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Offseason In Review: Atlanta Braves

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It was a busy offseason for the Braves, the back-to-back National League East champions, but maybe not an ideal one. While the Braves signed nine players to major league contracts, they lost their top free agent, third baseman Josh Donaldson.

Major League Signings

Trades And Claims

  • None

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

Led by general manager Alex Anthopoulos, the Braves made it no secret that they were interested in retaining Donaldson, who flourished in their uniform in 2019 after signing a one-year, $23MM contract. For his part, the 34-year-old Donaldson expressed a desire to remain in Atlanta. Ultimately, though, the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement, leading Donaldson to join the Twins on a four-year, $92MM contract. The Braves reportedly matched the Twins’ offer in years, but they weren’t willing to approach the $92MM mark.

Donaldson and Anthony Rendon, who was never a Braves target, were the best third basemen in free agency, though the market fell off after those two. There were rumors connecting the Braves to the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado and the Cubs’ Kris Bryant, but those players haven’t changed homes to this point. Atlanta could circle back to those two in future trade talks, but as of now, the club appears as if it’ll ride with in-house options to start the season (because of the coronavirus, no one knows when that will occur). Johan Camargo and Austin Riley have been competing for the No. 1 job in recent weeks, but it’s possible the Braves will end up platooning them.

While Camargo was a quality contributor for the Braves two years ago, his production cratered last season. Riley was a top-50 prospect in baseball when the Braves promoted him last May, and with the presence of Donaldson, most of his reps came in the outfield. Although Riley did fare well in the grass, his high-strikeout ways helped prevent him from making a significant impact at the plate as a rookie.

It’s obviously not yet clear who will garner the majority of time at third for the Braves this year. That player will have a hard time replacing Donaldson, and his loss should damage the Braves’ chances of winning the division again. That said, the Braves did work to fill his offensive void during the offseason with the signing of former Marlin and Cardinal outfielder Marcell Ozuna.

Even though he had a qualifying offer from St. Louis weighing him down, it was still a surprise that Ozuna settled for a one-year, $18MM offer, barely edging out the $17.8MM value of the QO. Ozuna’s no Donaldson, but as someone who can typically be counted on for somewhere in the vicinity of three wins above replacement, he looks like a nice short-term addition. With Ozuna in left, superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. in right, Ender Inciarte in center, the re-signed Nick Markakis as an affordable fourth outfielder and Adam Duvall as a No. 5, the Braves seem to be in better shape than most teams in the grass (and don’t forget that exciting prospects Cristian Pache and Drew Waters are looming).

Similarly, despite their uncertainty at third base, the Braves are doing well in the infield. Most clubs would sign up for a first base/second base/shortstop alignment of Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson, after all. They’ll have a bit of a different catching group looking out at them, though. Tyler Flowers, a Brave since 2016, is back for a reasonable salary. He had his worst offensive year as a Brave in 2019, but Flowers is at least a pitch-framing darling on the defensive side. He was joined last year by Brian McCann as the Braves’ duo behind the dish, but McCann retired. The Braves went the free-agency route to replace him, signing former Met and Ray Travis d’Arnaud after the 31-year-old’s solid showing in Tampa Bay last season. For $16MM over two years, it’s a bit of a risky deal for Atlanta – not only has the former top prospect had an up-and-down career in terms of production, but he has had difficulty staying healthy.

The Braves clearly experienced some position player turnover in the offseason, but a large portion of their attention went to their pitching staff. The team’s bullpen was something of a sore spot last season, and Anthopoulos acted early and often to address it over the winter. His biggest move was to strike a three-year, $40MM guarantee with southpaw Will Smith, who’s coming off a pair of great seasons with the Giants. Smith, 30, thrived as San Francisco’s closer a season ago, but the plan for now is for him to set up ex-Giants teammate Mark Melancon in Atlanta. He’ll have company there in, among others, Chris Martin and Darren O’Day – two righties the Braves re-signed for fair value in the offseason. With Smith, Melancon, Martin, O’Day and the righty duo of Shane Greene and Luke Jackson as the Braves’ most prominent relievers, they look to be in pretty good shape for late-game situations.

