Offseason Questions: Who Do the Pirates DFA on the 40-Man Roster

The Pittsburgh Pirates faced a lot of injuries in 2020 and ended the year with 11 players on the injured list. However, now the Pirates have to face the tough questions of who gets DFA'd and who remains on the 40-man roster.

In each of the last two seasons, injuries had been a big part of the Pirates season. Several key players spent time on the injures list and the effects of these losses were felt on the field. It forced players to be thrust into new roles and young guys were called up too early. 2020 saw the injury bug strike before the shortened season even began. Jameson Taillon has been out with Tommy John Surgery since last July and Chris Archer went down in June after requiring Thoracic Outlet Surgery. By season's end, the Pirates had 11 players sitting on the injured list and the team suffered finishing with the worst record in all of Major League Baseball at 19-41.

Now that the off-season is upon us, those players have to either be released, put back on the Pirates 40-man roster, or optioned to the Minors if they have any options left. That means that the Pirates will have some decisions to make on the players currently on the 40-man roster. The Pirates have two spots that will become available when Derek Holland and Keone Kela hit free agency, but that leaves nine players on the injured list that need a spot on the roster. The Pirates can't get much worse record-wise than they were in 2020, so parting ways with any player not named Ke'Bryan Hayes, Bryan Reynolds, or Mitch Keller would not be heartbreaking. However, with so many guys trying to get back on the 40-man roster there are going to have to be some guys the team parts ways with this off-season.

The Obvious Departures

When you look at the 40-man roster, there are obviously some names the Pirates would not have a hard time losing. Whether that be because they are confident they will clear waivers or they simply don't have much invested in them. This is especially true with some of the pitchers currently sitting on the roster, and the injured pitchers make up half of the injured list players. Guys like RHP Carson Fulmer, RHP Austin Davis, and RHP Nick Mears all fit this description. All three pitchers are guys who spent either little or no time with the Major League club and wouldn't be much of a loss if they were picked up by another team.

Fulmer is currently in his second stint with the Pirates after being DFA'd earlier in the season, and reclaimed off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles. Fulmer did not appear in a game for the Pirates and overall is 6-9 with a career 6.34 ERA in 105 innings pitched in the Big Leagues. Bashlor on the other hand did appear for the Pirates but didn't produce favorable results. He appeared in eight games for the Pirates and had an 8.64 ERA in 8.1 innings of work on the mound. His control was off as he walked four batters during that time frame and only struck out six batters. The player the Pirates would have to worry about losing out of this group would more than likely be youngster Nick Mears. Mears is a young right-handed pitcher who made his MLB debut last season and showed good and bad. He appeared in four games for the Pirates and had a 5.40 ERA in five innings. His fastball ranged from the mid to upper 90s making him an intriguing option for other teams should the Pirates send him through waivers.

C: John Ryan Murphy

This move could probably also be categorized as an obvious move, but I don't see John Ryan Murphy being a part of this team next season. With Luke Maile on the mend, Murphy becomes disposable and will most likely be a free agent this off-season. Murphy did some good defensive work behind the plate for the Pirates and was a viable back-up to first-time starter Jacob Stallings. Murphy appeared in 25 games for the Pirates and hit .172 with no home runs and two RBI. However, defensively he did a nice job of handling the run game throwing out 30.7% of runners while posting a .988 fielding percentage behind the plate.

One of the biggest things that stands out on Murphy's stat sheet is the fact that he did not allow a passed ball all season while committing just two errors behind the plate. Even as he gets ready to turn 30-years-old, Murphy is still showing the ability to move behind the plate and would make a great back-up catcher for any team. He has playoff experience and knows the importance of handling a pitching staff. Murphy's biggest downfall is his lack of offensive skill is his biggest hindrance as he becomes a hole in the bottom of the lineup. However, with 2020 being only a 60-game season, Murphy did a good job as the back-up catcher and I hope he catches on somewhere else in 2021.

RHP: Trevor Williams

At the end of the 2018 season, Trevor Williams was one of the best starting pitchers on the Pittsburgh Pirates. He went 14-10 with a 3.11 ERA that season and led all of Major League Baseball with a 1.38 ERA after the all-star break. However, since that season things have gone downhill for the Right Hander. He hasn't been able to get his ERA under five in either of the last two seasons and 2020 was his worst season to date. He led the MLB in losses this season and finished the year at just 2-8 with a staggering 6.18 ERA in 55.1 innings of work. He walked 21 batters during the season, but it was his opponent batting average of .296 that killed him.

To go along with the high batting average, Williams has not been able to keep the ball in the park over the last two seasons. Over 200+ innings of work the last two seasons, Williams has given up 42 home runs, an average of 1.89 per nine innings pitched. For a guy who's bread and butter pitch is the high fastball, that is not a good sign moving forward. He has been working on his breaking stuff, but there are times when he slips back into that all-fastball mode and that starts to hurt him. I am a big Trevor Williams fan myself, but the other problem is there is really no spot for him in the 2021 starting rotation. With Taillon, and possibly Archer, back that leaves seven or eight pitchers fighting for five spots. It is time for a young guy to step up and claim a spot and for Williams to hopefully figure it out with another team.

OF: Jason Martin

When Jason Martin came up at the start of the 2019 season, it looked like he would be given a real shot in the outfield at the Major League level. However, Bryan Reynolds would be called up a few weeks later and Martin saw his playing time diminish before he was sent down. In 2020, he started the year on the satellite roster and once again wasn't given very many chances. He only had nine at-bats all season in 2020 and did not get a hit while walking twice and striking out four times. The combination of Reynolds and Cole Tucker left Martin with no spot to play in the outfield and sent him to the bench for the short amount of time that he was a Major Leaguer.

When he was given the call to the Major Leagues, he initially came in with a bang. Over his first nine games, he was hitting .389 with two RBI and was using his speed to get on base at the top of the lineup. However, he would go just 1-17 to end the month and would be optioned back to the Minor Leagues in early May. He only played in two more games for the Pirates as a shoulder injury that required surgery shortened his 2019 season. With Cole Tucker seemingly transitioning to the outfield and guys like Travis Swaggerty, O'Neill Cruz, and Lolo Sanchez waiting in the wings, Martin is a guy the Pirates could part ways with to make room for a guy like Anthony Alford on the 40-man roster.

With the World Series wrapping up on Tuesday, that started the five-day clock for the Pirates to start setting their 40-man roster. They will have to make decisions on club options with guys like Chris Archer and they will have to start working on getting their injured players on the 40-man roster. This will be Ben Cherrington's first full off-season as Pirates General Manager and I am anxious to see what direction he and the ball club are looking to go in 2021. They will determine if the Pirates can build around their current talent or sell players in order to better the team from the ground up.