How They Were Built: Pittsburgh Pirates
This week, the Pirates clinched their third straight playoff berth, and they’ve been as strong as ever this year, with a 95-win total that ranks second in the Majors. Most successful small-payroll teams are built through their farm systems, and the Pirates do lean heavily on theirs. But they’ve also gotten surprising production from veterans, most of whom they’ve acquired for pennies on the dollar. Here’s how they got their key players.
CF Andrew McCutchen (5.8 fWAR in 2015). In 2005, the Pirates, then led by Dave Littlefield, took McCutchen with the No. 11 overall pick in the draft. That pick sticks out as an outstanding one even in a first round loaded with top-tier talent — other early first-rounders that year included Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki and Jay Bruce. Of course, 2005 was long ago, and McCutchen is still in Pittsburgh thanks in part to his contract. He entered 2015 with over five years of service time, and it’s likely the Pirates would have traded him by now had current GM Neal Huntington not signed him to an incredibly team-friendly $51.5MM extension that allows the Bucs to control him through 2018.
SP Gerrit Cole (5.5). The Bucs made Cole the first overall pick in the 2011 draft, ahead of other potential top picks like Anthony Rendon, Danny Hultzen and Trevor Bauer. A number of first-round picks from that draft have had very good careers so far, including Rendon, Sonny Gray, Jose Fernandez and George Springer, but the Pirates are surely very happy with their choice — Cole didn’t quite turn his elite stuff into elite results in his first couple seasons in the big leagues, but this year he’s emerged as an ace, posting a 2.60 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 201 terrific innings.
IF Jung-Ho Kang (3.9). Kang injured his knee while trying to turn a double play last week and is now out for the season, but he made a big impact in his first year in Pittsburgh. Kang hasn’t matched the 40-homer power he displayed in his last year with the Nexen Heroes in Korea, but he hit .287/.355/.461 in his first season in the US, also adding value with his defense and baserunning. The Pirates got him for an incredibly cheap $11MM over four years, plus a posting fee of approximately $5MM. That deal was possible because no one knew what to expect from Kang, the first position player from the KBO to make the leap to the Majors. Next winter, Kang’s former teammate Byung-Ho Park will likely benefit greatly from Kang’s success.
LF Starling Marte (3.6). Pirates Latin American scouting director Rene Gayo takes pride in finding good players others miss, and he prefers to spread available bonus money around to many player rather than one or two. Marte, right fielder Gregory Polanco and infield prospect Alen Hanson are the gems of the Pirates’ recent efforts in Latin America, and none cost more than $150K. Marte was already 18 — old for an unsigned Latin American prospect — when Gayo signed him for just $85K in 2007. In 2014, Marte finally cashed in, signing a $31MM extension with two options that allows the Bucs to control his rights through 2021.
C Francisco Cervelli (3.6). Russell Martin helped lead the Pirates to playoff berths in 2013 and 2014, but the Bucs had little choice but to allow him to depart when the Blue Jays offered him five years and $82MM last winter. To replace him, they made a low-profile trade with the Yankees, getting Cervelli in exchange for reliever Justin Wilson. The deal hasn’t turned out badly for New York — Wilson has been a key cog in the Bronx bullpen, and the Yankees already had a starting catcher in Brian McCann. But Cervelli has been a revelation in Pittsburgh, hitting nearly as well as Martin did and ranking as the best catcher in the big leagues in pitch framing, all for less than a million dollars. The Bucs also control his services for 2016.
SP Francisco Liriano (3.3). Last offseason, the Bucs signed Liriano to a three-year, $39MM free agent contract last year that’s at least somewhat close to what he’s worth, but they originally signed him to a cheap two-year deal prior to 2013 after two seasons in which he posted ERAs above five. Like many pitchers, Liriano has shined in Pittsburgh thanks in part to the Pirates’ program of ground balls, pitch framing, excellent coaching, and defensive shifts. He’s been arguably the most successful of the Bucs’ pitching reclamation projects, joining current rotation-mates A.J. Burnett (2.8 fWAR) and J.A. Happ (1.7 fWAR since the Bucs acquired him in a low-profile move at the deadline) as starting pitchers who have thrived in black and gold.
