Pittsburgh Pirates Bring in Veteran INF For Chance to Compete For Big League Job
The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed veteran infielder Jake Lamb to a minor league deal. He'll get a chance to compete for a big league job in spring training.
Per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Source: Pirates and Jake Lamb in agreement on a non-roster deal. Has played 1B, 3B and OF. Career .753 OPS over 10 seasons.
In those 10 seasons, Lamb has played for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels.
Though he's bounced around quite a bit since 2020, Lamb had a very solid run with the Diamondbacks from 2014-early 2020. Lamb hit 29 homers in 2016 and then popped 30 in 2017, when he made the All-Star team. He also brought in 105 that season. Unfortunately, he's never been able to come close to replicating those years. His most home runs in any other season is just seven, which he did in 2021.
The Pirates have a lot of infielders on the 40-man roster so it will be stiff competition for Lamb to make the roster. Ji Hwan Bae, Tsung-Che Chenge, Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Liover Peguero, Rowdy Tellez, Jared Triolo and Alika Williams are all in front of him right now.
Pittsburgh finished fourth in the National League Central a season ago but appears hellbent on getting better this offseason. They've traded for veteran pitcher Marco Gonzales and signed veteran Martin Perez. They also added Tellez and brought back beloved veteran Andrew McCutchen on a one-year deal.
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