Pittsburgh Pirates Acquire Lombardozzi, Caminero In Separate Deals
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced earlier Wednesday that it has acquired pitcher Arquimedes Caminero from the Miami Marlins in exchange for cash considerations.
This also couples with the acquisition of Steve Lombardozzi from the Baltimore Orioles, also in exchange for money.
Caminero, 27, is 0-1 with a 5.49 ERA in his major league career and was first promoted on August 16, 2013. The Dominican reliever posted a 2.77 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 2013 in 13 total innings of work. Caminero significantly regressed in 2014 allowing eight runs in 6.2 innings of work while also placing a 1.80 WHIP, 10.80 ERA and -0.5 WAR.
This regression went against his breakout 2013 minor league campaign which earned him his initial call-up with the Marlins. Between Double-A Jacksonville and Triple-A New Orleans, Caminero posted a 3.48 ERA in 43 games and 54.1 innings pitched while allowing 34 hits and 69 strikeouts. He also had a strikeouts-to-walk ratio of 3.29. In 2014 these numbers regressed. Caminero spent the majority of the 2014 season with New Orleans and posted a 4.86 ERA in 63 innings of work. He allowed 70 hits, struck out 79 and posted a strikeouts-to-walk ratio of 2.63.
Caminero will provide good depth in the minor leagues and is a high strikeout pitcher as evidenced by 11.4 and 11.3 strikeouts per nine average in 2013 and 2014 respectively. If he can find his control again, there may be a chance for a look in September so this could be a nice bargain down the line, but that would be extremely optimistic.
With Lombardozzi, he will at the very least get an invitation to Spring Training although it is doubtful he will get a spot on the 40 man roster. Lombardozzi is a career .266 hitter with five home runs and 52 RBI. He was a .288 hitter in the 20 games he spent as a second baseman however the majority of his 2014 work was in Triple-A Norfolk.
There, Lombardozzi hit .270 and played second base, third base, left field and shortstop. Lombardozzi was seen as a defensive liability by Baltimore and thus in December was out-righted off the 40-man roster.
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It should be noted that Lombardozzi is not the player to be named later in the trade that sent Travis Snider to the Orioles. This will be Lombardozzi’s third team in that he played with the Washington Nationals to start his major league career.
Lombardozzi is good depth once again and a good buy low candidate. Most fans will recognize his name as opposed to Caminero’s. If Lombardozzi has a good spring, perhaps his ability to play a variety of positions may make him an attractive bench candidate, however the Pirates may already have that with Josh Harrison. Regardless, there is little risk with this trade.
Both trades involve minimal to no risk on the Pirates’ end. Both of these players very well could see time at the major league level, although each would have to show major improvements to be able to do so. Still these are great depth options that will help strengthen the Pirates as a franchise without having to give anyone up to do so.