Offseason Moves That Would Make Pirates Fans Jolly Rogers
Other than the spectacular beauty of Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, Pirates fans haven’t had very many reasons to watch a game since Andrew McCutchen’s prime years. With the state of the franchise today, it’s easy to forget that the Pirates have one of the most storied histories of any franchise and deserve better than their lot. It is always a great story when a small-market team shocks the baseball world by winning it all – the Royals were the last team to do it in 2015, all while featuring a modest payroll with home-grown stars. If the Pirates are to reach that level of competitiveness under cheapskate owner Bob Nutting, they’ll need to rely on similar luck with drafting well and getting lots of surplus value out of players that don’t sport nine-figure paychecks.
Ben Cherington has helmed the GM’s chair since the 2019-20 offseason, and by all accounts he seems to have been steering the pirate ship in the right direction without many resources to work with. Realistically, it’s still going to be three-to-five years before they’re able to make an honest playoff run – maybe two-to-three if the playoff field is expanded in the new CBA. That doesn’t mean the Pirates can’t take steps to field a more watchable product as soon as this year and begin instilling a winning clubhouse culture, though. What are some possible moves – short of a Carlos Correa signing – that would help them raise the Jolly Roger a few more times this year?
Studying their projected 26-man roster, it’s pretty evident that there are multiple ways in which they could approach upgrading the big-league team. Their corner outfield situation is pretty bleak, with Ben Gamel and Anthony Alford slotted in as the presumptive starters, and second base could use a true Adam Frazier replacement that relegates Cole Tucker to a bench role. Luckily, there are quite a few options available in those spots that won’t cost all of Nutting’s lunch money.
Starting in the outfield, you have to assume that Nick Castellanos and Michael Conforto are going to be priced outside of Pittsburgh’s comfort zone. One option who *may* be available and is just as interesting as those two is Japanese slugger Seiya Suzuki. Suzuki will have a robust market when he chooses to ply his trade across the pond, but with all the uncertainty around the lockout it’s possible he may return to the NPB on a one-year deal and try again next offseason. Even if he does join an MLB club in the next couple of months, there would be several teams bidding that are probably more attractive destinations for him, such as the Rangers, Red Sox and Giants. Still, if Suzuki does only cost between $50-60 million on a five-year deal, that could be great potential surplus value on a 27-year-old star such as him. He has won three straight Gold Glove awards in the NPB as a right fielder, and he has enough experience at the hot corner to be an option there on occasion as well. On top of his strong arm and solid glove, he swings a mighty good stick at the plate. His .317/.433/.639 line with 38 homers from last year seems like it should translate to a solid regular in MLB if not more.
While that line was arguably the best of his career, he’s hardly been a one-hit wonder, since he’s hit at least 25 homers every year since 2016 and has a career .315 average in the NPB. Squarely in the middle of his physical prime at age 27, Suzuki could be a marketable franchise player that helps anchor the lineup and drum up fan interest. Japanese countryman Yoshi Tsutsugo is already on hand too, should his presence help attract Suzuki to the team, and the duo together could create a lot of marketing opportunities in Japan. It’s probably doubtful the Pirates would make that kind of financial commitment at this stage, but it’s not hard to see the benefits if they do choose to go this route.
Another feasible target to improve their corner outfield production would be – who else – a return of fan favorite Andrew McCutchen. He’s not the All-Star he used to be, and his once plus center field defense has evolved into below-average work as a left fielder. However, he still has a good eye at the plate and slugs a lot of bombs. He hit 27 homers as a Phillie last year, which would be a godsend for a Pirate team that sorely lacks power outside of Bryan Reynolds and maybe Tsutsugo. His 107 wRC+ from last year was buoyed by that power output and a strong 14.1% walk rate in spite of a poor .222 average. His advanced age and only slightly above-average plate contributions will keep his price low enough to where the Pirates should be able to sweep in and get him. A homecoming to Pittsburgh might make it a more attractive destination for McCutchen than to other veterans who would want a clearer shot at competing, not to mention that the Pirates could offer Cutch more playing time than pretty much any playoff-contending team could. McCutchen would also mean more to the Pirate fanbase than any other, so dollar-for-dollar there may not be a better fit out there between player and team.
