The Pirates are notorious for spending very little money in free agency–and also in attempting to retain their own players–and thus going dumpster diving in the off-season in an attempt to find players that they will inevitably attempt to move at the trade deadline for low-level prospects. This has been the franchise’s M.O. since before I was born, ever since the Sid Bream incident in the 1992 NLCS commenced the domino effect that saw Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla leave the team, which catapulted the ball club towards twenty-straight losing seasons.
Okay, maybe I am being a little dramatic. We did make the playoffs three years in that period. We made moves at the trade deadline in those seasons to improve, acquiring players like Marlon Byrd, Justin Morneau, and J.A. Happ. Regardless, the vast majority of the past 32 seasons have been dominated by ownership and management with a budget the size of an atom and brains that are somehow even smaller. Parting with players who turn out to be superstars and getting virtually nothing in return is a common theme for the Pirates’ front office.
General Manager Ben Cherington scraped the bottom of the barrel this off-season in making acquisitions, and somehow found a compartment below the bottom. His “major” signings” include first baseman Rowdy Tellez, center fielder Michael A. Taylor, catcher Yasmani Grandal, right fielder Edward Olivares, starting pitcher Martín Pérez, and relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman. Let us look at these signings from the perspective of wins above replacement (WAR). While WAR is not my favorite statistic, it is one that baseball nerds love, and is adept at measuring the general impact a player has on their team relative to the average player at his position.
- Rowdy Tellez: -0.1 WAR
- Michael A. Taylor: 0.6 WAR
- Yasmani Grandal: -0.3 WAR
- Edward Olivares: 0.0 WAR
- Martín Pérez: 0.0 WAR
- Aroldis Chapman: -0.1 WAR
For those of you that are keeping score at home, that is a collective 0.1 wins above replacement for six signings. @popesergI on Twitter stated, “You could’ve picked 5 twitter users at random and they could’ve had a better off-season than Benjamin [Cherington]”.
It is especially frustrating that these additions have been so poor when you realize that the Pirates are, at the time of writing, only 3 games below .500 and a singular game out of a wild card spot. A rotation of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, and Bailey Falter has kept the team afloat, but the bats and large sections of the bullpen have failed them.
What are we doing? Why do we have to consistently sign the absolute dregs of society to be consistent presences in the team? As of October 2023, Bob Nutting was tied for the 18th-richest owner in baseball. I am not pretending that he has the funds at his disposal that Steve Cohen of the New York Mets or Todd Boehly of the Los Angeles Dodgers have, but he is not broke! There is absolutely no reason that he should not be able to provide Cherington with a reasonable budget to field a competitive lineup on a regular basis.
Cherington also has to analyze his signings. What do guys like Michael A. Taylor bring to the lineup? He has not hit for average. He has not hit for power. His fielding has been iffy. He does not pinch run often…because we do not have guys that get on base. He cannot even execute a sacrifice bunt!
General managers in sports have been fired for less pathetic off-seasons than Cherington had this winter. He needs to have a stellar few months or his tenure will have been an absolute disaster.