The Groundwork for the Pirates' Trade Deadline Was Laid in a Dreary Offseason
Replacing the Placeholders with Placeholders
As usual, major league baseball’s trade deadline dealing produced some headline-grabbing moves, as well as some that produced maybe a few notes at the end of articles. The Pirates’ deals fell strictly into the latter category.
It’s hard to criticize the trades on their own. Ben Cherington consistently got a fair return. The most notable was probably Jhonny Severino, a lottery ticket obtained for two months of a 37-year-old first baseman who’s a below average hitter for the position. Severino has some power and doesn’t swing and miss a lot, which is unusual for a guy who doesn’t take many pitches, so at least there may be something to work with. He and Estuar Suero were probably the best return the Pirates were going to get for what they had to offer.
The rest . . . well . . . . Jackson Wolf is very tall and he’s a lefty, so he’s a tall lefty. Alfonso Rivas looks like a placeholder for Carlos Santana, who was also a placeholder. And Rich Hill’s departure forced the Pirates to give up on the always-frustrating Rodolfo Castro to acquire Bailey Falter, a placeholder to replace the placeholder Hill.
And then there’s Austin Hedges, who brought back international pool space. So the Pirates signed Hedges for $5M and handed him their starting catcher job, he had exactly the sort of season they should have expected, and he brought back pool space. The obvious conclusion here is that Cherington placed a value on Hedges that was wildly at variance with the rest of MLB. And the rest of MLB had it right.
The whole exercise had more of a “clearing out” feel than one of moving forward. Not just that, but the feel of something that was pre-ordained when Cherington made his offseason moves. Nothing unexpected happened in the interim. Choi was hurt, which wasn’t too surprising because the Pirates knew he wasn’t healthy when they acquired him for a struggling class A reliever. Santana, Hedges and Hill all performed exactly the way anybody with any sense at all expected. What this trade deadline really means is an end to a poorly constructed team that was never a serious attempt to field a major league team, and a beginning with some players who might actually change things.
And the “veteran presence” meme that supposedly justified such a dreary offseason? The Pirates’ 2023 season was a case study showing how meaningless that sort of drivel is. They clearly have more talent than Cherington’s first three teams (how much more is a different question), yet over the past three months they’ve played even worse than those teams. The one veteran who worked out was Andrew McCutchen, for the simple reason that he can still play. And the credit for Cutch goes entirely to the owner, as Cherington wasn’t interested. It’s hard to think of anything else that better summarizes Cherington’s performace as GM: He got totally owned on a baseball decision by Bob Nutting.
I agree that I'm not upset at the returns, I'm upset that they're essentially signaling treading water. Still.
We know they aren't going to do anything splashy in the off-season, cause they never do. It's not their style. Maybe they'll seek "higher" paid FA's, but even those are likely to be gradual step ups. I'll say I'd be intrigued on a VV reunion, but otherwise, what are they really going to go after? Veteran "established" version of the already backlog of back-end starters they have? At least pitching wise (as I've stated), I have some confidence in the upcoming arms as opposed to the existing.
Where my biggest issues stand are with the bats. They brought back arms really of the nature that already existed, and the lotto bats are teenagers in complex leagues. They haven't really shown an ability to develop and get the most out of the 40/45 value types. Jack is their one example of hitters, and he's probably settling into a role player (a good one). Alika is showing some promise, so fingers crossed there. But I'm not really sure of the steps forward they've taken.
Does the lineup have more "wow" factor? Yes, but in 2024 it'll once again be contingent on most of the roster playing up to their ceilings and expectations. We see what has happened just with the Cruz injury. If they lose one or two of their more promising bats to injuries, or they slump, what's the backfill? The same players they've been using to trudge along the past few seasons.
I've been seeing articles discussing the deadline and how the Pirates "kept their core intact". They don't have a core to have kept intact, it's just a perceived one due to the state of the roster. Their core, should they succeed, is only just arriving. Get a new hitting coach/philosophy, and maybe they get the actually good Reynolds back, maybe Key FINALLY uptaps his power. Jack is fine for what he is, but I wouldn't exactly pencil him in as "core". Maybe he continues to develop into a part of it, but he's been a kid that will carry the offense for 3-4 games then disappear for next 2 weeks. We're still not sure if Cruz took the steps he needed to. Triolo is probably the best bench/platoon option they've had of the bunch, but that's bench/platoon. Peggy, Endy and Tank are the hitters I'm feeling most confident as of now. Alika to a lesser degree is intriguing me, if not the fact he's really good at what he's good at, which is mostly defense. While so far showing he's not a pushover with the bat.
A good team like the Rangers wanted Hedges, cause a good team can hide his inefficiencies within their lineup. On a roster like the Pirates, they're an airhorn cause it's subpar.
I want to be the O's or Rays who have prospects killing it in the upper levels, but can't crack the MLB roster, cause where are they gonna play? Instead I'm sitting here groveling about how probably by April of next season we're already going to see, "THEY NEED TO CALL UP TERMARR NOW!!!!!!", or insert various other prospects.
A 2-WAR first base platoon, 1.5-2 WAR 5th starter, and a catcher who was just acquired by the 3rd best team in the AL for their playoff push. That plus a resurgent Cutch, improved Vince Velasquez, and versatile bat in Connor Joe is a pretty darn good off season, relative to what I see across the league.
That mix would've been precisely what this club needed, IF the young core they were acquired to support didn't stink.
I'm no fan of Cherington's team building, but my focus in what's wrong falls elsewhere than this article's.