McCutchen seems like their perfect target to me and would be a fantastic veteran leader for their young clubhouse. If they feel like spending more (probably not), Kyle Schwarber could occupy a similar role where he’d rotate between left field and the presumptive DH slot. Schwarber is coming off an excellent year where he slashed .266/.374/.554 (145 wRC+) with 32 homers between the Nationals and Red Sox. That and his 3.1 WAR would seem to price himself out of Pittsburgh’s scope of spending, but his defensive warts are well-chronicled, including a botched transition to first base in his stint with Boston. All Pittsburgh would care about is his bat, though, and he’d slot in the cleanup spot behind Reynolds very nicely. With all the free agents that will be scrambling for spots after the transaction freeze ends, it’s possible Schwarber may have to settle for a disappointing deal, but it would probably have to be quite a bargain to get Pittsburgh to pursue him seriously. Also, Pittsburgh probably isn’t too high on Schwarber’s list of destinations, but it’s at least not too far from his Ohio birthplace.
Once done pursuing those three outfielders, Cherington might want to turn his attention to the keystone. Frazier did a good job there before being flipped to the Padres at last summer’s deadline, but Tucker (60 wRC+ and -0.7 WAR in 136 career games) is the new presumptive starter according to Fangraphs. That shouldn’t be plan A for any Major League club, regardless of their level of competitiveness. Luckily, there are a host of other bargain-bin second basemen available who would jump at the chance for an everyday job.
One such character is diminutive former Giant Donovan Solano. Donnie Barrels has been quietly excellent at the plate over his last three seasons in the Bay Area, sporting a .308/.354/.435 (114 wRC+) line over that period. His ability to make solid contact and avoid strikeouts negates a lot of concerns over his reluctance to draw walks. He’s below-average with the glove, but that’s part of why he’s hanging on the clearance rack, and he’d do just fine for Pittsburgh’s purposes. Solano is a great candidate to join a losing team and be flipped to a contender at the deadline, which Cherington would certainly be OK with. Old friend Josh Harrison (103 wRC+ in ’21), Jonathan Villar (105 wRC+) and Jed Lowrie (100 wRC+) are a few other serviceable targets that could form a double-play tandem with Oneil Cruz this summer.
Once some Elmer’s glue is applied to their crumbling lineup situation, the pitching staff could use a ton of help in a perfect world but realistically could stand to use one or two reinforcements to help get them through the grind of a full season. The staff struggled greatly with run prevention last season and there isn’t likely to be much organic improvement in the short-term. Rotation additions that would push some of their fringe arms into bullpen work seem like the best play here. At the time of writing, their *ace* on the depth chart is penciled in as José Quintana, with JT Brubaker, Zach Thompson, Dillon Peters and Bryse Wilson filling out the rest of the rotation. An addition seems inevitable, but two would be more prudent if they want to keep from having the worst rotation in the league. The cost of pitching has been enormous of late, and there’s not really anybody left on the market who is the right balance of difference-making and affordable.
There still are a few arms available worthy of their consideration, though. Going off the trend of connecting them with their former employees, bringing back Tyler Anderson would make a good deal of sense. Anderson began last season with the Pirates before being traded to Seattle midseason, and he was pretty effective in the black and gold before the trade (4.35 ERA, 4.27 FIP) despite middling strikeout numbers (7.49 K/9). Johnny Cueto would be a decent, cheap veteran to pursue who is plenty familiar with the NL Central from his heyday with the Reds. Yusei Kikuchi is often overlooked thanks to his propensity to give up gopher balls, but he throws hard and was a decent innings-eater for Seattle last year (157 IP, 1.1 WAR). To cherry-pick a few positive stats from last year, his 9.34 K/9 and 3.85 xFIP from last year would make him Pittsburgh’s de facto ace if you could cut and paste those numbers to this year. If Kikuchi was signed alongside Suzuki, and with Tsutsugo’s presence as well, the Pirates could cut out quite a following for themselves in Japan. With Nutting’s revenue problems, that kind of audience influx would be very welcome when it comes to potentially raising payroll.
Speaking of payroll, a lot of these additions, particularly Suzuki’s, become a lot easier to imagine if some sort of salary floor is implemented in the CBA. The idea has been bandied about by the MLBPA to help protect competitive integrity, and Pittsburgh might have to spend a decent chunk of money just to comply with such a rule. Even though their resources are tight, there are a lot of pathways they can take to improve in the margins, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for them to improve on their 101-loss season from last year.
