Notes: Skenes RoY, Joe, BDLC, Hunter Non-Tendered, Strzelicki & Yerry Added, Termarr Strong Premier12 Showing

Pretty hectic winter…not

Pirates Stuff:

• Let’s see…Paul Skenes was the first overall pick in the draft, the starting pitcher in the All-Star Game, and a Cy Young finalist (he finished third), oh wait…and now the BBWAA Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year. He won fairly easily, copping 23 first place votes to seven for Jackson Merrill (the pair took all 30 first and second place votes) The numbers sure support the honor. Skenes, 22, went 11-3/1.96 ERA over 23 starts/133 IP, striking out 170 batters. He’s the second Pirates player to win the award, along with OF Jason Bay, who was ROY in 2004.
• Skenes, as an added bonus, will now have a full year of service time despite not being called up until May (and the Pirates lost a bonus draft pick by not calling him up sooner). Now he can hit free agency a year earlier, after the 2029 season, his age-27 campaign.
• The club acquired RHP Peter Strzelecki from the Guardians for cash considerations. The Bucs are his fourth team; the 30-year-old reliever’s line is 5-6-1/3.44 with a K per inning.

Pgh. Pirates Release

• 1B/OF Connor Joe, DH/OF Bryan De La Cruz and RHP Hunter Stratton were non-tendered by the club on Friday. Joe and BDLC were expected NT’s. The Pirates are reportedly interested in keeping Stratton under a more team-friendly deal; he’ll miss the start of the 2025 campaign while rehabbing from knee surgery.
• The Pirates didn’t add any prospects to their 40-man roster by the Tuesday deadline. The two most likely suspects left available to the Rule 5 draft are OF Sammy Siani (a 2019 first-round pick who got on the radar this year) and C/1B Omar Alfonzo (the Bucs #26 prospect). Siani was the only Buc prospect named to the AFL All-Star team after batting .375 and playing all three OF spots.
• RHP Yerry Rodriguez, 27, signed a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. Rodriguez has 30 MLB outings from in the past three seasons with the Texas Rangers & Toronto Blue Jays and posted an overall 1-1-1/8.17 line with 33 strikeouts in 36-1/3 innings.
• The Pirates promoted Jordan Comadena to catching coach; he had been the bullpen catcher and will continue with that post, too, at least through 2025.
• Nick Gonzales got married to his bae Rylee last week.

Other Stuff:

• Atlanta’s Chris Sale won the 2024 NL Cy Young Award, beating the Phils’ Zack Wheeler and Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes for the honor. 
• LA’s Shohei Ohtani unanimously won the NL-MVP award with 30 first-place votes, and somewhat surprisingly, Skenes received an eighth-place vote. He was the first Pirates pitcher to earn an MVP vote since Gerrit Cole in 2015 (his was also an eighth-place vote).

Graphic – MLB Stats

• Team USA took the bronze medal in the Premier12 tournament. The Bucco rep, 2B Termarr Johnson, slashed .310/.414/.429 during the nine game tourney. 
• The Phillies hired Blake Crosby away from the Bucs (he was a special assignment scout) to become their Assistant Director, International Scouting.
• The Rockies announced that they have re-signed C Jacob Stallings to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026.
• It’s C Russ Martin’s first year on the Hall of Fame ballot. He enjoyed a 14-year MLB career, playing for the Bucs in 2013-14 (.256 with 13 HR/122 RBI).