Meanwhile, there is some uncertainty in the Braves’ rotation, a group that waved goodbye to Dallas Keuchel and Julio Teheran in the offseason. There is no shortage of confidence in Mike Soroka, Max Fried and Mike Foltynewicz (who rebounded after a terrible start in 2019). However, it’s anyone’s guess what the Braves will get from the other two spots in their rotation. They signed longtime stalwart Cole Hamels to a one-year, $18MM pact with the hope that the lefty would provide a stabilizing veteran force this season. It’s entirely possible he will, especially with the delayed start to the season, but shoulder troubles have weighed him down over the past month or so. As of about two weeks ago, Hamels didn’t even have a timeline to return. That’s the risk you run when you pin your hopes on a 36-year-old coming off an injury-shortened campaign; in fairness to the Braves, though, it’s tough to bash them for signing an accomplished, still-effective hurler (when healthy) to a one-year deal.

Assuming the season starts sometime fairly soon, Hamels is all but guaranteed to miss a portion of it. That should leave the Braves with Sean Newcomb and Felix Hernandez as the last two starters in their rotation. The 26-year-old Newcomb is a former well-regarded prospect who – despite a high number of walks – held his own as a starter in 2018. Newcomb then spent most of last season as a reliever, and he also did fine in that role. Meantime, as one of the most successful starters of the past couple decades, Hernandez needs no introduction. The problem is that the longtime Mariner and former Cy Young winner, 33, has floundered over the past few years. Hernandez impressed this spring before the league shut down, and he seems likely to make the Braves’ roster, but you’d be right to be skeptical about a bounce-back effort.

If Newcomb and/or Hernandez don’t provide the answer for the Braves, they do have some other interesting in-house possibilities. To name a few examples, righties Bryse Wilson, Kyle Wright and Touki Toussaint – all still in their lower 20s – were each recent top 100-prospects. No one from that trio has lived up to the billing in the majors yet, but perhaps one, two or even all three of them will emerge this season. If not, the rotation may be an area the Braves look to bolster when the trade deadline comes.

2020 Season Outlook

The Liberty Media-owned Braves are projected to start 2020 with a franchise-record Opening Day payroll of $157MM. It’s money well spent overall, as – despite questions at third and in the rotation – this continues to look like a team capable of challenging just about anyone in the National League. However, it’ll be tougher for the Braves to continue their reign atop the NL East with the defending World Series champion Nationals, the Mets and the Phillies all set to field strong rosters that could push for the top spot in the division.

How do you feel about the Braves’ offseason? (Poll link for app users)

How would you grade the Braves' offseason?
B 60.04% (2,701 votes)
A 19.69% (886 votes)
C 15.78% (710 votes)
D 2.91% (131 votes)
F 1.58% (71 votes)
Total Votes: 4,499

MLB Players Advised To Leave Spring Facilities

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2:49pm: The league is providing players with three options, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter links). They can go to their personal homes, which is the apparent preference of the league, though there’s a warning there for players who reside in other countries owing to potential travel restrictions. Players can instead remain in camp facilities and continue to receive living allowances. Or they may go to the home city of their particular club.

2:32pm: Major League Baseball, which is holding ongoing discussions with the players’ association even now, has advised players to leave Spring Training facilities for their homes. Jon Heyman of MLB Network first tweeted the news; multiple other reports have emerged indicating that players have been encouraged by their respective teams to depart.

This reverses the general direction of expectations from earlier in the day. Multiple team leaders had indicated to reporters that they expected to keep players at their spring facilities for at least the foreseeable several days. Even with spring contests scratched, there was evidently some thought given to keeping players around to continue training.

Precisely what precipitated this approach isn’t yet known, but it surely did not make much sense to keep players gathered if a lengthy delay is inevitable. Maintaining the health and safety of players and employees is surely the top priority as the league seeks to play its part in stemming the spread of the coronavirus.

