Pittsburgh Pirates Lose Two Relief Pitchers

With the normal end of the Spring Training roster crunch, the Pittsburgh Pirates had to place a few players on waivers.  They lost two depth relievers to the opening day roster trimming.

Two days ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates made a series of roster moves in preparation for opening day.  The team had to make moves to get their roster to who they believe were the best 25 players going forward.  The result is players being reassigned to the minors, players being designated for assignment, or players put on waivers.  It is unfortunate, as teams generally will lose players that they would like to keep for depth reasons, however it is part of the process of trying to get players into better opportunities.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have already lost one player to the waiver wire.  This happened when the New York Mets claimed outfielder Bryce Brentz off the Bucs waiver wire.  Brentz, who was already placed on waivers by the Red Sox earlier this off-season, found himself as the odd man out for the fourth outfield spot.  This is a typical example of what was described above.  The Pittsburgh Pirates made a waiver trade to acquire Brentz.  They obviously were intrigued by him, and would have liked to hung on to him for depth, but that is how things fall.

Two Pitchers

This happened to the Pittsburgh Pirates again.  This time, however, they lost two players on the waiver wire.  The first was left-handed reliever Jack Leathersich.  Leathersich himself was a late season waiver claim by the Pittsburgh Pirates last September. The lefty threw in six games last year and did not give up an earned run.  This spring he appeared in 4.2 innings and gave up six earned runs while walking six for the Bucs.  Obviously, these are not stellar numbers, and there were plenty of other relievers outperforming him.  The Cleveland Indians claimed him.

The other player from the Pittsburgh Pirates lost due to the roster crunch was another reliever.  Jordan Milbrath, who was one of the Pittsburgh Pirates Rule Five picks.  Milbrath was selected from the Indians organization.  The 6’6” righty got plenty of opportunities to pitch this spring, but he did not take advantage of it.  He threw in nine games and collected 8.1 innings, allowing nine runs (eight being earned), giving him an ERA of 8.64.  While he did strike out eight batters, he also walked eight.  Like Leathersich, there were plenty of other relievers who posted better numbers and were more deserving to make the roster.

Next: Bryce Brentz Claimed on Waivers

Due to Rule Five rules, the team had to put Milbrath on waivers first.  Any team could have claimed him, but they would have to keep them on their 25 man roster.  However, no team put a claim on him and so he was returned to the Cleveland Indians organization.  Neither will likely be missed, but of course, these two pitchers were viewed at one point by the Pittsburgh Pirates as potential depth bullpen arms.