- The Pirates reinstated infielder Jung Ho Kang from the restricted list and optioned him to Triple-A on Friday. General manager Neal Huntington spoke about Kang on Sunday (via Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review), saying “we need to see quality plate appearances” in the minors and “we need to see him doing the things he did before to show us he can be major league ready again.” If that happens, the Pirates will be happy to welcome Kang back, Huntington suggested. “We would love to have a healthy and productive Jung Ho Kang back on this major league team,” he said, “because if that player comes back, he’s going to help us win games.” Kang did indeed help Pittsburgh win games from 2015-16, but he then earned his third DUI in his native South Korea prior to the 2017 season and hasn’t played in the majors since.
Pirates Rumors
Pirates Notes: Deadline, Rotation, Middle Infield, Bullpen
The Pirates have fallen to earth since a solid start and now sit a game below .500 (35-36), but general manager Neal Huntington told reporters before Sunday’s loss to the Reds that he still has a buyer’s mindset as the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches. “We’ve had more conversations about adding players at this point in time than we’ve had about subtracting players,” Huntington said (via Adam Berry of MLB.com), adding that “our intent is to continue to give this club every chance in the world to show us that we can continue to do the things that we did the first six weeks, eight weeks to put ourselves nine games over and that we can dig out of this hole that we’ve dug ourselves over this tough stretch of 30 days.” The Pirates are sitting in fourth place in a tough NL Central, seven games behind first-place Milwaukee, but they’re only 3 1/2 out of a wild-card spot. With several playoff-contending teams on their schedule in the next several weeks, the Bucs will have an opportunity to make up ground on their competitors and end up as buyers. But if the Pirates drop out of the hunt pre-deadline, they could ultimately market some of their shorter-term players, as Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported this week.
More from Pittsburgh…
- Right-hander Trevor Williams has scuffled of late, as he recorded a 5.51 ERA in May and then allowed seven earned runs in six innings in his only June start thus far. Nevertheless, there aren’t any plans to pull him from Pittsburgh’s rotation and replace him with impressive rookie Nick Kingham, who’s currently in the minors, Huntington said (via Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). “Our focus with Trevor right now is to get that secondary stuff back to being effective, to get the four- and the two-seam fastball command back to being effective, and [we] believe that we’re going to be able to do that and work from there,” stated Huntington, who noted it’s unfortunate for Kingham that “we’ve got six guys that we believe can help us win major league games as starting pitchers right now.” In Huntington’s estimation, that group includes the 26-year-old Williams, who, to his credit, has been a respectable starter since debuting in 2016. Williams has combined for 216 innings of 4.15 ERA ball and posted 6.6 K/9 against 2.95 BB/9 in 40 starts.
- The Pirates are considering promoting middle infield prospects Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer, but call-ups don’t seem imminent, Brink suggests. Starting middle infielders Josh Harrison (second base) and Jordy Mercer (shortstop) have been reasonably effective, and Huntington expressed confidence in reserve Sean Rodriguez, even though he has hit just .159/.286/299 in 126 plate appearances. Playing time would be hard to come by for the prospects, then, and the Pirates don’t want to promote them unless they’re going to see regular action. Both Newman, MLB.com’s seventh-ranked Pirates prospect, and Kramer (No. 8) have logged above-average production at the Triple-A level this season. Neither Newman nor Kramer is on the Bucs’ already full 40-man roster, though, which stands as another roadblock in the way of the “Seinfeld” tandem.
- More from Brink, who writes that Huntington took some of the blame Sunday for the woes of Pittsburgh’s bullpen. “The general manager didn’t give the manager a legitimate eighth-inning guy or seventh-inning guy, speaking in conventional terms,” said Huntington, whose team entered Sunday tied for 25th in the majors in bullpen ERA (4.56). As Brink points out, the Pirates’ season-opening plan to have Michael Feliz and George Kontos set up closer Felipe Vazquez didn’t work. Feliz, whom the Bucs acquired over the winter from Houston as part of the teams’ Gerrit Cole trade, has registered a 6.18 ERA over 27 2/3 innings. And Kontos managed a subpar 5.03 mark in 19 2/3 frames before the Pirates released him last month.
Pirates Reinstate Jung Ho Kang, Option Him To Triple-A
The Pirates announced Friday that they’ve reinstated infielder Jung Ho Kang from the restricted list and optioned him to Triple-A Indianapolis. While he won’t be with the big league club for the time being, Kang is now back on the 40-man roster (which is full) and will once again begin earning the pro-rated portion of this year’s $3MM salary. Through season’s end, that will afford him approximately $1.73MM.
Kang, 31, didn’t play in the Majors last year or for the first two and a half months of the 2018 season due to legal troubles in his native South Korea. The former Nexen Heroes star was arrested and charged with his third DUI during the 2016-17 offseason, which left him unable to secure a work visa and forced him to miss the entire 2017 season. He secured a visa to return to the Majors last month and has been on the Pirates’ restricted list while working out at their Spring Training facility and, eventually, playing games at the minor league level.
