Pirates Rumors

Kevin Newman Expected To Miss 3-5 Weeks With Groin Strain

By Anthony Franco | April 27, 2022 at 2:52pm CDT

Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman left last night’s game due to left groin soreness, and the team’s director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk told reporters (including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) this afternoon he’s been diagnosed with a strain. The issue is expected to keep him out for three-to-five weeks.

Newman will certainly be placed on the 10-day injured list, leaving the Bucs needing to fill in at shortstop. Newman has started 13 of the first 17 games there, with Hoy Park, Diego Castillo and Cole Tucker accounting for the other four outings. Tucker is on the COVID-19 injured list, so Park and Castillo figure to be in line for the bulk of playing time over the coming weeks. Manager Derek Shelton said it’ll be Castillo who gets the nod for tonight’s game against the Brewers (via Mike Persak of the Post-Gazette).

Castillo and Park both went to Pittsburgh from the Yankees in last summer’s Clay Holmes trade. Both players had solid numbers in the high minors last year, but they’re each already in their mid-20’s. Most public prospect evaluators don’t regard either as a long-term regular, although Castillo checked in 16th at Baseball America and 17th at FanGraphs during those outlets’ respective write-ups of the Bucs’ farm system this winter. Both noted that Castillo isn’t likely to be a long-term fit defensively at shortstop but praised his bat-to-ball skills and suggested he could be a useful bat-first utility type.

While a Castillo – Park pairing seems the likeliest outcome, the Pirates could look elsewhere to hold down shortstop in Newman’s absence. Ke’Bryan Hayes moved to the position from his customary third base spot for the final few innings last night, his first career action there. Hayes, widely regarded as a Gold Glove-caliber player at the hot corner, could probably hold his own at shortstop. It seems, however, the Bucs would rather leave him at third base, where they’re certain he can be a plus defender.

The Pirates also have top shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz on optional assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis. The 23-year-old made a brief big league cameo at the end of last year, but he was optioned to start this season. That seemed to be motivated, at least in part, by service time considerations. Cruz has now spent enough time in the minors that he wouldn’t automatically reach a full year of MLB service in 2022 even if he were called up for good today.

However, the new collective bargaining agreement grants a full season of service to top prospects who finish among their respective league’s top two in Rookie of the Year balloting. On the one hand, that’s a player-friendly provision; yet it can also disincentivize a team like the Pirates — amidst a full rebuild and not in position to compete in 2022 regardless — from calling up a player of Cruz’s talent level until deeper into the season to diminish the chances he compiles Rookie of the Year-caliber numbers to earn that bonus service year.

There’s also the simple matter of Cruz’s early performance in Indianapolis, which has not been good. He’s hitting .203/.288/.339 with just one homer through his first 66 plate appearances. It’s thus unsurprising Shelton didn’t sound as if the team were planning to bring Cruz up at this time. Asked if Cruz was an option to replace Newman, the skipper noted that “everybody in our system who’s on the roster at the upper levels will be given consideration” but added that “there’s still work (for Cruz) to be done. We’re focusing on what that work is” (Mackey links).

In other Pirates’ news, Shelton informed reporters that star outfielder Bryan Reynolds will be back on the roster tonight (via Persak). He hit the COVID list alongside Tucker yesterday, but it would appear he never tested positive and is currently asymptomatic.

COVID Notes: Pirates, Brewers, Giants

By Anthony Franco | April 26, 2022 at 8:02pm CDT

A few players landed on the COVID-19 injured list today. It’s not clear whether anyone in this group tested positive for the virus or has been identified as a close contact or a symptomatic individual. Players on the COVID IL don’t count against a team’s 40-man roster.

