Pittsburgh Pirates Release Rowdy Tellez 4 PAs Shy of Collecting $200,000 Bonus

Rowdy Tellez No. 44 of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a double in the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sept. 20, 2024. Jason Mowry/Getty Images

The Pittsburgh Pirates were eliminated from 2024 MLB postseason contention last week, marking the ninth straight year they won’t partake in the Major League Baseball playoffs. With that, the team has already started looking toward 2025 by giving minor league players call-ups to the Big League team.

While this is normal for teams out of the playoff race, who the Pirates decided to release to make room for the call-ups is sure to be seen as controversial by many as the team designated veteran Rowdy Tellez for assignment, just four plate appearances shy of him reaching a $200,000 bonus.

Before Tuesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Pirates DFA’d both Tellez and veteran outfielder Michael Taylor in order to add shortstop Liover Peguero and outfielder Joshua Palacios from their Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis.

Tellez had signed with Pittsburgh in December 2023 on a one-year deal for $3.2 million that also called for a $200,000 bonus if he reached 425 plate appearances. Tellez woke up on Tuesday at 421 PAs but obviously won’t reach the mark over the final week of the season.

The 29-year-old first baseman had started Pittsburgh’s last game on Sunday and was slotted into the heart of the order in the No. 5 hole. He went zero for 4 in the game, but in his prior game on Friday, Tellez went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI. For the season, Tellez had a slash line of .243/.299/.392 with 13 home runs, which ranked fourth on the team, and 56 RBI, which was third on the Pirates.

The team’s general manager, Ben Cherington, talked about the transactions with just six games left in the season.

“Our focus has shifted toward making sure that we’re giving players who have the best chance to be a part of 2025 and beyond every opportunity to play and be on the roster,” Cherington said.

“We’ve started doing that over the past several weeks. [With the] Triple-A season ending on Sunday, this is the last opportunity to do that this week. I felt like Peggy and Josh deserved this opportunity. We see both of those guys as potential contributors next year, so we made the difficult decision to release Michael and Rowdy.”

For his career, Tellez is a .234 hitter with 105 home runs. He spent the previous 2 1/2 years with the Brewers, highlighted by his 2022 season when he had career-highs in home runs (35) and RBI (89).

Prior to joining Milwaukee, Tellez began his career with the Toronto Blue Jays and has been in the major leagues since 2018.

Tellez and Taylor were two of several veterans brought in by Cherington with hopes of ending that lengthy playoff drought, but just about all of those moves backfired as Pittsburgh entered play Tuesday 10 games under .500 and last in the National League Central.

Taylor hit a career-worst .193, while two-time All-Star catcher Yasmani Grandal, who was also added in the offseason, has a .679 OPS, which is nearly 100 points below his OPS of .773 that he entered the year with.

Pitching Additions Also Struggled

The pitching additions that Pittsburgh added have also struggled. Starter Martin Perez had a 5.20 ERA across 16 starts with the team before it ran out of patience with him and dealt him to the San Diego Padres at the trade deadline.

Perez, who was a 2022 MLB All-Star, then miraculously regained his All-Star form and has posted a 2.61 ERA across nine starts in San Diego.

Another veteran pitcher added in reliever, Aroldis Chapman, has the second-highest ERA (3.97) of his 15-year career and has five blown saves compared to just 11 saves.

Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins in Pittsburgh on Sept. 9, 2024. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

This isn’t the first time this season that the Pirates have been under fire for manipulating playing time or service time in order for financial relief.

Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft, infamously started this season in the minors, not being called up until 40 games into the season. That made it impossible for Skenes to accrue the 172 days of big-league service time required to qualify him for a full year in 2024.

Thus, the toll on Skenes’s rookie contract actually won’t kick in until the 2025 season, which means that the contract will also end a year later. Had Skenes been called up earlier, then he would have been eligible to hit free agency in 2029, but with the delay, the Pirates get an extra season with him, as he won’t be eligible for free agency until 2030.

However, Skenes’s stellar performance this season could activate a loophole that was collectively bargained by the MLB Players’ Association in 2022. Skenes could still earn a full year of service time in 2024 if he finishes in the top two in voting for National League Rookie of the Year.

Skenes, who became the first No. 1 overall pick to start in the MLB All-Star Game as a rookie, has exceeded expectations and has a sub-2.00 ERA as he’s the betting favorite to win Rookie of the Year and potentially foil Pittsburgh’s long-term plan for him.