Morning Rundown week in review: Rule 5 recap, Charles McAdoo feature, Marco Gonzales payroll
A look back at the previous week here on Bucs on Deck
It was a busy week for the Pittsburgh Pirates, with the Winter Meetings taking place. While they weren’t incredibly busy, they added a few names to the mix regarding the upcoming season.
Here’s some of the stuff that happened this past week.
The biggest thing to happen this past week was the Rule 5 draft. The major league portion was a bit of a snoozefest league-wide, and the Pirates didn’t make a pick.
It was a different story during the minor league phase, as they selected four new players and lost four.
They added one pitcher - Fineas Del Bonta-Smith - and three hitters - Marcos Cabrera, Seth Beer, and PJ Hilson.
Four players were selected away from the Pirates, most notably Dariel Lopez. Rafael Escalante, Omar Cruz, and Roelmy Garcia were also picked up by other teams.
The most notable transaction was the Pirates striking up a deal with the Atlanta Braves to acquire left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales.
There was a lot of moving around regarding the cash involved since Gonzales was traded from the Mariners to the Braves just a few days before the Pirates got him.
Ethan took a look at all of the payroll implications when it comes to the trade.
Once the Winter Meetings were over, a rumor emerged that the Pirates checked in on Cleveland Guardian first baseman Josh Naylor and ‘showed interest.’
Naylor is arbitration-eligible this off-season and has combined to hit 37 home runs and drive in 176 runs over the past two years.
The Guardians were one of the worst offensive teams in baseball last year, so they may not be in as big a rush to move Naylor, even with Kyle Manzardo in the minors right now.
Usually, not a lot is expected from a 13th-round pick, but there was some pedigree that came with Charles McAdoo. He was named to multiple preseason All-American lists before the 2023 college season started while at San Jose State.
After signing, McAdoo jumped straight into pro ball and got a good amount of playing time with the Bradenton Marauders.
His pull-heavy approach provided results, but is there more to his game than that?
Injuries are an unfortunate part of the game, and the Pirates were hit pretty hard last year when it comes to pitchers.
Some notable names, including Mike Burrows and Jun-Seok Shim, missed either all or most of the 2023 season due to various injuries.
Last night I began wondering how our payroll compares to what's typical in MLB as it feels like we've lost ground despite the promises that the money will be there. As a quick comparison, in 2013 our Opening Day payroll was about $80MM and the MLB median was about $90MM so we were at about 89% of the median (in 2012 we were at about 74%). This past year our payroll was about $61MM and the league median was about $157MM, so we had dropped to about 39% of the typical spending. The numbers I used came from https://www.stevetheump.com/Payrolls.htm and the figures will vary slightly based on source, but the bottom line is that we've lost ground.
If a Nutting apologist wants to go back to 2011 (Huntington's 4th year as 2023 was Cherington's), we were at 53% of the league median, so even then we've lost ground. To get to the 53% figure last year, we would have needed to spend an additional $22MM--think about what that might have bought on the FA market.
Nutting doesn't seem willing or able to keep up with the pace of payroll growth.
Not sure the best place to put this, but have to recognize the death of Vic Davalillo. He got a ring with the 1971 Pirates and was an outstanding fourth outfielder and pinch hitter from 71-73. Those were the days when you loved having a doubleheader because the Bucs had so much depth that their Game 2 lineup was as strong as most teams’ regulars. No power, but could hit line drives all over the yard.
RIP, Vic.