JASON MACKEY’S PIRATES CHAT
HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights from Jason Mackey’s Wednesday Pirates chat, which you can join weekly at post-gazette.com. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity:
•
AlCal: What direction do you sense that the Pirates will go in the upcoming draft, [catcher]/position of need or best available?
Jason Mackey: I’ve spent a decent amount of time thinking about this lately. Probably, like most things baseball-related, too much. But I think they’re gonna go best player available. Taking Patrick Bailey is a bit of a reach. If I’m Cherington, I take someone else — maybe the lefty Detmers or Heston Kjerstad, the power-hitting corner outfielder — and try to snag a catcher with my comp pick. But they do need to get catching in some shape or form here.
Cheryl: Do you think the Pirates have a better chance to keep Josh Bell if the National League adopts the designated hitter permanently? Could Nutting be willing to spend more money to after high level free agents?
Jason Mackey: Honestly, I don’t know how much having the DH impacts Bell’s future here. I think the bigger question is 1. What Bell wants followed by 2. Is Nutting willing to spend on a quote-unquote franchise player. They got McCutchen because he took a sizable discount. With Boras representing him, I have a tough time seeing Bell do likewise. But on the other hand, I think Bell really does like it here, and I think — no, I know — Boras really likes Cherington and (in a huge upset) Nutting. I do think talks will advance past where they are now.
Yuri: With there only being 5 draft rounds, will that cause the Pirates to consider making more trades and put more money into free agents?
Jason Mackey: I don’t know about make more trades — they can only make so many because of what they have — but I do think it will increase the importance of maybe finding some undrafted free agents, which has actually been a strength throughout Ben Cherington’s career.
Wyan: Any progress in these meeting between the players and the owners? Are you more confident this week or last week doing this chat about a season happening?
Jason Mackey: I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as progress, but it should describe where things stand. One, medical/health/safety is a much easier hurdle to clear than the financial. Or at least that’s what is believed at this point. Both sides feel like there’s some common ground, and there’s support within individual states to get something off the ground in terms of safe ways to play. The bigger issue, then, is money. The players think they’ve negotiated their salaries for the 2020 season — prorated and paid according to how many games are played. Owners aren’t gonna do that. They’re introducing a 50-50 revenue sharing plan that the players, whether they’re right or wrong, think equates to a salary cap. Then Tuesday it comes out that the owners basically said negotiate a new deal or wait until the whole thing is over, implying that nothing has been decided. I don’t have a lot of faith the owners are going to propose some sort of super playerfriendly deal here, and suddenly there’s not going to be an impasse. I think it’s an intense game of chicken, and neither side is showing signs of budging.
Bruce: Jason, I think we have to face facts there won’t be a season this year. Agree?
Jason Mackey: While I certainly have questions, I see no sense in just blindly packing it in right now. I love baseball. I miss it. I wanna watch more of it and write about it. I still think they can figure this out. They should be able to figure this out.