Baseball America announced the list of the early minor league free agents on Saturday. The news of Drew Hutchison electing early free agency isn’t really news. We announced in mid-September that he cleared waivers and was sent outright to Indianapolis. Since he already had over three years of Major League service time, that gave him the ability to elect minor league free agency early. The only reason not to elect early free agency is if the player plans on re-signing with their current team, and as we saw this year with Hutchison never getting a big league call, there is likely a better opportunity for him elsewhere.
Hutchison is the only player from the Pittsburgh Pirates on the list, but that list of early free agents has some former Pirates as well.
Jeff Locke and Steve Lombardozzi from the Miami Marlins are free agents. Locke made seven starts and posted an 8.16 ERA with the Marlins after missing some time early due to injury. Lombardozzi played just two games with the Marlins this year.
Rob Scahill is a free agent from the Milwaukee Brewers after posting a 4.43 ERA in 18 appearances.
Jaff Decker hit .200 in 17 games for the Oakland A’s.
Chase d’Arnaud hit .143 in 22 games for the San Diego Padres after he went 3-for-8 in 11 games for the Atlanta Braves.
While they didn’t combine for much with the Pirates, the Chicago White Sox had Chris Volstad and Jean Machi elect early free agency.
The list also includes Diego Moreno from the Cleveland Indians, as well as a long list from the Texas Rangers. They saw Jhan Marinez, Joely Rodriguez, Phil Gosselin and former draft pick Tanner Scheppers all declare early free agency.
The Washington Nationals had Clint Robinson, whose brief career with the Pirates included them trading for him in the Vin Mazzaro deal and then losing him on waivers four months later before he played a regular season game.
