After being designated for assignment and then clearing waivers, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Vin Mazzaro has decided to accept his minor league assignment. He will eventually report to the Indianapolis Indians, but for now, he has been assigned to the Jamestown roster since he hasn’t pitched since the end of Spring Training.
Mazzaro had the option to become a free agent because he has more than three years of service time and this was the second time he was designated for assignment. He is likely the top option to fill in as a reliever if the bullpen should suffer any injuries, although as a short-term fill-in, someone else would likely take the role since he isn’t on the 40 man roster now. Mazzaro lost out on the last bullpen spot this Spring Training and the Pirates were unable to find any takers on the trade market.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
If a pitcher goes on the DL, then you can just add Vinnie.
I’m very happy to hear this! Gomez IS struggling, but its early in the year. I don’t believe we can send him down, so we will deal with it. Chances are, you’ll see Mazzaro before the end of May
The Pirates have an open spot on the 40 when they took Mazzaro off the 25. Can they now put him back on the 40. That would make him available in a pinch. Then if they bring him up to cover a player on the DL they don’t have to go through the waiver process again to send him back down.
They can always add him back whenever- since they have the open spot. There is no “process” delay for it. No reason to put someone on the 40 man until they need to be called up
No. He would have to be on the 25 man to be on the 40 man since he cleared waivers and is out of options.
950,000 reasons he accepted!
Or Wilk or Schliereth. They had better Springs than Mazzaro. Not that Mazzaro is bad.
Thank heavens – we made need Mazzaro to replace Gomez soon….Gomez has been awful thus far.
so has Cutch; replace him !
Cutch has just a tad better track record of success vs. Gomez – don’t you think??
Definitely ! Just saying that after 9 games; we shouldn’t talk about replacing players. And in meaningful stats, Wandy, Grilli, and J Wilson have been equally as bad.
No….they really haven’t. Are we watching the same games and looking at the same stat page?
…unless by meaningful stats you mean WHIP and walks. Which to me, aren’t meaningful to me unless they end in runs given up.