Young position players filling pool opening
Gonzales, Peguero join players who are getting work with Altoona group
When the Pirates set their original 60-man player pool for the 2020 season, it didn’t include any of the team’s youngest prospects, players like their firstround draft picks from the past two years, shortstop Nick Gonzales and pitcher Quinn Priester.
The thought, as general manager Ben Cherington said at the time, was that those players would, hopefully, receive some sort of instructional work from the Pirates during the 2020 season, though nobody knew exactly when or where that would be.
Since then, right-handed reliever Edgar Santana was suspended 80 games for testing positive for a forbidden substance, while fellow right-hander Hector Noesi became the first, and so far only, Pirate to opt out of the 2020 season.
That left two spots open in the player pool, and on Wednesday, Cherington confirmed how the Pirates plan to fill them.
After reports were confirmed Tuesday that Gonzales had joined the taxi squad in Altoona, Cherington said that, yes, Gonzales will eventually be filling one of the pool spots.
He will be joined by 19year-old shortstop Liover Peguero, who was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Starling Marte trade in January and is a top-10-ranked prospect in the Pirates’ system.
“We’re continuing to evaluate kind of day to day the best way to use our 60player pool in terms of putting the best team we can on the major league level, making sure we’re supporting the major league team and also trying to find ways to continue development for some younger players too,” Cherington said.
“I think in Nick and Liover’s case, we felt like as we looked through potential additions with those spots that we had open, maybe try to maybe weigh a little bit more the position player, believing that with a pitcher, at least in theory, we can create practice remotely that is a little bit closer to what we create in Altoona.
“It’s harder to do that for a hitter … and obviously both those guys are important players for the Pirates so we wanted to make sure we got a chance to spend some time with them in person.”
Cherington added multiple times that the roster is not static, by any means. Injuries and illnesses can open up more spots on the 60-player pool, meaning that players who aren’t on that list currently will need to stay ready in case a spot opens up.
The Pirates don’t have a set list of players who will be next in line in the case of a roster vacancy, instead prescribing each minor league player a workout regimen to keep them in shape, in case they are needed this year and also to continue their development for the years to come.
While Gonzales and Peguero’s additions are certainly exciting for those hoping that the two can contribute greatly to the Pirates in the future, there is also the matter of building the major league roster for Cherington.
As of now, the Pirates have not made any cuts to their 40-man major league roster. Cherington said they would “prefer not to make decisions until we have to.”
Of course there are some players, the Josh Bells and Bryan Reynolds of the world, for whom there are no questions to be asked. Cherington’s point about not making decisions was in response to a question about left-hander Derek Holland, who seems likely to make the opening day roster at this point.
So, it seems Cherington is not yet willing to discuss much about the roster quite yet, at least not until any official decisions are made.
What Cherington would say is that the Pirates don’t plan on making any free agent additions or to change the makeup of the PNC Park summer camp roster between now and opening day.
“I would expect that the players who are in Pittsburgh right now would be the ones to make up the opening day roster,” he said.
Perhaps part of the reason Cherington isn’t comfortable talking about the opening day roster is that not everyone who is supposed to be at summer camp has been. Reliever Blake Cederlind had a confirmed positive COVID-19 test and has yet to return. Closer Keone Kela and third-base prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes have not yet stepped on the field.
As of now, Cherington said there is no set point by which Cederlind, Hayes and Kela must return to be considered for opening day.
“Probably just need to continue to make that a daily conversation and keep the players’ health and safety first and foremost and make sure that as guys are available, that we make sure we put [them] in a good spot to be ready to compete against major league players, which is not an easy thing to do as you all know,” he said.
Also relating to health, the Pirates have opted, at least for now, to leave righthander Chris Archer out of the player pool while he is recovering from surgery last month. This decision comes while fellow starter Jameson Taillon, who is also out of the 2020 season as he battles back from Tommy John, is at PNC Park.
The distinction, Cherington said, is that Taillon is farther ahead in his recovery than Archer.