Thursday, March 27th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Pirates cut, sign and release many players
The Pirates have almost set the 25-man roster that they will begin the 2008 season with and it features some surprising additions (Doug Mientkiewicz), some notable absences (Byung-Hyun Kim) and some goofy moves. This team will probably be just as terrible as, if not worse, past year’s renditions, but there are definitely some interesting additions. The bullpen is an area of particular focus, as multiple moves have been made to patch up a place that has been remarkably inconsistent for the Pirates over the past few seasons. For analysis of each of the many moves that the Pirates have made over the past couple of days, make the jump.
- In one of the most anti-climactic moves of the spring, pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim’s $300,000 buyout was activated. Kim had been downright awful in a spring where he reported to camp five days after agreeing to a contract and where he then threw five innings in which he compiled a 14.40 ERA. His buyout option was cheap enough, however, that the Pirates can afford to dump him and not have any major financial repercussions. Kim is probably done.
- Nate McLouth is going to be the opening day center fielder. The decision is a wise one for the Pirates as McLouth has power that his competition, Nyjer Morgan, does not. Morgan provides a nice piece off of the bench, but McLouth is more of a complete package right now and it will be interesting to see what he does over the course of a year.
- The team traded Todd Redmond (4.39 ERA between Lynchburg and Altoona) to Atlanta for RHP Tyler Yates. Yates is very good against right-handed hitters and, more importantly, is a right-handed pitcher on a team that is overloaded with left-handed pitchers. He is a good pickup for this bullpen, but the 22-year old Redmond was one of two or three interesting pitching prospects in the whole entire organization and trading that for a middle of the road reliever doesn’t seem worth it.
- The team released Jaret Wright, who had made a very strong case that he belonged on the team, posting solid numbers and looking good this spring. Wright could have been an interesting addition to this bullpen, but he may have revitalized his major league career with this spring, possibly catching on somewhere else if he fails to do so with the Pirates.
- Assigned Luis Rivas to the major league roster, meaning that he will probably be the opening day second baseman when Freddy Sanchez finally decides that he is not ready to play. Rivas could be an interesting player who is looking to breath some life into what had been becoming a rapidly more and more stagnant career.
- In the same vein, the team dumped Josh Wilson, ensuring that Freddy Sanchez will be with the team, likely in a reserve role.
- Hector Carrasco was released despite a very good spring. Carrasco will hopefully go to AAA and be one of the first to come up after the inevitable failure of one of the current corps of relievers.
- Masumi Kuwata retired, ending a magnificent career that spanned two continents and twenty plus seasons. He is returning to Japan for a well deserved break despite being offered a job in the organization by Neal Huntington.
These moves may add up to a whole lot of nothing, but there have been enough of them that they make an interesting whole. Here’s ’til the Pirates make their next one, which will be the cut of either Sean Burnett, Phil Dumatrait or Evan Meek, possibly as early as today.
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