Pirates president Travis Williams wants to seize opportunity to build sustainable winning team

When Travis Williams finished giving a tour of the new Pirates Clubhouse Store on Federal Street that is the latest attraction designed to enhance the fan experience at PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates team president addressed the most important element.

After winning 20 of their first 29 games start to the season, the Pirates entered Tuesday three games under .500 amidst a seven-game losing streak. They were closer to fourth place than first in the NL Central standings, after a moribund May when they went 8-18.

“We were, obviously, really pleased with April. We’re not as good as we were in April, but we’re probably not as bad as we were in May,” Williams said. “Hopefully, we’ll settle into something that continues to allow us to be in contention for the division and make the playoffs. That’s certainly our hope.

“I know the recent seven-game slide here hasn’t been what the fans want nor what we want. I think we’ll be able to turn it around and get back on track and, hopefully, get closer to April and put a streak out there and get back to that playoff contention.”

That type of talk wasn’t expected after the Pirates lost 100 games in back-to-back seasons, but neither was chairman Bob Nutting giving general manager Ben Cherington the green light to spend upwards of $30 million in free agency to add a half-dozen veterans or sign outfielder Bryan Reynolds to an eight-year, $106.75 million contract a year after locking up third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes with an eight-year, $70 million deal.

“Whether it be Ke’Bryan Hayes’ contract or Bryan Reynolds’ contract, all of those were done with one thing in mind: that’s being a championship-caliber team,” Williams said. “I don’t think we’re doing it to gain fans or change the narrative. Those things, ultimately, will be byproducts of making good decisions in order to build that championship-caliber team.

“Those are two great players along with a lot of other great players that we have in our system that we thought were very good cornerstones of this organization that can help us win and be a part of a championship-caliber team. We’re excited to continue to build around that. There may be opportunities for us to do that. We will take advantage of them if they are. Those will be decisions that Bob, Ben and myself will sit around a table and decide when’s the right opportunity for those to be made.”

Williams, however, wasn’t as willing to discuss whether the Pirates would pay the full slot bonus of $9.721 million to the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft or save money by signing that pick to an under-slot deal and spread the money on bonuses with later picks like they did when they took Henry Davis in 2021.

Williams said it was too early to talk draft philosophy, deferring draft decisions to Cherington. Williams did add that MLB determines the Pirates’ bonus pool ($16,185,700) and there were “certainly no restrictions on spending within those parameters.” Williams said the Pirates’ front office and baseball operations staff is aligned in the goal of building a postseason team.

Whether the Pirates will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline remains to be seen, Williams said, but Cherington will have “the freedom to do what he needs to do to make that happen.”

“I think we’re going to make the decisions that are best for us, not only in 2023, but also long-term because we want this to be a sustainable championship-caliber team,” Williams said. “Whether we have specific (deals) we’re going to make, Ben and I will have that conversation as we get closer to the trade deadline. I think it would be silly for me to sit here and forecast what the trade deadline looks like and what moves we’re going to make. At the end of the day, we want to win. We want to be a winning team, not only this year, but for the long-term as well.

“I think we know there’s that opportunity coming down the way, whether that’s exactly this year or the future or not. Time will tell based on performance of the team and how we are at the deadline. I don’t think we want to force anything, but if the opportunity is there, we’ll make sure we do what we can to seize that opportunity.”