Here’s a recap of Thursday’s winter league action for members of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Dominican Republic
Oneil Cruz went 2-for-3 with two singles, a run scored and his fourth stolen base. He left the game for a pinch-hitter in the seventh, with one source saying it was just as a precaution, without explanation. The game was 3-0 at the time, so it wasn’t a situation where you would clear off your bench to finish a game. We’ll check for updates. Cruz is hitting .250 with a .792 OPS in 12 games.
Rodolfo Castro went 0-for-4 for the second straight day. He’s hitting .234 with a .647 OPS in 28 games.
Miguel Andujar went 1-for-4 with a single. He’s hitting .253 with a .656 OPS in 20 games.
Puerto Rico
Free agent Roberto Perez went 1-for-3, collecting his first hit of the winter, after going 0-for-4 in his first two games. He caught for the second time on Thursday, and he was the DH on Wednesday. He has played seven innings each game.
Shawn Ross went 1-for-2 with a single and a run. He’s hitting .129 with a .447 OPS in 25 games.
Mexico
Fabricio Macias went 1-for-4 with a single and an RBI. He’s hitting .251 with a .668 OPS in 49 games.
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.
#GiveOneilAllTheMonies
Yep, 2 hits in a winter league game. Give him 15 years and $450 million.
vendido
Can we sign Robert Perez to a minor league contract so we have him under contract. Then perhaps his contract is written so if he makes the major league roster he can have some extra dollars
in incentives, such as AB’s and games played. Then again, maybe that’s a major League contract with those stipulations??
Certainly. Do you plan to break his arm to force him to sign that?
pass
if he hasn´t signed by now, he aint signing
Stallings or Kirk should be our opening day catcher
Perez hasn’t signed because he wanted to show he was healthy in winter ball. That’s specifically why he is playing and why he hasn’t signed
Or, if offered, he did not like the offer, and is trying to show he is worth the level of dollars the Pirates signed him for last year. After missing all but about 30 days of the 2022 season, he needs to show he is healthy enough for some team to step up and make an offer.
the amount of at bats he has accumulated over the past eight years tells any astute observer that he is not a healthy person
He was saying he was looking for a two-year deal and that’s why he’s playing winter ball. He might not get it, but a minor league deal can be ruled out
Nobody in their right mind is going to give him a 2-year deal.
I think we can safely assume not every baseball GM is consistently in his right mind, but I agree with you.
I like the idea of another attempt at R. Perez but a 2 year deal should be out of the question for anybody. If someone can’t handle any job physically for several years why should they have a guaranteed salary for two years (or even one for that matter)? If he’ll sign for one – great, let’s get him for this transition year before the prospects take over. For two? No thanks!
A guaranteed 2 year deal should be out of the question but why not a deal that says that he gets a 2nd year with so many starts or x number of ABs?
Some kind of option year like that would work but if he smells backup duty the 2nd year it might be unlikely to work out. I’m sure the club might consider this, though.
If he signs it will be with full awareness that he will be backing up Endy in the near future.
Just negotiate & sign him, he’d be a good mentor for Endy & Tank.