The Pirates have claimed infielder Niko Goodrum off waivers from the Angels, per announcements from both clubs. The Pirates optioned Goodrum to Triple-A Indianapolis. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Ben Heller was designated for assignment. There wasn’t any previous indication that Goodrum had been removed from the Angels’ roster, so their 40-man count will drop to 39.
Goodrum was only with the Angels a short time. He was claimed off waivers from the Rays about a month ago and only got into four games with the big league club, as they kept him on optional assignment for the most part. In his 15 big league plate appearances, he drew two walks but didn’t get a hit and struck out four times. In Triple-A Salt Lake, he hit a tepid .200/.333/.200 in 30 plate appearances.
Now 32, Goodrum was once a solid regular for the Tigers. He slashed .247/.318/.427 over 2018 and 2019 for a 98 wRC+, indicating he was just barely below average at the plate for that time. He also stole 24 bases in that stretch while bouncing around to all seven positions outside of the battery.
But things have been a struggle since then, as he’s slashed .190/.267/.321 in 582 major league plate appearances over the past few years. There were some encouraging signs pointing towards a bit of a bounceback lately, though Goodrum hasn’t been able to maintain them. He .280/.448/.440 for Boston’s Triple-A club and then hit .295/.373/.387 in the KBO last year, leading to a minor league deal with the Twins for 2024. He was acquired by the Rays just before Opening Day and didn’t perform in the majors but hit .316/.422/.605 in Triple-A Durham before the Angels claimed him and his performance dipped again.
It’s been quite the up-and-down stretch for Goodrum but the Bucs evidently are intrigued enough to give him a roster spot and bring him aboard for some extra depth. Even as he has struggled more generally, he has drawn walks here and there. He has a 14.7% walk rate in the minors this year and had a 23.1% rate with Worcester last year before going to Korea, then walking in 11.4% of his plate appearances over there.
The Pirates have several position players struggling this year, with guys like Jack Suwinski, Rowdy Tellez, Edward Olivares, Jared Triolo and Michael A. Taylor having posted fairly lackluster numbers. Since Goodrum can move all around the diamond, he could be a viable replacement if the Bucs decide to make any kind of move with anyone in that group or if someone hits the injured list. He also has less than five years of service time and could be kept around for next year via arbitration, the Bucs are so inclined.
Heller, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in the offseason. He posted a 4.91 earned run average and 10.1% walk rate in Triple-A before being selected to the big league roster last week, though his 43% strikeout rate was certainly enticing. He tossed two innings for the Pirates in the past week but allowed an eye-popping 11 earned runs.
The Pirates will have a week to trade Heller or pass him through waivers. His career numbers are naturally much better than the 49.50 ERA he currently has in the 2024 season. In 52 frames going back to his 2016 debut, he has a 4.85 ERA, though he missed much of the 2018 to 2022 seasons due to injuries. The major league results have obviously been poor this year but it was just two outings after he struck out a bunch of guys in Triple-A. If any club were to claim him, Heller is out of options but less than four years of service time.
I feel bad for Ben. You could tell he was on the verge of a breakdown during his postgame interview yesterday. Wonder who they’ll bring up to replace him. Maybe Ryder Ryan.
Lucky for Niko to join a better organization. Too bad for Ben.
Ahhh yes, the well regarded Pirates
In contrast to the Anaheim Halos, a resounding yes I would say.
Cool, so I guess you know the Pirates organization well after watching Paul Skenes highlights lol
No, theyre both just awful. The only score worth is probably whatever the A’s are doing.
Makes sense that the Pirates want a guy who has good rum
Do we need another infielder when we need better relief pitching and or hitting.
Optioned to AAA – he may never see Pittsburgh. I don’t think this was a improve the major league team move.
They probably didn’t think Heller would ever come to the parent club either when they dumpster dove for his services
The reasoning might be a backup plan if the Pirates trade an infielder for help in the bullpen.
what we need is an owner willing to spray some WD40 on his wallet to open and spend money rather than signing over the hill players who are willing to play for peanuts
Watched Goodrum in Tampa this year. Pitiful performance. Rarely hit the ball hard, too many Ks.
BC has a weak spot for any and every all glove no bat middle infielder who can fake being passable everywhere else on the diamond.
“ too many ks”
he will fit right in
Hey, maybe if he gets called up some time we can expect to get a few walks outta this guy! Good times ahead in the Burgh!
