Early Friday afternoon, the Pirates made a big splash, adding Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum, and Mason Montgomery. They added three major leaguers for just Mike Burrows. That move put the Pirates at 42 players on the 40-man roster, leaving them with the tough decision of cutting two. They decided to DFA two former top prospects in Tsung-Che Cheng and Marco Luciano.
Cheng made his debut with the Pirates last season, but went 0/7. In Triple-A, he struggled, batting just .207 with a .578 OPS. MLB Pipeline had him ranked as the 9th best prospect in the organization back in 2024, but he hadn’t lived up to that hype in Pittsburgh.
Luciano was recently claimed off waivers from the Giants. In 2024, he was the 39th ranked prospect in all of baseball, per MLB Pipeline. He has appeared in 41 major league games, accounting for a -0.6 fWAR with a 68 wRC+ and a .590 OPS. He has great power upside, belting 23 home runs in Triple-A last season, but that has yet to translate to the big leagues. His strikeout and contact rates have been poor, stunting his development.
There was still wiggle room with Cheng, as he had one minor league option remaining. Luciano on the other hand had none, so it was either make the big league roster or get DFA’d. There weren’t many other players deserving of getting DFA’d, making it a difficult decision.
If the Pirates plan to add more players this offseason, which they definitely should, they will once again face a tough decision of who to move on from. They may have to move on from other top prospects such as Billy Cook, Nick Yorke, or Endy Rodriguez. It’d be really disappointing to see them go with how little opportunities they have gotten in the big leagues.
Who knows, maybe the Pirates work out trades in other areas that can prevent that. Once Jared Jones gets placed back on the 60-day injured list, the Pirates will get a 40-man spot back, however, that won’t be until spring training.
With every good move, comes a sad one for some players. The Pirates were forced to move on from two former top prospects in Cheng and Luciano to make room following the blockbuster three team trade.