Kang performed terribly in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, to the point where he was released by his club, but he looked better in a seven-game stint with Class-A Advanced Bradenton upon returning to the Pirates organization. Kang hit .417/.531/.875 with three homers in 32 plate appearances against High-A pitching before going 1-for-15 in a four-game stretch at Indianapolis prior to his reinstatement. He’ll continue trying to round into form there, hoping for an eventual return to Pittsburgh.
That, of course, is hardly a given. GM Neal Huntington suggested in an April radio appearance that this Kang’s last chance with the organization. He’ll likely need to produce at the Triple-A level before he’s even considered an option, though for all of his considerable off-field issues, a healthy Kang would admittedly give the Pirates a potent bat to plug back into their lineup. In his first two seasons at the big league level (2015-16), Kang batted .273/.355/.483 with 36 homers in 837 plate appearances.
Pirates Agree To Terms With First-Rounder Travis Swaggerty
The Pirates are in agreement with first-round pick Travis Swaggerty, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com (via Twitter). The former University of South Alabama center fielder’s deal, which is still pending a physical, will promise him a $4.4MM signing bonus. That checks in a bit shy of the No. 10 overall slot’s value of $4,560,200.
Swaggerty, 20, was one of the more well-rounded bats in the draft. His junior season with the Jaguars saw him bat .296/.455/.526 with 13 homers, 10 doubles and nine steals (14 attempts) over the course of 57 games and 277 plate appearances. Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs ranked Swaggerty fourth in the draft class, as did ESPN’s Keith Law (subscription required). Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com rated Swaggerty 11th among draft-eligible prospects, as did the team over at Baseball America (subscription link).
Swaggerty draws average or better ratings for each of his tools, with his current calling card coming in the form of plus speed and defense in center field. He drew plenty of walks this season, and most scouting reports agree that he’s added some strength and lift to his swing, giving him solid power potential as well. MLB.com’s report suggested Brett Gardner as a loose comparison, noting that Swaggerty has more power and less speed than Gardner had at this point in his career. Fangraphs’ report notes that he has some mechanical issues in his swing that prevented him from performing at a level that’s more commensurate with his tantalizing set of tools, so the Pirates will work to further hone his approach at the plate as he transitions into pro ball.
Latest On Pirates’ Deadline Planning
The Pirates appear to be preparing to deal away some veteran assets this summer, according to reporting from MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. While the Bucs have obviously not yet committed to a path, Morosi tweets that the organization is “likely” to offer up some of its shorter-term players at the trade deadline.
It’s not surprising to hear that the Pittsburgh organization has begun to think about selling this summer. After a strong opening run, the club has faded fast and now sits two games under .500 and eight games back in a tough NL Central division. With three quality teams stacked ahead in the standings, it’s a bit difficult to see the Pirates staying in the hunt all season long.
Under the circumstances, says Morosi, the club plans to open the door to trades barring a sudden reversal of fortunes. Given the caveats sprinkled through the report, it’s clearly too soon to declare the Pirates a deadline “seller.” But the trend lines are all pointing in that direction, as Fangraphs’ playoff odds tracker illustrates.
We held off on including any Bucs players in our recent ranking of the top fifty trade deadline candidates. As we noted there, however, the club has a solid list of assets that it could put on the market. It’s worth checking through some of the top names to consider here, as some will likely appear on the next iteration of our top-fifty list.
There aren’t many pure rental pieces. Shortstop Jordy Mercer would be an appealing infield addition for the right contending team. Sean Rodriguez has struggled but could still turn himself into an asset given his versatility. Though his deal includes an option for 2019, corner infielder David Freese will mostly be viewed as a rental piece and could draw some interest as an experienced bench bat.
The Bucs are much more interesting when you expand the search to players that are under contract for future seasons. Veteran backstop Francisco Cervelli, a respected defender who is on fire with the bat, would make for an interesting entrant onto the trade market. He’s under contract for 2019, which increases his appeal but also his value to Pittsburgh. Similarly, righty Ivan Nova has another year to go on his deal. He isn’t thriving in the results department, but his peripherals remain quite strong and he’d be a nice addition for a team looking to add good innings to a rotation. Utilityman Josh Harrison remains a quality, versatile player who’d fit just about anywhere. His remaining two years of contract control aren’t cheap, but they come via option. And Corey Dickerson could still be of interest with another arb season left, though he has cooled of late.
There are yet more controllable pieces worth considering, too. While the Pirates would surely be hesitant to blow up their core, they’ll surely also listen if the market comes to them. Closer Felipe Vazquez is playing under an amply affordable extension, while Jameson Taillon continues to be a quality rotation piece. In both cases, the Pittsburgh front office will no doubt hold out for exceedingly high returns, if they’re really all that willing to talk at all. The same would hold true of star outfielder Starling Marte or other controllable position players, in all likelihood.
For the time being, then, it’s all guesswork as to which of those players might turn up in another uniform. Any chatter on deadline moves is surely still in the preliminary stages, if it’s really even taking place at all for a team that is still straddling the fence with ten weeks of the season in the books.
