The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that left-handed reliever Kevin Siegrist refused his minor league assignment and he is now a free agent.
The Pirates signed him to a minor league deal in late February and he was unable to make the team out of Spring Training. They wanted him to go down to Indianapolis to get in some more innings in hopes that he regained his pre-2017 form. The 28-year-old Siegrist pitched six times in Spring Training, and while he had nine strikeouts in 5.2 innings, he also allowed five earned runs on eight hits and a walk.
UPDATE 10:30 AM: The Pirates issued a follow up statement this morning on Siegrist, saying that he is still with the team, but he is currently suspended due to not reporting to Indianapolis. We actually inquired about his suspension when we found out about it on Monday night, but got no answer. It turns out that he was suspended for not reporting to Indianapolis within the required time.
Siegrist had a clause in his contract that if a Major League team offered him a contract, the Pirates had to let him go if he didn’t make the Opening Day roster. That obviously didn’t happen and now he’s on the suspended list. So he is still with the Pirates for now, but he clearly wants a Major League job, which isn’t being offered by any of the 30 teams at this point.