The latest virus-related situations:

The Pirates placed outfielders Bryan Reynolds and Cole Tucker on the injured list before this evening’s game against the Brewers. Prospects Tucupita Marcano and Jack Suwinski were recalled to take their place on the active roster. Each of Reynolds and Tucker has struggled in the early going, but the former was one of the game’s best players last season and figures to turn things around whenever he’s ready to return. Marcano and Suwinski were both acquired from the Padres in last summer’s Adam Frazier deal. It’s the first MLB call for the 23-year-old Suwinski, who was selected onto the 40-man roster last offseason. The left-handed outfielder is off to a fantastic .353/.421/.686 start with Double-A Altoona this year.
The Brewers had their own virus-related move before tonight’s game. Catcher Víctor Caratini went on the IL this afternoon. Backstop Alex Jackson, acquired from the Marlins during Spring Training, has been recalled from Triple-A Nashville in a corresponding move. Caratini has appeared in eight games as part of a loose early-season platoon with Omar Narváez. The latter will probably assume the lion’s share of work behind the dish so long as Caratini is sidelined. Jackson has hit .229/.300/.429 with a pair of homers in ten games with the Sounds.
The Giants have placed reliever Zack Littell on the IL, tweets Maria Guardado of MLB.com. Kervin Castro has been recalled to take his place on the active roster. Littell has gotten off to a nice start to the season, tossing six scoreless innings in as many appearances. He’s allowed four hits, struck out five and has yet to issue a walk. Littell pitched to a 2.92 ERA in 61 2/3 frames last year.

Guardians Claim Luis Oviedo From Pirates

By Anthony Franco | April 26, 2022 at 6:12pm CDT

The Guardians have claimed right-hander Luis Oviedo off waivers from the Pirates, reports John Dreker of Pirates Prospects (Twitter link). Pittsburgh had designated Oviedo for assignment last week. Cleveland had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, but they’ll need to create spots for both Anthony Castro and Yu Chang once those players are ready to be reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list.

Oviedo returns to his original organization. Cleveland signed the 6’4″ hurler out of Venezuela during the 2015-16 international signing period. He spent five seasons in their farm system, never advancing past Low-A. Oviedo’s numbers in the low minors weren’t great, but he worked in the mid-upper 90s with a sinker and had a pair of promising breaking pitches. Baseball America named him the #8 prospect in the organization entering the 2019 season, although he dipped to 18th the following year due to concerns about his control and minor league performance.

The canceled 2020 minor league season robbed Oviedo of a needed development year, and the Indians declined to add him to their 40-man roster that winter. Nevertheless, the Pirates nabbed him in the Rule 5 draft (via trade with the Mets) and carried him on the Opening Day roster. Oviedo stuck in Pittsburgh the entire season — albeit with a pair of injured list stints mixed in — and tossed 29 2/3 innings over his first 22 MLB outings.

As one would expect for a pitcher who had zero previous appearances above Low-A, Oviedo didn’t do well in his first big league look. He posted an 8.80 ERA while walking an untenable 17.7% of opponents. His fastball averaged nearly 95 MPH, however, and he generated quality swing-and-miss rates on each of his curveball and slider. The rebuilding Bucs were willing to live with his control woes last year, but he lost his spot on the 40-man roster after walking four and hitting two of the first 19 batters he faced in the minors this season.

Oviedo has still yet to reach his 23rd birthday. He owns intriguing stuff and is only in his first of three minor league option years. The Guardians are clearly of the belief he has a chance to blossom into a productive MLB pitcher down the road, although it’s obvious he at least needs more time in the minors to get to that point. If Oviedo sticks on Cleveland’s 40-man roster, they’ll have plenty of time to try to help him tap into that upside.

NL Central Notes: Shelton, India, Stephenson, Miley

By Mark Polishuk | April 24, 2022 at 10:27pm CDT

Terms weren’t reported on Derek Shelton’s contract when he was first hired as the Pirates’ manager in November 2019, but The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes that Shelton’s deal is believed to run through the 2023 campaign. That would make it a four-year commitment to Shelton, who has only a 95-158 record during his two-plus years of managing the rebuilding team. While nobody expected Shelton to win given his threadbare rosters, progress of some type is expected, so Rosenthal feels there could be some questions asked if the Pirates post another 100-loss season. However, Rosenthal also notes that “Shelton has served almost as an assistant general manager” to GM Ben Cherington.

Speaking to a broader point of Rosenthal’s piece about skippers around baseball, he writes that “GMs of tanking teams, in particular, often are reluctant to hold managers responsible for the non-competitive clubs they’ve assembled, knowing a dismissal will only lead to greater scrutiny of their own actions.” While there are certainly some managers on shorter-term deals who are under additional pressure in 2022, it remains to be seen how many of these skippers might actually be let go after the year.

