Pirates traded prospects for immediate help in 2023
After moving some prospects for major league help, how did each trade work out for the Pirates
Not every prospect is going to make a direct impact to their major league ball club, especially if you have spent time trying to stockpile them in your system.
One way to address that is to trade a prospect for immediate help on the major league team, something the Pirates did a couple of times heading into the season.
Heading into the season, General Manager Ben Cherington made three notable trades of prospects that landed them immediate help to the major league roster.
Player acquired: Connor Joe
Prospect traded: Nick Garcia
Garcia was a part of Cherington’s first draft class, taken in the third round out of Division III Chapman, where he helped them win the College World Series for that level.
A converted reliever, Garcia was supposed to make the jump to the rotation in 2020 before COVID wiped out the college season.
He’s moved level by level, pitching in Single-A in 2021 before throwing 113 innings with Greensboro last year, posting an impressive 3.66 ERA despite playing in the hitter friendly ballpark.
Heading to Colorado, Garcia spent all of 2023 in Double-A Hartford, even pitching against Altoona on May 25, allowing five earned runs on four hits and four walks across four innings pitched.
His strikeouts has also dropped in each of his full three seasons, and he posted a 7.35 ERA in 94.1 innings in 2023.
On the flip side, Connor Joe became one of the Pirates’ more consistent hitters, posting a 107 wRC+ and 1.9 WAR while picking up 31 doubles on the season (as well as 11 home runs).
Player acquired: Mark Mathias
Prospect traded: Ricky DeVito
DeVito was a deeper sleeper prospect of mine going into 2023, potentially as a starter after starting to get stretched out more towards the end of the previous season.
With a mid-90s fastball and a plus splitter, there seemed to be some potential there, but he actually took a step back when it comes to his control, already a major point of concern.
He spent the majority of the season in High-A, before finishing the year up with four games in Double-A.
All total, DeVito walked (31) nearly as many as he struck out (32) in 32.1 innings pitched.
Mathias was acquired during spring training to help boost a middle infield competition where it didn’t seem like anyone was standing out at the moment.
He ended up playing 22 games with the Pirates, slashing .231/.355/.269 before being Designated for Assignment and later getting claimed by the Seattle Mariners. He spent a month in the Mariners system before being a part of a trade that sent him to the Giants.
Player acquired: Ji-Man Choi
Prospect traded: Jack Hartman
Also a member of Cherington’s initial draft class, Hartman didn’t pitch at all in 2021, before appearing in 22 games with Bradenton during the 2022 season.
He had an upper-90s fastball that led to some good strikeout numbers, but ultimately struggled to throw strikes.
Facing a major league roster crunch, the Rays shipped Choi to the Pirates for the reliever prospect, who spent the 2023 season in Single-A again, seeing his strikeout and walk numbers improve while posting a 3.38 ERA in 53.1 innings pitched.
At 25-years-old coming off two straight years in Single-A, he’s not much of a prospect anymore, but then again, with the Rays you can never know.
Choi hit for some power while with the Pirates, with 10 of his 15 hits (in 76 plate appearances) going for extra-bases. The big impact Choi made was flipping him (along with Rich Hill) for Alfonso Rivas, Jackson Wolf, and Estuar Suero.
Final analysis
Overall, for three prospects that don’t seem to be trending in a direction to make a major league roster, this has to be looked at a win for the Pirates.
Collectively (adding in Rivas as well), the Pirates got a combined 1.4 WAR (on FanGraphs) from the players they added through these trades this season.
That’s not factoring in Joe still having years of control, and whatever Rivas, Wolf and Suero eventually produce.
This is why when you go to stockpile prospects during a rebuild, the focus should always be on acquiring as much talent as possible, regardless of position.
When it’s clear you have a surplus at one position, you move prospects from there to add to an area of need.
The Pirates' abbreviated 2020 draft is interesting. They signed six players, of which three are already gone: Garcia, Hartman and Logan Hofmann, who was released. Of the other three, Nick G and Mlod are on the 40-man, and the other one is Jared Jones.
Garcia brought back Joe, who put up easily more fWAR than any of the veterans they signed, even Cutch. (Of course, Joe's production was almost entirely in that first month, but otoh it's not his fault he was misused by being played semi-regularly against RHPs. He's a lefty masher, not an everyday player.) Hartman, through the Choi/Hill deal, effectively brought back one half of a 6'7" LHP prospect whom scouts seem to like more than his performance supports, and a low-level lottery ticket. (AAA players like Rivas are available all the time for nothing, so no credit on that end.) Wolf and Suero may never go anywhere, but I'd certainly trade Hartman for just one of them.
Imo these are all very shrewd moves by GMBC while losing pieces that were going to do nothing for the organization, in all likelihood, for a few guys that generally boosted the floor of our talent floor for these year. I think hitting on moves like these is what some teams do so well to have a 40 man that is flush with mlb caliber players instead of just 26 (or the 10-15 we have seen from our org the last few years