SP A.J. Burnett (2.8). After a year with the Phillies, Burnett turned down a player option with Philadelphia and signed a one-year deal with the Pirates for significantly less ($8.5MM) so that he could finish his career with the Bucs. Burnett battled through hernia issues with the Phillies, but his significantly better performances with the Pirates as compared to the Phillies and Yankees are no accident — the Bucs’ ballpark and pitcher-friendly system are great fits for him.
2B Neil Walker (2.5). The Bucs selected Walker in the first round of the draft the year before they picked McCutchen, and Walker has enjoyed a strong career playing in his hometown. Unlike with McCutchen, though, the Pirates haven’t extended Walker, perhaps figuring his skills aren’t as likely to age as well. Walker played catcher and third base before moving to second in the big leagues and isn’t an outstanding defender there, and it’s unclear how much defensive value he’ll have as he ages. He’s still a good and consistent hitter with excellent power for a second baseman, but he turned 30 this month and is eligible for free agency after next season. He’ll be an interesting qualifying offer candidate a year from now.
CL Mark Melancon (1.5). After the 2012 season, the Bucs traded then-closer Joel Hanrahan and utilityman Brock Holt to the Red Sox for Melancon and three other players. Holt has had a surprisingly good career, but the key player in the deal at the time was Hanrahan, who got hurt soon after the trade and never recovered. The Pirates, meanwhile, turned Melancon, who had posted a 6.20 ERA the year before, into a setup man and then a closer. The Bucs were surely intrigued by Melancon’s peripherals (8.2 K/9, 2.4 BB/9) and ability to generate ground balls. Since the trade, he’s emerged as a dominant reliever.
Carlos Martinez To Miss Rest Of Season
SATURDAY: Martinez has a shoulder strain and will miss the rest of the season, the Cardinals have announced. Martinez will also miss the postseason. He will not have surgery, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets.
FRIDAY: Cardinals righty Carlos Martinez left his start against the Brewers tonight after throwing just seven pitches. The team has announced that Martinez has right shoulder tightness and that his departure from the game was precautionary. He will receive an MRI tomorrow, manager Mike Matheny said.
Martinez was visibly in pain after that seventh pitch, turning his shoulder awkwardly and stepping off the mound. He then covered his face with his glove as he walked off the field. His average fastball velocity this year has been over 95 MPH, but none of his pitches tonight topped 93 MPH.
At this point in the season, losing Martinez for any significant period of time would be unfortunate for the Cardinals. Like most of the rest of the Cards’ starters, Martinez has been terrific this year. He has a 3.01 ERA, 9.2 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and an excellent 54.7% ground ball rate in 179 1/3 innings, and he’s emerged as one of the National League’s top young starters.
Tigers To Keep Brad Ausmus As Manager
Brad Ausmus will remain as manager of the Tigers, the team has announced. New GM Al Avila says Ausmus’ recent work with young players was a key reason the Tigers decided to keep him, according to MLB.com’s Jason Beck (on Twitter). Avila says Tigers ownership allowed him to make the decision, writes Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. There have, however, not been any extension talks between the two sides (Twitter links). Ausmus is currently under contract through 2016, with a team option for 2017.
“On Friday afternoon, I met with manager Brad Ausmus and during our discussion I told him I wanted him to continue as manager of the Tigers in 2016,” said Avila in a statement. “It is my belief, and our collective belief within our baseball operations department, that Brad is the right manager for this team given where the team is, at this point in time, and for us to achieve our goals in 2016.”
As recently as last week, it had looked like the Tigers would fire Ausmus at the end of the season. Reporting earlier this month had suggested the Tigers had already decided to fire Ausmus, but Avila said in response that no decision had been made.
