The Royals have acquired right-hander Colin Selby from the Pirates in exchange for minor league left-hander Connor Oliver. Both teams have announced the trade, and Kansas City further noted that left-hander Josh Taylor has been shifted to the 60-day injured list to create space for Selby on the 40-man roster.
Pittsburgh designated Selby for assignment earlier this week, and today’s trade ends Selby’s time with the Bucs after parts of seven pro seasons. A 16th-round pick for Pittsburgh in the 2018 draft, Selby has pitched at Triple-A Indianapolis in each of the last three seasons, with a solid 3.57 ERA and a strong 29.22% strikeout rate over 35 1/3 innings at the top rung of the minor league ladder. Selby’s strikeout totals have spiked upwards since he became a full-time relief pitcher in 2021, and he has posted very high grounder rates, including a superb 61.2% groundball rate in 30 1/3 Triple-A frames last season.
Control is Selby’s main issue, as his walks have shot upwards along with his missed bats. The right-hander has a 16.23% walk rate during his Triple-A career, as well as a 13.2% walk rate over his 24 career innings in the majors. Selby posted a 9.00 ERA in his MLB debut last season, hampered by his free passes and four home runs allowed in his small sample size as a big leaguer — even with a 48.5% grounder rate against Major League batters, Selby couldn’t limit the damage when he allowed fly balls.
K.C. was intrigued enough by Selby’s potential to arrange a trade, and the 26-year-old will now head to Triple-A Omaha so the Royals’ pitching development staff can get a closer look. The Royals felt strongly enough to use a 40-man roster spot on Selby, though Taylor’s uncertain health situation created some flexibility on the team’s roster situation.
Taylor developed both a musculocutaneous nerve issue and left biceps soreness during Spring Training, leading the Royals to place him on the 15-day IL to begin the season. The move to the 60-day IL doesn’t reset Taylor’s clock from its initial retroactive placement of March 25, but it does mean that he’ll now be out of action until at least the last week of May.
It’s another tough setback for Taylor, who has been plagued with back problems for the better part of three years. He missed the 2022 season entirely and underwent surgery last summer to address a herniated disc in his back, hopefully solving that issue once and for all. Between the back injuries, a shoulder impingement, and elbow tendinitis, Taylor has appeared in just 86 games and thrown 72 2/3 innings since the start of the 2020 season. This is Taylor’s second year in Kansas City, as the Royals acquired him from the Red Sox for Adalberto Mondesi in January 2023.
Oliver is a 22-year-old southpaw drafted in the 17th round in 2023, and his pro resume thus far consists of a single inning with the Royals’ complex league team last year. The Miami of Ohio product had a 3.89 ERA in 14 starts and 78 2/3 innings in his final year of college ball.
There seems to be a lot of trades early on. All of them are minor trades but it doesn’t happen very often 2 weeks into w season.
Lots of younger players dfa. Everyone wants a shot at improving them.
Buy high, Selby low?
Pirates have traded 3 pitchers since beginning of season. Are they predicting a 40 man crunch?
they should be predicting the firing of their hitting coach. Most of these guys have made no significant improvement so far
Granted they came back to win against a good team twice in a row, the second time was from a bad throw by Baltimore
Two games in a row they’ve won despite their manager. Again, the guy is an average manager. I get that. But where lineups and game strategies are concerned, I guess Shelton is like a lot of younger fans here. Throw out baseball logic in favor of statistics and analytics.
But hey, they’re 8-2. On a pace to win 130. Why complain?
Bases loaded 4 times over 2 games and all they managed was 4 runs , 2 scored on a throwing error
Shelton allowed Rowdy to bat against a lefty with the bases loaded in Saturday’s game when Cutch was available
He allowed Williams to bat when Hayes was available
Shelton is not a good manager period
Is Cutch hurt, he hasn’t appeared in the last two games even as a pinch hitter or runner and would’ve been a better option for pinch hitting than anyone else facing a left handed pitcher
I wondered the exact same thing. Why did you bother signing him? Or for that matter, why did Taylor sit two games?
