Notes: Low Cost Add-Ons; Exes On the Move

The Winter Meeting Afterglow…

Notes:

• The Bucs got a lefty for the bullpen in former Giant Jarlin Garcia, 30. His line was 1-4-1/3.74 last year in 58 outings and he’s been solid over the past four years (13-10-2/2.89). The deal is reportedly for $2.5M with a club option in 2024 worth $3.25M.
• Then they inked RHP Vince Velasquez, also 30, to a one-year/$3.15M deal, pending his physical. He spent last year with the White Sox, going 3-3/4.78 in 32 appearances (nine starts). This is his fifth organization in eight MLB campaigns, with six years spent with the Phils. He’s posted a line of 34-47/4.93 in the bigs.
• The Pirates have agreed to a deal with 29-year-old LHP Daniel Zamora, per John Dreker of Pirates Prospects. The arrangement wasn’t specified; we’d assume it’s an NRI contract. Zamora was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 40th round of the 2015 draft out of Stony Brook and traded to the New York Mets in 2018 for Josh Smoker. He’s gotten into 33 games with NY/Seattle, going 3-1/4.50.

• Pittsburgh picked LA lefty Jose Hernandez in the Rule 5 draft. The 24-year-old had a line of 4-4-8/3.32 in AA/A+ last year, and with Garcia, will give the Bucs two southpaws in the pen if he can stick. The Pirates then lost C Blake Sabol to the Reds (who quickly flipped him to the Giants for cash & a PTBNL), further thinning the backstop position. The roster sits at 39 players now, with Garcia and Velasquez needing spots when their deals are finalized.
• In the minor league part of the draft, Pittsburgh took two (RHP Kai-Wei Teng/Giants; OF Josh Palacios/Nats, both who have had cups of coffee in MLB) and lost a small posse (Ps Joelvis Del Rosario, who was the first player taken, Joe Jacques, Austin Roberts, Wilkin Ramos, Trey McGough, Emmanuel Mejia, Cristian Charle, Peter Solomon & Domingo Gonzalez along w OF Jared Oliva & IF Yoyner Fajardo). 11 players are a lot of young dudes to lose (they only had a pair of prospects claimed last year, P Steven Jennings & OF Jonah Davis.) The Pirates led all teams in minor league players lost in this draft, but apparently the FO thought they were mostly  expendable as they only protected 32 MiLB players with 38 spots available.
• MLB Trade Rumor’s Mark Polishuk looks at Bryan Reynold’s leading suitors.
• The Pirates won the top pick for the July MLB draft. There’s a lottery this year rather than an inverse finish slotting, and the Bucs could have landed anywhere from first-to-ninth.
• Pirates birddogs Jack Bowen and Steve Williams won the Scout of the Year Award for their respective regions.

• No Q reunion: the Mets signed LHP Jose Quintana to a two-year/$26M deal. 
• The Cubs and RHP Jameson Taillon agreed on a four-year/$68M contract.
• RHP Trevor Williams signed a two-year/$13M deal with the Nats. Willy’s last Pirates campaign was in 2020; he’s been with the Cubs and Mets since then and has evolved into a swingman.
• The Cleveland Guardians signed 1B Josh Bell to a two-year/$33M agreement with an opt-out after 2023. Josh hit .266 w/17HR for Washington and San Diego last year in his second season removed from Pittsburgh. 
• OF Anthony Alford, who started last season as a Bucco, signed up for another year with the KT Wiz of the Korean League. He hit .286 w/14HR for them after joining the club in May.
• RHP Austin Brice, who was mostly at Indy last year while getting a handful of frames with the Bucs, agreed to a NRI contract with Arizona.
• IF Cole Tucker, released by Arizona in the offseason, signed a NRI deal with Colorado.
• OF Guillermo Heredia, who played eight games for the Bucs in 2020 before being sent to the Altoona alternate training site and ultimately given his release, was let go by Atlanta and signed with the SSG Landers of the KBO.