Analysis: Pirates put 100-loss season in back pocket, focus on future with young core

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Ke’Bryan Hayes agreeing to a franchise-record contract on Opening Day, only for the 25-year-old third baseman to leave Opening Day in the first inning with a spasm in his left hand, could be viewed as symbolic of their season.

Even when the Pirates got it right, something still went wrong.

The 9-0 loss at St. Louis in the opener was the first of 15 defeats by shutout, including a 21-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on April 23 and a 16-0 loss to the New York Yankees on July 6 that featured two grand slams.

The Pirates (62-100) certainly had their moments, both victorious and viral, on their way to finishing with back-to-back 100-loss seasons for the first time since the 1950s.

They won a game in which they were no-hit by Cincinnati Reds rookie Hunter Greene. They swept the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won an MLB-best 111 games, for the first time in 22 years. The Pirates became the first team to have three players with three home-run games in one month, including a Father’s Day special that served as one of their nine walk-off wins. Oneil Cruz, the 6-foot-7 rookie shortstop who is the sport’s unicorn, showed off his prodigious power with the hardest hit in recorded history with a 122.4 mph single and also homered into the Allegheny River. Right-hander Luis Ortiz made a dazzling debut, averaging 99 mph on 26 fastballs and touching triple digits six times in a 1-0 win over the Reds on Sept. 13.

Then again, the season was full of follies.

The Pirates were one strike away from being no-hit by St. Louis Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas. They had to use a position player, Josh VanMeter, at catcher in the first game of a doubleheader against the Reds when backup Andrew Knapp was ejected for arguing calls from the dugout and starter Roberto Perez suffered a season-ending hamstring injury. The Pirates allowed opponents to score 10 or more runs 14 times, including 10 defeats by double digits, and resorted to using position players VanMeter and Diego Castillo as pitchers in five games.

No wonder they made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Boston Red Sox broadcaster Dennis Eckersley called their no-name lineup a “hodgepodge of nothingness.” Their magical moments seemed to vanish like the squirrel that interrupted play as groundskeepers gave chase in the outfield at PNC Park, not because the Pirates didn’t have something up their sleeve but rather for what they pulled out of their back pocket.

They wish it was a rabbit.

Rodolfo Castro was suspended one game after his cell phone popped out of his back pocket while sliding into third base at Arizona, violating MLB rules for using electronic devices during a game. Hayes was ripped by SNY broadcast analyst Todd Zeile when spotted pulling sunflower seeds out of his back pocket with his glove off as a runner rounded third base on a ball hit to right field in a 4-3 loss to the New York Mets.

Even when things went right, it got dark. After a Kevin Newman homer against the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 22, the lights went out at PNC Park.

The Pirates served up Aaron Judge’s 60th homer on his way to breaking Roger Maris’ American League record — Judge finished with as many homers as the Pirates did wins — and career homers Nos. 696 and 697 in back-to-back games at PNC Park on Albert Pujols’ quest to become the fourth player in history to hit 700 career homers.

Somehow, the Pirates looked to put a positive spin on the season, believing the worst of their rebuild is behind them while focusing on a future filled with young talent and top prospects.

“It’s tough. You want to win. You want to win every day,” Hayes said. “We were super, super young. We had a lot of changes on the pitching side, on the position player side, having a bunch of guys at first (base), different catchers, really everywhere. It’s tough. We play this game to win each and every night, but I feel like there were a lot of positives this year from the stance of early in the year, being able to sweep the Dodgers. There were glimpses of what we can become.”

That leaves a lingering question for a frustrated fan base that is more disillusioned than die-hard: When, if ever, will Pirates chairman Bob Nutting take his thumb off the bottom line and pump more money into the major-league payroll to turn the team into a contender?

‘Closer to better days’

Locking up Hayes to a team-friendly $70 million contract over eight years was a start. But Hayes ($10 million) and outfielder Bryan Reynolds ($6.75 million) accounted for 30% of an Opening Day payroll of $55,761,800, per Cot’s Contracts, that ranked 28th in baseball.

