Dan Sanford

Sports Editor

das6267@psu.edu

Gregory Polanco, 29-year old longtime outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was released from the team on Saturday after a particularly tumultuous season.

Although he was once seen as a key to the club’s future, Polanco has not been performing to the standard that his contract demands of him for some time now. This season, he is batting .199/.278/.343 with 11 home runs, and his 26.7 percent strikeout rate is third-worst among National League right fielders. Given that Polanco is earning $11.6 million this season, the struggling Pirates decided to move on and focus on their younger players.

The club first attempted to trade him at the July 30 trade deadline, but no team was interested in Polanco at a price the Pirates were willing to accept. Their next move was attempting to waive him and give teams a chance to use him. When Polanco went unclaimed, the Pirates turned to their last resort and released him. Well out of contention and free of the albatross contract Polanco bound them to, the Pirates are now eyeing the next season and beyond. Polanco’s vacancy opens up more playing opportunities for Anthony Alford and Hoy Park.

Polanco’s departure may come as particularly poignant for some fans. He entered the season as the Pirates’ longest tenured player. Five years ago, he was joined with Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte as an elite trio of outfielders which enabled the Pirates to become playoff contenders; the Pirates have turned in perennially disappointing performances each season since then, and Polanco’s performance declined along with them. The past few seasons, Polanco became part of the reason the Pirates floundered.

Sadly, this may have stemmed from a shoulder injury sustained in 2018, where Polanco suffered a serious shoulder injury during an awkward slide. Pirates management rushed him back onto the field in 2019, but he played only 42 games and hit .242/.301/.425. Last season, Polanco batted .153/.214/.325. He did, however, lead the club in stolen bases with 14 at the time of his release, so his speed may still be of use to a team elsewhere in the Major Leagues.