Pirates Select Beau Sulser, Designate Anthony Alford

By Darragh McDonald | April 24, 2022 at 11:25am CDT

The Pirates have announced that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Beau Sulser. To make room for Sulser on the 40-man roster, outfielder Anthony Alford was designated for assignment. (Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had the news of Sulser’s promotion before the official announcement.)

Sulser, the younger brother of Marlins hurler Cole Sulser, was a 10th round selection of the Pirates in 2017. He’s never gotten a ton of attention from prospect evaluators but has shown well so far in this young season. He got his first taste of Triple-A in 2019, making 24 starts and a pair of relief appearances, putting up a 5.65 ERA in 122 2/3 innings. This year, however, he’s made three starts, logging 12 2/3 innings with a 2.13 ERA. His 26.9% strikeout rate on the young season is greatly improved over the 18.1% rate he had at Triple-A in 2019. He’s also dropped his walk rate from 9.4% to 3.8%. Based on those improved results, the Bucs want to see how he fares against big league hitters. Sulser will turn 28 next month.

Alford, on the other hand, is a former top prospect, getting as high as #25 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list in 2016. Unfortunately, injuries have largely kept him from getting into a good rhythm over the years. He’s appeared in each MLB season from 2017 to 2022 but his career high for games in a season is 49, which he set last year. He was designated for assignment in April last year, clearing waivers and being outrighted to the minors. He showed enough promise to earn his roster spot back and finished well. However, yet another injury, a right wrist sprain, put him back on the injured list to start this season. He was activated and got into two games before being sent into DFA limbo for a second time.

Players who have previously been outrighted in their careers have the ability to reject an outright assignment and declare free agency. If Alford were to clear waivers again, he could opt to see if there are any other opportunities available to him. He’s still only 27 years old and has that prospect pedigree attached to his name, which could potentially lead to some interest, despite the length injury history.

Pirates Select Chase De Jong, Designate Luis Oviedo

By Darragh McDonald | April 21, 2022 at 3:53pm CDT

The Pirates have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Chase De Jong, per a team announcement. Fellow righty Roansy Contreras has been optioned to create move on the active roster. Another righty, Luis Oviedo, was designated for assignment to create space on the 40-man roster. (Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette broke the news of De Jong’s selection and Contreras being optioned before the team announced the full slate of transactions.)

A second round pick of the Blue Jays in 2012, De Jong has become a journeyman, also spending time in the organizations of the Dodgers, Mariners, Twins, Astros and Pirates. He’s seen some MLB time in each of the last five seasons but only has 98 total innings under his belt. Last year was his most extensive look, as he made nine starts for the Bucs and logged 43 2/3 innings with a 5.77 ERA. Unfortunately, he was hit on the knee by a comebacker in July, leading to knee surgery and finishing his season.

At the end of the year, he was outrighted by the Pirates, elected free agency and re-signed on a minor league deal. In 13 Triple-A innings so far this season, he has a 2.08 ERA, 37.3% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate. De Jong is out of options and will need to stick on the club’s roster or else be designated for assignment. But if he can carry any that Triple-A performance to the majors, it would be a boon for Pittsburgh. The 28-year-old has just over a year of service time and could be controlled cheaply for years if he pitches well enough to hang onto his spot.

As for Oviedo, who turns 23 next month, he started his career in the Cleveland organization. In the 2020 Rule 5 draft, he was selected by the Mets and flipped to the Pirates. He lasted the full year on the big league club (apart from a rehab assignment), throwing 29 2/3 innings of 8.80 ERA ball, which allowed the Pirates to option him to the minors this year. He’s logged 3 2/3 innings between A-ball and Double-A so far this year. If any team were to claim him, he still has options and exactly one year of MLB service time.

