Pirates Transactions
Pirates DFA Rowdy Tellez, Michael A. Taylor; Two Added From Triple-A
The Pittsburgh Pirates have DFA’d a pair of veterans in first baseman Rowdy Tellez and outfielder Michael A. Taylor. In doing so, the Pirates had two available spots on the open roster, which will be filled by outfielder Joshua Palacios and infielder Liover Peguero. Both players were recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis.
After a slow start to the season, Tellez rebounded to put up a fairly-respectable .243/.299/.392 batting line with 18 doubles, 13 home runs and 56 RBIs in 131 games while serving as the team’s primary first baseman.
Had Tellez received four more plate appearances, he would have triggered a $200,000 bonus that was built into his contract for 425 plate appearances on the season.
Taylor struggled offensively while with the Pirates, finishing his tenure with a .193 batting average, a 543 OPS, nine doubles, a triple, five home runs and 21 RBIs in 113 games. Despite his offensive deficiencies, Taylor provided the Pirates with excellent defense and was responsible for 12 defensive runs saved in 112 games in center field.
The Pirates signed both Tellez and Taylor to one-year free agent contracts ahead of the season.
Palacios has already logged 20 games with the Pirates this season. Across 69 plate appearances, he slashed .230/.319/.344 with a pair of home runs and seven RBIs. In 50 games with Indianapolis, Palacios hit .291 with an .861 OPS to go along with 19 doubles, one triple, five home runs, 25 RBIs and five steals.
Though Peguero was briefly up with the Pirates earlier in the season, he did not appear in a game. Peguero received his first extended look with Pittsburgh last season and hit .237 with a .653 OPS. He slugged seven home runs and drove in 26 runs.
In 128 games with Indianapolis this year, the 23-year-old slashed .257/.319/.410 with 29 doubles, four triples, 13 home runs, 79 RBIs and 14 stelas while splitting his defensive reps at the middle infield spots.
Neither Palacios nor Peguero is in the Pirates’ lineup against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
Hey, you can’t cut Rowdy! He was good in the room! Perratto said so!
I’m sure that the Pirates will get a lot of flak because Rowdy will miss out on an extra 200k but he has made a few million so it’s not like he is walking away like a poverty stricken poor soul…….basically I don’t care one way or another.