Pittsburgh Pirates: Pitchers That Need to Come Off the 40-Man This Offseason

These Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers appear to have no future with the organization and need to come off of the 40-man roster this offseason

Between prospects that will need to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft and offseason additions that need to be made, the Pittsburgh Pirates will have plenty of 40-man roster decisions to make this offseason. Making room on the 40-man roster should be an easy thing for the Pirates to do, especially with their pitchers.

There are plenty of pitchers on the team’s 40-man roster that do not appear to have any future with the organization. That hodgepodge of nothingness includes these seven pitchers who should be taken off of the 40-man roster this offseason.

Righty Jeremy Beasley

Acquiring reliever Jeremy Beasley is a move that never made sense for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Beasley was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in a last second traded ahead of the August 2nd trade deadline, and immediately optioned to Triple-A.

Beasley has pitched 24.2 MLB innings in his career. These innings have come with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Toronto Blue Jays. This season Beasley posted a 4.80 ERA, 5.46 FIP, and a 2.40 HR/9 in 15.0 innings pitched with the Blue Jays.

Since joining the Pittsburgh Pirates organization Beasley has not pitched in a game in the majors or the minors. Regardless of the reasoning, taking Beasley off of the 40-man roster this offseason would appear to be pretty close to a slam dunk move.

At this point Beasley is, literally, adding nothing to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Taking Beasley off of the 40-man roster to help create spots for players that need protected from the Rule 5 Draft, trade/free agent additions, etc., seems to be a no brainer offseason decision for the Pirates.

Righty Yohan Ramirez

The Pittsburgh Pirates claimed Yohan Ramirez off waivers earlier this summer. Since then, he has bounced back and forth between the major leagues and Triple-A Indianapolis while struggling to find any MLB footing.

In addition to the Pirates, Ramirez has also pitched for the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Guardians this season. Overall, he’s pitched 19.1 MLB innings posting a 6.52 ERA and a 5.71 FIP. He’s walked 12.1% of batters faced, struck out just 18.7% and has allowed home runs at a clip of 1.40 HR/9.

With the Pirates, Ramirez has been particularly poor. He’s posted a 6.00 ERA while allowing 10 hits, walking four batters and striking out just six in 9.0 innings pitched. In his MLB career, he owns a 4.26 ERA and a 5.38 FIP while walking 14.4% of batters faced in 67.2 innings pitched.

Ramirez is the type of reliever who is claimed off waivers over the summer to help a team get through the season, provide depth, and eat innings. These types of pitchers typically do not last long on 40-man rosters once the offseason begins. It would be a surprise to see Ramirez survive the offseason as a member of the Pirate 40-man roster.

Lefty Eric Stout

Claimed off waivers on June 16th, left-handed journeyman Eric Stout became a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prior to this season, Stout had pitched just 2.1 innings at the major league level.

These 2.1 innings pitched came with the Kansas City Royals in 2018. Typically, when a pitcher, especially a left-handed one, has only pitched 2.1 MLB innings by the time they are 29-years-old, that is not a good sign.

Between the Pirates and Chicago Cubs, Stout has pitched 14.2 innings pitched this season. Stout has posted a 5.52 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 11.3% walk rate and a 21.1% strikeout rate. Nothing special, at all, with some of these stats being flat out bad.

Relievers such as Stout are a dime a dozen. They can be found anywhere. Hell, the Pirates may have a better internal left-handed bullpen option, and a younger one, in Cam Alldred. Stout will certainly be a candidate to be taken off the 40-man roster this offseason.

Miguel Yajure, Zach Thompson, Bryse Wilson

The Pittsburgh Pirates will be in dire need of finding starting pitching help this offseason. A big reason this is such a glaring need is due to the struggles and lack of development from Miguel Yajure, Zach Thompson, and Bryse Wilson.

Yajure, who was acquired in the Jameson Taillon trade, started the season in the Pirate bullpen and was, well, terrible. Yajure has had a few other MLB stints this season since then, but owns an 8.16 ERA, 5.78 FIP, 12.7% walk rate and an abysmal 5.6% strikeout rate in 14.1 innings pitched.

Overall in his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Yajure owns an 8.28 ERA, 7.17 FIP, 10.8% strikeout rate, and he’s allowed home runs at a woeful 2.15 HR/9 rate in 29.1 innings pitched. Yajure has struggled with health, his velocity has dropped, and he lacks the ability to miss bats. All of this has contributed to him owning a 6.09 ERA and a 4.60 FIP in 54.2 innings pitched in the minors this season. It could be time to take Yajure off the 40-man roster to help make room for other players.

Zach Thompson was acquired this past offseason in the Jacob Stallings trade. Prior to last season Thompson had not pitched at the major league level, never a good sign for an almost 29-year-old pitcher.

Thompson has struggled mightily this season posting a 5.33 ERA, 5.33 FIP, 8.9% walk rate and allowing 19 home runs in 104.1 innings pitched this season. Thompson does not miss bats at all, ranking in the bottom 10% of baseball in both strikeout and chase rate. These struggles have led to Thompson being removed from the starting rotation, and the 40-man roster could be next.

Few MLB starting pitchers have struggled more this season than Bryse Wilson. Wilson owns a 6.78 ERA as a starting pitcher this season, which is the 5th worst ERA among MLB pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched as a starting pitcher this season.

Between his work as a starter and a reliever, Wilson owns a 6.01 ERA, 5.19 FIP, 5.6% walk rate, and a 14.9% strikeout rate. His 43.5% hard hit rate allowed, opposing barrel rate of 7.6% and average opposing exit velocity of 91.3 MPH are all worse, and by a good bit, than league average.

Even though Wilson had a stretch during the summer where he strung a few quality starts together in a row, it does not change his long-term outlook. Wilson is back to struggling and does not have a long-term home with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wilson will continue to make starts in September and eat innings, but he needs removed from the 40-man roster this offseason.