Tony Watson Announces Retirement

By Steve Adams and Anthony Franco | April 18, 2022 at 3:32pm CDT

Veteran left-handed reliever Tony Watson is retiring after 11 seasons at the Major League level, he tells Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic. Watson issued a statement thanking his teammates, peers, coaches and support staff members, as well as the four teams for which he pitched — Pirates, Dodgers, Giants, Angels — and his family and friends for their support throughout his career. Nesbitt further tweets that Watson originally hoped to continue on for at least a 12th season, but shoulder issues led him to call it a career.

As Nesbitt points out, Watson will step away from baseball as the all-time leader in holds (a statistic which has been recorded since 1999), having racked up 246 of them throughout his big league tenure. That’s a testament to the southpaw’s consistency and effectiveness. Not only did his reliability convince managers to give Watson the ball with small leads year-after-year, he frequently passed them along into the later innings by keeping runs off the board.

Watson exceeded 40 innings in ten of the the past eleven seasons, with only the shortened 2020 schedule keeping him from hitting that mark every year of his career. Only once did he post an ERA north of 4.00, and he allowed fewer than three earned runs per nine innings on four separate occasions. That included three straight excellent campaigns with the Pirates in 2013-15, during which time the University of Nebraska product tossed 224 1/3 innings of 1.97 ERA ball, stifling opposing hitters to a .212/.265/.297 slash line.

Amidst that run, Watson earned a deserved selection to the 2014 All-Star game. He struck out 26.6% of opposing hitters that year — the second-highest rate of his career — while posting a 1.63 ERA and leading the National League with 78 appearances. Watson remained eminently productive throughout his tenure in Pittsburgh, which concluded at the 2017 trade deadline when the non-contending Bucs shipped the impending free agent to the Dodgers. (That deal looks as if it’ll be a meaningful one for years to come in Pittsburgh, as now-top prospect Oneil Cruz went from L.A. in return).

As he was throughout his career, Watson proved an effective late-season addition for the Dodgers. He then signed a three-year deal with the division-rival Giants, where he remained a solid bullpen option. Between 2018-20, Watson posted a 3.20 ERA in 138 frames. He signed with the Angels in free agency last winter, but San Francisco brought him back via a deadline trade. Watson had run into some uncharacteristic struggles in Orange County, but he righted the ship for what’ll prove to be his final run in the Bay Area.

Even as he neared his 37th birthday, the Iowa native was one of the better left-handed relievers in this year’s free agent class. He reportedly drew some interest from the Mets last month, but his shoulder will prevent him from giving it another go. Nevertheless, Watson steps away from the game as one of the more quietly effective relievers of the past decade. He posted a 2.90 ERA in 648 1/3 innings across 11 major league campaigns. In addition to his aforementioned holds record, he saved 32 games and struck out 570 batters. MLBTR congratulates Watson on his long, successful run and wishes him all the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Pirates, Bryan Reynolds Agree To Two-Year Deal To Avoid Arbitration

By Anthony Franco | April 14, 2022 at 11:06pm CDT

The Pirates and center fielder Bryan Reynolds have agreed to a two-year contract to avoid arbitration, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal covers the 2022-23 campaigns and doesn’t affect the team’s window of contractual control. Reynolds is a CAA Sports client.

It’s a $13.5MM guarantee, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (on Twitter). He’ll receive matching $6.75MM salaries in each of the next two seasons, adds Rob Biertempfel of the Athletic.

Mackey wrote last week the Pirates were hoping to get a two-year deal done with Reynolds. As he noted, the Bucs are a “file-and-trial” team, meaning they decline to discuss one-year agreements with players once the deadline to exchange arbitration figures passes. That’s a fairly common practice around the league, albeit one teams set themselves.

By establishing the precedent they won’t continue negotiations after filing day, the reasoning goes, teams can deter players from filing at a high number in hopes of anchoring further discussions from an elevated starting point. If team and player go to a hearing, the arbitrator chooses one of the side’s desired figures rather than picking a midpoint. That incentivizes both to file for a salary reasonably in line with established precedent, since an outlier in either direction is less likely to be judged fair in the hearing.

On the other hand, going to a hearing with a star player like Reynolds isn’t ideal. The 27-year-old maintained in the past he wouldn’t be miffed by the process, but also acknowledged that the inherently adversarial arbitration process can sometimes get “messy” (link via Mackey). Signing a two-year deal after filing day allows the Pirates to maintain they’ve not violated their “file-and-trial” policy while avoiding the possibility of irritating one of their best players.

