The Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed right-handed pitcher Robert Stephenson off of waivers from the Colorado Rockies. To make room on the 40-man roster, Kevin Padlo has been designated for assignment.
The 29-year-old Stephenson has pitched parts of seven seasons in the majors, spending 2016-20 with the Cincinnati Reds and 2021-22 with the Rockies. This season he has a 6.04 ERA in 45 relief appearances, with a 4.67 FIP, 1.48 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 44.2 innings. Career he has a 4.97 ERA/4.91 FIP, a 1.44 WHIP and 311 strikeouts in 298.2 innings. He will still have a year of control before free agency after this season is over.
The 26-year-old Padlo got a brief stint with the Pirates last week when Ke’Bryan Hayes was injured. He played three games and went 0-for-11 at the plate. He has a 1.214 OPS in seven games with Indianapolis.
A move to get Stephenson on the 26-man roster will be made when he joins the team.
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.
What a joke. Bring some guys up from AAA. Mitchell is hitting .330.
Mitchell can’t pitch
They’ll waive him before long and try to keep him in the organization. Why does it matter? Everyone getting worked up over a meaningless waiver claim.
I am tired.
BC is just trolling us now….
After today maybe they’ll DFA Beede to put this guy on the 26 LOL.
By my count Stephenson will make the 63rd Pirate to appear in a game this year. The MLB all time record is 67.
If we break the record is someone going to give us a giant plastic WTF trophy?
Just smh…what else can be said anymore? As bad as Stephenson is he will likely be on the Pirates 25 man roster immediately. Is there not one pitcher in Indy or Altoona worthy of an audition? Is Stephenson better than Bolton or Thomas?
This organization is just laughable
There are only 37 games remaining and if we go 16-21 we can finish with less than 100 losses. That’s the only positive we have to look forward to. This crap will continue as long as they can continue to get away with it, And the Value of the franchise continues to increase every year. Amazing!
I have stated before – the Pirates “Win” percentages over the past 3 years of Cherrington and Shelton – .317, .377, and so far this year .376. Pitiful. Both deserve to be fired!
you want to finish in the bottom 4 so we have top chance of the #1 pick in new lottery. #1 pick means a good player and a Bubba chandler type extra pick.
I want them to lose 100 or more games….maybe if things get bad enough Nutting will sell and real change can occur…without new ownership, there will be no progress
This point I’m ignoring the score and not worried about how many runs guys like Bryce Wilson give up. I’m tracking certain players at bats and certain pitchers and their outings.
another earth shattering move by BC.
I wonder what the record is for most waiver claims in a season. The Pirates have to be awfully close if they don’t already have it.
Not much upside with this move given the lack of player control left. Got a half dozen pitchers in AAA that I would rather take a look at instead.
That’s the part I don’t get about this too. I’m slightly interested in this guy splits since he does pitch in Colorado but only slightly.
And Cherington asks, “Why choose?”
Sure sign BC realizes he’s not going to make it to the finish line with the pitching he has on hand.
And the hodgepodge just got more podge.
time for a new avatar.
I was one of the “irate fans” that showed up at the park in ’06 to protest McClatchy. I’m not quite to that point yet this time around.
And you didn’t even see him destroy your newspaper.
Are you selling those?