Pittsburgh Pirates: Team Signs Patrick Kivlehan

(Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /
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The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed their first player of the offseason.  The team handed out a minor league contract to an outfielder.

Finally, the 2018-2019 Major League Baseball offseason is underway.  Teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates are figuring out what they need to do over the upcoming days.  What options to pick up or decline, what players it target in free agency and on the trade block, and many other things.

However, the Pittsburgh Pirates are not sitting back and have already signed a player.  According to John Dreker and Pirates Prospects, the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed outfielder Patrick Kivlehan.  Kivlehand is getting a minor league contract for the Bucs.  This really shows that the MLB offseason is underway, as the Pittsburgh Pirates always seem to find a minor league free agent that they like to add in the early stages of the offseason.

Kivlehan actually makes some sense for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The team lost outfielder Gregory Polanco to surgery at the end of this past season.  The team will be without the big outfielder for at least the beginning of this season.  So, the Bucs need to bring in as much competition as possible for outfield depth.  Kivlehan has had plenty of experience, albeit not very productive experience.

The outfielder was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the fourth round of the 2012 MLB Draft.  He came out of Rutgers. Kivlehan made his big league debut years later in 2016 for the San Diego Padres.  He ended the year playing in the Cincinnati Red’s organization.  He stuck with the Reds through the 2017 season as well playing in 115 games.  This past year the righty was with the Arizona Diamondbacks and only appeared in 9 major league contest.  All in all, he has played in 132 big league games and has slashed .208/.302/.401 in those games.

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While Kivlehan, 28 years of age, should not open the 2019 season on the Pittsburgh Pirates, he seems like a decent flyer type player.  He has a good bit of big league experience and should serve as a depth piece from the Triple-A level.  His positions are the outfield, first base, and third base with his most experience in left field.