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Joaquin Benoit and John Jaso Become Free Agents

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Major League Baseball announced on Thursday afternoon that 149 players have become free agents. The Pittsburgh Pirates have two players on that list, John Jaso and Joaquin Benoit.

As mentioned in our off-season primer, the Pirates have five days to negotiate with these players before other teams can begin negotiations. That’s mentioned more for possible free agents the Pirates could be looking at this off-season, because neither Jaso or Benoit are expected to be re-signed. Jaso even hinted late in the season at retiring, and Benoit is 40 years old and coming off of a down year, so he might be done as well.

Jaso spent two seasons with the Pirates after signing as a free agent prior to the 2016 season. He combined to hit .245/.342/.409 in 734 plate appearances over 258 games. Those hitting totals are close to his career totals, so his offensive production wasn’t far off of expectations, although he posted an .839 OPS in 2015, so they were a drop from that total. The Pirates used him often and first base and right field, where he was below average. According to Baseball-Reference, he had an 0.6 WAR with the Pirates.

The Pirates acquired Benoit at the trade deadline from the Philadelphia Phillies this year and he spent time on the disabled list and back at his home for family related matters. In his brief time with the Pirates, he allowed seven earned runs over 8.1 innings in eight appearances.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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