Pirates cut Elmore, Escobar among 39 minor-leaguers

The Pirates began making their expected roster cuts Tuesday, releasing 39 minor-league players from the organization, a source told DK Pittsburgh Sports.

General manager Ben Cherington and the Pirates had not made any roster cuts during the shutdown up to this point, but he said in a Zoom call last week that he expected to start doing so this week.

“I do expect we’ll make some releases,” Cherington said. “We’ve wanted to be as thoughtful as we can, especially with a new GM and trying to learn as much as I can about the player group that we have. We’ve had a good amount of dialogue over the last several days about that, It all comes back to the best information we have about looking forward to next year.”



Among the players cut are utilityman Jake Elmore, pitchers Luis Escobar, Pedro Vasquez and Sean Keselica, infielders Brett Pope and Mitchell Tolman and outfielder Juan Pie.

None of the players the Pirates released are considered to be highly-ranked prospects. It's not known if these will be all the cuts the club will make.

The Pirates were carrying over 300 minor-leaguers throughout the shutdown, an above average number.

These types of cuts have become common across baseball over the past few weeks, as teams have begun releasing players ahead of the expected roster crunch. 40 minor-league teams are expected to be cut next year, per Major League Baseball's request, meaning over 1,000 ball players will lose their spot within professional baseball.

The Pirates will lose one of its affiliates in the cuts: The advanced-rookie Bristol Pirates.

Pirates players who are cut will still receive their $400 weekly stipend and health benefits through the end of the month. The club extended those benefits to all minor-leaguers within the organization through at least the end of June.

This is the first time the club has made cuts this year, with spring training shutting down before the first roster trim.

“Our feeling, and I think the feeling of other teams, has been that if we truly cannot see opportunity next year for a minor league player, we are not necessarily helping them by extending the relationship, if it’s that clear,” Cherington said. “That’s where we are and I’d expect we’ll have some releases, probably this week, after we have a couple more conversations.”

Elmore made several stints with the Pirates in 2019 and had signed a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training to return to the club this offseason.

Escobar was once considered on the Pirates' top pitching prospects and briefly made the majors in 2019, but he was removed from the 40-man roster this offseaon. He was scheduled to be a minor-league free agent after this season.

Vasquez came to the organization as part of the 2016 Arquimedes Caminero trade. He was a 2019 AA All-Star, though there are doubts that his stuff would play up in the majors.

Tolman and Keselica both were drafted by the Pirates in 2015 and reached triple-A in 2019. Pope batted .252 with a .658 OPS for the Curve last year. Pie was one of the Pirates' top international signings in 2017.

Below is the full list of players cut:

RHP Andres Arrieta

INF Edgar Barrios

RHP Wily Basil

RHP CJ Dandeneau

RHP Saul De La Cruz

RHP Lizardy Dicent

RHP Matt Eardensohn

RHP Nicolas Economos

UTL Jake Elmore

RHP Luis Escobar

OF Jean Eusebio

1B Kaleb Foster

C Ryan Haug

OF Logan Hill

C Samuel Inoa

INF Sherman Johnson

RHP Orsen Josephina

LHP Sean Keselica

OF Juan Pie

INF Brett Pope

INF Eduar Ramirez

LHP Braham Rosario

RHP Yordi Rosario

RHP Daniel Ross

RHP Enrique Santana

INF Bladimir Susana

1B  Lucas Tancas

OF Charlie Tilson

INF Mitchell Tolman

OF Conner Uselton

RHP Pedro Vasquez