Pittsburgh Pirates Sign First Baseman Rowdy Tellez

Tuesday night, Ben Cherington addressed the first base situation for the Pittsburgh Pirates by signing Rowdy Tellez to a 1-year deal

The Pittsburgh Pirates have addressed their first base situation. First reported by FanSided's own Robert Murray, the Bucs and Rowdy Tellez have agreed to a 1-year deal worth $3.2 milliom.

Tellez spent the past two seasons in the NL Central with the Milwaukee Brewers. Last season, Tellez hit for a .215/.291/.376 slash line with a 78 wRC+ and an OPS+ of 82 in 351 plate appearances across 106 games.

Even though Tellez's overall numbers were poor, he did hit right-handed pitching better than his overall numbers. Tellez hit for a .223/.294/.396 with an 83 wRC+ against right-handed pitching. For his career, Tellez owns a .231/.302/.464 slash line with a 103 wRC+ against right-handed pitching.

Prior to joining the Brewers via trade during the 2021 season, Tellez had spent his entire career with the Toronto Blue Jays. When the Blue Jays drafted Tellez, Ben Cherington was working in the Blue Jay front office. Due to this, when he was non-tendered by Milwaukee in November a reunion with Cherington in Pittsburgh made sense.

Looking ahead to 2024, Tellez will almost assuredly platoon at first base for the Pirates. His most likely platoon partner would be Connor Joe. Last week, we covered why using Joe as a platoon player at first base makes sense.