Maybe Angels announcing that they’ve acquired Biggio hence opening up a 40-man roster spot? Wishful thinking.
Why would the Angels want Biggio? He’s no better than what’s already being trotted out onto the field. I’m thinking Drury is on his way back.
I wouldn’t mind biggio, Sano, Drury over Calhoun, tucker, and guillorme.
Because Biggio would be an improvement over Tucker, Guillorme, Adrianza, Paris. And can play multiple positions.
We need Sano back actually. Tired of the usual vague injury news.
Worst baseball player I have ever watched.
A+ claim
I actually feel very bad for Heller.He should never have been called up by Cherington in the first place.It is the job of the executive to not put people into places that they are going to fail.His era in AAA was 4.91.Either Ryan or Hernandez were clearly better alternatives.
My guess is that he was also trying way too hard.
I hope that someone picks him up on a minor league contract.
I can sympathize with the idea of crushed dreams but feel worse for guys who never got the shot at all, of whom there are many
Heller’s story is all too common and simply has to be an accepted possibility for any minor leaguer arriving at the big show
Agree completely about Cherington. His logic continually escapes me. Given his player development and scouting departments, given his signings and strange Indy shuttle maneuvers, I hope he moves on after the season. Enough already
I’m hoping Cherington moves on after this season and takes Shelton and his merry-less coaching staff along for the unemployment ride
The Pirates are better than this, and it comes from a Cards fan. Who knows if they are ready to be a wild card, but this move seems desperate, and they need patience. Contend this year, and soon they will win more games than they lose.
.
How is adding a player to your AAA roster (yes he is on the 40 man) a desperate move. They gave up NOBODY, he is not on the MLB roster and does not play a position of need. This is boring roster depth management – nothing to see here.
As @SouthernBuc notes, this move is no indication of anything. This guy isn’t going to supplant any infielder on the big team’s roster
But this team will only “contend” if the wild card berths are a dogfight between teams hovering around or just below .500. Three good starts and one guy who’s serviceable. An iffy bullpen and really, a team that strikes out far more than it gets hits game in and game out
I like your optimism but they desperately need a big RBI guy or two. Maybe Tellez will wake up but you can’t count on that
This is literally nothing more than they’re adding depth. Would this be a desprate or impatient move if the Cards DFA’d a reliever who has allowed 11 earned runs in 2 games to make room for a depth utility guy who isn’t even making it to the ML roster?
Spud- Real Pirate fans are looking for more than a winning record.
They have not won the division since 1992 thanks to your Cardinals.
We would even be content not to have the second best record in baseball over a three year period again.
But we want the rebuild to result in a small mountain and not a molehill.
Dream says the Bucs have a chance of becoming a playoff team with the wild card spot
That’s not enough. Like Mendoza said, they haven’t won a playoff series for 32 years.
They would need to go further than the first round for me to consider it a success but the gullible fans that spend their hard earned money to attend games will probably be happy just to attend one playoff game
Dream is right in saying they have a chance for a wild card, but only because the NL has so many average teams. Being at .500 may do it, although I still say they’re a 79 win team at best
And some will say that in a short series, you can’t count the Pirates out with their starters. Baloney. Their starters go 5 or 6 and they have no hitting.
But they do have the talent to strike out in double digits every game
Mendoza said they haven’t won a division in 32 year. It’s been 44 years since they won a series.
Just making the playoffs is almost as good as winning the division. The $ is on the coast so it’s likely the west east winner will get the bye and the central winner will still have to play wild card round. Better odds being home team and more importantly for Nutting playoff revenue. Top wild card seed though would provide the same thing.
Just making the playoffs is a success. With such a small sample size of games success can’t be determined. Oak Chi Mia etc could win a 3 game or even 5 game series vs LA NY etc. If you want to determine the best team then play the 100 and some game season and move right to the 9 game world series.
Just making the playoffs is their success story from the mid teens in this century
Not having a playoff series win after taking the wild card spot isn’t good enough
Settling is admitting defeat
And for all of the money LA spent last year, it wasn’t a guarantee championship.
Anything can happen in baseball
It’s good enough for 99 percent of fans. They ain’t worried about you.
