Pirates Release Franquelis Osoria

by Charlie Wilmoth on Oct 21, 2008 6:15 PM EDT

Goodbye, Franquelis. Opposing hitters will miss your sinker, your goggles, and all the homers you gave them. (Thanks to Sandlot Swashbucklers, who caught this first.)

Baseball America also reports that the Rockies have released second baseman Jayson Nix. I wouldn't mind taking a shot at him, given that the Pirates' infield situation is rather fluid and they'll probably want a backup infielder anyway. Nix flopped in a 22 game big league trial this year, but he was only 25, and he posted a .964 OPS at Class AAA Colorado Springs. Minor League Splits reports that his major-league equivalent OPS was .790. Of course there's a chance he doesn't hit at all, but I'd rather grab someone like Nix on a minor league contract and stick him on the big-league bench than sign someone like Chris Gomez, who really has no upside whatsoever.

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Comments

Needing some D

Curious on how Nix’s defense is/was, since our pitchers need all the help they can get!!

by long4willie on Oct 21, 2008 7:05 PM EDT reply actions

I was too, but there just wasn’t a lot of information on the internet about it. All the reviews I saw were good, but that may not mean anything.

by Charlie Wilmoth on Oct 21, 2008 7:29 PM EDT up reply actions

From what I've heard...

…it’s nothing special, but perfectly fine for 2B. I don’t think we could use him at short, so he’d have to be a 2B/3B kind of guy, with another pure SS backup on the bench.

Jayson is the brother of Laynce Nix, if you remember him. I guess their parents just liked the letter “Y”.

by Vlad on Oct 22, 2008 8:42 AM EDT up reply actions

I checked my BA last night...

…and they think his D is very good, FWIW.

by Vlad on Oct 23, 2008 9:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Looks like the only sinker here is Osoria’s career.

by WTM on Oct 21, 2008 10:51 PM EDT reply actions

Osoria

has a “career”?

by bucdaddy on Oct 22, 2008 9:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Osoria

I thought they had already released him..

by rissaldar on Oct 22, 2008 11:58 AM EDT reply actions

They took him off the 40-man...

…but he was still part of the AAA roster.

by Vlad on Oct 22, 2008 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Strictly speaking, they didn’t actually release him this time. He simply became a minor league free agent at the expiration of his contract.

There should be a list of all the minor league FAs at BA any day now.

by WTM on Oct 22, 2008 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions

BA's list is hella fun.

I always print out a paper copy and go through tagging all the guys I’d like to see us sign.

Basically, I’m a huge dork.

by Vlad on Oct 22, 2008 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions

And usually we signed everybody on the list except the guys you’d want.

At least we won’t have way the hell more guys becoming minor league FAs than anybody else this time.

by WTM on Oct 22, 2008 7:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I think we signed three guys I liked last year.

*Beam (who had decent stuff and good minor league #s)
*Webster (who was still fairly young, and regarded as at least a fringe prospect as late as ’06)
*Hector Carrasco (who had gotten killed by anomalies in his HR/F and strand rate in ’07, after being good in the previous two seasons)

Beam was decent for us. Webster was crappy at AA, and is probably done as more than roster filler. Carrasco voided his deal after he didn’t make the team in spring training, then pitched in the minors for the Cubs (MLE’d out to around a 1.46 WHIP and a 5.26 ERA)

So I guess I was 1-for-3.

by Vlad on Oct 23, 2008 9:06 AM EDT up reply actions