There is an obvious desire not to delay the start of the upcoming season longer than necessary. To this point, the league has not formally announced an expansion of its previously announced two-week delay. But fully breaking up spring camp makes that a mere formality.

Both major and minor-league players will be sent out of team facilities. Just when they will return is anyone’s guess, but it seems clear at this point that some kind of additional spring training ramp-up will be required before the 2020 season gets underway.

MLB Coronavirus Response: Rosters, Schedule

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4:07pm: There is no formal directive to freeze rosters at this point, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).

Some within the game are still hoping to squeeze in a 162-game regular season. Red Sox president Sam Kennedy (Twitter link via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic) and White Sox VP Scott Reifer (Twitter link via Adam Hoge of NBC Sports Chicago) said as much. And Nightengale (via Twitter) and Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal (via Twitter) were among those to report the same from unnamed sources.

Of course, Diamond was also among those that have pointed to a recognition within the game that the initial delay will be for more than two weeks. And the Red Sox front office acknowledged in its conference call today that there’d need to be a second round of Spring Training before starting back up.

Those (and many other) factors will make it awfully difficult to make it to 162 while still wrapping up postseason play by even early November. Kennedy noted the possibility of holding games at spring sites or without fans, but even in that scenario it would seem to require quite some creativity to make a full season possible given the limits of how hard pitchers can be worked. Perhaps hosting postseason contests at sites impervious to the cold would allow some flexibility on the back end.

1:11pm: Yesterday, public health imperatives relating to the spread of the coronavirus forced Major League Baseball to pause Spring Training and institute a two-week delay to the regular season. The decision leaves many questions left to answer in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Teams are holding in place and awaiting further direction for the time being. MLB and MLB Players Association representatives are scheduled to meet this weekend to work out a plan, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter links).

In the meantime, White Sox GM Rick Hahn says that MLB has temporarily paused player transactions, MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports (via Twitter). The freeze will be in place through the weekend, at least.

This is certainly not the right moment for trades and waiver claims to be executed, so an immediate moratorium was all but certain. Presumably, a more formalized plan for dealing with roster matters will ultimately go into place. It’s obvious that some kind of exceptional measures will be needed.

Typically, this is a time of year when we begin to see a high volume of transactions. Many of those rate as relatively minor in comparison to the high-profile signings and trades that we focus on, but they mean quite a bit to the individual players involved.

To some extent, it’s not difficult to imagine a roster freeze from a logistical perspective. Dates for certain decisions can simply be pushed back. There may be some tricky bits to sort out, but they’re of relatively minor import.

The tougher questions relate to the potential for a lengthy stoppage. While the initial postponement of Opening Day covered two weeks, every indication is that further delays will take place.

For the time being, players are being kept on site in spring facilities. Teams are taking varying approaches, with some holding limited workouts and others canceling player activities.

Managing this crisis will require the league and union to work together to ensure a fair outcome for all players. Minor-leaguers aren’t even compensated for time spent in Spring Training, so the loss of anticipated in-season earnings would be devastating. And that’s just as true for the many workers around the country who rely upon ballgames to pay their bills.

Tigers Ownership Announces Fund For Part-Time Workers

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Ilitch Holdings, the entity that owns the Tigers and a host of other sports and entertainment ventures, has announced the creation of a $1MM fund to assist part-time employees, as Tony Paul of the Detroit News first reported. Precise details aren’t yet known, but Paul provides many key facets of the initial effort.

The fund will go to a wide range of workers employed by the Ilitch empire, not just those whose jobs relate to the staging of Tigers games. At least initially, the fund will cover cancelled Spring Training contests but not any games that had been scheduled at Comerica Park.

While there seems to be some room for this effort to expand, it is a welcome first step in the baseball world towards assisting those whose livelihood depends upon the staging of contests that have been postponed (and may end up being canceled in some part). As the Ilitch announcement notes, “reassurance” of this kind is important in such a “time of uncertainty.”

