The Pittsburgh Pirates released left fielder Michael Saunders, just two days after signing him to a minor league deal. After the acquisition of left fielder Corey Dickerson yesterday, that took away a possible starting spot for Saunders, while also making his chances of landing a bench spot tougher. The Pirates released him on Friday afternoon so he could sign with the Kansas City Royals.
We took a look at the battle for the final bench spot earlier today. Tim Williams noted that Bryce Brentz and Michael Saunders were likely choices for the final spot, so now this opens things up for other players such as Max Moroff, Jose Osuna and Daniel Nava to compete.
UPDATE 5:10 PM: From Tim Williams…
Saunders wasn’t on the field today during practice, although I figured he might have been in another area that I missed. He spoke with Neal Huntington this morning, who agreed to release him to pursue better opportunities. Huntington signed him to compete for the starting left field job, but when the team traded for Corey Dickerson, they no longer had the opportunity available.
My thoughts earlier today were that Bryce Brentz would win out over Saunders for the final bench spot. Obviously, that doesn’t change.