Catching up on some minor league transactions.
**The Pittsburgh Pirates have released right-handed pitcher Vince Payne. Payne was a 12th round pick in 2010, and spent parts of the last two years in West Virginia. He combined to put up a 7.86 ERA in 34.1 innings in those two years.
**The Pirates also released Matt McSwain. McSwain had been in the organization for seven years, spending the last two in Double-A. He had a 4.88 ERA in 55.1 innings this year, spending six starts in the rotation.
**Evan Chambers was demoted from Altoona to Bradenton. Junior Sosa was demoted from Bradenton to West Virginia.
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.
Glad he got picked up by Oakland. He deserved to be moved up in Pittsburgh organization, but they have no clue. Good luck McSwain. Loved being your teammate in NC in the MSBL Royals.
Poor McSwain. The dude has done everything the Org has ever asked even coming back after he got a call when he retired. Hopefully they give him a job as a scout or something.
Looks like Evan C isn’t long for our org, either.
That Altoona game I went to where Nate Baker pitched 6 shutout innings??? Well, Matt McSwain is on the cover of the program. Think it’ll be worth anything? Should I have gotten his autograph?
🙂 🙂