Weekly Notes: Key, Renegade, Bailey Gone; Bucs Have Yo-Yo Road Trip, Liover & Spencer Hot

Trade deadline week was pretty much weird…traded a starter, a rotation guy, part-time starter, the closer and two lefty relievers for a dugout full of Class A players…

Trade Stuff:

• 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes was sent to the Reds for LHP Taylor Rogers, SS Sammy Stafura and cash, with Cincinnati taking on his remaining contract (a team-friendly $32.25M deal through 2029 with a club option). Rogers, a 10-year vet, is a 34-year-old reliever with a 2-2/2.45 line over 40 outings for Cincy who was likely taken on as a rental player. Stafura, 20, was a second-round pick in the 2023 draft and considered the key return for Ke’Bryan – he was the Reds’ #9 prospect – with speed, a glove and developing on-base skills (.259 BA/.384 OBP in two years of A ball) but with little power and strikeout concerns. Hayes was a Golden Glove guy who was always at the top of 3B defensive metrics, but injuries and his batting blahs were major hurdles as a Bucco. It’ll be interesting to see who they stick at the hot corner now. On trade day, IKF took the hot corner and Peggy was at SS.

Ke’Bryan Hayes -2025 image MLB-dot-com

• The Pirates swapped LHP Caleb Ferguson (2-2/3.74) to the Seattle Mariners for 20-year-old RHP Jeter Martinez, who has struggled in A Ball this year but has an upper 90’s heater that so far has a mind of its own when he lets it go (5.5 BB/9 IP). He’s toolsy but very much a lottery ticket due to his control.  
• The Yankees snagged RH closer David Bednar (17 saves, 2.37 ERA) for minor league Cs Rafael Flores, 24, and Edgleen Perez, 18, along with 21-year-old CF Brian Sanchez. After an early season demotion, The Renegade returned with a vengeance. He hasn’t blown a save this year and put together a two-month, 23-outing stretch without allowing an earned run. Flores is the Yankees’ No. 8 prospect (MLB.com). Flores was recently promoted to AAA, batting .279 with 23 doubles, 16 homers and 60 RBI between the two levels; he’s still adjusting to AAA. He was the Yankees’ minor league player of the year last season and is considered just about big-league ready if he can keep his tweaked swing, but is not a very strong plate defender, with talk of his MLB home being at first base. The other pair are playing in Low-A.
• LHP Bailey Falter, who was 7-5/3.73 and was on an economical $2.2M deal with three years of arb ahead, was traded to the Kansas City Royals for lefty reliever Evan Sisk, 28, who after four years in AAA has appeared in five KC games, and Class A 1B prospect Callan Moss. For the closing act, the Bucs sent LHP Taylor Rogers to the Chicago Cubs for 22-year-old Hi-A OF Ivan Brethowr in an old-timey salary dump (the Pirates were on the hook for the final two months of his $12M contract). Surprisingly, they held on to the walk-year guys Tommy Pham, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andrew Hainey.
• To refill the roster, the Pirates recalled RHP Thomas Harrington, RHP Kyle Nicolas and IF Jared Triolo from Indy and LHP Ryan Borucki from the IL. Triolo wasn’t a lock and there was some fan/media support for the call-up of UT Ronny Simon (.300 for two AAA teams) or IF Cam Devanny (.316 at Indy since being traded here for Adam Frazier) to take Key’s spot on the big league roster, while RHPs Bubba Chandler & Johan Oviedo were possible next arms up, though Bubba has workload concerns and Johan is just finishing rehab. In a quick flip, RHP Dauri Moreta was recalled from Indy and Harrington was optioned back the day after Harrington’s beatdown at Colorado.

Pirates Stuff: 

• Cutch moved into fifth in the Bucco career RBI column, passing up Billy Maz with 855 runs chased home. Willie Stargell leads the Pirates pack, with Roberto Clemente, Pie Traynor and Paul Waner behind him.
• The Buccos scored nine first-frame runs v the D-backs on Friday. Last time the club tallied nine runs in the first inning was July 9, 2017, against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. It was also the Pirates’ first 10-hit inning since August 6, 1959, in the 9th against the Cardinals. 

