Pirates To Sign Tim Mayza

7:26pm: It’s a one-year, $1.15MM deal, Stumpf reports.

6:23pm: The Pirates are in agreement with lefty reliever Tim Mayza on a major league contract, reports Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. The signing is pending a physical for the Ballengee Group client. Pittsburgh has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move when the deal is finalized.

Mayza, who turned 33 a few weeks ago, was a 12th round pick of the Blue Jays in 2013. He spent over a decade in the Toronto organization. The southpaw got to the big leagues in 2017 and pitched in parts of seven seasons. He had a quietly strong run between 2021-23, combining for a 2.67 earned run average while striking out nearly a quarter of opposing hitters through 155 innings. Mayza limited same-handed batters to a .203/.238/.273 slash in 270 plate appearances over that stretch. He kept the ball on the ground at a huge 58-59% clip in all three seasons.

His fortunes turned sharply last year. Mayza took the ball for the Jays 35 times. Opponents blitzed him for more than eight earned runs per nine innings. His strikeout rate plummeted to 13.2%, while the ground-balls fell to a modest 39.1% rate. There weren’t many signs of encouragement in either the results nor the underlying profile. Toronto designated him for assignment in late June, a disappointing end to his tenure.

Mayza cleared waivers and was granted his release. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees not long thereafter. He fired 8 1/3 innings of two-run ball in Triple-A to earn a call up in the middle of August. The Yanks gave him 15 appearances, mostly in low-leverage situations, for the final six weeks of the regular season.

The results were dramatically improved from his early-season work but not back to his 2021-23 heights. He allowed 10 runs (eight earned) through 18 frames. He struck out a modest 16.4% of batters faced. Mayza added 2 1/3 scoreless frames in mop-up situations during New York’s pennant run — including a scoreless inning to wrap up their Game 4 win in the World Series. The Yankees non-tendered him in lieu of a projected $4MM salary for his final year of arbitration.

Mayza, like many situational lefties, relies on a sinker-slider combination. His sinker sat in the 93-94 MPH range during his best seasons in Toronto. The velocity was down about two ticks early last season. Mayza rediscovered it during his time in the Bronx, sitting around 93.5 MPH during his final two months. That didn’t result in a dramatic uptick in whiffs, though Mayza recaptured much of his prior ground-ball acumen. He kept the ball on the ground at a strong 55.4% clip during his time with the Yankees.

While not quite a return to form, Mayza showed enough late in the season for the Pirates to give him a roster spot. He has over five years of service time and cannot be sent to the minors without his consent. The major league deal indicates he’s very likely to be in Derek Shelton’s season-opening bullpen. He joins fellow free agent signee Caleb Ferguson (another former Yankee) in that regard. The only other lefty reliever on the 40-man roster is long man Joey Wentz. He’s out of options, so he’ll also need to stick on the MLB roster or be made available to other teams via trade or waivers.

Financial terms have not been revealed. It’ll be a modest investment, very likely less than the $4MM arbitration projection. RosterResource calculates the Bucs’ payroll around $79MM. They ended last season in the $87MM range.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.