Pirates sign burly first baseman Rowdy Tellez
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed free agent first baseman Rowdy Tellez on Tuesday to a one-year contract, sources confirmed to TribLive.
The deal is for $3.2 million with incentives that could make it worth $4 million.
Tellez, 28, remains in the NL Central Division after spending the past two-plus seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.
The 6-foot-4, 270-pound left-handed hitter batted .215/.291/.376 with nine doubles, 13 home runs and 47 RBIs in 105 games last season.
A 30th-round draft pick by Toronto in 2013, Tellez spent three seasons with the Blue Jays before being traded to Milwaukee in July 2021, boosting the Brewers to the playoffs.
Tellez had a career year for the Brewers in 2022, when he hit 23 doubles, 35 homers and had 89 RBIs in 153 games, with a .306 on-base percentage. He set a Brewers record with eight RBIs in a game against the Cincinnati Reds.
After making $4.95 million in his second year of arbitration, Tellez was not tendered a contract by the Brewers and elected free agency on Nov. 17.
The Pirates have been in search for a first baseman since trading All-Star Josh Bell to the Washington Nationals on Christmas Eve 2020. They played the likes of Colin Moran, Yoshi Tsutsugo and Michael Chavis there before signing Carlos Santana to a one-year, $6.725 million deal.
The Pirates traded Santana to the Brewers last July, where he replaced Tellez at first base.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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