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.
I voted him player of the game. However, if it wasn’t for the botched foul ball, called passed ball, the Pirates would have won in 9.
The most idiotic part of that play is Shelton being told if he challenged that the batter was hit by the pitch, and they saw it was a foul ball, they still wouldn’t or couldn’t change the call.
Hey @MLB, why don’t you implement a replay system that ensures correct calls are more important than Umpires egos?
I’m watching the Orioles/Rays game, and early on a player got rung up on a slider out of the zone. These umps suck. Its not just Hernandez and Buckner.
I partially blame Davis for not making a bigger deal about the foul ball. He was right there and should have said that the ball hit the bat to the umpire and with a louder tone.
Instead he asked the batter if he fouled the ball off
Davis needs to grow a pair if he wants to be a good catcher
it’s the annual Pirate dumpster diving festival, starting a little earlier this year so fasten your seatbelts, the diving will get interesting
Minor league transaction – ALL TEAMS DO THIS, they are on this site every day. This is not a plug for Ben.. just save the anger for real deals – yell about Rowdy and have a blast.
Rowdy has been their best hitter lately so the yelling is over.
There’s nothing to yell about where Rowdy is concerned. He’s finally turning things around and do you know why?
After his 3 rbi performance including the go ahead homer, he was interviewed by a Pirate reporter, he said that he went back to what worked for him in his batting approach, which basically meant that Haines’ tinkering didn’t work
But excuse me while I mention that this team needs more than a dumpster diving claim off of waivers to make it better
They dumpster dove for Ben Heller. How did he work out?
Ben’s free agent signings last winter and the regression of players that played for them last year like Triolo, Jack and Davis have been problematic
Is this the result of the players or perhaps bad decisions and a horrible hitting coach?
This is not a debate on whether more needs done – of course it does. But dumpster diving (waiver claims) is done by all teams. We see ex-Pirates and ex- a lot of teams on here every day where most of it is just roster balancing in AAA or sometimes the last reliever spot. If they announced this as ‘we have solved our lack of bench hitting problems’ then the grievance is real other wise it’s basically a non event. We don’t differ on our frustration, I just push back when every Pirate minor transaction comes with the regular ‘this is a worthless move’ type comment (probably from a different poster each time). Yes.. it is most likely a worthless move but it was also not framed as anything more.
What happened to that sweeper you were bragging about with his whiff ratio?
Just couldn’t command it. Real shame too, the pitch is nasty when he can.
You were the guy who couldn’t wait to see him pitch after throwing out your usual meaningless stats, so I’m sure you feel badly
I’ve felt badly for Tellez, and I’m not even a fan of his. To get booed mercilessly after every swing and miss or called strike, hey, at the very least, the guy has had some success at this level
I’m not sure Heller ever belonged. I’d say Hernandez is the guy who should be here
The meaningless stat of how often he gets swings and misses? That was the big thing I liked about Heller and the only comment I made about Heller on this site, is that his sweeper had a whiff rate of almost 80% last year. I don’t get why you’re so against stats that were created in the 2000s. This isn’t even really a stat imo. All whiff rate is is how often he gets a batter to swing and miss. There’s nothing overly complicated or meaningless about it.
Or maybe you’re talking about the other ‘meaningless’ stat of batters not getting a single hit off his sweeper. That kind of seems a little noteworthy to me if you have a pitch that was quite literally unhittable last year, even if you only played in about 20 games.
I never once said that he’d be great and would uproot Bednar out of the closing role, just that I was excited to see what he could do. Maybe he could have been a decent middle reliever. Clearly he wasn’t and now they’re moving on from him. Feels like you have a vendetta against me everytime I mention a stat that you can’t find on the back of a baseball card, even if its something as simple as wOBA or wRC+, or in this case, whiff%.
mlb1225, you likely are someone whose thinking is reflective of baseball hierarchy today. The “problem” I have is not you per se, but the continual banging of the drum where such statistical analytics are concerned That’s all, and nothing more
Shelton recently discussed Gonzales and the work he put in to succeed at the mlb level. He detailed the chasm that exists between every level from A ball all the way up. Since Gonzales’s prior visits to this level resulted in mix results, at best, his stats at the minor league level were simply indicators of possibilities, and nothing more. Here was a guy that had to go back to work to adjust and hopefully, continue to succeed
One would hope there are individuals who take analytics with a grain of salt in assessing whether a given player can contribute at the MLB level. All too often where the Pirates are concerned, one continually reads statistical data only to find that the player is woefully inept or mismatched when they arrive
My problem is there, in that narrative. Why do the Pirates so often fail in such assessments? The laundry list of players coming up and not living up to those analytical pieces seems to grow with most call ups
Yeah, but the analytics tell you what he needed to work on. Last year in the minor leagues, Gonzales whiffed at breaking/off-speed pitches around 40% of the time with an exit velocity below 85 MPH. He wasn’t making contact and when he did, it wasn’t good contact. That would tell me that he needs to work on seeing breaking/off-speed stuff better and making better swings decisions on it. This year, he cut his whiff rate below 30% and upped his exit velo to around 90 MPH prior to getting called up. Now look how good he’s doing.