We have previously seen some efforts on the ownership and player levels in the NBA, which just suspended its regular season. MLB Opening Day had been scheduled to begin later in March, so the immediate impact was felt at Spring Training sites in Florida and Arizona.

Trey Mancini Undergoes Surgery To Remove Malignant Tumor

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March 13: General manager Mike Elias addressed Mancini’s surgery today (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Joe Trezza), telling Orioles reporters: “[Mancini is] at about as positive as possible in terms of his spirits and physical feeling right now.” Additional information and updates will be available in the days to come.

March 12: Trey Mancini left the Orioles’ spring camp last week in preparation for an undisclosed medical procedure that wasn’t related to baseball.  Today, details have emerged on the nature of Mancini’s issue, as the Orioles issued a press release saying that a malignant tumor was discovered in Mancini’s colon during a colonoscopy last week.  Mancini underwent surgery today to have the tumor removed, and as per the team’s statement, “lab results and the timetable for Trey’s recovery will not be known until next week.”

Mancini himself made a statement within the Orioles’ release, saying “The outpouring of love and support I have received has made an extremely tough week so much better. I have the best family, friends, fans, and teammates imaginable. I am also eternally thankful for the Orioles front office, our athletic trainers, and the entire medical staff for everything they have done to help me during this time. Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and kind words, which have furthered my excitement to get back to playing the game I love.”

Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said last week that Mancini would “miss some time” recovering, which seemed to imply that Mancini would miss some regular season action.  That is probably a moot point in light of Major League Baseball’s announcement that that Opening Day will be delayed by at least two weeks, though regardless, baseball concerns were already a far distant second to Mancini’s health and well-being.

In three full seasons in the majors, Mancini (who turns 28 later this week) has blossomed into the Orioles’ top hitter, batting .291/.364/.535 with 35 homers over 679 plate appearances in 2019.  Between this production and the fact that the O’s are in a rebuild, there was speculation that Mancini could be both an extension candidate and a trade candidate this offseason, though no news on either front emerged.

We at MLBTR wish Mancini all the best in his recovery, as he and his family and loved ones navigate this difficult situation.

Latest On Extension Talks Between Phillies, J.T. Realmuto

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Extension talks between the Phillies and star catcher J.T. Realmuto have been slow to progress. The 28-year-old (29 next week) lost an arbitration hearing against the Phils last month that set his 2020 salary at $10MM, although Realmuto made clear early in the arb process that he wouldn’t harbor any hard feelings regardless of the eventual hearing’s outcome.

If there’s a reason that talks have moved slowly, then, it could simply be the two-time All-Star’s asking price; MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported on the latest edition of the Big Time Baseball podcast that Realmuto’s camp has been seeking to top Buster Posey in terms of overall guarantee, adding that Paul Goldschmidt’s extension with the Cardinals has been another talking point (audio link, with Realmuto talk beginning around the 44-minute mark).

There’s a fair bit to unpack there. Back in 2013, Posey signed an eight-year, $159MM extension that was tacked onto his existing one-year, $8MM deal with which he’d avoided arbitration. Somewhat notably, that deal was negotiated by CAA’s Jeff Berry, who also represents Realmuto. Last spring, Goldschmidt signed a five-year, $130MM contract extension, coming out to $26MM per year. A six-year deal at Goldschmidt’s annual rate would put Realmuto just shy of Posey’s guarantee. Topping Goldschmidt’s annual rate by any more than $500K  over a six-year term would take Realmuto past Posey in terms of overall guarantee.

Of course, Realmuto is at a different point in his career than either Posey or Goldschmidt was upon inking those respective deals. Posey was a relatively fresh-faced 26-year-old who was fresh off a National League batting title and MVP the prior year in 2012. He’d only just reached arbitration as a Super Two player, and the extension bought out his remaining three years of arb in addition to at least five free-agent years (plus an option for a sixth). Goldschmidt was, like Realmuto, on the cusp of free agency last spring when he signed his contract. However, he was headed into his age-31 season, while Realmuto will play the upcoming campaign at 29.

