The Pirates and Michael A. Taylor are in agreement on a one-year, $4MM contract, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. The outfielder is a client of the ALIGND Sports Agency. The Bucs will need to make a corresponding move to open a spot on their 40-man roster but may be able to do so by moving Dauri Moreta to the 60-day injured list.
Taylor, 33 later this month, has long been a defensive standout in the big leagues. He debuted back in 2014, giving him a decade of experience to this point. In that time, he has racked up 72 Defensive Runs Saved, 55 Outs Above Average and a grade of 41.1 from Ultimate Zone Rating. Each of those numbers place him in the top 11 among outfielders in that span.
Though he’s now into his 30s, he has continued to put up positive numbers in those categories, with 5 DRS, 8 OAA and 2.8 UZR last year with the Twins. He’s played all three outfield positions but the vast majority of that playing time has come in center: 6,428 innings up the middle compared to 373 1/3 in left and 162 2/3 in right.
His hitting has been less straightforward, as he has generally provided a bit of home run power but with limited on-base ability and some concerning strikeout levels. He’s coming off a year in which he hit 21 homers, a personal best, but his 6.7% walk rate was subpar. His 33.5% strikeout rate was much higher than league average and a personal high, outside of his cup-of-coffee debut in 2014 and an injury-marred 2019.
That led to a lopsided batting line of .220/.278/.442, which translates to a wRC+ of 96. Though that indicates he was 4% below league average at the plate, he also stole 13 bases and provided the aforementioned quality defense. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 1.7 wins above replacement while Baseball Reference had him at 1.9.
It was reported earlier this month that Taylor was viewing himself as comparable to players like Kevin Kiermaier and Harrison Bader. That’s a fairly reasonable comp since those guys are also defensive stalwarts in center field with average-ish offense.
Unfortunately, this offseason has been harsh to the players left standing at this late stage of the offseason. Various clubs have spent to their preferred comfort levels, with many pointing to significant competitive balance tax bills or uncertainty around their TV revenues. As such, various players have recently settled for modest deals that were undoubtedly below their expectations coming into the winter.
Since the start of February, position players like Adam Duvall, Enrique Hernández, Gio Urshela, Tim Anderson, Amed Rosario, Randal Grichuk, Joey Gallo and others have signed for guarantees of $5MM or less. Kiermaier and Bader each got $10.5MM around the New Year but Taylor lingered on the open market and will have to settle for a deal well below that.
More to come.
