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Despite the exchange of All-Star first baseman Josh Bell on Christmas Eve and opening day starter Joe Musgrove on Monday for prospects, Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington insisted that he had not made “a single gesture this offseason for any financial consideration.”
Instead, Cherington ultimately allowed the Pirates to rebuild themselves, though he still refuses to use that word. He’s demolishing a team that finished 19-41 last summer, baseball’s worst record and fifth-worst winning percentage (.317) in franchise history.
“As the offseason approached, there was no need to transfer money,” Cherington said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters in Pittsburgh. “We could have kept the same list and gone to 2021. There was no need to move payroll for the sake of moving payroll. There was no demand for it. We could have kept the same payroll. ”
By sending Musgrove to San Diego just three days after avoiding arbitration by signing for $ 4.45 million, the Pirates reduced their payroll to the $ 43.55 million expected for the 2021 season. Only the right fielder Gregory Polanco ($ 11.6 million) and second baseman Adam Frazier ($ 4.3 million) are expected to earn more than $ 3 million this season.
Cherington calls it “committing to young talent”. He said the Pirates remain open to doing more trades before spring training begins next month at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla.
“We’re going to continue to keep the phone on, so to speak,” Cherington said, “both for calls from teams that might be interested in our players and if we see any opportunities that match, as I see it. I’ve said before, to build a talent base that we need to build to win here in Pittsburgh, we’re going to be open to that.
Cherington said the Pirates are also looking to add players to the major league roster through trades or free agencies, targeting the primary target, but also keeping an eye on offsets and wrestlers.
The Bell and Musgrove trades brought back seven prospects: five pitchers, an outfielder and a catcher. Of those, only starting pitcher Wil Crowe (Washington) and reliever David Bednar from Mars (San Diego) have major league experience. The other prospects they’ve acquired in the trades – center fielder Hudson Head, wide receiver Endy Rodriguez and pitchers Omar Cruz, Drake Fellows and Eddy Yean – are high-ceiling young prospects who are still years away.
“We’re not just looking to bring in teens,” Cherington said. “That’s not the point when we talk about trades and when we look at the players. We try to incorporate every bit of information, including the risk. Of course, the younger they are, the more distant they are. This poses a risk, no doubt. There is a risk. There is talent. There is a subjective assessment on the side of Scouting. There is a performance analysis. There is character. There is health. There is just general on the outside compared to this risk. We try to cook it all together in a stew and see where it takes us.
Cherington believes the Pirates have bolstered their minor league system through trading Bell and Musgrove, last January’s Starling Marte deal, the MLB draft in June and international free agent signings. Baseball America has listed four Pirates as one of the Top 100 Prospects, although the top rated Ke’Bryan Hayes is expected to start at third base and graduate this season.
“We think it has improved over the past year,” Cherington said of the Pirates farming system. “We were able to add talent. We think some of these players have improved for us. This is the part that is the most difficult to measure given the year we have been through. A simple way to say that four in the top 100 is not enough. We need more than that. We just have to keep going. ”
Kevin Gorman is an editor for Tribune-Review. You can contact Kevin by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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Pirates / MLB | Sports
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