But the playoffs are really a joke in all sports now. Why not just have all teams play best out of 3 in a preliminary round at this point? Might as well. I mean, yeah, fans are idiots. They’ll eat it up and MLB can cash in further
The NBA even has a mid-season “tournament” now. Sheesh.
I feel bad for people. To be so miserable and desperate for entertainment you watch regular season NBA NHL.
MLB just needs to expand playoffs one more time and they will be in the same boat. Fans will still watch. How watered down is the MLB now? If the playoffs started today the pirates giants are tied for the final wild card. Will have to let the man know that.
You think TheMan3 is sitting by the TV, chewing on a towel and screaming “Playoffs!!!” every time a Pirate strikes out or gets rocked for a homer?
Ha. On the contrary, I think he and Mendoza, among others, understand that playoff berths mean very little these days. I get it. In a short series, anything can happen
But too many super fans, the true believer type, happily sweep Nutting’s frugality and Cherington’s general bland “rebuild” under the rug as they pee themselves with the idea of “playoffs”
I didn’t watch last night save for the 9th. I won’t watch tonight and instead want to see if Kyrie will awaken from his coma in Dallas
But Dream, being “miserable and desperate” are adjectives more apropos to those hooked on 90 Day Fiancé or Real Housewives.
Making the playoffs is basically the best small market teams can hope for. That’s the reality of the situation. Technically it’s possible for a small market team to win a World Series since the Royals showed it can be done (and the Rays made it twice, but lost), but it’s pretty darn hard and everything has to bounce your way. Even if you include the Cardinals as a small market team, only three have won the World Series since the inception of modern free-agency (34 years ago).
So yes, just making the playoffs is a big deal for small market teams. Sure, anything can happen, but beating a team with infinite pockets and their depth in the playoffs is extremely hard. I accepted years ago the Pirates would probably never win a World Series in my lifetime unless the league gets a salary cap. I’d suggest some of you do the same and you’ll be a lot less stressed out about Pirates baseball lol.
It’s funny. You made points that any long suffering fan can identify with until you pontificate in the last portion
I agree 100% with what you just put forth and as Dream has laid out, the idea was to follow the Rays formula:
-build the minors
-develop talent
-elevate talent to majors and keep under contractual control
-when said players reach big time contract period, trade or let walk and continue this process repeatedly.
And the Rays went to a WS
You preach about “stress” and it’s an unfortunate reach. No one is stressed. It’s discussion. Like being at the corner store or barber shop back in the day
The “stress” or “frustration” most fans here feel comes via the realization that the Rays model IS a good formula for a small market team and IS logical. But if you can’t draft true talent —especially in position players—and can’t develop young players, the plan or formula fails miserably.
Your points are well taken. But if you believe that posts here are reflective of being stressed, it’s almost laughable
But, even the Rays have never won a World Series. If the Pirates never win a World Series in my lifetime it won’t bother me because under the current system it’s almost impossible to do so. Small Market teams have everything going against them.
Even in 2013 when the Pirates managed to win the dumb Wild Card game and take the Cardinals to game 5, the home plate ump gave Adam Wainwright a strike zone wider than the Mississippi. So even when everything was going the Pirates’ way they simply ran into a bias ump that favored the more relevant franchise.
The Pirates have done an admirable job since Nutting took over as owner. Despite taking over a trainwreck and going through two rebuilds, the team has been relatively competitive in 7 or 8 of the 17 seasons he’s been majority owner (and look to be competitive this season as well). That’s better than most of the small market franchises (especially the Reds, who were rebuilding for over a decade before last season).
I’ve made this point before, but without the salary cap the Penguins and Steelers would be just like the Pirates. And even with a salary cap, there is an argument the Pirates are probably the best individual team in the city with the brightest future. That doesn’t say much for the other sports, but it’s just the reality of the situation.
A couple of posters always reference that they are a “realist”, but then come on here and blow a gasket every time the Pirates lose or have a bad inning, which is why I referenced being “stressed” (it applies to multiple posters).
Wow 32. Seems like just yesterday when he first came up.
Angels need some Good Bourbon…Too soon?
And I claim it’s badtequila.
Though if anyone knows how to tap Goodrum, its a Pirate. Arrrghh!
I hope Niko Goodrum makes good this time. He’s a switch hitter who can run and play all positions except 1 & 2. He’s not really a glove first position player but at times, he can make a difference with the bat…. At least that’s what I hope for.