Pirates Notes: Nova, Kingham, Frazier, Kang
- More on the Pirates, who promoted veteran infielder Jung Ho Kang from Single-A to Triple-A on Sunday, Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. It’s an important development for Kang, who was a quality regular with the Bucs from 2015-16 but hasn’t played in the majors since then because of off-field problems. Kang racked up his his third DUI in his homeland of South Korea during the 2016-17 offseason, and he’s still on the restricted list as a result. Unsurprisingly, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said in April that Kang is likely down to “his last chance with us.”
- The Pirates activated righty Ivan Nova from the disabled list and optioned fellow righty Nick Kingham to Triple-A prior to Sunday’s game. Nova returned after a finger injury shelved him for two weeks. His presence is unfortunate for Kingham, who continued his strong rookie season Saturday with 6 1/3 innings of two-run ball in a loss to the Cubs. Overall, the 26-year-old Kingham has pitched to a 3.82 ERA with 35 strikeouts against seven walks in 35 1/3 innings (six starts).
- Additionally, the Pirates optioned utility player Adam Frazier to make room for the addition of catcher Jacob Stallings from Triple-A. It’s a somewhat surprising demotion for Frazier, who offered league-average offensive production (.283/.347/.402) over 614 plate appearances from 2016-17 while seeing action at several positions. Frazier’s defensive versatility has continued this year, as he has lined up at second base and all three outfield spots, but his batting line has fallen to .237/.318/.356 in 152 PAs.
- More on the Pirates, who promoted veteran infielder Jung Ho Kang from Single-A to Triple-A on Sunday, Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. It’s an important development for Kang, who was a quality regular with the Bucs from 2015-16 but hasn’t played in the majors since then because of off-field problems. Kang racked up his his third DUI in his homeland of South Korea during the 2016-17 offseason, and he’s still on the restricted list as a result. Unsurprisingly, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said in April that Kang is likely down to “his last chance with us.”
Pirates Place Richard Rodriguez On DL
- The Pirates have sent righty reliever Richard Rodriguez to the DL with shoulder inflammation, Elizabeth Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. The club recalled righty Dovydas Neverauskas from Triple-A in a corresponding move. Pittsburgh doesn’t expect Rodriguez to miss a significant amount of time, but even a short-term absence could hurt. The 28-year-old rookie has burst on the scene with a 2.38 ERA and 13.1 K/9 against 1.19 BB/9 in 22 2/3 innings this season.
Ivan Nova Progressing Toward Return
Pirates righty Ivan Nova seems reasonably close to a return, as Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. He received good reports after throwing a pair of simulated innings, suggesting that his sprained ring finger won’t keep him out very long. Obviously the club will wait to see how he responds before moving things forward, but it seems reasonable to think that Nova could make it back in relatively short order given that he last pitched on May 24th. The Bucs would certainly like not only for Nova to return, but also for him to turn things around on the bump. He carries a 4.96 ERA through 61 2/3 frames, though his peripherals have been in his typical range and suggest he has been a bit unfortunate.
Jung Ho Kang To Begin Playing In Minor League Games
The Pirates are set to send Jung Ho Kang out on a minor league assignment as he builds up for an eventual return to their big league roster, tweets Adam Berry of MLB.com. Kang will initially be assigned to Class-A Advanced Bradenton.
Kang is currently on the restricted list after missing the 2017 season and the entirety of the 2018 season, to date, after being charged with his third DUI in his native South Korea in the 2016-17 offseason. Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote earlier this month that Kang can remain there until he’s deemed ready to rejoin the big league roster, so Kang won’t be paid or accumulate any MLB service time until he’s actually ready to return to the Major League roster.
That outcome, of course, doesn’t appear to be a given. Kang played poorly in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, hitting just .143/.219/.202 with 31 strikeouts in 96 plate appearances before being cut loose by his club. The Pirates aren’t under any obligation to actually bring Kang back to the roster if his performance doesn’t merit that promotion, and GM Neal Huntington suggested in a radio appearance late last month that this Kang’s last chance with the organization.
The 29-26 Pirates are currently six games out of first place behind the surging Brewers in the NL Central but just two games back of a Wild Card spot, so it seems they’ll look to see whether Kang is capable of returning to the form he showed in 2015-16 when he hit .273/.355/.483 with 36 homers in 837 plate appearances. He’ll earn the pro-rated portion of this season’s $3MM salary for any time spent on the team’s active roster, though Huntington’s comments from April cast some doubt as to whether the organization would consider exercising next year’s $5.5MM option, barring a highly productive finish to the 2018 season.
Felipe Vazquez Dodges Major Injury
- There was fear on Sunday that Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez suffered a serious forearm injury, but it seems he dodged a significant blow. Vazquez told Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and other reporters Monday that he’s doing fine, adding that he expects to be available again Tuesday. “I felt like a little pop, but it was not — it looked worse than it really happened,” he said.
