The Pirates have placed outfielder Miguel Andújar and reliever Angel Perdomo on outright waivers, reports Alex Stumpf of DK Pittsburgh Sports. They join righty Yerry De Los Santos as Pittsburgh players known to be on the waiver wire. Both Andújar and Perdomo will become free agents if they aren’t claimed.
Pittsburgh ran Andújar through waivers twice this past season. The former Rookie of the Year runner-up got into 30 big league contests, hitting .250/.300/.476 with four home runs across 90 plate appearances. He had a very strong offensive showing at Triple-A Indianapolis, running a .338/.404/.536 line while connecting on 16 home runs in 103 games. Andújar walked at a strong 10.1% clip and struck out only 11.8% of the time.
The 28-year-old hasn’t found much major league success since his excellent 2018 debut with the Yankees, however. Paired with questions about his defensive profile, he has fallen into a depth role. With a projected $2.2MM arbitration salary, he looked a very likely non-tender.
Perdomo, a 6’8″ southpaw, made 30 appearances for the Bucs this year. He posted a 3.72 ERA with a massive 37.6% strikeout rate across 29 innings. Perdomo looked as if he’d stake a claim to a spot in the Pittsburgh bullpen before landing on the injured list with season-ending elbow discomfort in August.
Not sure why Pit would’ve released a high upside guy like Andujar instead of having him headline a trade for a star
There is only one worthy and he’s a current Padre.
He was DFA’d twice this year and went unclaimed. That tells you all you need to know about his trade value.
I don’t think Andujar has had high-upside since 2019. Won’t surprise me one bit if he passes through again, for the third time in 2023.
How do so many people not know sarcasm when it is painfully obvious? It is far more likely to them that you are dumber than Stephen Drew when he passed on contracts his first free agency rather than just taking the pi$$.
This is what I was thinking..lol
How could anyone read that, and not understand the sarcasm!?!
There’s a ton of theses seamheads that take everything seriously. I mean how can someone who follows the pirates or baseball in general, not understand something so far fetched??
Idk, part of the problem these days. Everyone just automatically believes everything their see and told.
I’m surprised those time share companies aren’t back in business nowadays!! lol
Andujar would be smart to head to Japan or Korea. Somewhere he can get a 2-3 year deal and learn how to walk. He would be a solid DH if he drew walks a bit more often.
Imagine the package andujar, Frazier and Garcia would back!
If he’s not claimed he’ll be released. No way Nutting will agree to pay Andujar $2.2 million to play at AAA Indy. He’s eligible again for arbitration this year
Arb eligible. He’s great in AAA, hasn’t found the magic since 2018 in MLB. Not worth $2 mil for a bench player.
Andujar cannot field a position even though his bat still has potential. Would be tough to find a spot for him in the lineup.
I’m just glad he’s not part of their 2024 1B plans
Why Angel Perdomo? Basically the only southpaw besides Borucki who put up decent numbers.
60 day and prospects need a roster spot. If he is any good other teams will trade for him.
Perdomo’s elbow injury looks to be pretty serious.
Could be a more serious arm injury and that will keep him on the shelf but around anyway. They found Perdomo,and Borucki out of nowhere last off season. More like them will be around this off season.
It’s a roster crunch situation that every team has. Some look at the market and then re-sign with their last club, off the 40.
Both are ex Blue Jays. They didn’t find them out of no where. Ben had the chance to see them first hand when he was getting an easy pay check with Toronto
By nowhere meaning the average fan never heard of either. Neither did much of anything till this just ending season. There are a lot of other guys that fit this description.
Hatch was also a Blue Jay.
Agreed. They’re probably hoping the injury will keep clubs from claiming him, so they can rehab and keep him.
Perdomo’s elbow must be worse than they’re telling the public, because this doesn’t make any sense.
Does Andujar have an off-field issue or something? Hit very well in AAA and many teams could have used his bat, especially versus left handed pitching. 2023 season warranted some level of seriousness from teams with left handed bats being dominated by left handed pitching.
He’s 28 and has had one good MLB season five years ago. He’ll get a minor league contract from someone but not worth his projected arbitration salary.
MikeD he tore up AAA pitching and the Pirates left him there when he could have and should have been up with the team, and still hits lefties.
His shoulder injury after ’18 cost him 1 tick too many on his bat speed.
