An MLB insider has absolutely shredded Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting after the organization designated a player for assignment before he had a chance to earn a $200,000 bonus.
First baseman Rowdy Tellez was cut Tuesday, just four plate appearances shy of the big bonus. He needed 425 plate appearances to receive the money and was let go when he was at 421.
Rowdy Tellez was due a 200k bonus at 425 plate appearances this year.
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) September 24, 2024
The Pirates just DFA’d him. He was at 421 plate appearances.
Did him dirty. pic.twitter.com/LqL53KBYOw
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington told reporters that the bonus had “zero factor” into the decision to DFA Tellez with only a handful of games left in the season.
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“We feel like we gave Rowdy lots of opportunity here this year,” Cherington said, via ESPN. “To his credit, he fought through some difficult times earlier in the year and fought his way out of it. Had periods of success and periods of frustration. This is just where we got to in the season.”
Tellez signed a one-year, $3.2 million contract with the Pirates in the offseason. Over 131 games with the Pirates, Tellez had 13 home runs, 56 runs batted in, .243 average, .691 OPS and a -0.4 WAR (wins above replacement).
During his Wednesday appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN’s Senior MLB Insider Jeff Passan took a blowtorch to Pirates’ ownership.
"The Rowdy Tellez situation happens when ownership doesn't treat things seriously..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 25, 2024
Why do the Pittsburgh Pirates have an $86M payroll to start the season" ~ @JeffPassan #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/sTk3JJk2z0
“I think the important point here is not to focus on how the Pirates screwed Tellez out of $200,000, it’s to look at the Pirates and to look at [owner] Bob Nutting and to ask, ‘Why is Tellez your first baseman in the first place? Why aren’t you going out and getting better players? Why don’t you sign Christian Walker, or Pete Alonso, or someone this winter to go and be a part of the core that lineup long term? Why are you always playing for short-term with little money? Why do you have an $86 million payroll to open the season, when the rest of the sport at the top has $300 million-plus? How do you continue to exist as a Major League Baseball owner, who theoretically wants to win a championship, and do so pinching pennies?’ This is what happens.”
Passan added that Nutting and the rest of the ownership group “does not treat things seriously.”
“I feel bad for Ben Cherington and for everybody else who is trying to run this organization and win when there’s simply not the money there to go out there and do it,” noted Passan. “And it puts you in a position to make moves like this, where frankly, Rowdy Tellez should’ve been gone from this lineup months ago, but the Pirates didn’t want to go out and spend any money.”
According to The Athletic, Nutting is worth $1.1 billion.
The Pirates did make moves at the trade deadline to try to bolster their team for a playoff push, but the season quickly faded after they went on a 10-game losing streak in early August. It’s the ninth-consecutive season the last-place Pirates will miss the playoffs.