Realmuto is both closer to free agency than Posey was and younger than Goldschmidt was, so there’s some parallels there. Likening him to Goldschmidt is difficult, though, given that they play different positions and possess different skill sets. Realmuto derives a good bit of value from his elite defense behind the plate, and while he’s an above-average hitter, he’s never been close to the hitter that Goldschmidt has been in his peak seasons. From 2012-18, Goldschmidt posted a combined 146 wRC+ and OPS+. Realmuto, conversely, has a career-high of 126 in both metrics and has only reached that level once (2018).

Over the past four seasons, Realmuto has batted a combined .283/.335/.464 (114 OPS+, 113 wRC+). He also ranks among the game’s premier backstops in terms of pitch-framing, caught-stealing rate and blocking pitches in the dirt. In that time, Realmuto has been worth 15.1 rWAR and 17.1 fWAR.

Historically speaking, it’s tough to find an apt comparison for Realmuto. Russell Martin (five years, $82.5MM) and Brian McCann (five years, $80MM) signed similar contracts in free agency, but both are more than a half-decade old. It’s also arguable that Realmuto is better than both were when they signed. Certainly, he’s younger than Martin was when he signed in advance of his age-32 season. But Realmuto is also decidedly older than either Posey or Joe Mauer was when signing the two largest deals ever inked by a catcher. (Mauer received an eight-year, $184MM contract from the Twins in 2010.) Realmuto seems to lie somewhere between the Martin/McCann and Mauer/Posey levels.

As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes observed in the first installment of our 2020-21 Free Agent Power Rankings, Realmuto could very well become the first catcher to sign a $100MM+ deal in free agency if he’s unable to agree to terms on a deal. Whether he gets to that point will depend on whether he and the Phillies can find a middle ground and hammer out a new deal that’ll extend beyond his final season of club control.

Philadelphia’s comfort level in negotiations isn’t known, but a lack of progress would seem to indicate that the two sides aren’t that close at the moment. The Phils could certainly fit even a Goldschmidt-level annual value into the books long-term, though. They’re at $204MM in luxury obligations for the 2020 season but will see that number plummet to just under $119MM in 2021, when the luxury tax threshold rises to $210MM. An extension for Realmuto would largely be offset by the departure of Jake Arrieta, whose three-year, $75MM contract expires at season’s end.

Matt Harvey Tried Out For Blue Jays

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There hasn’t been much said about former ace Matt Harvey since the right-hander became a free agent after last season. But he did draw somewhat recent interest from the Blue Jays, with whom he tried out “several weeks” back, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network on this week’s Big Time Baseball podcast.  Although the Jays “seriously” considered signing the longtime starter as a reliever, per Heyman, they ultimately passed.

This is the first time Harvey, once an All-Star and a high-profile Met, has come up on MLBTR’s pages since last August. The Dark Knight is one of the most accomplished players left in free agency, but injuries have helped take a sledgehammer to what once looked like an amazing career in the making. Harvey posted sub-3.00 ERAs in each season from 2013-15, though he got off to a slow start in 2016 and then underwent the dreaded thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. He simply hasn’t been the same since that year.

Dating back to 2017, Harvey has pitched to a 5.89 ERA/5.46 FIP with 6.94 K/9 and 3.31 BB/9 over 307 1/3 innings. He enjoyed something of a bounce-back showing with the Reds after they acquired him from the Mets in 2018, earning an $11MM guarantee with the Angels going into the ensuing campaign. However, Harvey’s production was so poor as a member of the pitching-needy Halos that they cut the cord on him last July. Shortly after that, the soon-to-be 31-year-old Harvey joined the division-rival Athletics on a minor league contract, but he didn’t make it back to the majors with the organization.

Offseason In Review: Pittsburgh Pirates

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The Pirates traded their best player (again) and appeared more intent on cutting payroll than giving the appearance of trying.

