Pirates careful in promoting prospects
For a team on pace to lose more than 100 games, there’s naturally going to be some fan vitriol. But when it comes to the Pirates, it’s not necessarily the fact that they have lost 64% of their games, it’s how they have done it.
Gregory Polanco has the lowest OPS (.630) of any MLB right fielder with at least 300 plate appearances, the same for Kevin Newman (.541 OPS) at shortstop. Yet they’ve combined to make 176 of a possible 230 starts (76.5%) this season.
Those who follow the team have seemingly grown tired of seeing Polanco and Newman as regulars in manager Derek Shelton’s lineup, and it’s hard to blame them. With the Pirates 33 games under .500, it’s not crazy to want to see the team try new things and give other players a chance.
General manager Ben Cherington spoke over Zoom on Friday and offered some insight into how the Pirates are approaching the allocation of playing time over the final six weeks or so of the season.
“It’s a balance,” Cherington said. “We need to be aware of how much guys are playing and who’s playing because we need to learn about players, and we need to give players the opportunity to improve, develop and make adjustment sat the major league level, particularly those who have a chance of being part of what we’re doing. There’s also a balance between [giving young players opportunities], wanting those at-bats to be earned, and wanting to put the best possible lineup we can out there every night.
“It’s not easy to balance those two things. I think we can, and that’s what [manager Derek
Shelton] is doing every night.”
In explaining how the Pirates are spending their available playing time, Cherington cited a couple of examples of stuff that has changed. David Bednar taking a greater role in the bullpen. Chris Stratton, too. Bryse Wilson, Wil Crowe and JT Brubaker making regular starts. Even Hoy Park getting a look.
There are also some players at Class AAA Indianapolis worth involving in this conversation. Michael Chavis has been terrific thus far, although Cherington talked Friday about needing and wanting to get him more regular at-bats given how Chavis didn’t get many in Boston.
Tucupita Marcano, too, and that’s probably of greater priority because Marcano is only 21.
“We feel in both cases, it’s the right place to be,” Cherington said of Chavis and Marcano. “Now, we’ll see. We hope there’s opportunity for more players as we get through this season. There won’t be opportunity for all of them. We just won’t have enough spots. We hope there’s opportunity for some.”
One reality working against Cherington and the Pirates is the fact that September call-ups will be limited to two this year, down from 15 in the previous full season (2019). It’s a classic example of MLB over-correcting. As a result, rebuilding clubs such as the Pirates are prohibited from giving young players a taste of the big leagues.
On a positive note, the minor league season will extend into September, so the Pirates certainly have innings to allocate. But they’re obviously not as impactful as the ones in the major leagues.
“We want to make sure that development needs are met and that it’s earned,” Cherington said. “There’s only so much opportunity and not everyone will get [a promotion], so we’ll try to make decisions that put the player and the team in the best spot.”
Some of those players could conceivably come from Class AA Altoona, too.
The Pirates did it once with Rodolfo Castro, and it may make sense for the Pirates to reward some of his former teammates and introduce Mason Martin, Oneil Cruz, Cal Mitchell or Ji-Hwan Bae to big-league life. Not necessarily to have them play every day but see some defensive innings, a random at-bat or a pinchrunning appearance to start.
The Pirates don’t have anything against that, Cherington explained, but it also has to make sense from a development perspective, and they need to be extra scrutinizing — because there are so few spots available — of how they’re spending playing time.
Which makes the top of this cycle that much more perplexing. Polanco is owed $12.5 million in 2022 or can be bought out for $3 million. Which route would you expect the Pirates to go?
Meanwhile, Cole Tucker has shown signs of improvement, Marcano played MLB games for the Padres, and the Pirates have for whatever reason been sticking with Newman, who’s having one of the least productive offensive seasons in the modern
-day history of the franchise.
Cherington talked about the Polanco situation, saying the Pirates basically feel like they believe he’s finally healthy, has had his ability obfuscated by injuries, and they want to see what he can be with an actual run of good health. It would seem that Newman falls into the adjustments category, where they’re trying to give him time to change and improve.
But given how ugly things have gotten lately,
it’s also hard to blame fans who have grown tired of seeing the same old stuff.
“We’ll see where this goes over the next several weeks,” Cherington said. “Again, we know that playing time’s important. We want guys to feel like they need to earn it, and we also want to learn about players. We need to balance all those things.”