Ausmus is 162-153 in almost two full seasons on the job. That includes a 90-win performance in his first season and a 72-81 record this year. It’s been a tough season for the Tigers, who released longtime GM Dave Dombrowski from his contract in August and traded key veterans David Price and Yoenis Cespedes in July.
Going forward, the Tigers still have a core expensive veterans in Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler, Justin Verlander, Victor Martinez and Anibal Sanchez. Of those players, the only ones who have contributed at levels befitting their contracts are Cabrera and Kinsler. The Tigers are currently in last place, and they likely won’t be expected to contend in 2016, either, so Ausmus’ most important role with the Tigers could be helping them develop younger players like James McCann, Anthony Gose, Jose Iglesias and Daniel Norris.
Quick Hits: Managers, Sierra, Red Sox
Too many MLB managers are former players, Adam Felder argues in a provocative piece for the Atlantic. 77% of MLB managers once played in MLB, whereas in other major sports, whereas only about half of all NBA and NHL head coaches played, and about a quarter of NFL head coaches did. Meanwhile, the performance of some MLB managers with limited experience beyond their playing careers, such as the Nationals’ Matt Williams, suggests that some teams might be weighting playing experience too heavily when hiring managers. Felder suggests one solution might be for teams to employ one person to handle tactical decisions and another — perhaps more likely to be a former player — to lead the clubhouse. Here are more quick notes from around the big leagues.
- 20-year-old Cuban righty Carlos Sierra will have a showcase on October 13 in Florida, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez tweets. As Sanchez noted in an earlier article, Sierra pitched three years in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, but this year he pitched for the Tenerife Marlins in the top baseball league in Spain. Sierra is now a citizen of Spain, and he left Cuba through legal means. He will be subject to rules regarding international bonus pools.
- Dave Dombrowski added Frank Wren to the Red Sox front office because he wants associates who aren’t afraid to voice their opinions, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald writes. “I know Frank will speak his mind. He will disagree with me. He has before,” says Dombrowski, who worked with Wren in the Expos and Marlins organizations. “But also, the other people in the organization – we had our free agent scouts, I told them how important that is. Don’t just say it because you think it’s what I want to hear.”
Playoff Notes: Cubs, Blue Jays, Pirates
The latest teams to clinch playoff spots are the Cubs (who earned theirs when the Giants were eliminated with a loss last night) and Blue Jays (who won their spot with a win over the Rays and a Twins loss to the Tigers. For both teams, it’s been a long time coming. The Cubs haven’t been to the playoffs since 2008, when they fell in the NLDS to the Dodgers. The Jays, meanwhile, haven’t been to the playoffs since 1993, when Joe Carter walked off against the Phillies in the World Series. Here are more quick notes on playoff-bound teams.
- The Blue Jays are well positioned for a playoff run, John Lott of the National Post writes. The additions of David Price (via trade) and Marcus Stroman (via a return from injury) have given the Jays two front-line starting pitchers of a type they lacked early in the season.
- After 20 straight losing seasons, the Pirates are now playoff regulars, the Associated Press writes. After Bob Nutting took over as the face of Pirates ownership and Neal Huntington as their GM, the Bucs’ transformation started at the bottom. They spent heavily on the draft, reorganized their scouting department, and invested in their Latin American program. After the Pirates’ collapse in 2012, though, the team nearly decided to change course. “Everything was up for discussion, for review, for throwing us all out,” says Nutting. They Pirates kept their front office in place, and they’ve made the playoffs in three consecutive years since then.
Josh Byrnes A Candidate For Top Jobs With Angels
Former Diamondbacks and Padres GM Josh Byrnes is a candidate for GM or president of baseball operations with the Angels, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. Byrnes currently serves as vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers.
Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler is reportedly the favorite for the Angels GM job. Rangers assistant GM Thad Levine and Angels director of pro scouting Hal Morris have also been connected to the position, however, along with Blue Jays assistant GM Tony La Cava, Indians vice president of player personnel Ross Atkins, and Angels assistant GMs Matt Klentak and Scott Servais. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets that the Angels currently plan to hire one executive, not two, so if they were to hire Byrnes as president of baseball operations, it would appear they would not hire a GM.
Yesterday, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman mentioned another name in connection with the GM job: that of Kevin Towers, who ironically replaced Byrnes as Diamondbacks GM after Byrnes was fired in 2010. Two years later, Byrnes then headed to San Diego to take the GM job Towers had once occupied.
Red Sox Notes: Hill, Front Office, McCracken
Last night, veteran lefty Rich Hill struck out ten batters in a complete-game shutout against the Orioles. In doing so, he became the first AL pitcher in the last century to whiff at least ten in each of his first three starts with a new team, Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com writes. As McAdam notes, that’s an amazing achievement for anyone, let alone a 34-year-old journeyman who was until recently pitching in independent ball. The Nationals released Hill in June, and the Sox signed him to a minor league deal after he struck out 21 batters in two starts with the Long Island Ducks. Since the Sox promoted him to the big leagues earlier this month, Hill has allowed just three runs in 23 innings, striking out 30 and walking two. Here’s more out of Boston.
- The Sox’ hiring of Frank Wren is the latest evidence of their commitment to building a robust front office, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal writes. They used their financial heft to lure Dave Dombrowski to Boston rather than Seattle or Toronto, and they’ve added Wren and promoted Mike Hazen to general manager. Dombrowski says he will solicit evaluations from assistants to the GM Pedro Martinez and Jason Varitek. The Red Sox are also hoping to add adviser and former Angels GM Jerry Dipoto to a full-time role, although that will have to wait until it’s clear whether Dipoto will get a GM job elsewhere.
- One exec the Red Sox didn’t hire was Quinton McCracken, writes Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. McCracken interviewed for the GM job that ultimately went to Hazen. Now that the process is over, he’ll remain with the Astros as their director of player development. “Sunday night we interviewed pretty much half the day Monday morning. I was back in Houston later that night,” says McCracken. “Very thorough, interesting process. It’s the first time ever really going through something like that. Just being in consideration with a storied franchise like that for that position was truly an honor.” McCracken, of course, played 12 years as a big-league outfielder. He worked for two years in player development with the Diamondbacks before joining the Astros three years ago.
Week In Review: 9/19/15 – 9/25/15
Here’s a look back at a quiet week at MLBTR.
Key Move
- The Phillies extended manager Pete Mackanin.
Top Prospect Promotions
- Twins – 1B/OF Max Kepler (link)
Designated For Assignment
- Indians – OF Tyler Holt (link)
- Cardinals – 1B Xavier Scruggs (link)
Outrights
- Giants – OF Daniel Carbonell (link)
- Braves – P Jake Brigham, P Michael Kohn (link)
Released
Quick Hits: Tiebreakers, Lee, Diamondbacks, Padres
With less than two weeks left in the regular season, the NL playoff picture appears relatively stable, but there’s plenty left to be determined in the American League. That could result in any number of headache-inducing tiebreaker situations, as ESPN’s Jayson Stark explains. That includes the possibility that there could be a four-way tie between the Rangers, Astros, Angels and Twins for one spot atop the AL West and the last Wild Card spot. The number of possible scenarios are exhausting, but for the teams involved, the travel could be even more exhausting. For example, if the Astros and Twins were to tie for the final Wild Card and the Astros were to win, they’d potentially have to travel from Seattle to Phoenix to Minneapolis to New York to either Kansas City or Toronto, all in a span of about a week. Here’s more from around the league.
