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Former Toronto Blue Jays Outfielder Randal Grichuk Drawing Interest From Pirates

Earlier this week, we heard that the Pirates were interested in free agent outfielder Alex Verdugo. Now, they are interested in Grichuk, who helped the Blue Jays to the playoffs in 2020.

Brady Farkas

Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Randal Grichuk (15) runs the bases after hitting a grand slam in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees during spring training at TD Ballpark in 2022.
Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Randal Grichuk (15) runs the bases after hitting a grand slam in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees during spring training at TD Ballpark in 2022. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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We heard earlier this week that the Pittsburgh Pirates were interested in free agent outfielder Alex Verdugo. As they continue to chase help in the outfield, they've also been linked now to free agent Randal Grichuk.

Per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com:

The Pirates are in the market for outfield help, with Randal Grichuk surfacing as the latest name under consideration, per sources. Pittsburgh also has interest in Alex Verdugo, a source confirmed. @ByRobertMurray first mentioned the Pirates/Verdugo connection.

The 33-year-old Grichuk just finished the 11th year of his career with the Blue Jays, St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels and Diamondbacks. Lifetime, he is a .252 hitter and he crossed the official 10 years of service time mark earlier in 2024.

He spent four seasons with the Blue Jays (2018-2021), helping the Jays get to the playoffs during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. With Toronto, he hit .243 and popped 90 homers, the most he's ever hit with any single franchise. He also drove in 257 runs, pairing with popular Jays players like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette at the beginning of their careers.

He's coming off a year in which he hit .291 for the Diamondbacks across 106 games. He popped 12 homers and drove in 46, and he could make for a good platoon option for a team's outfield.

Grichuk has 10 separate seasons of double-digit home runs, including hitting 31 for the Jays in 2019. He even hit 12 during that COVID-shortened season, which was 60 games.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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