Dickerson dealt to Phillies

Rookie Reynolds’ emergence, Polanco’s return help make Gold Glove left fielder expendable

CINCINNATI — Before Wednesday’s game, a couple of Corey Dickerson’s teammates floated an idea.

They though it would be funny to start their own hug watch, the thing that happens when a baseball player gets traded. In the dugout, typically after said player is removed from the game, he hugs his teammates as word spreads

on social media that he’s headed elsewhere.

Turns out the Pirates didn’t have to fake it with Dickerson, whom they traded to the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday for a

player to be named later and $ 250,000 of additional money in their 2019- 20 international signing bonus pool.

At one point during the game, Joe Musgrove approached Dickerson in the dugout and hugged him, the outfielder figuring it was some kind of joke.

“When Joe hugged me, he said, ‘ See you later, man.’ I thought he was joking,” Dickerson said.

“He told me the Phillies got me. Came in and talked to [ Pirates general manager] Neal [ Huntington]. Also talked to the Phillies GM [ Matt Klentak] a little bit ago. It catches you off- guard a little bit,

but it is what it is.”

For Dickerson, it was sort of bittersweet.

On one hand, he really appreciated his time in Pittsburgh, the chance to play every day and an opportunity he spun into a .300 average last season and a Gold Glove, a nod to some terrific work with outfield/ first- base coach Kimera Bartee.

On the other, Dickerson, 30, can go to a contender and help the Phillies battle with the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals in the NL East.

“It kind of stinks to leave [ the Pirates], but it’s also an opportunity to play somewhere and they’re contending, be able to be a piece to try and help,” Dickerson said. “I look forward to the conversations that I’ll get to have with my guys here before I go.”

There was an opportunity for Dickerson to make the Phillies’ home game Wednesday night, although he joked that chartering a flight was probably cost prohibitive.

Losing Dickerson should tell you something about the Pirates outfield situation. One, Bryan Reynolds will absolutely shift into a fulltime role, pretty much as he has done already.

“He’s earned it,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.

Two, Gregory Polanco is no longer experiencing range- of- motion issues and could return soon, Huntington said. That should be seen as an encouraging sign.

If they had five outfielders, wanted to use Reynolds every day and maybe give a young guy a chance, then it’s a little crowded.

Hurdle understood why the Pirates made the move, although it’s easy to tell that he does have sort of a special respect for Dickerson.

When the Pirates acquired Dickerson via trade in February 2018, Hurdle remembers fielding a phone call from Walt Weiss, who had Dickerson in Colorado.

“[ Weiss] said, ‘ You’re going to love this guy.’ ” Hurdle recalled. “I told Corey the same thing, ‘ Walt told me I was going to love you. Now the time’s been spent. I love ya.’ ”

The trade removes one of the Pirates’ best hitters of late. Dickerson was 15 for 34 (. 441) with seven walks in his final 13 games with the Pirates. From June 8 through Wednesday, Dickerson hit .333 ( 38 for 114) with 23 RBIs in 40 games.

Dickerson homered twice Tuesday night and has seemingly rediscovered the groove that made him so effective last season, one that Hurdle was more than happy to revisit after Tuesday’s game.

“The effort, the energy, the edge, the opportunity for us to help him rekindle himself and reignite himself in some ways was real,” Hurdle said. “He’s appreciative of that.

“He’s a good man, a good player on the field and a good man off the field.”

From Huntington’s seat, while it’s certainly not going to excite fans, a big part of the deal was adding to the Pirates’ international signing bonus pool.

Huntington likened the process to buying a lottery ticket or two, hoping to discover some lesser- known prospect ( in the United States, anyway) who turns out to be a star.

Said Huntington, “We thought it was an opportunity to give young players a chance to play, add some additional prospects via the international market and a player to be named and continue to push opportunities forward for not only the rest of this year but next year and beyond.”