News & Notes: Wolters, Goodwin Sign; Top 100; Exes Move On; Game Times; Indy Stays In the Fold

 Spring campin’ stuff…

• The Pirates signed C Tony Wolters to a minor league deal/NRI thought to be worth $1.4M if he makes the roster. Wolters, 28, started for the Rockies in 2019-20 and hit .230. He’s a lefty batter and has a .238 lifetime BA in five MLB campaigns.
• They also inked OF Brian Goodwin to a minor-league deal with an invite to camp. Goodwin, 30, has played five big league seasons with a .250 career BA and is another left-handed swinger. He’s played all three OF spots (best suited as a corner) and played for the Angels and Nats in 2020, hitting a combined .215 for the two clubs. He signed for $1.6M w/$900K in possible bonuses if he breaks camp with the club.

• Six Pirates are on Kiley McDaniel’s ESPN Top 100 prospects list (behind a paywall): #6 – 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes;  #28 – SS Oneil Cruz; #66 – 2B Nick Gonzales; #79 – OF Travis Swaggerty; #87 – RHP Quinn Priester and #91 – SS Liover Peguero.
• RHP Mark “The Shark” Melancon has signed on with the Padres, pending his physical.
• LHP Brandon Waddell was DFA’d by the Twins. He was drafted in 2015 by the Bucs and got into a pair of games last year. Ironically, he was inducted into the Cavalier’s Baseball Hall of Fame just two weeks ago. 
• The Pirates have announced game-starting-time changes for 2021: in April, May, and September night games will start at 6:35, while all Sunday games will begin at 1:05. Both were moved up 1/2 hour from the usual times.
• Indianapolis and Pittsburgh have agreed to 10 more years of affiliation.