Pittsburgh Pirates News: Colin Moran Designated for Assignment

As a flurry of roster moves continued, the Pittsburgh Pirates designated first baseman Colin Moran for assignment on Monday evening

Monday was a busy day around all of Major League Baseball. This came as no surprise as teams and players alike rush to get deals done before the CBA expires on Wednesday and the lockout begins. One of the many teams that were busy on Monday was the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Obviously the biggest move the Pittsburgh Pirates made on Monday was trading Gold Glove Award winning catcher Jacob Stallings to the Miami Marlins. In exchange for Stallings the Pirates received a trio of players, including a pitcher who could be a member of the starting rotation next season.

The Pirates also designated a pair of players for assignment on Monday. First, they designated Steven Brault for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for the recently signed Jose Quintana. Later in the day they made the recent re-signing of Yoshi Tsutsugo official. To make room for him on the 40-man roster first baseman Colin Moran was designated for assignment.

While this move was not a complete shocker as Moran became expendable after Tsutsugo was re-signed, it is a bit of a surprise the Pirates did not look to trade Moran instead. That said, it’s very possible they attempted to do so and failed to find a suitor.

Moran has 1564 career plate appearances in 460 games played. 444 of these games came with the Pittsburgh Pirates, while the first 16 came with the Houston Astros. In his 1564 career PAs Moran has hit for a .267/.329/.418 slash line to go with a wRC+ of 99 and an isolated slugging (ISO) of .151.

Moran came to the Pirates as part of the Gerrit Cole trade in January 2018. Moran was viewed as a potential power bat who could be a key piece in the middle of the Pirate lineup for a long time. Unfortunately, Moran’s power never developed as hoped.

With Moran off the roster all four of the players the Pirates received in the Cole trade are now officially out of the Pirate organization. There is no denying that the Cole trade will go down as one of the worst in Pirate history.