Pirates DFA Rowdy Tellez Four Plate Appearances Short of $200,000 Bonus, Raising Eyebrows

The Pittsburgh Pirates' latest roster move is questionable at best and disrespectful at worst, and it will surely come back to haunt them.

Are general manager Ben Cherington the Pittsburgh Pirates front office cheap, tone deaf, or downright boneheaded?

Given their botched handling of Rowdy Tellez, the answer is, in all likelihood, a combination of all of the above.

The club designated the first baseman for assignment Tuesday when he was just four plate appearances short of earning a $200,000 bonus, raising eyebrows and inciting outrage around the league.

Considering the organization's penny-pinching reputation, the timing of the move hardly seems like a coincidence. Did they really think no one would notice?

Rowdy Tellez had 421 plate appearances this season. He needed four more to cash a $200K incentive.The Pirates DFA'd him today. pic.twitter.com/3ragVXtZuv

It would be one thing if the Pirates had DFA'd Tellez and Michael A. Taylor in order to call up some young prospects and get them some Major League at-bats with the team out of playoff contention. But they called up Liover Peguero and Joshua Palacios, both of whom have Major League experience, and the latter of whom is just four months younger than Tellez.

Of course, Cherington vehemently denied the notion that Tellez's impending bonus had any bearing on the team's decision to DFA him. But what else is he going to say? That this notoriously and perennially cheap baseball club did the most depressingly on-brand thing ever just to save a few bucks?

If there was even the slightest glimmer of hope that the Pirates would make any sort of a splash in free agency this offseason, Cherington has singlehandedly squashed it. Any worthwhile free agents are already likely to balk at an organization that is historically unwilling to spend money, but this latest show of disrespect from the front office toward a well-liked player is sure to hurt the club's reputation even further and ensure that nothing will be done to improve the roster this winter.

Unsurprisingly, Cherington sees it differently.

"These things are unfortunately a difficult part of the business," Cherington told reporters Tuesday. "You have to have these conversations about releasing players. I've never experienced that affecting anything going forward. Had good conversations with Rowdy and Michael, specifically in terms of that. We'll have time to get into the offseason and get into offseason planning. But I don't anticipate any issue from it."

Well, that decides it. The Pirates' front office is indeed cheap, tone deaf and boneheaded.