Late deals yield intriguing returns
The Pirates on Friday traded for prospects who were 21, 22, 23 and 25 years old. One pitched in the postseason last year. Another is hurt. A third was considered Boston’s second-best prospect by Baseball America entering the 2019 season, while they nearly acquired the fourth on Tuesday.
The ages and types of players ran the gamut, the same as they did for the return on Tyler Anderson,
Clay Holmes and Adam Frazier, deals that got things started during a busy deadline week. All told, the Pirates feel like they’ve used this opportunity to stock up on future pieces, adding 11 prospects via five transactions.
“It’s a nice mix of pitching and position players at different positions,” general manager Ben Cherington said. “In every case, we feel there are clear ways forward from a development standpoint.”
Trading Richard Rodriguez, as the Pirates did minutes before Friday’s 4 p.m. deadline, cemented that plan. Pittsburgh shipped their closer to Atlanta for Bryse Wilson and Ricky DeVito, a pair of right-handers.
Wilson, 23, pitched in Game 4 of the NLCS last year, holding the Dodgers to one run on one hit over six innings. Listed at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, Wilson was the Braves’ No. 5 prospect per Baseball America and has bouncedbetween Class AAA Gwinnett and MLB this season.
Wilson is 2-3 with a 4.83 ERA in seven starts with the Braves, striking out 21 and walking eight. In the minors, he’s 5-2 with a 4.23 in 10 games (nine starts), with 42 strikeouts and 16 walks.
Cherington said Wilson is expected to join the Pirates on Saturday, and they hope to get him regular work the rest of the way. Wilson’s best secondary offering is a changeup, and he also uses a hard slider that sometimes plays as a cutter.
“He’s young, and we feel like he can come in and be part of a group of young starting pitchers we’re growing and developing,” Cherington said.
DeVito is more of a project. He’s 0-3 with a 2.66 ERA, 27 strikeouts and a .232 batting average against in five starts with High-A Rome. He’s also currently on the seven-day injured list with an elbow injury. After plowing through rookie ball in 2019, the Seton Hall product reached Low-A later that year and had a 3.78 ERA in four starts.
DeVito, who was considered Atlanta’s 17th-best prospect when Baseball America updated its rankings recently, throws a power sinker that sits in the mid90s and features a splitchange as his go-to weapon.
“Two guys, obviously, at different points in their careers,” Cherington said. ”But two guys we think have a chance to be starting pitchers in the major leagues for us.”
The Rodriguez deal had involved multiple teams over several days, Cherington explained. It seemed for a bit like the trade might not happen, either. As Pirates pitchers stretched in left field Friday, Rodriguez walked out to greet his teammates, who offered some mock cheers.
Rodriguez played catch before eventually returning to the clubhouse. This was around 3:45 p.m. or so. Cherington said the deal was consummated minutes before the deadline.
The Pirates did not draft Rodriguez but signed him to a minor league contract on Dec. 2017. He appeared in 63 MLB games the next year, producing a 2.47 ERA in 69 1/ 3 innings, with 88 strikeouts and just 19 walks.
After struggling early in 2019, Rodriguez found a groove that June. He pitched to a 2.30 ERA and allowed just five homers in 43 innings after giving up nine (and lugging around a 6.45 ERA) through his first 22 1/3 innings.
A shortened 2020 saw
Rodriguez take some big steps forward. He led the Pirates in wins (3) and saves (4) — the first Pirates pitcher to do that since saves became official in 1969 — and had a 0.86 WHIP. That was the fifth-lowest among National League relievers with at least 20 innings pitched, while Rodriguez struck out a career-high 13.1 per nine.
Rodriguez was outstanding early this season, recording a 0.45 ERA in his first 19 games through May 25 before watching that number balloon to 5.40 over his last 18 appearances.
“He’s done a great job with the Pirates,” Cherington said. “Really appreciate everything he did for us on the field and getting to know Richie over the last couple years.”
Around the time that trade broke, so did another one: Austin Davis to the Red Sox for infield Michael Chavis. It makes sense, too.
Cherington played a big role in Boston’s draft when the Red Sox took Chavis 26th overall in 2014. Chavis has produced some numbers, hitting .234 with 19 doubles, four triples, 25 home runs and 83 RBIs in 168 career MLB games, but he also needs a change of scenery.
Capable of playing first or second, Chavis has hit just .190 in the big leagues this season while also spending time in Class AAA.
As recently as two years ago, Chavis seemingly ticketed for stardom after he hit 20 home runs in his first 103 big league games, the sixthfewest needed to reach that mark in Red Sox history.
Chavis was named the team’s rookie of the year by Boston’s BBWAA chapter, led Red Sox minor leaguers in home runs in both 2015 (16) and 2017 (tied with 31) and hit 47 in 193 games from 2017-19.
“He’s got really good power,” Cherington said of Chavis, who’s likely to start in Class AAA. “Looking forward to reconnecting with him and getting him in a Pirates uniform.”
The other trade the Pirates made Friday was even more unique: shipping Class AAA Indianapolis reliever Braeden Ogle to the Phillies for Low-A catcher Abrahan Gutierrez.
As Cherington explained, the Pirates liked Gutierrez so much that he was involved in the original Tyler Anderson trade.
Gutierrez has the secondhighest fielding percentage (.994) in Low-A and has thrown out 70 runners attempting to steal against him in 159 games since turning pro in 2017.
At the plate, Gutierrez came into Friday’s games ranked fifth in the Low-A Southeast League in on-base percentage (.420), seventh in batting average (.288) and 10th in OPS (.850).
“Controls the strike zone,” Cherington said of Gutierrez. “Strong defensive skills. We got to know him as an amateur and have done more work on him since. We really like the person we’re acquiring and and opportunity to bring another young catcher intothe organization.”