No explanation that come from fans ever can account for front office thinking here. It’s a mystery that we’ll never really have answered
They took Andujar with the thought that it was a no-brainer of a move—no risk whatsoever. And he flourished at AAA while only having short opportunities with the big club
This thought that he’s 28 or “can’t field” is hilarious. The Pirates don’t have depth in the outfield or at 1st base, they are not an offensive juggernaut, and yet after Andujar does everything asked of him, they cut him loose anyway
The great mystery likely entails finances over actual performance
@darkscully, why would you commit $3mill and a 26 man spot to someone who isn’t wanted by anyone else? He’s not a good fielder and shown zero consistency with the bat at the MLB level. He’s still has good bat to ball skills but no on base ability or above average power. Not a difference maker in the least. These types work off minor league deals year to year not guaranteed MLB contracts.
Stud, since the Pirates have had a history of taking on players who no one else wants over the past few years, I’m not sure of what your opening point means
Look, I have two thoughts. On one hand, you brought the guy here to resurrect his career and to illustrate the idea that 2018 wasn’t an aberration
And to a great degree, he’s shown a great deal of offensive firepower albeit at AAA. For whatever reason, all we saw at the MLB level was small sample size appearance, the first of which this year was a washout but the second, a stint that showed promise with again, limited appearances
How do you determine he’s a difference maker when he is only spot-starting?
As for defensive skills, I just don’t see him as being any worse—or better—than any other right field option this past season
It’s not that I’m a fan of Andujar but instead, a realist. This is a team that could use offensive punch. But they apparently only brought in the guy to rebuild him and then flip him?
Point is why would you pay him a guaranteed $3 mill and a roster spot when he’ll most likely be available on a minors deal. Plus his AAA success/MLB struggles have been going on for several seasons now, 2023 was a normal post-injury season for him. I don’t know what PIT’s rule 5 situation is but I would not let an upside prospect go just to guarantee him $’s and a roster spot.
I understand your viewpoint now. Risking release isn’t that big of a deal to the front office especially when they’ve been down this road before. And he hasn’t made the impact on them to lock up a position
I think you’ve likely nailed their thinking here and that fans like me see a bit more value in the guy than the Pirates themselves do
Thanks
I was very hopeful for him to make a comeback but after 2-3 seasons it was apparent that it was going to be a tremendous struggle. He’s an easy guy to root for. If he had lasted one more year in NY he probably would of had his best opportunity for playing time in ’23 there.
His 2023 performance warranted play at the majors.
If he clears waivers, again, he can be brought back on a minor league deal. Non-roster spring training type deal. That would be a lot better for the club than projected 2 million for a player they clearly view as 4a caliber.
The guy is only 28. He tore up AAA last year and looked pretty good in his season-ending stint with the Pirates. I understand the Pirates angle in all of this now. As usual, they’re looking at the budget and betting no one takes a chance on him—or at least, are willing to take that risk. I guess it’s strange to me that teams look at the years *after* 2018 as being more reflective of his abilities than what he did in the minors last season
Guess we shall see
Dark-Veteran posters on here know that I have questioned BC’s ignoring Andujar for well over a year.
He hit like 320 once he came up.
He plays first base and could not be worse than Connor Joe,
Yes,he cleared waivers but only because he was given no opportunity and played only occasionally the first time that he was up.
I doubt that he is a gold glove fielder anywhere,but he is probably at least adequate anywhere.
The Pirates spent a lot last year on Santana and Hill with mixed results.
An extra $1M for Andujar is nothing,
There may be something negative in his personality that is behind the scenes that fans do not know about.
But given the opportunity he is a pure hitter who can help any team,especially one who is 22 nd out of 30 teams in hitting.
The Pirates never gave him a chance even with all of the mediocrities that they have trotted up over the last two years.
The only reasons not to do so has been the early promotion of players who need more AAA seasoning and Andujar’s lack of control.
I hope that some team does give him a real chance and Cherington ends up paying for it.
I can’t imagine that, even on the Pirates, Andujar was going to be one of the 4 best bench guys (after backup catcher) to break camp with the club. Andujar was never about the money, but rather about the need for a roster space for a more proven commodity. They could have kicked the can down the road on Andujar and cut Alika Williams instead, but he would have eventually fallen victim to the numbers game, just like Williams will when the Pirates need another space and Canaan Smith-Njigba after that. Hatch, Bido and Kranick are also bubble guys, but have the advantage of being able to pitch (or resemble a pitcher).
They did bring up a bunch of mediocrities over the past two seasons, each of whom was a better fielder than Andujar. There simply wasn’t any real benefit to playing Andujar at the ML level this season – he is not among the top 30 all-hit, no field players in the MLB, so it wasn’t like the Pirates were going to get some production and up his trade value.
This season, the team needed to know what they had in a bunch of different guys – guys who were younger with years of control and mostly higher prospect pedigrees – Andujar was never going to keep Henry Davis from a roster spot and playing time. Maybe Hank should have stayed in the minors a little longer, but I see no problem giving him a little adversity and things to work on in exchange for experience. Davis has the opportunity to improve, Andujar was never going to reach 2018 form, even with more playing time.
