Shutdown fallout
The ripple effects of closing camp will ultimately affect the 2020 roster.
BRADENTON, Fla. — It’s the right move, Pirates players, coaches and staff members will tell you regarding Major League Baseball’s decision to suspend spring training and bump the regular season back at least two weeks. With how the coronavirus, or COVID-19, has spread, it also was the only decision.
But as the bulk of Pittsburgh’s major league players scatter for the next few weeks or months, it does create an interesting logistical issue. A few of them, actually, as there’s plenty of spring training work left undone and baseball-related complications that will occur on the back end of this.
What are some of those? Let’s take a look.
1. The Pirates technically got a look at MLB’s new three-batter minimum rule, although it had no impact on a 7-5 loss Thursday to the Blue Jays. Geoff Hartlieb, Sam Howard and Miguel Del Pozo each worked at least one inning, and Yacksel Rios faced five batters, retiring none of them.
While the rule isn’t meant to reinvent baseball — no, seriously, it’s not — it will require some tinkering. The Pirates did not get that, and whenever things do pick back up, chances are there’ll be a rush to start the regular season as quickly as possible.
2. Chris Archer didn’t really get much in-game work. Or work at all, really. The guy many expected to start opening day in Tampa, Archer’s spring was delayed because of neck soreness. It was minor, sure, but it did take away from his buildup.
This could potentially be a non-issue if all starting pitchers decide to dial back their workloads; Archer could simply match up with everyone else. But he did miss game reps that are usually valuable.
3. The fifth-starter competition was somewhat affected, though it probably won’t change the outcome. Right now, with a team-high 15 strikeouts this spring and a 3.95 ERA, Derek Holland is your guy. Steven Brault has a strained left shoulder, and the Pirates have brought Chad Kuhl along slowly because he’s coming back from Tommy John surgery.
Speaking of Brault, does this mean he lost his starting job? His injury and the suspension of spring training certainly conspired against him, to the point that he really wasn’t able to counterpunch what Holland did.
It’s a tough break for a pitcher who seemed to find himself last year, riding improved fastball command to become the Pirates’ best starting pitcher for a 14-start stretch in the middle of the season. The good news for Brault is he almost assuredly will have a bullpen role.
4. Why, you ask? Because no other left-hander did a solitary thing this spring to lock down a job. Robbie Erlin, Sam Howard and Williams Jerez combined for an 8.44 ERA and 18 walks in 16 innings. Brault’s an easy choice over any one of the three.
5. Finding a lefty isn’t the only issue facing the Pirates bullpen. With the cancellation of the final 13 spring training games — or likely cancellation, we should say — relievers are missing out on the part of their spring when they pitch on back-toback days.
Similar to starters wanting to build up from one to two innings to eventually five or six innings and 100 pitches, this is an important progression point for relievers, something they will be asked to do routinely during the season.
A pitcher in the 1960s and 1970s would probably scoff at something like this, but it’s a real concern for those playing and managing today’s game.
6. Similarly, we and they have very little idea of bullpen construction. Here’s one way it could look: Keone Kela will be the closer and Kyle Crick the eighth-inning man. Edgar Santana (no hits, walks or runs allowed in five innings) did plenty to lock down a seventh-inning job.
We know Richard Rodriguez, Michael Feliz and Nick Burdi will have roles. Likely Brault, too. Beyond that, Chris Stratton was solid in a long-relief role last summer, and Nik Turley (7 strikeouts, 0 earned runs allowed in 3⅓ innings) was having a strong spring.
7. The pause in spring training likely will have an unfortunate side effect on the Pirates’ top position player prospect, Ke’Bryan Hayes.
While Hayes is unquestionably their third baseman of the future, this probably ends whatever smallpercentage chance he had of becoming the Pirates third baseman of the present.
Hayes was hitting .280 this spring with 1 home run and more walks (5) than strikeouts (4), which is great for him. But probably not enough to persuade management he needs to break camp with the major league club.
8. Any sort of roundingout-the-roster conversation will be a little more difficult now, too.
Erik Gonzalez wound up with just eight at-bats because of a lingering foot injury, although that’s better now. Gonzalez is solid defensively and hits lefties well, meaning he’s likely sticking around despite the small sample size.
The Pirates also saw JT Riddle hit .304 with three triples and some excellent defense. Given he’s on a major league deal, that’s exactly what they wanted to see.
Luke Maile and Guillermo Heredia did pretty much what was expected by hitting below .200 but defending well, and Jose Osuna has been one of baseball’s best pinch-hitters over the past two seasons.
What does that mean? Probably that Phillip Evans,
John Ryan Murphy, Socrates Brito, Jason Martin and Cole Tucker didn’t do quite enough to earn reserve roles, and they’ll have to bide their time in Class AAA.
Tucker is the most notable, but it’s hard to see the Pirates keeping him in the majors without being able to guarantee regular at-bats.
9. The Pirates will miss out on the chance — at least for now — to work on fielding and fundamentals, two areas where they definitely needed to improve. And to their credit, they have: Through 20 games, they had a fielding percentage of .982, which was 10th-best in the majors.
10. The final part of the spring training schedule was when Pirates manager Derek Shelton planned to regularly roll out his opening day outfield — Bryan Reynolds in left, Jarrod Dyson in center and Gregory Polanco in right. “They’ll be out there a lot to get acclimated to each other,” Shelton said in late February. Now, they won’t. Any sort of feel that was supposed to be developed over the final however many games now will have to happen much faster, in more of a simulated setting.