With Ben Cherington running things as the general manager and the manager settled in Derek Shelton, the Pirates can finally focus on a plan of attack to get this team back to contention.
While the Winter Meetings has been relatively quiet over the last couple of years, it might pick up this year if any of the aggressive early-offseason moves teams have made are any indication.
The Pirates never did too much at the meetings under Neal Huntington but did seemingly always come away with something. And I think there’s a decent chance Ben Cherington makes his first notable transaction as Pirates’ general manager this week in San Diego. It stands to reason he could use the Winter Meetings this week to plant the seeds of his grand design.
But with that in mind, it is unclear exactly what he’ll do. But there are a couple things that seem obvious that’ll be looked into as the week goes on. Let’s outline what some possible moves are for the Pirates at the Winter Meetings.
Catcher:
There is no position on the Pirates roster more thin and in need of help than catcher. After the non-tender of Elias Diaz, the Pirates find themselves with just one sort of real option in Jacob Stallings. It’s no secret they need a catcher.
But how they find it will be interesting. The free agent catching market has been moving fast and the Pirates haven’t jumped in yet. And there’s been talk they have been scouring trades for young catchers in a Marte trade (more on that later).
But there are still some catchers on the free agent market that could be good adds. The main one is Jason Castro. Castro isn’t a top-end player by any means, but he doesn’t have to be. He’s a solid producer nonetheless. He’d be a nice add on a reasonable deal. Another option that would be good would include Chirinos. The 36-year old had a really solid season last year, but at his age, his contract demands won’t be that lofty. Other options include Maldonado, Romine and maybe even a reunion with old friend Russell Martin, though those options are drop offs from Castro and Chrinos.
Marte trade:
It’s also no secret that the Pirates are likely to trade Marte. Cherington isn’t shying away from it either. He, and everyone else, knows that a Marte trade gives him the best chance to re-stock the farm a bit. And Cherington is a big believer in farm systems. His reputation proves that, especially his time with the Blue Jays.
Whether that deal comes together this week remains to be seen. But we’ve already seen some OF trades ahead of the Winter Meetings, setting the stage for a Marte trade.
If Cherington wanted to make a major early impression in Pittsburgh, this is the move he’ll make. Personally, however, I don’t think the trade comes together this week. But the seeds probably get planted for it to happen shortly thereafter.
Cherington will likely look for a young catcher or a catching prospect in the deal. Other than that, they will likely just look for the best prospects they can get. But I still wouldn’t expect multiple big prospects in the trade. Maybe they can get one, but I doubt multiple. Even in a lackluster OF free agent market, an aging outfielder won’t extract massive value. Good value, sure, but not massive value.
Add an outfielder:
If Marte gets traded, the Pirates will need an outfielder. Actually let’s be real, they likely need one anyways. Polanco’s health is always a concern and the only other reliable option is Reynolds.
But as I said, the options in the outfield aren’t great overall. The best free agent outfielder is Marcell Ozuna. I doubt he’s an option to come over from rival Cardinals as he is attached to draft picks after declining a qualifying offer. Plus, his contract demands will be lofty.
It’s likely Reynolds will go to center field, but if not, then the CF market could be of intrigue to the Pirates as defensive wizard Kevin Pillar could be a sneaky nice add at an affordable price. Jarrod Dyson, too. You can even throw Billy Hamilton into the discussion from a pure defensive perspective even if he barely hits his weight.
But there are plenty of other nice, potentially affordable adds that would be good but not great. Guys like Gordon, Garcia, Maybin make sense. Reunions with Dickerson or Joyce do too. And dare I say Puig could even be an option.
Pitching:
Pirates need pitching, badly. Getting Santana and Kuhl will help, but that doesn’t mask the losses of Vazquez and Taillon, their two best pitchers. The pitching staff was clearly not up to par and they need to be better.
I’m not expecting them to shop anywhere close to the top of the market for this, but this could be a great chance for them to try out some under-appreciated guys on cheaper deals to see what works out. I know that sounds like a Huntington thing to do but it actually makes sense to do here.
Some options that will be affordable as starting pitchers would be Vargas, Gausman, Teheran, Porcello. Or even more affordable options such as Hill, Keuchel, Moore, Buchholz or Ross.
Some reliever options could be McHugh, Rodney, Jeffress, Sipp, Cishek or even reunions with Hudson or Nicasio.
Other trade candidates:
Starling Marte isn’t the only more major trade piece the Pirates have. They have several more players that should garner some interest in the market. And I’d assume Cherington will listen.
These players include Kela, Archer, Williams, Bell, Moran and Frazier.
Kela and Archer are the most obvious ones. The Pirates two big deadline acquisitions from 2018 could be out the door after just a year and a half in the organization. Particularly, Kela will draw significant interest I think. A free agent after 2020, Kela is a quality late-inning reliever that any contending team would like to have. At worst, he’s probably a set up guy. But he also has plenty of closing experience. If the Pirates have no 2020 contenting aspirations, trading Kela would be a smart move. Archer would be a harder piece to move but still possible if a team thinks they can fix him. However, I think the Pirates will want to try to fix him with a new pitching coach and see what happens themselves.
Bell will certainly be talked about as well after his breakout 4 months of 2019. Teams are always looking for power like he has and might want him. Given he still has 3 years of control is attractive too, but it’s also reason for the Pirates to keep him. But any team in need of a DH/1B will be calling for sure. Doubt he’s traded this offseason though.
Williams is a decent back-rotation starter and would be seen as such anywhere. Teams are always looking for guys like that. And with Williams potential upside that he has shown, he’s a better option than many fringe starters you can find. Probably the same reason the Pirates keep him though.
Frazier could really help a team in many ways. He’s a good player that really made strides on defense and had spells where he hit too. But he might round out to be a part-time starter kind of player. Pirates likely can’t extract the trade value they’d want so he’s likely to stay but I can see some interest.
Moran is in an interesting one. His bat is okay but not that special and his defense isn’t good. And with KeBryan Hayes coming, Moran might be a bench player in Pittsburgh soon. He still holds value though to some teams who need a player that can hit a bit off their bench or in part-time starter roles. Pirates likely won’t deal him though unless they have another stopgap plan at 3rd base until Hayes is ready.
The truth of the matter is that we have zero clue what Cherington and the new regime is thinking. They could go all kinds of different directions. We can truly only speculate right now. Hopefully the Winter Meetings provide some clarity, If nothing else. It should be an interesting week for the Pirates nonetheless.
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