Guaranteed Contracts

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

The Pirates offseason kicked off in bizarre fashion, with former manager Clint Hurdle telling The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt that he’d received assurances that he’d be retained into 2020 — only to be fired days later. General manager Neal Huntington headed up the search for a new skipper … until owner Bob Nutting canned Huntington nearly a month into that effort. A month after the regular season ended, the Pirates had no manager or general manager and weren’t close to making a hire for either vacancy. They were represented by interim GM Kevan Graves at the annual General Managers Meetings and, shortly after that event’s conclusion, hired former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington to replace Huntington. Another 10 days later, Pittsburgh hired Twins bench coach Derek Shelton as their new manager.

By the time the Pirates had both their GM and manager in place, the likes of Yasmani Grandal, Travis d’Arnaud, Chris Martin, Will Smith and Kyle Gibson had each already signed as free agents. The Brewers had traded Chase Anderson to the Blue Jays and orchestrated an interesting four-player swap with the Padres. But getting a late start to the offseason ultimately didn’t impact the Bucs much, because as the winter wore on, it became clear that the team wasn’t planning on making any notable additions.

Rather, the largest move the Pirates made this winter was shipping their best player, Starling Marte, to the Diamondbacks in a trade that trimmed payroll and added some high-upside but very young talent to the farm ranks. Liover Peguero and Brennan Malone didn’t shoot to the top of the club’s prospect rankings but are both ranked inside the Pirates’ top 10 farmhands by FanGraphs, Baseball America, MLB.com and The Athletic.

Some fans felt that the Pirates didn’t get enough in return, but the market for Marte was a bit quieter than anticipated. The Phillies never appeared to get seriously involved — perhaps due to sitting narrowly south of the luxury tax threshold. The Indians had interest but were clearly more interested in cutting payroll than adding MLB talent themselves. The Padres were tied to Marte but more focused on Mookie Betts. Ultimately, the Bucs got a pair of quality prospects that wouldn’t have been guaranteed had they held Marte in hopes of extracting a greater return this summer.

Immediately after trading Marte, Cherington made clear that he hoped to bring in a serviceable replacement (of course, at a lower cost than Marte’s $11.5MM salary). The market for center fielders was thin to begin the winter and largely picked over by that point, but Pittsburgh wound up adding a trio of center-field-capable options at minimal costs. Jarrod Dyson ($2MM), Guillermo Heredia ($1MM) and JT Riddle ($850K) were all signed to one-year, Major League deals. Heredia projects as the club’s fourth outfielder and can be controlled via arbitration through the 2022 season if the organization sees fit. Riddle should be a backup infielder/outfielder and is controllable through 2023.

Dyson is a straight one-year pickup — a blistering runner with high-end glovework and, frankly, a pretty tidy bargain for the Pirates at a $2MM price point. He’s a nice value addition, but it’s worth noting that in going with Dyson, the Bucs apparently deemed even Kevin Pillar’s $4.25MM price tag with the Red Sox to be too expensive. It’s not as if Pillar spurned the Pirates to sign with a surefire contender, so either the front office believes Dyson to be a better asset — a defensible take but not a decisive fact by any means — or ownership simply didn’t want to spend the extra dollars to bring in the younger Pillar.

Luke Maile is the only other player who inked a big league deal with the Bucs this winter, although he still has minor league options remaining and, as such, inked a split contract. He’s the presumptive backup to 30-year-old Jacob Stallings, who’ll be getting his first opportunity as a starting catcher in 2020. Light-hitting framing savant John Ryan Murphy was brought in on a minor league deal as a depth piece, but the catching corps in Pittsburgh is a collectively underwhelming unit, to put things mildly.

It’s a different story around the infield, for the most part. Josh Bell will look to shake off a second-half slump and build on a generally strong 2019 campaign, while Adam Frazier has settled in as a quality, underrated second baseman. Kevin Newman showed off plenty of upside in a strong rookie effort last year, and the Bucs have reportedly initiated talks on an extension with one of the game’s top third base prospects (and top overall prospects): Ke’Bryan Hayes. If Hayes agrees to a deal, he’d likely open the year in the Majors … whenever, exactly, Opening Day actually happens. In the outfield, sophomore Bryan Reynolds and longtime Bucco Gregory Polanco will flank the newly signed Dyson.