Like I said, Shelton apparently manages on the basis of hunches and analytics. Baseball logic is thrown out the window. In that regard, he’s not alone
But too often, he doesn’t play to win
I’m in complete agreement Tired OlddudeCutch has only played in 4 of the 10 games this season and why is beyond belief
Shelton only gave him 13 plate appearances during ST, despite both he and Cutch saying his injury was healed
The question of why Taylor wasn’t in the lineup or used as either a pinch hitter or defensive replacement in the last two games is also puzzling
Like you said, why bother signing them if they’re not going to be used
Big bucco fan here…nice young team sprinkled with seasoned veterans….but Shelton has no knowledge of fundamental baseball. Like tiredolddude says. He relies on hunches and ANALytics. Hopefully they get rid of this pathetic stumble bum. Passing himself off as a manager
And take hitting coach Andy Haines with him when they show Shelton the door
Taylor isn’t in tonight’s lineup again but Bart is starting in place of Davis
Jack shouldn’t be in the cleanup position but is and Cutch is finally starting at DH
Jack has 6 hits in 36 plate appearances and it’s my opinion that he’s just not good enough to trust to drive in runs at this point of the order
And what’s going on with Davis not starting?
Because tomorrow’s game is during the day?
Finally, which Mitch will we get tonight?
Pre AS 2023 or post AS 2023. In his two starts this year it’s been his post 2023 AS performances
Cutch shouldn’t be starting against RH pitching over MAT. The defensive drop off is huge from Suwinski to Taylor and Cutch’s bat is only good against LH these days. Shelton should be playing Reynolds at DH tonight.
I’m happy to see Bart catching Keller – hopefully he can rekindle what Hedges got out of Mitch early last season.
Taylor was signed specifically for his defense and it’s my opinion that Jack doesn’t defend center field as well as Taylor and if Cutch is better at hitting lefties why don’t Shelton use him when the bases were loaded in Saturday’s game in the 10th inning as a pinch hitter for Rowdy?
Point being, Shelton pulls his lineups out of his rear. There’s no rhyme or reason for any of them
Agreed… lol.
Shelton’s lineups are good. Good as most managers actually better. Haines is alright. Half the bats are no other team thought they were worth more than 4 or 5 million or they didn’t even want for minimum wage taking up a 40 spot.
Already in one.
What a crazy beard
Great pick up for the pirates. Keeping that roster spot free and getting a fresh arm form the farm.
A+ for Pirates. I don’t know anything about this guy but a pitcher with a left arm sounds good.
Obvious call. What future did Selby have here. But I disagree with you. Adding an outfielder would make a lot more sense
I like the move myself. Selby was just depth and there is plenty of relief pitching in AAA to add a guy who might be 2-3 years away anyways. Opens the door for other players to move up the ladder as well. Pirates are facing some injuries and a few are expecting to return in a few weeks. Making this type of move makes a lot of sense
Palacios is next off the 40-man. Bae can cover the LH OF depth role at AAA (or MLB if they demote Williams).
Williams has shown that he’s a defensive liability, especially playing second base. Plus he’s not a very consistent hitter, but neither are several others on this team
Between Palacios and Bae, it’s probably a toss up. Bae can play several positions while Palacios is strictly an outfielder
Regarding this trade, it’s definitely one for depth. I imagine when the next pitcher comes off of the IL, Ryan will be demoted
I like Bae’s natural speed but he doesn’t use it to his advantage. If he learned how to bunt for a hit, he’d add to a desperately needed offense
On the basis of the long ball alone, I’d go with Palacios and that’s discounting that he’s an outfielder
The trade itself is fine. There was no place for another reliever. But why bring back an infielder in return? No biggie
No Falter DFA? Pirates fans wanted him gone all off season and spring training. Next DFA is tough. Have to keep at least one of Palacios Bae but one might have to go. 60 day IL could be the play. Grandpal is only doing some running drills last I heard.
