Travis Snider tendered contract by Pittsburgh Pirates; Chris Stewart signs with team

Sep 3, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder

(right) hits a solo home run in the 9th inning as Milwaukee Brewers catcher

watches at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced early Tuesday morning that they had tendered all players eligible for a new contract through arbitration, including outfielder Travis Snider.

Snider, who will be 26 in February, has played 161 games for the Pirates since being acquired from the Blue Jays in a July 2012 trade. He was limited by a lingering foot injury in 2013, posting a .215/.283/.333 triple-slash line in 111 appearances. That level of production was about 25 percent below the average National League corner outfielder, according to Baseball-Reference.com’s OPS+ metric.

A first-round draft choice of Toronto in 2006, Snider doesn’t provide much defensive value, so his contributions are limited to what he can do with his bat. Although he’s long been hyped for his power potential, he has but 37 homers, 73 doubles and four triples in more than 1,200 MLB plate appearances, giving him a middling slugging percentage of .398.

Snider was part of a group of seven Pirates who were offered contracts prior to MLB’s midnight deadline, thus beginning the salary arbitration process. Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, Gaby Sanchez, Mark Melancon, Charlie Morton and Vin Mazzaro were the others, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Bill Brink.

Garrett Jones, Michael McKenry and Kyle McPherson weren’t tendered, although they had all been recently designated for assignment. Really, Snider was the only player whose future in Pittsburgh seemed uncertain prior to this week. He’ll get at least one more chance to prove himself with the Bucs.

Finally, catcher Chris Stewart, acquired Monday in a trade with the Yankees, was signed to a one-year contract. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed by either party.