{"id":106529,"date":"2025-08-29T18:25:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T22:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=106529"},"modified":"2025-08-29T18:25:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T22:25:25","slug":"pirates-place-kiner-falefa-on-outright-waivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/08\/29\/pirates-place-kiner-falefa-on-outright-waivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Place Popular Infielder on Outright Waivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have placed infielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kineris01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isiah Kiner-Falefa<\/a> on outright waivers, making him available to all other major league teams. The diligent Noah Hiles of the <em>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/em> was the first with the news.<\/p>\n<h2>Pirates Place Kiner-Falefa on Outright Waivers<\/h2>\n<p>The versatile veteran infielder wasn\u2019t designated for assignment by the Pirates. Thus, he\u2019ll continue to play for Pittsburgh until claimed by another team. That team would be responsible for the remainder of his $7.5 million salary for the 2025 season. If he joins another team before September 1, he\u2019ll be eligible for postseason play. Kiner-Falefa is a free agent after this season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Sources: The Pirates have placed Isiah Kiner-Falefa on outright waivers.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_NoahHiles\/status\/1961469619006271561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What a difference a year makes. The Pirates <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/30\/pirates-acquire-blue-jays-utility-player\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">acquired<\/a> Kiner-Falefa from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for prospect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=mcadoo000cha&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charles McAdoo<\/a> at last year\u2019s trade deadline, as they sought to bolster what was then a contending team. However, the Pirates slumped badly for the rest of the season and carried over their disappointing play into this season. Now sitting in last place with no hope of reaching the postseason, Pittsburgh looks for a taker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIKF,\u201d as he\u2019s known to us writers who get tired of typing his full name, instantly became popular with Pirates fans, due to his hustling, fundamentally sound play, and relation to former Pirate great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kinerra01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ralph Kiner<\/a>. This season, Kiner-Falefa <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/16\/pirates-shortstop-position-unsettled\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">emerged<\/a> from spring training as the Pirates&#8217; starting shortstop. For a while, he led the team with the best batting average. He\u2019s tailed off lately, however, and carries a stat line of .268\/.304\/.337, 1 HR, 35 RBI, 80 OPS+, .283 wOBA, and 78 wRC+ as of Thursday. In recent days, he\u2019s played third base while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/triolja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared Triolo<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pegueli01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Liover Peguero<\/a> got time at shortstop.<\/p>\n<h3>Exit Another 2026 Free Agent<\/h3>\n<p>Kiner-Falefa, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/heanean01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andrew Heaney<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/phamth01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tommy Pham<\/a> were three Pirates on expiring contracts who weren\u2019t dealt at the trade deadline. At the time, general manager Ben Cherington stated that he didn\u2019t have to move them. They were kept, he explained, because the younger Pirates would benefit by having them around to answer questions. With Heaney having recently been <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/08\/26\/pirates-dfa-andrew-heaney-reactivate-oneil-cruz\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">designated for assignment<\/a> and now this move, it\u2019s clear that Cherington\u2019s explanation was a pile of, to borrow a Joe Biden word, malarkey. As for any questions the younger Pirates may have, there\u2019s always Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.<\/p>\n<p>Kiner-Falefa expressed interest in signing a new contract with the Pirates when his current deal expires. His placement on waivers doesn\u2019t preclude that, but it makes it seem less likely the Pirates would be interested. It&#8217;s also possible that, like Pham did last year with the St. Louis Cardinals, IKF requested this move so he could play in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>It now appears that Triolo will occupy third base and Peguero will get more reps at shortstop for the remainder of 2025. The door may also be open for infielders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=devann000cam&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Devanney<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yorkeni01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-29_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Yorke<\/a> to join the team from Triple-A Indianapolis.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have placed infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa on outright waivers, making him available to all other major league teams. The diligent Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was the first with the news. Pirates Place Kiner-Falefa on Outright Waivers The versatile veteran infielder wasn\u2019t designated for assignment by the Pirates. Thus, he\u2019ll continue to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":106544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071,35],"tags":[4903,3215,29065,29109,4809,28666,5453,1087],"class_list":["post-106529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","category-news","tag-andrew-heaney","tag-ben-cherington","tag-cam-devanney","tag-charles-mcadoo","tag-isiah-kiner-falefa","tag-nick-yorke","tag-ralph-kiner","tag-tommy-pham"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106529"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106546,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106529\/revisions\/106546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}