Konnor Griffin – 2025 Bowmans First

• Rookie phenom CF/SS Konnor Griffin has 50 steals in 89 games. 
• When David Bednar pocketed his Monday save (he was still a Buc), he gave up an earned run, the first the Renegade had allowed over his past 23 outings.
• RHP Johan Oviedo’s rehab assignment has been bumped up from AA Altoona to AAA Indy as his IL journey nears the finish line.  He’s expected to get called up for the start tonight against the G-Men at PNC Park per the PPG;s Noah Hiles.
• RHP Chase Shugart (knee inflammation), out since July 9, began his rehab assignment with Lo-A Bradenton on Sunday.

• In what amounted as a slugfest for a Pirates game, the Buccos pulled out a 6-5 win Monday v the Giants at Oracle Park. Andrew McCutchen homered, as did Nick Gonzales, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa added a two-run, two-out double. The bullpen buckled down once again as Mitch Keller had an off day with Yohan Ramirez earning the dub and David Bednar picking up another save. As for the Cutch rocket (the game-winner btw), it made him the 11th MLB bomber to post a double-digit HR total in each of his first 17 seasons.
• The Bucs, usually as lame as a club could be on the road, took another one at Oracle Park, winning 3-1. Bailey Falter and the pen spun a two-hitter as Liover Peguero homered before the Pirates plated two runs in the eighth. Braxton Ashcroft got the win and Dennis Santana closed it out. Peggy had two RBIs and Tommy Pham added three hits.
• Man, that pitching…the Bucs swept the G-Men, 2-1, in 10 innings behind Mike Burrows and the pen with an early RBI double from Spencer Horwitz and the game-winner by Henry Davis, who chased in the lead run on a bouncer. Isaac Mattson earned the win the hard way when Jack Suwinski let a fly drop and a bunt put Giants on second and third with one away, but a pair of K cleaned it up. It was the Bucs first road sweep of the year.

Mike Burrows – 2025 image SportsNet Pgh.

• A day off and some housecleaning didn’t seem to faze the Bucs; they scored nine! first-inning runs v Colorado at Coors, keyed by an Oneil grannie and Cutch’s three-run shot. Still, they lost 17-16 when new closer Dennis Santana yielded five runs in the ninth after Andrew Heaney and Thomas Harrington gave up a 10-spot over the first five frames. It was the first time since 1890 that the club has scored 16 or more runs and lost.
• Peguero was a one man show, powering Pittsburgh to a 4-0 lead by hitting three homers and driving in five runs at Coors Field. Sadly, Paul Skenes was human today and the rest of the Bucs were AWOL as the Rox won game #2, 8-5, clinching the series as the Pirates look to salvage the set’s finale. Peggy became of three Buccos to hit three homers and drive in all the team’s run during a game, along with Willie Stargell (’71) and Roberto Clemente (’67), per Bucco SportsNet Pgh. announcer Joe Block.
• Well, they sprinted hard from the gate again by jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead, with Tommy Pham and Horwitz each banging a two-run long ball. Mitch Keller got the hook when the Rox cut the lead to 8-5 after six; it had been 8-1 (Spence added another homer) entering the frame. But today the early pad held up as the Pirates took home a 9-5 win.

MLB Stuff:

• Cub 2B Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, 65, passed away on Monday; he had been battling cancer. Ryno was a 10-time All-Star who won nine Gold Glove Awards, seven Silver Slugger trophies and the 1984 National League MVP Award.
• It was a quick comeback for LHP Rich Hill; he was DFA’ed by Kansas City after two starts with a line of 0-2/5.00.
• C Jake Stallings, 35, was DFA’ed by the Baltimore Orioles. He was hitting .114 in 14 games/36 plate appearances. 
• LF/3B/1B Miguel Andujar, who was with the Bucs from 2022-23, was picked up by the Reds from the A’s for a minor-league pitcher.