From Reynolds’ perspective, he locks in guaranteed earnings over the next couple years without delaying his path to free agency. He’ll also make more money this season than he would’ve even had he won a hearing. Reynolds’ camp had filed for a $4.9MM salary; the team had countered at $4.25MM. Pittsburgh will go above Reynolds’ desired mark this year to foreclose the possibility he receives a notable raise in 2023 with another big season.

Both sides are surely glad to avoid hearings for the next two years, but Reynolds’ long-term status with the organization isn’t much affected by today’s news. This was his first of four seasons of arb-eligibility as a Super Two qualifier. Barring another agreement at some point down the line, he’ll head through the arbitration process again in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 offseasons.

Reynolds is controllable through 2025, his age-30 campaign. He reportedly rejected an extension offer from the Bucs prior to the 2021 season and said in Spring Training the organization hadn’t seriously approached him about a long-term deal this year. Biertempfel tweets the two sides have discussed various potential contract structures in the past. It stands to reason they’ll eventually make a renewed effort at a longer-term pact.

NL Central Notes: Pirates, Nutting, Crowe, Contreras

By Sean Bavazzano | April 14, 2022 at 9:13pm CDT

Shortly after signing third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to an eight-year $70MM extension, Pirates owner Bob Nutting spoke to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the team’s plans moving forward. After applauding the work done by third-year GM Ben Cherington to rebuild the team’s talent pipeline, Nutting stated his belief “that we’ve rebuilt that foundation to the point that now we can really focus on the major league club.” That’s surely welcome news for Pittsburgh fans, who have sat through an arduous rebuilding process that’s included three consecutive fifth place finishes and a bottom-three payroll entering the 2022 season (per Cot’s Contracts).

Of further note, Nutting spoke of the need to look internally and pick “a few key building blocks […] to start building here in Pittsburgh.” It’s already known that the team tried to extend All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds prior to the 2021 season, and have since settled on an arbitration-avoiding pact with the 27-year-old earlier today. Still, with Hayes locked up through his prime years and extensions on the front office’s mind they’ll be hard-pressed to find a better building block than Reynolds. Whether further extension talks take place with Reynolds or other “building blocks”— Mackey suggests breakout reliever David Bednar as one option— remains to be seen, it’s clear the franchise is ready to pivot and secure a division title for the first time since 1992.

Some other news of note from the NL’s central division…

We’re only a few games into the new season but the Pirates feel they may have another breakout reliever on their hands, reports Kevin Gorman of Tribune-ReviewSports. After picking up a three-inning save yesterday, the first of his career, converted-starter Wil Crowe extended his streak to seven scoreless innings to open the season. Small sample size caveats are abound here, but it’s clear that the headlining return from 2020’s Josh Bell trade has seen his stuff play up out of the bullpen. After posting a 5.48 ERA across 26 games (25 starts) with below average strikeout numbers last year, Crowe has upped his swinging strike rate and ranks among the early leaders in avoiding hard contact this season.
The Cubs and catcher Willson Contreras remain far apart in arbitration talks and it doesn’t appear an agreement will be reached without an arbiter, per NBC Sports’ Gordon Wittenmyer. While a few months remain for both sides to settle on a midpoint between their exchanged figures— Contreras filed at $10.25MM while the Cubs put forth a $9MM offer— a tidy resolution never seemed likely between the club and one of the last members of their 2016 World Series-winning core. The Cubs are a file-and-trial club and take a hard stance on discussing arbitration salaries after the figure-exchanging deadline (this year’s deadline was March 22). When asked if the club would make an exception for Contreras, given his reputation on the team and as one of the league’s better hitting catchers, team president Jed Hoyer replied “That’s not our policy. We went past the deadline.” For his part, Contreras doesn’t seem too bothered by the prospect of an arbitration hearing, noting that he’s “been going through a lot of [criticism] since I was in the minor leagues, and everything they have to say I’ve already heard it”. The 29-year-old Contreras is set to headline a decent free agent catcher market after the season, and while he hasn’t closed the window on lengthening his Cubs tenure he did note his chances of remaining with the team may take a hit once the Cubs allow him to test the market. The two-time All-Star also drew trade interest over the offseason, which may eventually expedite the catcher’s exit from his original organization.

