Pirates Lose Phil Gosselin to the Texas Rangers

On Saturday afternoon, infielder Phil Gosselin was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers bringing his disastrous Pirate career to an end

Late this past offseason, Neal Huntington swung a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In this trade, the Pirates send right-handed pitcher Frank Duncan to the desert in exchange for infielder Phil Gosselin.

When the 2017 season started, Phil Gosselin was expected to be a key utility infield bench player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, things did not work out for Gosselin. After having plenty of struggles, Gosselin began to ride the train between the Major Leagues and Triple-A Indianapolis.

Phil Gosselin played 28 games for the Pirates this season. In these 28 games, he accumulated 42 plate appearances. In these 42 plate appearances he was awful. Gosselin owned a .190 on-base percentage, .167 wOBA, -3 wRC+, and a 21.4 percent strikeout rate in the Major Leagues this season.

He also struggled immensely in the field in 2017. Gosselin owned a defensive runs saved (DRS) of -2 at second base this season. Also, in his lone appearance at first base he committed a costly error in a loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Phil Gosselin’s brief, and forgettable, Pirate career is now over. This is due to him being claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers on Saturday afternoon.

Prior to this move, Gosselin was playing for Triple-A Indianapolis. At Triple-A, Gosselin was struggling with the bat. He owned a .304 on-base percentage, .289 wOBA, and a wRC+ of 77 for the Indians.

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Hopefully for both Phil Gosselin and the Texas Rangers, things go better for him in Arlington than they did in Pittsburgh. Regardless if that happens or not the important thing is that Phil Gosselin, thankfully, is no longer a Pittsburgh Pirate. Yay!