My problem if that you seemingly want to stay ignorant to any and all stats you can’t find on the back of a baseball card. You call anything that is more advancd than something like OPS
meaningless or useless when a lot of the time they’re quite the opposite. You’ve more than once said something snarky to me like “after throwing out your usual meaningless stats” when all I mentioned was that he didn’t allow a hit off his sweeper last year and had an insanely high whiff rate on it, albiet in a small sample size.
You’re right about the snark. Apologies for that. Counterproductive and unnecessary
With regards to remaining willingly and woefully ignorant as to modern day analytics, I simply believe that given the distinct, marked differences between all levels of baseball, they simply don’t mean as much. Your point about Gonzales is well taken in this regard. While it is your contention that analytics tells you individually what he needs to work on, they speak to three other people as a rationale as to why he should be here. Heller would be a good example of this
In the end, I am old school in many regards where prospects are concerned and am doubtful about statistics, especially within the Pirates organization
A+ snark.
F- meaningless stats. That sweeper swept him right off the roster.
Regarding stats,I think that there is a difference between actual data like mlb mentioned about Gonzalez and Heller and some of the fancier names that are used to predict future and distort existing data.
OPS is one that makes sense.
But the arguement of many that Avg and rbis and won/ loss are now totally meaningless is absurd.
They may not show the all encompassing picture as previously thought but they are generally still important to give a thumbnail sketch of what is going on.
Statistics are useful but some are more useful than others.
The alternative to rbis would be batting average with men on second and/or third.
Starters wins of a % of team games won could be useful.
There may be others but generally speaking the best players are reflected by the stats on the back of a baseball card.
And you shouldn’t need to be an oldster to realize that.
Most stats are useful. Most stats are useless. Just about any data is good. But most by itself isn’t useful. Mlb is still looking at obsolete analytics. It sounds modern and impressive to most who still use century old stats vs decade old. I create my own formulas and projections. That’s why I am the best. The best mlb teams have people like me. Not as good obviously but a few could hang with me. A third of the teams lead, a third copy cat quickly, a third are years behind, a few of those are a decade behind.
Win lose has too many factors a pitcher can’t control. Useless. Rbi the same but not as useless. Average tells you if someone is hitting the ball. It doesn’t tell you how impactful the hits are. If it’s legit or pure luck unless you have a long enough time period. Way more useful than w l or rbi but still bottom tier.
The analytics he used to determine Gonzales struggled vs off speed isn’t needed. Any scout, hitting coach, opposing pitcher could see that. Teams still have tons of scouts. Used to be you had scouting and you had analytics. Now you have so many more who excell at both. Not enough but much more than even 5 years ago. These are the best baseball people. Most gms are analytics heavy. But if they are capable executives they still succeed..
If using analytics is so important, why are Triolo, Taylor and Jack having such bad seasons?
Maybe it’s because this team doesn’t have the talent to be using analytics for their players
That’s the point, TheMan3. Thank you. And don’t forget Davis, who was statistically elite enough to garner being drafted number one overall.
Dream states most scouts use this data. Yeah, great. I’d hope most scouts have a good eye and enough sense to know if a young player can make it at the MLB level
I’m glad Heller had a sweeper that was so good at Indy that he was added to the Pirates roster. But forgive me for being a bit taken aback that no scout saw him as a combination batting practice pitcher and Kennywood attraction
That’s almost unbelievable
And it colors my thinking about Pirates prospects and analytics. It sounds like a lot of baloney
I’ll point to Gonzales again
The young man is a top draft pick. He moves up the chain and arrives here as a statistically good hitter. He struggles on each visit
He then goes back to Indy, refines things after seeing what needs to done and puts in the work and has done well
This tells me that initial analytics failed in assessing Gonzales’s true abilities OR he was just passed along with a “hope for the best” idea
That doesn’t make sense, either
mlb1225 wants to say that analytics to him revealed Gonzales ‘whiffed at off-speed/breaking pitches 40% of the time…and had exit velocity of 85%…’
So what it should again tell me is that player development is not only failing prospects but pushing them along anyway
Pardon me one last time for saying this doesn’t make sense
The whole concept of the movie “ Moneyball “ was about using analytics to get the best of the A’s players and while they indeed had a winning record, they also had a talented bunch of players who could produce using analytics.
The Bucs don’t have the talent to use analytics as such. There’s no Tejada or Chavez on this team. They are instead a team of middle average to has beens or never will bees
Gonzalez righted his offense apparently from the teaching of Indy’s hitting coach who by my opinion didn’t use analytics to help him
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.