Offseason In Review: Pittsburgh Pirates

By Anthony Franco | April 13, 2022 at 8:15am CDT

It was a quiet winter in Pittsburgh, to be expected for a team still firmly in the midst of a rebuild. The Bucs made a couple low-cost additions on the margins, but it’s another evaluative season for the front office. The biggest move for the franchise: a Spring Training extension with a player they expect to be an integral part of their next core, one that marked the largest investment in the organization’s history.

Major League Signings

C Roberto Pérez: one year, $5MM
1B Yoshi Tsutsugo: one year, $4MM
RHP Heath Hembree: one year, $2.125MM
LHP José Quintana: one year, $2MM
CF Jake Marisnick: one year, $1.3MM
1B Daniel Vogelbach: one year, $1MM (deal also includes 2023 club option)
C Andrew Knapp: one year, $800K

2022 spending: $16.025MM
Total spending: $16.225M

Trades and claims

Claimed RHP Eric Hanhold off waivers from Orioles (later outrighted off 40-man roster)
Claimed CF Greg Allen off waivers from Yankees
Traded C Jacob Stallings to Marlins for RHP Zach Thompson, minor league RHP Kyle Nicolas and minor league CF Connor Scott
Claimed LHP Aaron Fletcher off waivers from Mariners
Claimed RHP Adonis Medina off waivers from Phillies (later traded to Mets for cash considerations)
Acquired 2B Josh VanMeter from Diamondbacks for minor league RHP Listher Sosa

Extensions

Signed 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes to an eight-year, $70MM extension (deal also includes 2030 club option and potentially buys out four free agent seasons)

Notable Minor League Signees

Austin Brice, Taylor Davis, Chase De Jong, Jerad Eickhoff

Notable Losses

Steven Brault, Trevor Cahill, Wilmer Difo, Phillip Evans, Erik González, Kyle Keller, Chad Kuhl, Colin Moran, Cody Ponce, Chasen Shreve, Jose Soriano, Stallings

The Pirates are still firmly in rebuild mode, one of a handful of teams that enters the 2022 season with no real hope of contending. As with Ben Cherington’s first two years as general manager, the Bucs entered the winter looking as if they’d be one of the league’s least active teams. They again shied away from any long-term commitments to players outside the organization, but Pittsburgh was comparatively more aggressive this time around than they’d been in recent seasons. After spending just $7.25MM in free agency over the prior two winters combined, the Bucs exceeded $16MM in open market expenditures this year to bring in a handful of veteran role players.

The first of those acquisitions was southpaw José Quintana, a former All-Star who has fallen on hard times. Quintana hasn’t posted a full season out of the rotation since 2019, as he missed the bulk of the 2020 campaign with injury and was kicked to the bullpen last June after a dreadful beginning to the year. The 33-year-old had by far the worst ERA of his career (6.43) in 63 innings with the Angels and Giants last season, surprisingly struggling to throw strikes. Yet he also missed bats at a personal-best rate, and he’s a perfectly sensible flier for a modest $2MM.

Quintana steps into an otherwise very young rotation as a veteran stabilizer. The Bucs hope his acquisition will turn out as last winter’s Tyler Anderson signing did. Anderson was a competent starter for the season’s first half, took the ball every fifth day, then netted the Pirates a couple prospects at the trade deadline. Quintana will need to be better this season than he was in 2021 to attract interest from contenders, but there’s little harm in trying.

Not long after bringing Quintana aboard, the Pirates worked out a one-year deal to keep Yoshi Tsutsugo around. Pittsburgh signed the former NPB star after he was released by the Dodgers in August and watched him turn in the best month and a half of his MLB career down the stretch. That late-season showing earned Tsutsugo a few million dollars and an everyday first base job, as Pittsburgh then jettisoned their previous lefty-hitting first baseman Colin Moran. The Pirates couldn’t trade Tsutsugo last fall (and his impressive showing was probably in too small a sample to merit much interest anyhow), but he’d intrigue contenders if he continues to perform at that level in this season’s first half.

