Flexibility critical for pitching staff
Budget-conscious Pirates get creative
Ben Cherington seemingly has a type. No, not that. He’s happily married. It’s more a type of transaction or player that has become common since Cherington became general manager of the Pirates: the reclamation project pitcher.
Via the waiver wire or minor trade, perhaps for cash, a player to be named later or both, the Pirates under Cherington have steadily been stashing fixeruppers on the fringes of their roster, guys such as Ashton Goudeau, Sean Poppen, Carson Fulmer, Austin Davis and Tyler Bashlor.
They actually dumpster dove on Fulmer twice and lost Nick Tropeano via waivers on Oct. 30.
Turns out there’s a reason for the roster rigamarole, and it’s unsurprisingly related to the Pirates’ financial constraints. It’s also not dumb. It’s actually a way Cherington feels the club can perhaps compete with bigger spenders, by creating a revolving door of pitchers and using them in the proper spots.
The Pirates are essentially trying to scheme the system by taking advantage of guys having options and finding success in short bursts, a cheaper path to 27 outs than simply spending a bunch of money on their starting rotation. Will it work? There’s a good chance we’ll find out in 2021.
“Look, to be really good, we need to develop the next Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, Jacob deGrom or whatever,” Cherington told the Post-Gazette. “The kind of guy who’s rock-solid, gets deep in the game, and he can go three times through the lineup. Those guys are rare, but you obviously benefit when you have them. We hope we can develop that kind of guy over time.
“But it’s not the only way to win. Often there are pitchers who can be really effective if you just sort of manage their exposure a little bit instead of always trying to get a third time through the lineup. Maybe two times is enough. But in order to do that, you have to have a lot of guys in the bullpen who can face more than two or three hitters.”
How Cherington plans to tweak the Pirates’ bullpen and overall pitcher usage philosophy has a couple different tentacles
here worth explaining.
Let’s start with the basic realization that, no, they don’t have a Cole, Verlander or deGrom, nor do they have the financial means/willingness to get one. The hope is that, in a couple years, perhaps Quinn Priester, Brennan Malone or the 2021 No. 1 overall pick fits that mold, but we’re not there yet. Creative solutions must come first.
The Pirates, as Cherington has said, also need to develop a system that legitimately makes pitchers better, whether that’s by solving mechanical problems, using guys differently or adjusting pitch mixes. Not one where performance improves once they leave.
It’s not sexy and it sure doesn’t undo Tyler Glasnow or Cole, but Sam Howard would be a good example of that this past season. The Pirates claimed him off waivers from the Rockies, told him to use his slider a lot more, and he blossomed into one of their more dependable relievers because of it.
The key component of this method involves options. Pittsburgh has started to target guys with options left so that they can shuttle them back and forth between Pittsburgh and Class AAA Indianapolis,
making sure they have enough fresh, effective arms at all times.
Think of it as a revolving door or carousel that takes 13 pitching spots and extends it to 18 or (hopefully) more by employing a taxi squad of arms.
“We’re trying to build a staff that has as many of those guys as possible,” Cherington said. “The more guys we have with options, we’re not counting on 13 guys; we can kind of use 18 or 20 guys.”
Taking that approach might be tough on players. It certainly won’t produce much continuity, but it is an innovative approach, one that might work if the Pirates do the final part right: accentuating those pitchers’ strengths by routinely putting them in situations where they’re not in over their heads.
“To be able to do what I’m describing — build enough optionable depth, guys with the ability to get multiple outs, etc. — we’re going to have to accumulate as many of these guys as we can,” Cherington said. “Sometimes that’s going to mean cycling the end of our roster in order to do it.
“They’re not all going to work out,” Cherington said. “They’re not all going to end up with the Pirates for multiple years. But to get to a group of 18, 20 or 22 we can actually use and are competent major league pitchers, especially in a year where there’s so much uncertainty [with innings increases], that’s part of why we’re doing that, just to give ourselves the chance to build as much flexible, controllable, optionable depth as we can.”
Bell, Moran dilemma
Cherington once again said he’s heard nothing to indicate the designated hitter will remain in the National League in 2021. The only formal communication he’s received continues to maintain that it was a rule for 2020 only.
If the DH leaves, that could mean bad news for the Pirates, who have a pair of first basemen — Josh Bell and Colin Moran — they want to play most days because of what they offer offensively.
Should things stay the same, Cherington said it’s possible, if not likely, one would have to learn a new position in order to get in the lineup more.
“It’s something we talk about and will continue to talk about and figure out,” Cherington said. “If that’s where we are on opening day — they’re both on the team, they’re both healthy, and there’s no DH — then we’re going to have to find a way to get one of them to at least go somewhere else on the field occasionally, just to have enough time. We’ll see. A lot can happen between now and then.”
Results elude Polanco
Gregory Polanco got some attention on Twitter the other day when he hit a walkoff home run for his winter ball team, Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League.
While it for some impressive video, with Polanco’s powerful stroke in full effect, it was also a bit of a mirage.
Polanco’s first seven games haven’t been great. He hit just .111 in them, and the homer was his only extra-base hit.
The good news — if you want to call it that — is that Polanco has struck out just four times in 27 at-bats, so he is making contact, but the Pirates would still like to see more.
“His effort in practice and attention to detail has been very good,” Cherington said. “He’s healthy. We’re still really glad he’s playing and getting at-bats. He has made more contact, which is encouraging. But it hasn’t yet led to a ton of results.”
In a weird twist, Polanco’s manager is former Pirates assistant Dave Jauss, who was not retained after the 2019 season. Cherington, though, said the club has had a healthy back-and-forth with Jauss — a fellow Amherst College graduate — about Polanco.