Pirates claim pitcher off of waivers

In their continuing search for pitching help, the Pirates have turned over another stone.

The team announced Monday it claimed righthander Carson Fulmer off of waivers from the Detroit Tigers. To make room for Fulmer on the 40-man roster, outfielder Guillermo Heredia was designated for assignment.

The Chicago White Sox originally drafted Fulmer with the eighth overall pick in 2015, but after a promising beginning to his career in a handful of starts in 2017, Fulmer sputtered.

Over the next two seasons with the White Sox, he bounced between Class AAA Charlotte and Chicago, holding an ERA between 4.76 and 8.07 as both a starter and reliever at his different stops throughout those years. As a result, Fulmer was designated for assignment after failing to make Chicago’s opening day roster this season, after which he was claimed by the Detroit Tigers.

Fulmer, now fully transitioned to a bullpen role, struggled in limited action with Detroit this season, allowing five earned runs over 6.2 innings of work for a 6.75 ERA. Those results were not good enough to protect him from being designated for assignment again late last week, when the Tigers re-activated pitcher Buck Farmer from the injured list.

As for Heredia, the 29year-old was brought in this offseason to add to the Pirates’ outfield depth, and when right fielder Gregory Polanco tested positive for COVID-19 at the start of the season, Heredia found himself in a fairly regular role for a time. After appearing in eight games, though, with just a .188 batting average, Heredia was optioned to the alternate training site in Altoona when MLB rosters shrank from 30 players to 28 on Aug. 5.

With this move, the hope is that Fulmer’s original potential that made him a top-10 pick in the first place, can be rediscovered. Back then, Fulmer was the college national pitcher of the year at Vanderbilt with a 1.83 ERA.

Mets

New York will resume play Tuesday after no additional members tested positive for COVID-19 since the team learned of two infections that caused four games to be postponed in the past week. The league said that all the Mets’ subsequent tests, including those Sunday, were negative and the team was returning to activities at Citi Field.

Royals

Kansas City and Sinclair Broadcast Group signed a multiyear agreement beginning with the current season to televise games on Fox Sports Kansas City. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Astros

Houston’s game against the Los Angeles Angels Thursday was moved to Tuesday as part of a doubleheader because of Tropical Storm Laura.

Indians

Manager Terry Francona will miss the club’s three-game series against Minnesota this week while he continues to deal with health issues.