Three Potential Pirate Players That Could Be Cut When Rosters Downsize

With the new rules for 2020 in place, the Pittsburgh Pirates will have to cut two players off their 30-man roster in a week and a half. These three could be on the team’s chopping block.

Believe it or not, we are already five games into the 202 MLB season. Despite being just five games into the season, we might already have a preview of a few of the Pittsburgh Pirates players that could be in trouble when rosters downsize.

Currently, the Pirates have 30 men on their active roster. After two weeks, teams will have to downsize their roster to 28 players, and then after two more weeks, teams will have to eliminate two more players off their active roster.

Every team in baseball will be facing difficult decisions when rosters shrink on August 6, but for the Pittsburgh Pirates the decisions may not be as difficult. That is because there are already a few players sticking out as ones in danger of losing their roster spots.

Even though we are early in the season, these players are already fighting for their roster spots, but losing that battle. In a week and a half, these three players could be optioned, designated for assignment or outright released.

Relief Pitcher Richard Rodriguez

It would have sounded crazy two years ago that Richard Rodriguez might be on the chopping block. Rodriguez had an outstanding 2018 with a 2.47 ERA, 2.60 FIP and 1.06 WHIP in 69.1 innings pitched. Rodriguez was a huge strikeout pitcher, getting 31.5% of the batters he faced down in strike three, and walking them at a rate of just 6.8%. Plus, he only gave up five home runs. Rodriguez finished that year with a 1.3 fWAR, which was in the top 30 of all relievers in baseball.

However, the wheels fell off last year. Rodriguez may have had a solid-looking 3.72 ERA, but he got worse. Through 65.1 innings, his strikeout rate dipped to just 22.1% and his walk rate went up to 8.1%. Home runs became a huge problem for Rodriguez. He gave up nearly triple the amount of home runs he did in 2018, surrendering 14 long balls.

The long ball might still be an issue for the right hander in 2020. Rodriguez ha already allowed a home run. In his first outing of the season he surrendered a two-run home run to Paul DeJong during the first game of the season, which ended up being the game winning hit for the St. Louis Cardinals that night. Though he did pitch a perfect inning on Monday, the concerns about Rodriguez still remain.

Utility Man Erik Gonzalez

Erik Gonzalez was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2018-2019 off-season, and he was their starting shortstop to open the 2019 season. But aside from defensive utility, which is something the Pittsburgh Pirates have a lot of, Gonzalez could potentially be on the chopping block soon.

Gonzalez last year batted just .254/.301/.317 with four doubles, a triple and a home run in 156 plate appearances. All told having a 65 OPS+ and 59 wRC+. A hard collision with former center fielder Starling Marte caused Gonzalez to miss a good chunk of the 2019 season recovering from injury. However, in the final month of the season, Gonzalez did hit for a much more palatable .322/.349/.407 line and 100 wRC+ in his final 63 plate appearances of 2019, overall being a league average batter.

Gonzalez was a help defensively though. At shortstop, the primary position he played in 2019, Gonzalez had +3 DRS, a 1.3 UZR and 1.1 range runs above average. Plus he was in the top 85th percentile of sprint speed with a 28.6 feet/second dash. He also has experience at third base, second base, first base, and could even play some left field.

But Gonzalez doesn’t really do anything that neither Cole Tucker or Phillip Evans can’t do and provide more value doing. Both Tucker and Evans can play wherever on the infield, and occasionally in the outfield as well. With Evans getting off to a hot start in 2020, and Gonzalez only having one single through six plate appearances/at bats, he could be one of the Pirates to be considered to be cut very soon.