Selby wasn’t in high demand. I would imagine BC took the best available player. That’s his style. I would go for a starting pitcher c cf ss but they probably weren’t a option.
It likely won’t come into play until Skenes is ready now. That could be next week or next month. Who knows?
German and Lauer also would need 40-man spots if called to Pittsburgh
Ryan, the 29 year old pitcher will probably be the DFA you’re referring to.
And while Falter threw a nice game on Sunday, he’s not very consistent . That said, when Genius Shelton pulled him after having thrown 67 pitches through 6 innings,
Bailey was on a roll with his efficiency so why yank him in favor of a pitcher who doesn’t have enough major league experience?
How do you get experience? Ryan over 20 inches movement on that sinker. Hard to give that up. Looks good so far.
This is how trades are made Jerry, player for player not player for dollars like you often do.
Colin Selby’s Forecasted Run Average (FRA) of 4.33 at the end of 2023 suggests that he may not be an elite pitcher but rather a solid one
Nice trade. Buccos move a ’23 arm and bring in a ’23 arm. Is Oliver someone they had on their big board who knows but nice trade. As for McCutchen many say father time has caught up to him. Anyone coming back from an achilles injury is going to take time especially anyone over 35yrs old. As for past week, he did “HBP” take a fast ball off the bottom of left knee cap. That mobility could surely take over a week to feel back to normal. Last yr end of May he was hitting just fine as DH/Option OF. So take a breather, if nothing changes by end of April, be concerned.
Cutch is fine.
Cutch had a nice game including a double so he still has gas in his swing despite what “ many say about father time “
I am not concerned and am certain just about every intelligent Pirate fan isn’t either
Great win tonight. Bart is looking like the real deal and as much as we doubt Shelton, he’s getting results and seemingly keeping the camp happy.
A good time to be a Bucs fan.
I still question Shelton’s decision to use Ryan in the 9th in a seemingly close game considering he’s been scored on in his two previous appearances. He’s not consistent enough for that scenario and while we did win, he gave up another run in his appearance
Regarding Bart, he has twice as many RBIS than Davis and in only 2 games no less
Nice pitching performance from Keller
Riddle me this, if Williams has been working on bunting, why didn’t he use one to move Davis to second base instead of striking out on a pitch nowhere close to the plate?
By the way, and speaking of Davis, he has regressed on his offense from last year. I don’t expect him to hit .400 but an 0 for 16 and overall 4 for 34 is pathetic
Perez pitched a masterpiece
Bednar and Chapman need to switch positions in the relief rotation with Chapman becoming the closer
This is Bednar’s third blown save already
Bednar will go on the IL when Holderman returns.
Bednar seems to have more of a mechanical issue than a medical one, but it is so nuanced that I can’t really spot exactly what it is, other than his spin seems way off from one appearance to the next. He needs all 3 pitches working to be effective (fastball, split and curve) and every outing at least one of those isn’t doing what it should. I would prefer a phantom injury to get him into a situation where he can put in work. Holderman coming back is the perfect opportunity to make that move.
Demoting Bednar and keeping him on the roster creates a situation where it might not be clear if or how he could earn the job back. What ends up being the definition of him being “right”? If Chapman is lights out, how do you demote him back to setup man? Those aren’t the kinds of questions that are good for team synergy. Managers in 2024 have to manage egos more than push buttons in-game (for better or worse), it makes little sense to inject more of that into the clubhouse when there’s an easier way to deal with it.
As for the booing, I get that not everyone was booing Bednar, but he has no way of knowing that. This is a young man who gives back to his community well beyond the standard photo ops. He doesn’t have to continue to do his father’s camps when he can, he doesn’t have to walk at the Charity Walk every year, he doesn’t have to have fun and personal interactions with children at every event I’ve seen in him at. You might be booing the performance but by extension you’re booing the person (whether that’s your intention or not), and David Bednar is as world-class as they come.