Pundit-I understand your reasoning and BC probably thinks the same but undersatnd mine.
The Pirates need hitters!
Do you really think that Henry Davis is a ML hitter?
He does not even know his position because BC has not figured it out in having a college player for three years!
They released him for Connor Joe who has no good fielding position and cannot hit righthanders.
Andujar is a guy who hit 360 in AAA and 320 after he came up.
You mentioned a number of players who easily do not match the term MLer.
The patience for Cherington will be running out soon and he needs to hope that his luck with signings and minor trades still stays with him this year.His lack of player development and loyalty to one manager is what got the last GM fired and history repeats itself.
Perdomo looks like exactly the kind of pitcher the Rays would target and turn into a valuable arm.
He must be hurt fairly bad. He was a very good when he pitched.
37% k rate. Woah
Os, like they did recently with another ex Pirate Nate Webb, sign Perdomo to a 2 year minor league deal. And then let him rehab/hangout with Bautista in 24.
Pretty crazy to me that Andujar had that rookie year and then fell off so badly. There have been plenty of players who got ranked highly their rookie campaigns, but with huge holes in their game and found a way to persevere, stay in the majors, get through arbitration, etc. It’s truly remarkable that it’s going the way it’s going for Andujar.
I do realize he was immediately injured after his rookie campaign and was a shadow of his former self and had severe defensive issues- i.e. near zero defensive value, so I kinda get it. But still crazy.
I feel like there’s a lot of guys who have had a similar enough career trajectory, got to stay on major league rosters, powered through…
Anyway. Yeah. Bizarre.
Andujar can now focus on his class action lawsuit together with Jackson Frazier, Estevan Florial, and Deivi Garcia; against Cashman for ruining and blackballing their whole careers
Whatever happened to Jacoby Ellsburry and his lawsuit?
It’s Miguel “Rookie Of the Year Runner Up” Andujar.
17- He lost out to a pretty good player.
Money ball, I mean no money, balls!
The Padres need a 1B, and Andújar is worth a look. Bring him in AJ.
Andujar would have gotten more of a chance if they hadn’t signed Cutch. If Andujar is as bad as reported at every position, the only option was DH, and they weren’t going sit Cutch.
IMO: makes sense to keep Andujar around. Short sample with the pirates he did okay. Not great but with some of the other crap they where throwing out there, worth keeping around… not like his price tag is going to go up. He may only be a AAAA depth type player but his pre-injury ceiling was really high.
Then again they could be letting these players go on waivers to free up room both in salary and for younger prospects to play.
Well, they did need roster space for Cruz and Brubaker – two players who are definitely more valuable to this club than Andujar. I would have expected Alika Williams to come off first, but I figured unless there was a trade, Andujar would eventually walk the plank as well. Not that he was terrible, but a subpar fielding guy with no real position who’s still a shadow of his 2018 self was a luxury this team can’t afford. (Not many can, hence why he wasn’t traded, even for low-level fringe prospect.)
Besides needing room for 60-day guys, they also have to make decisions on a few prospects (Malcolm Nunez, Tahnaj Thomas, etc) about whether to expose them to Rule 5. There may be some decent pitching that hits the wire soon as well, not to mention needing a spot or two for any free agents – Cutch will need a spot again if he’s re-signed.
Pundit-Thomas has been a “prospect” for the last five years and has been open to Rule 5 for the last several.Even the Pirates have given up on him.
Nunez has shown nothing in the minors and remember that he would have to be carried for a whole year in the ML’s.
I queried the question of Rule 5 a month or so ago and it seems that there is only one or two this year.
Hatch and Bido could easily have gone and they could have resigned both.
The only thing justifying this en masse dismissal of reasonably good players is an actual off season where bona fide ML players are signed to take their place on the 25 man roster.
When was the last time that that happened?
They’re still going to need to sign a free agent first baseman since they don’t have a natural one on their roster
Joe isn’t the answer either, plus he’ll be 32 when the season starts and is also arbitration eligible
I’d say Joe is about 50/50 to still be with the team into next season. I’m not convinced that Triolo couldn’t hit a dozen HRs with better defense at 1B, Davis and Palacios limit his reps in the OF as well.
His only upside on the current roster is batting right-handed, I can’t imagine that there isn’t an affordable replacement who could be brought in on a minor league deal. Maybe they give Nunez a look during the summer.
Joe and Palacios would be candidates for dismissal on any good team.
For some reason Cherington is in love with Joe.
His downside is that he is right handed because he can only hit lefthanders.