were all either drafted or amateur signings by the Pirates.
Cruz did pretty decent last year. Made some major changes down the stretch and those started to payoff in August-September, and into April this year before his injury. Rodolfo Castro has been solid this year with the bat. He’s been a little streaking, but I’ll take a .360 OBP with average power. Ji-Hwan Bae has done respectable, getting on base at an average rate. With his speed, a leauge average/slightly above league average OBP is pretty valuable. Even though they weren’t drafted/signed by the Pirates, Jack Suwinski and Tucupita Marcano have made some major improvements from last season on the hitter side of things, while Dauri Moreta and Jose Hernandez have looked like great finds. The Pirates are far from perfect from player development, but you need to give this regime a little more credit.
Hayes’ best attribute is his fielding. He strikes out at an alarming rate
Joe is a cast off, originally signed by the Pirates and also strikes out at an alarming rate
Castro, a switch hitter can’t hit righties with any regularity and also strikes out too much and the jury is still out on Ortiz.
What does this all say about the player development of the Pirates minor league system?
Cruz wasn’t drafted by the Bucs
Cruz hit better last year when he brought in his own hitting coach
Castro only has a 23.8% strikeout rate, just 1% worse than average. Joe strikeouts out at a high rate, but he also walks over 10% of the time. Joe is about average in BB:K ratio while Castro is above average. Both have a wRC+ of 120 or greater, which anyone will take even if they have a sub-park K%.
Saying that Hayes strikesout at an alarming rate is just disingenious. His 17.3% K-rate is 5.4% better than league average and 5th best at his position. He is also in the 86th percentle of swing and miss rate. Overall, he’s not a great hitter, but saying he strikes out at a high rate is like saying Tony Gwynn struck out too much.
Except that the entire development process was overhauled in the last 3 years and really only active in reality for 2 (1 year for hiring and putting things in place). The real current grade to me is a resounding incomplete but should not be mashed together with previous regimes.
Once Joe learns how to take the outside pitch the other, he may start seeing something middle in.
I don’t care about what other players do or don’t do, this team has a problem with scoring runs and much is from not hitting with runners in scoring positions
If the bases are loaded with no outs, a scenario that happens often with this team and 3 consecutive batters strikes out, does it matter what the league average is?
SMH
It kind of does. Striking out at a 20% rate in 2023 is a lot different than having a 20% K-rate in 1970. One is 2.7% better than league average. The other is 5% worse than league average.
Also, the Pirates are batting .270/.348/.437 with RISP this year. That’s the fifth highest BA, 8th highest OBP, and their 112 wRC+ is top ten as well. Other statistics they rank in the top half of MLB in is wOBA (7th), ISO (12th), OPS (12th), BB:K ratio (9th), and walk rate (15th). Their strikeout rate of just 20% with RISP is also the 6th lowest, with only the Red Sox, D-Backs, Guardians, Mets, and Astros surpassing them.
Believe it or not, but the Pirates and Houston Astros are match-for-match when it comes with RISP:
PIT: .270/.348/.437, 20% K-rate, 10.7% BB%, .786 OPS, .338 wOBA, 112 wRC+
HOU: .269/.348/.438, 19.9% K-rate, 10/8% BB%, .335 wOBA, 115 wRC+
The difference between the Pirates and Astros is ten runs scored (the Astros have about 30 plate appearances on the Pirates, however).
How dare you bring all those facts into a discussion?
You certainly have a fascination with strikeouts. I suggest, like chuck Noll would say, get on with your life work. AND always bitching doesn’t count.
While you talk like a man with a wooden rear Buuba
Don’t like my comments, mute me
Just what the Pirates need, more middle infielders.
You need to realize SS and middle infielder are completely different things.
He was a reach at the time. Dude never hit for power
Nothing makes me more suspicious than the Rays wanting a nothing relief pitcher for a former first rounder.
Rays are trading from a position of depth. There’s no way Williams is jumping ahead of the 4-5 guys above him on the mlb and upper minors shortstop depth chart considering his bat hasn’t developed as hoped for when drafting him so far. It’s not a bad gamble for the Pirates to take a chance on Williams at the expense of losing an mlb reliever that’s a free agent at the end of the season and it’s a reasonable play for the Rays to cash in a trade chip early to get another arm for the pen the rest of this year while they’re off to a white hot start.
Do your research. The relief pitcher was a former first rounder also.
Yes I know, but that was over a decade ago. Williams was drafted less than five years ago.
I’m both a Pirates and a Rays fan and I like this move for the Rays. He has a live arm and they have almost none of those in their bullpen, save Fairbanks, who’s hurt a lot.
The Pirates pen is very good, the hitting, not so much. What good is a solid bullpen if you don’t have the offense to use them to lock down games?
