Pittsburgh Pirates Bench Another Player Ahead of Hit Bonus

Death, taxes and the Pittsburgh Pirates benching players for four innings shy of the performance bonus.

But this time under very different circumstances.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa will not be on the roster for the final game of the regular season against the New York Yankees. Ethan Hullihen reports that the Pirates’ utility infielder is four plate away from earning a $250,000 bonus; This came on the heels of former first baseman Rowdy Tellez being named to the assignment while he was four strikes away from a $200,000 bonus.

Later in the day, Alex Stumpf He reported that Kiner-Falefa’s benching was at his discretion, as he chose to remain out of the squad in favor of a young player being included in the starting lineup. Liover Peguero will start at centre-back on Sunday.

Kiner-Falefa started the season with the Toronto Blue Jays and played 83 games with them before being traded to the Pirates at the trade deadline. For Toronto, Kiner-Falefa batted .290, hit seven home runs and had 33 RBIs in 281 plate appearances. The utility infielder struggled greatly upon his arrival in Pittsburgh, batting .240 with one home run and 10 RBI in 215 plate appearances.

Regardless of how the Pirates and Kiner-Falefa figured out he wouldn’t play Sunday, the optics still aren’t the best. When a player is just one game away from earning a bonus, one would think the team would let him play.

Even if it’s at Kiner-Falefa’s credit, this is still an example of the Pirates finding a way to save money when a player is just one game away from winning something he’s been playing for all season.

The Pirates (76-85) will finish the regular season by facing the Yankees (93-68) on Sunday at 15:05 ET.

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