The Pirates drew 1,257,458 to rank 27th in attendance this season. That’s an increase from 859,498 last year, when MLB protocols limited stadium capacity for the first few months, but their lowest without restrictions since PNC Park opened in 2001.

The Pirates haven’t reached the postseason since 2015, so they are already amid the second cycle of five-year plans. Yet Pirates general manager Ben Cherington expressed optimism on his radio show on 93.7 FM last week that the club is “much closer to better days than we have been before.”

“I do believe there are objective reasons to see there’s progress in the organization,” Cherington said, “and that’s going to turn into more wins at the major-league level.”

The Pirates have purged their roster since Cherington’s arrival, trading All-Stars Starling Marte, Josh Bell and Adam Frazier and pitchers who became All-Stars — Tyler Anderson, Clay Holmes and Joe Musgrove — for prospects and players with years of club control.

Those trades have brought the likes of All-Star closer David Bednar, right-hander Roansy Contreras, reliever Wil Crowe, infielder Castillo and outfielder Jack Suwinski and top-100 prospects Liover Peguero and Endy Rodriguez. Castillo, Cruz and Suwinski combined to give the Pirates three rookies with 10 or more home runs in a season for the first time in franchise history.

With Castillo, Castro, Cruz and Hayes, the Pirates have a core of young, talented infielders. With Bryan Reynolds and Suwinski, they have a pair of potential power bats in the outfield. Ji Hwan Bae showed speed in his late-season stint. A breakthrough season for Mitch Keller and the first healthy year for JT Brubaker were vital for a starting rotation that has potential with Contreras, Luis Ortiz and Johan Oviedo. Bednar gives a beleaguered bullpen a power pitcher on the back end.

That’s what Pirates manager Derek Shelton, who has a .370 winning percentage in his first three seasons as manager, focused on when asked how he maintains sanity through all of the losing. He expressed faith in Cherington’s rebuilding plan to draft, develop and deploy players to build a winner from within.

“That we have process and that I trust the process, and the fact that Ben was pretty clear when he got hired what the process was going to be,” Shelton said. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen as quickly as everyone wants, but, again, going back to the last couple months, especially the last month, in terms of how we’ve played, that’s what keeps me sane, because I know we’re moving in the right direction. I know we have the right people in charge of that direction, and now we’re starting to see the benefits not only from the guys we’ve developed but the guys we’ve acquired. So that’s what helps me.”

The Pirates also have a top-10 farm system, per MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, and a handful of top-100 prospects, including Triple-A right-handers Michael Burrows and Quinn Priester. The Pirates have had top-10 draft picks the past three seasons, with a fourth expected next year after MLB holds its inaugural draft lottery.

Cherington used his radio show to make a plea to the fan base, using a common tactic: He’s among baseball’s biggest fans and wants to win more than anyone.

“What are you looking for? You’re looking to believe in something. You’re looking to connect to the growth of a team, see a young player go from figuring it out to establishing himself to becoming a great player. The journey is part of the fun part of being a fan, and I believe that about Pirates fans,” Cherington said on his radio show.

“Being invested in this team now is an opportunity to be part of that full journey. I know that also requires belief and trust, to want to be part of that full journey because it’s hard right now sometimes. On that point, I would say to give us the opportunity to show just how hard we’re working every day to deliver on that trust, deliver on that promise.

“Believe me when I say it: The losses are painful, more painful, whatever you want to say, for us as it is for anybody. And it motivates us. We have to get better because we don’t want to experience that, no more than the fans don’t want to experience it. But I think there’s an opportunity to jump on board now for a ride that has a chance to be really fun in the coming years. Players are out there today who are going to be part of that. Being a part of seeing that journey that they’re going through from young player to established to guys who are winning games in October is just a fun part of being a fan, in my opinion.”