Free agent in 4 months. Pirates weren’t developing anything more out of him. If Rays do it can be studied and copied for future use.
Because the Rays bullpen is a combination of sidearmers and slider, change up guys. Very little firepower.
Good trade for the Bucs. That unless Williams has severe anxiety issues..
Maybe getting to the big club and not playing under catwalks will serve as motivation.
Or playing for a tean that wont have to worry about playoff pressure
Considering who’s involved, I’m going to assume pirates will lose this trade.
I couldn’t have said it better myself Buccrazy
Impossible for Pirates to lose this trade. You seen what Stephenson is. 4 months of that isn’t worth 7 years Williams. If you put your broken tv out on the curb that you couldn’t fix and your neighbor grabs it and fixes it oh well. Doesn’t mean you lost anything. Learn from it and move on.
Robert Stephenson to the Pirates?
Is his middle name Lewis?
That comment would be treasure, but it’s RS from the Pirates.
The Buccos need a real shortstop to help out their improving pitching staff. Cruz was decent until he got hurt and since then only Marcano has looked the part with Owings the latest to fail with both glove and bat.
Pretty sure the Pirates lead MLB in SS/2B tweeners who can hit enough to stay in the major leagues, but can’t defend worth a shizzle.
The Pirates need offense and it doesn’t appear Williams will be much help in that department
Owing needs to be DFAed if they are keeping Williams on the roster
I just read in the Tribune that Mathias is being promoted so it appears Williams is going to Indy.
Another player that strikes out too often
Must be a prerequisite to play for the Bucs
I think BC is just desperate for someone who can play good SS to help out the pitching staff.
Except Williams is going to Indy
Do you know Mickey mantle struck out over 1700 times in his career? So you having problems with a pirate striking out, is as irrelevant as you are.
and which current Pirate player has the potential to hitting more than 500 homers, Buuba?
I stand by my previous comment about what part of an anatomy you talk like
“And which current Pirates player has the potential to do something only 28 players ever have accomplished?”
Does it matter if the Pirates have a guy who could hit 500 home runs? You’re talking about a feat that only.14% of all major league baseball players have ever done. Heck, how many players in baseball right now have the potential to hit 500 home runs? It’s probably less than a dozen, if that.
Argh!
I’d like to know what the Rays see in this guy, who was arguably the worst pirate bullpen option. On the surface it looks like an overpay, and that is definitely not something the Rays do.
You can only get who’s available. Bednar and Holderman weren’t.
they should have offered Underwood
Holderman is only available if you have a game changer going the other way like Daniel Vogelbach.
#6 in a good Pirates pen. Unfortunately they used him as a 3 4 5. Finally learned their mistake as they did with underwood. Throws mid upper 90s good breaking ball. Ks are fine. Walks too many. He is a 6 or 7 in pretty much any pen.
Seems like a random grab. It baffles me how the Rays somehow or another pinpointed this particular middling reliever, who it seems could be interchangeable with 30 or 40 other anonymous relievers around the league…yet he will likely be an asset to them until a likely DFA in July or August. Churn churn churn. SMH the Rays are strange.
I don’t think they will dfa him. He is most definitely a mlb reliever and the Rays gave up actual value for him.
Well shiver me timbers, this is big news!
A for Pirates. They couldn’t do much better for Stephenson. Defensively a mlb ss that runs well. 7 years of that is much more valuable than 4 months of a reliever. They have 5 better relievers and starters that go deep. Rays offered enough to make this trade.
C for Rays. They traded surplus for a need. C isn’t a loss. Just they didn’t get Stephenson at a discount. He throws mid upper 90s with a good breaking ball. Had solid numbers until 2 recent poor outings. If they can cut down his walks he will be a nice piece. As is he is still a 6 or 7 reliever.
If he can bat .240 with a. 310 OBP, I’ll be perfectly happy.
Maybe he should just pick up his writing career.
“Treasure Island” remains very popular.
Sneaky good trade for both teams. Stephenson has always been a guy who tantalized with his stuff but has never fully delivered. I thought Cincinnati had a keeper with him early on. Like others who go to TB he’ll end up being a star. I was hoping the Tigers would grab Alika Williams in the draft but they missed out and ended up taking Trei Cruz who has not been good. I still think Williams has good potential.
feels more like a roster spot free up for another move coming. “i think” they have three open 40man spots for non 40man callups and/or people coming off the 60day.
Priester, Rodriguez, Gonzales, Nunez, Martin and a few others are doing rather well as of late.
I was worried Martin might be a total bust but he has really improved on his walks. granted hes back in AA and a small(ish) sample. if that trend continues they’ll have to move either Nunez or Martin to give them time against higher quality pitches. Tricky at first though with Santana, Joe and soon(ish) Choi in the mix.