Small pickups aside, the Pirates obviously remained amenable to moving veteran players off the roster. The most straightforward trade candidate of the bunch was catcher Jacob Stallings. The 32-year-old has blossomed into a Gold Glove defender and is still plenty affordable, but his age made him an unlikely long-term fit in Pittsburgh. The Bucs moved him to the Marlins for righty Zach Thompson and prospects Kyle Nicolas (a 2020 second-rounder) and Connor Scott (the No. 13 overall pick in 2018) shortly before the lockout.

Structurally, that deal made sense for both teams. The Marlins were aggressive in rebuilding their lineup in an effort to contend immediately. Pittsburgh grabbed a pair of minor leaguers and a depth arm in Thompson who had been squeezed out of Miami’s loaded starting pitching mix. The Pirates have more opportunity to take a look at Thompson, a 28-year-old who was available in minor league free agency a season ago but pitched to a 3.24 ERA with a solid 11.7% swinging strike rate as a rookie. He didn’t accrue a full year of service in 2021, meaning he can be controlled another six seasons.

With Stallings gone and backup catcher Michael Pérez previously outrighted off the 40-man roster, the Pirates had to bring in two catchers. The starter is former Cleveland backstop Roberto Pérez, inked to a $5MM deal shortly after the Stallings trade. Pérez doesn’t offer much at the plate, but he’s a gifted defender who was lauded for his work with Cleveland’s young pitchers. As with Quintana and Tsutsugo, he could be a deadline trade candidate, but Pittsburgh may value his intangible presence enough to hold onto him all year rather than recoup a minimal prospect return. Just before Opening Day, the Bucs brought in former Phillie Andrew Knapp to back Pérez up.

Pittsburgh took a couple more low-cost shots to round out the infield. First baseman/DH Daniel Vogelbach signed for $1MM after being non-tendered by the Brewers. He adds an on-base oriented lefty bat to the mix and is controllable for multiple seasons; Vogelbach has a cheap club option in 2023 and would be arbitration-eligible in 2024. Also controllable for multiple seasons is lefty-swinging utilityman Josh VanMeter, who was acquired from the D-Backs in Spring Training. Pittsburgh gave up a minor league pitcher to land the out-of-options VanMeter, suggesting they believe he’s capable of sticking on the active roster all year (and maybe beyond).

VanMeter joins young players like Diego Castillo, Hoy Park and Michael Chavis in the mix at second base. He could also see some time in the outfield, where holdovers Ben Gamel and Cole Tucker have jobs. The Pirates claimed Greg Allen (who’ll miss the first couple months of the season with a hamstring injury) and signed Jake Marisnick to fill out the depth on the grass.

The left side of the infield figures to eventually be manned by two of the Pirates’ most promising young players. Ke’Bryan Hayes will be around at third base for the long haul (more on that in a minute), while shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz is one of the sport’s most electrifying young talents. Cruz is opening the season in the minors after being optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis, a move that looked to be motivated by service time considerations. He doesn’t have much experience at the minors’ top level, to which the Pirates can point as justification. Yet it’s difficult to argue he’s not a better player than the light-hitting Kevin Newman already, and a non-competitive 2022 season should give the team plenty of time to live with any growing pains the 6’7″ Cruz experiences on either side of the ball.

Newman will hold down shortstop for now, as he has for a few seasons. The Pirates would probably be amenable to dealing him as well, although there may not be enough interest in a glove-only player to generate a ton of demand. It’s possible Newman just kicks over to second base or the bench whenever Cruz returns to the majors.

There’s no question, on the other hand, that rival teams would love to get their hands on star outfielder Bryan Reynolds. The switch-hitting Reynolds has been an excellent hitter in both full seasons of his MLB career. He’s drawn attention from teams like the Marlins, Mariners, Yankees, Brewers and Padres (and doubtless many more) since last summer’s deadline alone. Pittsburgh has maintained they’re more inclined to build around Reynolds than trade him, made all the more evident by the reported asking price they’ve floated in talks.

Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reported last month that the Pirates wanted both Kahlil Watson and Max Meyer, each of whom are generally ranked among the game’s top 75 or so prospects, in any Reynolds deal. Pittsburgh’s demand from the Padres hasn’t been reported, but Dennis Lin of the Athletic wrote that San Diego considered it “prohibitive.” Cherington more or less confirmed the Bucs would only move Reynolds for a king’s ransom last week (link via Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). “Bryan is a really good player,” Cherington said. “He’s also young, and we’re not winning yet. You combine all those things, teams are gonna call. … Those calls are incoming calls. They’re not outgoing calls.”

Those calls will keep coming, at least unless the Pirates and Reynolds work out a long-term deal. The team controls him through 2025 via arbitration. Reynolds reportedly turned down an extension offer from the Bucs prior to the 2021 season, and he told Mackey that talks about a long-term deal never seriously arose this spring. The sides figure to revisit discussions at some point down the road, but for now, they’ll presumably proceed through arbitration with their star outfielder.

That’s a path they won’t have to take with Hayes, as they agreed to terms with their franchise third baseman on an eight-year extension on Opening Day. The deal guarantees him $70MM, setting a new high-water mark for a franchise commitment to a single player. Nevertheless, it’s a more than reasonable price to pay for essentially the entirety of Hayes’ prime. The deal buys out as much as four free agent years and could keep him around through his age-33 season. For a player who ranked No. 15 on Baseball America’s top prospects list heading into 2021, it’s a sensible investment.

Interestingly, Pittsburgh front-loaded the Hayes deal. That’s an unconventional tack for an early-career extension, which typically align with the standard year-by-year process of progressively paying players more later in the deal for what would’ve been their arbitration and free agent seasons. Instead, the Bucs will pay Hayes $10MM apiece in each of the next two years before paying him $7-8MM per season through the rest of the decade. That gets the young third baseman some noteworthy money up front while allowing the Pirates to keep a fair bit of cash in reserve for future seasons when they anticipate being more competitive.

Who’ll join Hayes as part of the core remains to be seen. Reynolds seemingly will, barring a Godfather-style offer from another team. The Pirates no doubt hope Cruz breaks through, while recent first-round draftees Henry Davis and Nick Gonzales are among the other hitters coming up the pipeline. Much of the attention will again be focused on the minor leagues, but the Pirates have a few arms in the majors trying to pitch their way into the long-term picture.

Mitch Keller and Bryse Wilson are former top prospects who have struggled thus far in their MLB careers. It very well could be a make-of-break year for both righties, but they should get another extended look in 2022. Thompson and JT Brubaker are older and don’t have the prospect pedigree of Keller or Wilson, but they’ve each flashed enough against major league hitters to intrigue. Roansy Contreras and Miguel Yajure each came over from the Yankees in the January 2021 Jameson Taillon deal and could be long-term starting options. Contreras, in particular, is a consensus top 100 prospect whom many evaluators suggest has mid-rotation upside. Not everyone in that group will develop, but the Bucs have plenty of innings to go around in hopes that a couple cement their places on the 2023 pitching staff.

That’s true of the bullpen as well, where Contreras and Yajure are currently stationed. David Bednar broke out as a late-game weapon last season and is controllable through 2026. Reliever performance is volatile enough the Bucs would probably still be open to trade calls on the hard-throwing righty, but he seems likelier to stick around for a few years. Veterans Chris Stratton and Heath Hembree — the latter of whom signed a one-year deal this winter after striking out 34.2% of opponents in 2021 — are more obvious midseason trade candidates.

In aggregate, 2022 will be another rough season for the Pirates and their fans. The club is still firmly in “evaluation” mode of the rebuild, although the hoped-for light at the end of the tunnel is coming closer into view. The time hasn’t yet come for the Pirates to make particularly meaningful pickups on the open market or via trade, but they’ve locked up Hayes as a key piece of the future and declined to move Reynolds for anything more than a massive return. Some of this offseason’s stopgap adds could be dealt away in the coming months, but the Bucs have begun to lay the foundation for what they hope to be their next competitive teams.

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