The Pittsburgh Pirates have lost right fielder Jerry Sands on waivers to the Tampa Bay Rays. Earlier today, we heard that Ryan Reid was picked up by the New York Mets. Both Sands and Reid were designated for assignment on December 13th when the Pirates officially signed Edinson Volquez and Clint Barmes and added them to the 40 man roster.
Sands came over to the Pirates last December in the Joel Hanrahan trade with the Boston Red Sox. Sands was a very early cut during Spring Training this year and spent the season with the AAA Indianapolis Indians, where he hit .207/.311/.329 in 106 games. He was playing Winter ball in Puerto Rico this off-season and was having trouble there as well. He hit .238, with 26 strikeouts in 25 games. He recently returned home.
With the acquisition of Jaff Decker from the Padres, the emergence of Andrew Lambo and both Travis Snider and Jose Tabata returning, there wasn’t much room for Sands in the Pirates system.
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.
Thank you sir Dreker…………
LLOYD
Tim and John,
LLOYD has 2 questions:
1. How does Polanco hit lefty’s?
2. How is Polanco’s bunting?
Thank You!!!
LLOYD
Polanco hit .373 against Lefties in Winter ball, though he had a higher OPS against righties. During the regular season, he had a .693 OPS against southpaws, .848 against RHP. In 2012, he crushed lefties with a 1.087 OPS, so I would say he has had some success against them. As for his bunting, it is a weapon for him. He is a lefty and very quick, so he can bunt for base hits from time to time. That could open up holes for him, as teams can’t just play back and assume he won’t bunt.
Timbo,
LLOYD received the Prospect Guide in the mail today………thank you sir!!!!
Looking forward to reading it on Christamas day since it is already wrapped and is LLOYD’s gift to himself.
Congrats to Mr. Polanco!!
LLOYD would love to see the Buccos playoff lineup be:
1. Polanco
2. Marte
3. Cutch
4. El Toro
5. Gaby/Ike or Smoak
6. PRNW (moves down to 8th vs lefty’s)
7. Marteen (moves up to 6th vs lefty’s)
8. Mercer (moves up to 7th vs lefty’s)
—of course Barmes gets AB’s for both MI’s.
Thank You,
LLOYD
That lineup is garbage. Lloyd i hope christmas brings us a shortstop or first baseman. Martin should never be hitting in front of Mercer
Ironic that Tampa claimed him with all the articles about the Rays and their farm system on here lately, lol!
LOL I was thinking the same thing! What would the Ray’s do? Why sign Jerry Sands! Guess we should have done that..oh wait…:)
The reason that guys like Sands get taken and signed is that every MLB orginization needs a lot of people ti fill out rosters in AA and AAA. The real prospects need to have others on their team and other teams to compete against. No more,no less.
Not really true. Sands mush be added to the 40 man roster. Minor league depth guys are not generally on the 40 man roster….especially in the Rays farm system.
For me, that is just confirmation that PIT is taking chances on the right kind of prospects/projects. Tampa Bay sees some kind of potential value in Sands as well. That said, I’m not shedding tears that they lost him, nor will I get bent out of shape if he catches fire for TB. All of these guys have a “lottery ticket” aspect to them.
Classic case of AAAA player all the way. This guy set the minor league world on fire a few years ago. I had high hopes for him but once he got some ML time he was never the same.