- Cliff Lee‘s tenure with the Phillies is about to officially reach its end, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes. This is the last year of the $120MM contract to which the Phillies signed Lee before the 2011 season, and the Phillies will surely pay Lee a $12.5MM buyout rather than exercising his 2016 option for $27.5MM. Lee missed much of the 2014 season and all of 2015 with elbow trouble. “He helped us make the World Series in ’09 and the postseason in ’11. He pitched very well in ’12 and ’13. It just didn’t work out,” says Phillies interim GM Scott Proefrock. “It was a situation last year where we were looking to trade him and obviously his injury short circuited that.” Zolecki notes that the Phillies insured Lee’s contract, so they’ll get back part of the $25MM they’ve paid him for 2015. Lee was, of course, a huge part of the 102-win 2011 Phillies, ranking among the best pitchers in a brilliant rotation that also featured Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. He also pitched 200-plus excellent innings in both 2012 and 2013.
- The Diamondbacks and Padres have both had underwhelming seasons, but they’re taking diverging paths, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. The Diamondbacks have plenty of good young players under team control, including Paul Goldschmidt, A.J. Pollock, David Peralta and Ender Inciarte, Lin writes. The Padres, meanwhile, have a veteran team that would be expensive to try to keep together even if it weren’t already disappointing. The D-backs entered the season with modest expectations and may have already surpassed them, while the Padres began with great expectations and fell well short. “For us, we have a nice core of talent that’s come through the minor leagues together, and now they’re getting this opportunity,” says Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale. “We have to make the decision this winter of where do we spice in some of those veterans, whether it’s a position player or a couple starting pitchers.”
- The Padres’ situation is such that more wins this season might actually diminish their flexibility for the future, writes Jeff Sanders of the Union-Tribune. Not only does fewer wins mean a higher draft position for 2016, but a bottom-ten finish in wins means the Padres can pursue top-tier free agents this winter without risking losing their top draft pick due to the qualifying offer system. Currently, the Padres are tied with the Tigers for the eighth-worst record in the big leagues at 72-81, but they’re within striking distance of improving upon the records of several other teams, including the White Sox, Diamondbacks, Red Sox and Mariners.
Giants Interested In Retaining Marlon Byrd For 2016
The Giants are interested in keeping outfielder Marlon Byrd in 2016, Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. The Giants have an $8MM club option for Byrd’s services in 2016 as part of the deal he originally signed with the Phillies.
There are, however, other factors at play here. As Jeff Todd noted in his vesting options update from earlier this week, Byrd’s option automatically vests if he gets 550 plate appearances this season. Byrd currently stands at 513 with ten games remaining. If the Giants were to simply let him play every day for the rest of the season, it’s likely his option would vest. With a couple days off, Byrd could come up just short, in which case the Giants would get to make a decision. The Giants’ interest in Byrd suggests they could simply exercise the option even if it doesn’t vest, and that wouldn’t be unreasonable — Byrd is hitting just .250 with a .296 OBP this year, but with 22 home runs and a .456 slugging percentage, he remains useful.
Then again, Byrd is already 38, and it’s also conceivable the Giants could hope to retain him more cheaply than $8MM, especially since the injured Hunter Pence will be back in 2016, pushing Byrd to more of a fourth-outfielder-type role. The Giants will also likely want to spend money on pitching. Since they’re currently are all but out of the playoffs, they could easily defend having Byrd sit a game or two for the rest of the season in order to give an extra start to a September call-up like Jarrett Parker or Mac Williamson. That would likely prevent the option from vesting. Of course, Byrd might then see an attempt to sign him more cheaply as bad faith, which might cause him to sign elsewhere, particularly if he were assured of more playing time.
That sort of maneuvering doesn’t seem typical of the Giants, however. They’re usually loyal to their players, frequently extending or re-signing veterans (including Pence, Tim Lincecum, Sergio Romo, Jake Peavy, Javier Lopez, Ryan Vogelsong, Jeremy Affeldt and Marco Scutaro) shortly before or shortly after they hit free agency. Byrd’s value certainly seems close to $8MM, so if the Giants want to keep him, they seem likely to try to do so in such a way that his impending option situation doesn’t cause strife. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to watch the box scores for the rest of the season to see how much Byrd plays.