The Pirates have signed Gilberto Celestino to a minor league deal, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The outfielder will presumably receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.
Celestino, 25 in February, had a challenging year with the Twins in 2023. He suffered a tear of the ACL in his left thumb and underwent surgery in March. He was on the injured list until the middle of June, at which point he was optioned to the minors. He played 55 Triple-A games, hitting just four home runs but walking more often than he struck out. That led to an unusual batting line of .243/.392/.389 and wRC+ of 106. He was outrighted off the roster in October and was eventually able to elect free agency.
Originally an international amateur signing of the Astros, he went to the Twins in the 2018 Ryan Pressly trade. As a prospect, he was generally praised for his defense, speed and ability to get on base but there were concerns about a lack of power. Those concerns have generally been borne out as Celestino has never hit more than 10 home runs in a season. He got 409 major league plate appearances over 2021 and 2022 but hit just .222/.292/.300. His Triple-A work has been more impressive, as he’s hit .261/.385/.408 at that level over three separate seasons.
The Pirates have Jack Suwinski in center field and Bryan Reynolds in left. Right field is a bit more open, with players like Joshua Palacios, Henry Davis, Ji Hwan Bae and Canaan Smith-Njigba all posting lackluster results at the plate in 2023. Celestino is capable of playing all three outfield spots and could try to force his way onto the roster, either in that right field competition or for a fourth outfielder gig. Celestino is still fairly young and has just over a year of service time, meaning he could be retained for future seasons via arbitration if things click with the Pirates. However, he is now out of options, giving him less roster flexibility going forward.
it’s dumpster diving time!
Yep time for the same worn out comments
Don’t like my comments, mute me. I won’t lose any sleep
Nah someone needs to call out the nonsense
Yes… since it was announced as a franchise altering signing / cornerstone for the future, I can see the importance of making the comment. The comment that somebody always feels needs made EVERYTIME the Pirates sign an end of bullpen arm or minor league contract… you know like all teams do during the off season.
This signing is World Series sign! To be honest, he would be better than Davis in RF. Davis should be backup catcher at best and/or DH. Unless they have Davis taking reps at first base, he isn’t more than a DH man with emergency catcher.
They believe Davis is going to be a good hitter and with that in mind are perplexed as to just where to play him, especially with Cutch likely back as DH and Endy as a better catcher
Yeah, I get your point but it’s not like they have some superior glove who’s ready to slot in out there
It’s funny that they have a similar situation with Triolo and at least are going to give him a look at 1st
In my very brief / possibly flawed research he looks like a plus glove in center and the outfield in general. So ignoring my frustration with THE_MAN dumpster diving comment, he is not a bad spring training invite to compete for possibly the short side of the centerfield platoon (Jack being the other half). His prospect status appears to be similar to others we may try out (Bae et al) and is only 24. Absolutely no risk signing and it does not mean they will not make a more significant outfield signing. Davis’ bat is his carrying point no matter where he plays. If his second half slump was really wrist injury related, then I can be positive the bat will return.
It’s interesting to note that in two interviews now, Cherington has made note of getting Davis “more. Arching time “ and that “his bat was ahead of his glove” this past year. That’s kind of confusing, really. The kid was a number 1 pick. You’d think they’d have been a bit better informed
Agree with your comment about Celestino and he joins a mix that apparently includes Cutch, who wants to play some outfield
*more catching time. Jeez…this auto correct…..
Out of curiosity, how do you view the Pirates’ outfield depth? The way I figure, they’ve got Bae then Reynolds in CF if something happens to Jack. Any two of those guys go down, now you’re looking at Canaan Smith-Njigba after that. Beyond that? I fail to see how picking up a minor league contract for the 6/7 OF on the depth chart is dumpster diving. It’s a clear sign that they don’t have faith in the guys in upper parts of the system and want an insurance policy.
Not every signing is designed to improve the ML roster, and most minor league contracts are done with the idea of pushing someone in the system and/or having an emergency option who can put in a week’s worth of games without totally killing you. If you can get a guy with a little MLB experience to serve as depth, he’s far less likely to be out of his element on big league roster. You really should stop drinking the local media’s “cheapskate” Kool-Aid and take a little time to understand how organizational rosters must be built.
Really excited to see what the bucs decide to do in free agency. hopefully they loosen the purse strings a bit and get what they need atleast 2 starting pitchers and a first basemen. We can all hope anyway.
Same. I don’t figure to see the Bucs in the mix until the market is set for some of the options they’re looking at. The Pirates will never be a team to set a market; they are also still on the “we’ll give you playing time to build your value” side of things, which is a disadvantage when gunning for a FA pitcher who wants a multi-year guarantee.
