The Pittsburgh Pirates are close to a deal with catcher/first baseman Jose Morales, according to Ken Rosenthal. The deal would likely be of the minor league variety. Morales has 218 career at-bats in the majors, mostly with the Minnesota Twins. In that time he has a .289/.365/.344 line. In his career at AAA he has a .304/.367/.405 line in 1049 at-bats. Morales has thrown out 34% of base runners in the majors. He turns 29 in February. Assuming it would be a minor league deal, it doesn’t look like a bad move to add catching depth.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
I like the fact that the Pirates are trying to be active. No matter what moves they make, stay active and something good will come!
As long as this isn’t an ML deal, I will be happy with the move. After last season, it never hurts to have enough catchers I suppose.