Disgusting Behavior: Rowdy Tellez DFA’d four plate appearances shy of a $200K bonus from the Pirates

In a surprising move on Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates designated first baseman Rowdy Tellez for assignment, calling up infielder Liover Peguero to fill his spot on the roster.

Ben Verlander pointed out a notable aspect of this decision and there’s literally no way that it’s purely coincidental.

Rowdy Tellez was just shy of a $200,000 bonus that would have kicked in if he reached 425 plate appearances this season. By DFA’ing him just before Tuesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Tellez finishes the year with 421 plate appearances—one game away from that bonus threshold.

Rowdy Tellez DFA’d four plate appearances shy of a $200K bonus

Rowdy Tellez was due a 200k bonus at 425 plate appearances this year.

The Pirates just DFA’d him. He was at 421 plate appearances.

Did him dirty. pic.twitter.com/LqL53KBYOw

— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) September 24, 2024

With the Pirates long eliminated from playoff contention at 73-83, the final six games don’t offer much opportunity for Liover Peguero to gain meaningful development. It does however, save the Pirates organization $200,000.

Pittsburgh’s payroll is among the lowest in MLB, currently sitting at a modest $85.4 million, eliminating luxury-tax considerations from the equation.

Tellez, who had a standout 35-homer season with Milwaukee in 2022, had actually been performing decently for the Pirates this year, contributing 13 homers and 56 RBIs over 131 games. It’s not earth shattering numbers by any means but definitely enough to not pull the plug on him four plate appearances shy of an expected $200K bonus.

Not to mention, MLB agents should take notice of what the Pittsburgh Pirates just did to Rowdy Tellez. There’s absolutely zero shot I would let one of my guys sign with the Pirates after witnessing what they’ve done with Tellez. That’s simply bad business.

Derek Shelton is just left as the fall guy here. The organization does something like this and runs him out there to give a statement and he’s lying to the faces of everyone as to why it happened in saying that “younger players need to get up here” with six games left AND the fact that Palacios will be 30 next season.

It’s embarrassing at this point lol…Just Sell The Team

Derek Shelton just referred to Joshua Palacios as one of a couple younger players that they wanted to get up here. Palacios will be 30 next season. Rowdy Tellez is five months older than Palacios. Lol. #Pirates

— ForTheCity_412 (@JimStamm22) September 24, 2024

Holy hell. It’s not like the Pirates were calling up a highly regarded prospect. This is a cheap shot, bait-and-switch and downright nasty.

You can bet his agent and Tellez himself are fuming right now and honestly, the idea that they could potentially file a grievance against the Pirates for this move isn’t out of the question.

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