‘The culture is a lot different’

But glaring weaknesses remain, starting with catcher and first base. Even Shelton admitted both need to be priorities addressed through free agency or trade in the offseason.

The Pirates attempted to cover both positions on the cheap this season, and it backfired in a big way. Free-agent signings accounted for about $15.3 million of the payroll, with catcher Roberto Perez ($5 million) and first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo ($4 million) the highest-paid among those.

Perez, a two-time AL Gold Glove winner, earned rave reviews for his work with the young pitching staff but played only a month before requiring season-ending surgery on his torn hamstring. Tsutsugo, who dealt with back discomfort, batted .171 with two homers and 19 RBIs in 30 games before being designated for assignment.

“I learned that those positions are extremely vital,” Shelton said. “I do think we’ll continue to look to solidify those positions. Those are areas of need for us, at catcher and at first. We’re just going to have to see what’s available, how we acquire guys to fill that. I do think those are two areas of our club that we’ll look to improve on.”

The Pirates should have money to spend after dumping Tsutsugo, reliever Heath Hembree ($2.125 million) and outfielder Jake Marisnick ($1.3 million) and trading left-handed starter Jose Quintana ($2 million) and righty reliever Chris Stratton ($2.7 million).

That leaves Hayes ($10 million) and Reynolds ($6.75 million) as the only players signed through 2023, with middle infielder Kevin Newman entering his second year of arbitration after making $1.95 million this past season.

Cherington also cut ties with six of the nine players entering their first year of arbitration eligibility by designating Anthony Alford, Michael Chavis, Sam Howard, Dillon Peters, Cole Tucker and VanMeter for assignment. The other three, Brubaker, Keller and Duane Underwood, should expect modest raises from their $725,000 salaries.

The rest of the roster comprises players making at or slightly above the major-league minimum of $700,000, all with at least three more years of club control. That’s why Pirates players emphasized the need to add veteran position players and pitchers, both for their experience and the leadership they could provide for the second-youngest team in baseball, at an average age of 27.3 years.

Then again, the youngest team in the majors, the Cleveland Guardians (average age: 26.3 years) won 92 games to take the AL Central title. And after losing 100-plus games three times between 2018-21, the Baltimore Orioles (average age: 27.7 years) made a 29-game improvement to go 83-79 in the AL East this season. Those teams give Pirates players hope for a reversal of fortunes sooner than expected.

“The young guys that we brought up this year really showed up and showed the potential and talent they’ve got,” Reynolds said. “We’ve got hitters that did that. We’ve got pitchers that did that. The Orioles were in the same boat, and they had a good season this year. There’s no reason we couldn’t do that same kind of trajectory.”

That would require the Pirates to win more close games. They went 34-51 in games decided by two runs or fewer this season. Inverting that record would provide a 17-game improvement but still might not get the Pirates into the expanded postseason.

As much as the Pirates missed the veteran voices of Quintana and Stratton after their trade-deadline deal to the eventual NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals — they were the respective leaders of the starting rotation and the bullpen, and Quintana especially to the young, Latin players — there was relief that core players such as Reynolds, Newman and Bednar weren’t sent packing.

Even so, Pirates players know they need upgrades. They need a proven catcher who can be durable. They need a first baseman with a good glove who can provide pop. Their starting rotation lacks a lefty. Their bullpen could use a veteran with playoff experience. Then again, their roster is lacking players with postseason resumes.

“I think that some experience in the locker room might be overlooked sometimes, especially with such a young team,” Newman said. “I think it’s a good thing that we kept some of those guys. It’s not something you can extrapolate in numbers. You can’t quantify it. But there’s definitely some significance to it, and it helps for sure.

“The culture is a lot different. I think that we had to make that difference. I think that we had to make that change. We’re at the bottom now, but I think it’s going to go up from here. I think we’re really, really close. They’ve created the culture that we want here. Now, they’re like, ‘Let’s put it together, let’s get the right guys out there and let’s win ballgames.’ ”