Weekly Report: Moves Begin - Hires, Pick Ups & Cuts; Skenes Cy Finalist; Blanco Jr. Wins AFL HR-Derby & Minor Honors; Spring Sked; MLB News

The hot stove is officially lit…

Pirates Stuff:

• The Pirates placed OF Ji Hwan Bae, INF Liover Peguero and RHP Jack Little on waivers. The 26-year-old Bae has been up with the Bucs every year since 2022, batting .223 with a .294 OBP and 37 swiped sacks in 163 games. Same story for Peguro; he’s spent stints on the roster every year since ’22 and hit .227 in 96 games. Little was claimed from the Dodgers in August and then stashed at Indy. The Mets claimed Bae, the Tigers took Little and Peguero is now a free agent.
• A coupla days later, RHPs Michael Darrel-Hicks and Dugan Darnell were both DFA’ed. MDH worked two innings for the big club while Darnell was a recent waiver claim from Colorado. He’s injured (60-day IL, hip surgery with the Rox), so the Bucs are likely hoping he’ll clear the wire. They needed the space as RHP Jared Jones, C/1B Endy Rodriguez, OF Ronny Simon and IF Enmanuel Valdez were reinstated from the IL to the 40-man at least until camp. The club also added hard-throwing Indy RHP Ryan Harbin to the 40-man to keep him from FA. It’s now at 39 players, with the last spot presumably reserved for OF Esmerlyn Valdez (he and any other prospects they want to protect have to be added by 11/18), plus any other future moves BC may have up his sleeve. Minor league guys who became FAs this week were C Brett Sullivan, 3B Nick Solak, OF Nelson Velazquez, RHP Beau Burrows and RHP Ryder Ryan.
• The Pirates signed FA-LHP Joe La Sorsa to a one-year minor-league deal with an invite to camp per Jon Morosi of MLB Network. La Sorsa has pitched in parts of the last three MLB seasons with three different teams (the Rays, Nats & Reds), posting a 1-1/5.21 line in 46 outings.
• Paul Skenes was named a finalist for the National League Cy Young by the Baseball Writers Association of America for the second time. The other NL finalists were Philadelphia Phil’s Cristopher Sanchez and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The winner will be announced on November 12.
• Jim Callis of MLB.com selected the Top 40 rookies of 2025, and the only Pirates pup included was RHP Braxton Ashcraft at #40.
• Konnor Griffin won the Minor League Rawlings Gold Glove at shortstop. He played 89 games at the spot with a .980 fielding %, committing seven errors while handling 352 chances for three teams. 
• The Pirates No. 15 & No. 30 prospects, Esmerlyn Valdez & Tony Blanco Jr,. represented the Salt River Rafters in Saturday’s Arizona Fall League Home Run Derby. Valdez also earned a spot on the AFL-NL All Star squad after having repped the team in the Futures Game earlier in the summer. Blanco won the showcase, defeating Valdez in an impressive show for the youngsters.  The Fall Stars Game was Sunday, with Esmerlyn playing for the NL side and batting cleanup. He went one-for-three with a walk, but his nine lost the exhibit in the ninth by a 5-4 count.
• PiratesFest is scheduled for January 24 at the Convention Center. For tickets/info, click on PiratesFest
• Spring training is booked…

• The Atlanta Braves hired Walt Weiss as manager. Weiss, 61, was the Braves’ bench coach since 2018 and previously managed Colorado for four years (2013-16). Walt has a 14-year, four-team MLB resume at SS from 1987-2000.
• The San Diego Padres hired Craig Stammen as their new manager: The former reliever (he spent six years with the Friars) was serving as special assistant to GM AJ Preller, so no break-in period should be required. 
• Ex-Buc and currently suspended Guardians RHP Luis Ortiz has been arrested as part of an alleged betting scheme, twice “pitch rigging” for $12G total, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. Doesn’t sound like a very good ROI…