Turning to the pitching staff, the Pirates have had their fair share of misfortune recently. Jameson Taillon had Tommy John surgery last summer, and righty Chad Kuhl is still working back from his own Tommy John procedure at the end of the 2018 season. Lefty Steven Brault has been slowed by shoulder woes this spring. Closer Felipe Vazquez, of course, is out of the picture entirely after being arrested on a series of abhorrent statutory sexual assault charges.

The Pirates did little to bolster their waning pitching depth this winter, however, bringing Derek Holland, Robbie Erlin and Hector Noesi aboard on minor league deals but eschewing any big league additions. Holland appears the likely fifth starter behind Chris Archer, Joe Musgrove, Trevor Williams and Mitch Keller.

Perhaps even more glaringly, Pittsburgh opted not to add a single reliever to the big league staff — with the possible exception of claiming lefty Sam Howard from the Rockies. Keone Kela should close down games in 2020, but he’s the only reliever with any real track record in the Pirates’ relief corps. There’s enough flotsam on the 40-man roster that the Pirates could’ve added some veteran arms or at least speculated on the waiver wire. Instead, they’ll rely on the same group of relievers that ranked 23rd in the Majors in ERA, 22nd in FIP and 20th in xFIP as a collective bunch in 2019 — and that was with Vazquez dominating for the first several months.

Not including Vazquez’s salary — he’ll be on the restricted list — the Pirates are set to open the season with under $54MM in payroll on the books. It’s an astonishingly low number in today’s game — one so small that no one should be surprised to see yet another grievance brought forth against the organization by the MLBPA. The collective bargaining agreement has rules in place about the manner in which a team must allocate its revenue-sharing funds, and it’s easy to understand why the union has questions about the Pirates’ claims that their use of said resources is compliant.

Cherington declined to use the word “rebuild” this offseason, instead claiming that the Pirates are merely “building.” Semantics aside, the Pirates’ roster is extraordinarily porous, and the front office effectively did nothing to stop the ship from taking on water. Pittsburgh didn’t even select a player in December’s Rule 5 Draft. If the Pirates weren’t even going to feign an attempt at improving, it’s surprising that they didn’t aggressively shop the likes of Kela, Bell, Frazier, Musgrove and basically anyone else who’s controlled for three or fewer seasons.

2020 Season Outlook

If the manner in which owner Bob Nutting bumbled through the first month of the offseason — allowing a GM to conduct a hunt for a manager before firing that GM and starting over a month into the process — didn’t illustrate the organization’s lack of a plan, the end result of their winter should spell it out. This roster isn’t any better than the one that lost 93 games in 2019. It’s very arguably worse. And yet the Pirates only made one future-oriented trade, did next to nothing to add short-term free agents who could emerge as trade chips, sat out the Rule 5 Draft and engaged in virtually no activity on the waiver wire.

Players like Reynolds, Newman and Hayes at least give fans some exciting young talent to watch, but this is a weak roster that the club barely tried to improve. It’ll be an upset if the Pirates don’t finish in last place, and fans can expect to see some combination of Archer, Mugrove, Kela, Frazier and Bell circulating the rumor mill this summer.

Cherington deserves some benefit of the doubt, given a track record of quality player development in Boston and Toronto. Perhaps the plan was to use 2020 as a year of pure evaluation for what was already in house, but it sure seems like the Pirates passed on countless opportunities to pursue upside deals, further stock the farm or at least give the fans some reason to care. It’s going to be a long year in Pittsburgh.

How would you grade the Pirates’ offseason? (Link to poll for Trade Rumors mobile app users)

How would you grade the Pirates' offseason?
F 53.03% (2,264 votes)
D 30.92% (1,320 votes)
C 11.34% (484 votes)
B 2.79% (119 votes)
A 1.92% (82 votes)
Total Votes: 4,269

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