The Pirates signed Nick Evans to a minor league deal last night, according to the New York Daily News. Evans has played bits and pieces of the last four seasons with the Mets as a utility first baseman/corner outfielder with very little power. That doesn’t sound terribly exciting, but Evans does have a respectable .295/.360/.489 line against lefties, with six of his eight career homers coming off of southpaws despite having a few more PAs against righties (222 to 195).
All this really means is that Evans isn’t a terrible insurance policy in the event that the Pirates can’t go out and find an everyday first baseman this winter and that Matt Hague isn’t ready for the big leagues. Neither of those scenarios are a stretch, so even though Evans isn’t terribly exciting he’s probably a nice guy to at least have around in camp. If worse comes to worst, he’d make a nice platoon partner for Garrett Jones at first base and could potentially even spell Alex Presley occasionally against tough lefties in the outfield.
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