Pirates release RF Gregory Polanco, severing ties with team's longest-tenured player

As one of baseball’s top prospects, Gregory Polanco was trumpeted by Sports Illustrated as baseball’s Next Big Thing.

Polanco never lived up to that billing with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who severed ties with their longest-tenured player and the last holdover from their postseason teams Saturday by releasing the right fielder.

Polanco, 29, had a career .241 batting average with 96 home runs and 362 RBIs in eight seasons with the Pirates but was hitting .208 with 12 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs and 36 RBIs in 107 games this year. He led the team in stolen bases with 14 but had hovered around or below the Mendoza Line before going 6 for 11 in his last four games.

“Gregory has been a true professional throughout his entire Pirates career, including in our conversation with him regarding today’s roster move,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said in a statement. “He has been a great teammate who always handled himself with class and took a great deal of pride in representing the Pirates and the City of Pittsburgh. We wish him nothing but success moving forward.”

The Pirates placed Polanco on waivers Sunday, taking a flyer in hopes another team would pay the remaining $11.6 million of his salary in the final year of a five-year, $35 million deal signed in 2016. The contract had two club options, which will require the Pirates to pay buyouts of $3 million for 2022 and $1 million for 2023.

Polanco, however, cleared waivers Tuesday and was in the starting lineup Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, serving as a pinch hitter Tuesday and Friday, when he was called out on strikes in his final at-bat as a Pirate.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton said the team made the decision in an effort to get other players more innings and at-bats, as new MLB rules limit roster expansion from 26 players to 28 in September.

“It’s probably one of the most challenging things I’ve done in the two years of being a major-league manager,” Shelton said. “To Gregory’s credit, the way he handled it was so professional and so understanding. He understands what we’re doing as an organization, how we’re moving forward. I had a ton of respect for him (before and) I have even more respect for him now, for just the way he handled himself, because it was not an easy conversation.”

After being booed and hearing “D-F-A” chants at PNC Park after he made a costly error in a loss Wednesday night against Arizona, Polanco expressed his frustration with Pirates fans for their backlash against one of the most popular and friendly players on the team.

“It’s tough. It’s tough. It’s not nice. It’s not nice. They have to understand that I’m a human being, too,” Polanco said. “This is my work. This is my job. I don’t want to do bad. I eat because of baseball. That’s how I get paid, so I want to do great every time. That’s not nice to hear that, the fans like, ‘Oh, release him. DFA him. Send him back.’ But they don’t understand. They don’t know how hard it is. I’m doing 100% every day to get better. It’s been a hard year for me, obviously. This is my free-agent year. I want to do good. I want to keep playing baseball until I can’t. I don’t want to retire. I don’t want to be home. I want to be on a baseball field. This is what I love.

“They don’t understand, and that’s sad.”

Shelton was adamant that the timing of the decision had “nothing to do” with Polanco expressing his frustration with fans, adding he was “shocked he didn’t display that frustration a little bit earlier” and crediting Polanco for how he handled his struggles the past two seasons.

Shelton has complimented Polanco all season for being a “true professional” and for playing hard “every single day, regardless of what he did at the plate” and no matter how poorly he performed in the field.

“It’s one of the things that I respect the most about Gregory Polanco,” Shelton said. “Every day he had the big smile on his face. He was a wonderful teammate. The thing that really stands out is he was the longest-tenured Pirate, and I would be hard-pressed for you to say in the last two years since I’ve been here, that he didn’t run out every single ball or he didn’t play hard and he didn’t give everything he had, both in our clubhouse and on the field. I commend him for his effort and thank him for his effort in that regard.”

The timing for Polanco’s release, Shelton said, was to give more opportunities to other players in the outfield. Where Bryan Reynolds has solidified himself in center and played in his first All-Star Game this summer, the Pirates have had a revolving door in the other spots.

The Pirates started Yoshi Tsutsugo in right field Friday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, replacing him after several misplays by shifting Ben Gamel from center to right in the late innings. The Pirates also activated Anthony Alford from the injured list earlier this week. They also are expected to recall shortstop Cole Tucker, who has experience in the outfield, from Triple-A Indianapolis.

“We have to continue to get more out of our outfield,” Cherington said Friday on a video conference call. “We’re giving guys a chance to do that at the major league level, the same with Triple-A. I don’t think it’s as much about right field specifically as just trying to give guys opportunities in as many spots as possible, including the outfield.”