Pirates Under Question After Cutting Player Before Bonus
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates designated first baseman Rowdy Tellez after he played most of the season, sparking concerns from the fanbase.
Tellez had 93 hits in 383 at-bats for a .243 batting average, along with 18 doubles, 13 home runs, 56 RBIs and 31 walks to 89 strikeouts. He also had a .299 on-base percentage, .392 slugging percentage and a .691 OPS.
The Pirates signed Tellez to a two-year contract worth $3.2 million and up to $4 million The timing of the Pirates designating Tellez for assignment comes with less than a week left in the regular season.
Ethan Hullihen posted Tellez's incentives for the 2024 season and that if he hit 425 plate appearances, the Pirates would pay him a $200,000 bonus. Tellez had 421 prior to the Pirates designating him for assignment, just four away from that bonus.
Here are Tellez's incentives for 2024: https://t.co/Df90hyQLuU pic.twitter.com/wGzsaaG2Tt
— Ethan Hullihen (@EthanHullihen) December 16, 2023
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said that the decision to cut Tellez did not have to do with his impending bonus, but rather bringing players up in the minor league system.
The Pirates brought up infielder Llover Peguero and outfielder Joshua Palacios and designated outfielder Michael A. Taylor and Tellez in their most recent moves.
"It did not factor into the decision at all," Shelton said to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It came down to when the minor league season ended and these guys getting here. That's what factored into the decision the most.
Just an update on the Tellez situation. I have confirmed with multiple sources that @EthanHullihen was correct: Tellez was just four plate appearances away from a $200k bonus. Derek Shelton, however, said this afternoon that the bonus did NOT factor into the decision to DFA…
— Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) September 24, 2024
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington confirmed those comments to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com and said that it wouldn't have an affect of bringing in free agents in the future.
Rowdy Tellez was four PAs shy of a performance bonus, per @EthanHullihen (who is ALWAYS right on these matters).
— Alex Stumpf (@AlexJStumpf) September 24, 2024
Ben Cherington was asked if that was factored in when Tellez was DFA’d and if he feels it would impact the optics of attracting potential free agents in the future. pic.twitter.com/kufI3QPz4r
"No factor at all," Cherington said to Stumpf on cutting Tellez. "Zero factor in the decision. Aware of it, certainly. I’m aware of the contracts that all players have. No factor at all, zero. And,no, I’m not concerned. If you’re asking about optics going forward and how it affects business and things like that, no. Contracts are negotiated in good faith. Then they live out. We feel like we gave Rowdy lots of opportunity here this year. To his credit, he fought through some difficult times earlier in the year and fought his way out of it. Had periods of success and periods of frustration. This is just where we got to in the season. Had nothing to do with where the plate appearances were lining up."
DOMINIC CAMPBELL