I’d say they’ve had conversations with a few guys at this point, but aren’t going to get any bites until the landing spots start drying up. It’s still tough for a pitcher to take a little more money to be in the middle of a Pirates’ rotation vs. less money to be at the back of the Dodgers’ rotation. Once those spots start getting filled in, and the choice is between the Pirates and Guardians (for example), then you’ll see a few signings.
Well stated. I would hope two things take place during free agency and trade negotiations. One, obviously that the Pirates are more willing to spend cash and trade from depth. But I’d also hope that the Pirates aren’t regarded as “baseball Siberia” anymore as the kids improve here
It doesn’t mean the Pirates will suddenly compete with LA and the Yankees for Ohtani, of course, but you’d hope that old “dumpster diving” tag can be retired.
You ask above about the Pirates outfield situation. Very interesting conundrum, especially with a kid like Davis in the mix.
I don’t know if he’ll ever be the prototypical outfielder and given Cherington’s comments about getting him more catching time, maybe the team doesnt, either. But between RF, 1st Base, DH and catcher, you tend to wonder if he’s going to be asked the have different roles.
As for the other guys out there, none has jumped off the page either, hence this signing.
Interesting times
I again like Jason Heyward as signing for the Bucs. Just do what the Dodgers did. Leave him alone, let him play his game, and they will get a solid contribution and strong veteran leadership.
Pirates can’t leave anything alone. This past season their awesome hitting coach taught the boys to stand in the box and watch strike 3. Best hitting coach in the league. He should be getting an extension and significant pay raise with the work he accomplished this season.
I like Hayward as a person / professional but IMO he just had too many bad years before rebounding this year. It just feels like he could crater again. We already have a somewhat older / veteran presence who will be signed I am sure sometime this winter and is very familiar with our team!
Pirates don’t need outfielders. But if cheap enough sure I like him. Think other teams will pay him more than what he would be worth for Pirates. I like Santana back if cheap enough. Lots of risk of falling off this year though compared to last.
They need Brandon Belt.
They need starting pitching first and unfortunately, a number of targets that have been listed—realistically speaking—are already coming off the board
Many had hopes that the front office would see last season’s second half as an indicator that the club isn’t far off from competing, for a wild card at least
With that, maybe they’d look to bring in a couple ‘bigger guns’ as starters.
Maybe they still will
But it’s hard to see them paying such a big salary to a 1st baseman and not starting pitching
Personally, I’d rather see them give Triolo a long look and bring back a guy like Santana
I think cutting Bido is a promising sign that the Bucs are prepared to invest in SPs more than last season when they signed Hill and Velasquez.
I believe BC will trade for a decent SP with control and sign a mid-tier free agent on a multi-year deal, plus two more 4/5 types that could be flipped if/when the TJ guys & prospects return from June onwards.
Realistically, there’s $30-$50m available for this season, but the Bucs also need a 1B (Santana @ $7m?)…. and I just don’t see room for Cutch as a full time DH at a similar cost.
Cutch wanting to play some outfield kind of muddies things, I’d believe. In the end, I also believe he wants to finish his career in Pittsburgh and signing him for this suffering fan base is a no brainer
But even so, the idea that ownership “has no money “ is absurd. Sure they do, it’s just a matter of spending it
It’s noteworthy that a lot of the names mentioned as affordable guys like Soroka, Quantrill are already gone, as well as a couple others. Problem is that the Pirates essentially have two starters in place. Getting a “good” starter and another guy like Hill is almost essential as you wouldn’t think there is any immediate help on the farm and the idea of 2 reliever games every 5 starts can go south in a hurry
Yeah, they’re hoping the cavalry comes over the hill when the surgically repaired arms may be ready for return but can they afford to have a disastrous start until then?
Like you, I’m hopeful.
If Cutch CAN play 50+ games in RF and is happy to sit against the best RH starters, then yes, it’s a no-brainer…. but spending $5-$10m on a full-time none fielding DH would be detrimental to the team, IMO. Davis/Endy & Cruz will likely need those at-bats at DH to start the season.
I don’t see Quantrill as much of a bargain for the Rockies at $6m and Soroka is a huge injury risk so I’m not worried yet, although, I’d be very disappointed to not get two mid-rotation starters by the start of spring training.
Looks like a replacement for Andujar in AAA.
Excellent. I love minor league contracts. Keep em coming.
Most teams maake this kind of signing later on not their first of the FA signing period.
another throw at the wall signing. nothing wrong with it but they need to be more aggressive on more established players to be considered a mediocre team as their ceiling going into the season
Even if they don’t get a deal with a more established players.. making real runs at signing them probably would give me some sort of comfort.
I’m more concerned about BC trying his luck at prizing away a good starter via trade. He’s been stockpiling prospects until now, but at some point he has to use the depth to fill holes in the MLB roster.
Camp fodder.