Saturday Thoughts: Trey Cabbage, Opening Day first baseman? Changes happening on International side?
Some thoughts from some of the events this past week in teh Pirates system
Nothing is technically official, but it looks like the ‘new’ International Scouting department made its first ‘splash’ under Max Kwan, who is taking over for Junior Vizcaino.
John Dreker reported that outfielder Limanol Payero Perez has flipped from favoring signing with the Mets to the Pirates on Friday.
The official beginning of the signing period is January 15, so we will officially know then, but getting a player who seems to be held in higher regard to flip this late in the game is a good sign.
The International Signing process is a different machine, as a lot of these deals are set years in advance, so while Kwan is taking over, we may not truly get a feel for what he’s doing for a few years.
But it’s good to see some waves being made already.
Watching some of the international free agents they have signed in the early parts of their pro careers, there are times when I feel less inclined to believe that it’s been an ‘identifying talent’ issue when it comes to the scouting and more on the development.
We will see how much that changes under Kwan, it’s just worth reminding that while he’s in charge when a lot of these signings are made official, most were set up way before.
Baseball America released a couple of articles using analytics to take a look at some of the better hitters and pitchers when it came to their Hit+ and Stuff+ metrics based on age.
To almost no one’s surprise, the Pirates had multiple pitchers on the Stuff+ metrics but still managed to have three hitters show up, despite that being their weak spot in the system currently.
I mentioned on the podcast earlier in the week that it seemed almost like a disconnect at times with how the front office views analytics.
Even throughout the season on BA’s Roboscout weekly feature, they’d have some hitters stand out, including Jhonny Severino while in the FCL.
So, they have several standouts on that end in the minors, but on the major league side, they went and traded for two players who had nearly zero data to back up as to why they were worth acquiring.
To even further the fact that just maybe they could be cooking a little more in the minors than we think—look at the numbers Charles McAdoo put up after the trade.
Were there red flags I was picking up watching him in Altoona before the trade? Absolutely. I got hammered by one person specifically on Twitter and Discord over pointing out some of the warning signs I picked up.
His .610 OPS and 30% strikeout rate in 143 plate appearances with New Hampshire spoke to what I was seeing.
Not saying we should take it easy on them, there are legitimate concerns about how the system is constructed right now but at times there seems to be more of a disconnect going on at certain points in the organization that is causing this.
You can bank on it almost on a yearly basis. The Pirates make a waiver claim/minor league signing and it’s thought of way more than it should be by some on the internet, leading to the ‘same ole Pirates’ remarks.
The Pirates claimed Trey Cabbage off waivers from the Astros earlier in the week, with Ben Cherington eventually mentioning that he will be ‘in the first base mix,’ which of course stirred things up.
While the Pirates certainly haven’t earned the benefit of the doubt, this is just a reminder that it’s November 9, and there have been little-to-none major league signings yet, regardless of the team.
Cabbage also has an option remaining, meaning he isn’t going to be in a position where they are ‘forced’ to keep him on the major league roster.
I don’t think there is any downside in carrying a guy that has a 30-30 season on his resume in Triple-A. Whoever is the new hitting coach can give a run at him, and if nothing sticks, send him to the minors, or just DFA him.
He’s had 147 plate appearances in the majors, and almost none of it has been good but some of these metrics are more than intriguing enough to give it a roll of the dice.
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As noted in the other thread, our "splash" may be more about the Mets reallocating resources and Perez being left to find someone who still had resources to spend. Kwan seems like a good choice based on his track record in Asia, but I don't think this one example tells us much, if anything, about his ability to find talent in Latin America.
Who were our guys ranked higher in the Hit+ category? Im sure I could wager a guess but im curious