Mark Madden: If Pirates are serious about rebuild, Josh Bell should be dealt, and soon

The Pirates got a couple of decent prospects from Arizona in exchange for outfielder Starling Marte. At 31, Marte wasn’t going to fetch much more, let alone Diamondbacks catching prospect Daulton Varsho. (Pirates fans hoped but to no avail.)

The prospects acquired are both 19: High-ceiling, which translates to long-term, which translates to crapshoot.

But it’s hard to evaluate the trade without knowing its context. Are the Pirates truly rebuilding? If they’re not, the Marte trade is just a salary dump.

When a team rebuilds, it has got to throw a lot of prospects at the wall to see what sticks. If players like Chris Archer, Josh Bell, Adam Frazier and Gregory Polanco follow Marte out the door in like-minded swaps, you get more to fling.

Archer, Bell, etc., won’t make the Pirates good enough to win now. They won’t be part of a future winner. If the Pirates are rebuilding, what’s the point of keeping them? I’ve heard this described as a “bridge year.” Bridge to what, exactly?

Those players won’t be easy to deal. They might bring more return at the trade deadline. Some might be impossible to trade: Dead weight.

But trading one established player for prospects in the course of an entire offseason hardly qualifies as rebuilding.

There might be a perfectly reasonable plan in place. Pirates fans should know what it is. After the last four seasons, those still buying tickets deserve transparency.

I see no sign of that.

New general manager Ben Cherington avoids the “R” word (rebuilding). He talks about playing meaningful games in September and October, and about adding to the big-league roster, not subtracting. He avoids clearly discussing payroll like it’s a contagious disease.

So, I ask again: Bridge to what?

Another question: What’s the end game?

Say the two prospects acquired from Arizona become stars. Will the Pirates pay to keep them? Will they maximize their window of opportunity by augmenting them? Look at what happened to the 2013-15 Pirates that got three playoff berths: The Pirates let that roster disintegrate by not spending, effectively slamming their own window shut.

You need that context to evaluate the Marte trade. You need to know the plan.

The plan is almost certainly the same as it ever was: To maximize profit. That concept benefits greatly if the payroll is an absurdly low $50 million, as projected.

The Pirates hired a new president, GM and manager.

But it looks, sounds and feels like the same old Ponzi scheme. Different grifters, thus buying benefit of the doubt for the time being. But a too-familiar con.

Pirates attendance has dipped by over a million since their 98-win season in 2015. But over 1.4 million die-hards bought tickets to PNC Park last season to witness a 93-loss team, the Pirates’ worst showing since losing 105 in 2010.

Call them suckers or call them loyal, but those ticket-buyers deserve to know what the plan is. Under the new regime, there is yet no evidence of long-term intent, not via deed nor via word.

If Cherington and his baseball people are still figuring out the plan, the question begs: Why wasn’t a plan discussed before Cherington was hired and ready to go when he was? Anyway, isn’t the direction obvious? How could anyone think the Pirates should do anything but a total rebuild?

That’s in logical baseball terms. In carny terms, just follow the queen.

It’s too early to truly judge.

But here’s a simple guideline: If Bell is still a Pirate after this year’s trade deadline, the Pirates aren’t rebuilding. Bell is 27. He’s too expensive for the Pirates to sign long-term. If the Pirates are ever good again, Bell won’t be with them. He would bring the biggest return in terms of prospects.

Bell should go, and soon. If he doesn’t, no rebuild.