BRADENTON, Fla. -- So, what happened? How could the ownership/management of the Pirates, amid an offseason that all of them openly acknowledge will lead into a pivotal 2025 for the operation as a whole … not do a damned thing toward upgrading the roster?
dkpittsburghsports.com
I generally take DK with a very sizable grain of salt, so we'll see whether and how much this gets traction with other reporters, but two key things here:
1) He says that according to the Pirates, they tried to sign corner OFs in free agency, including some who "would be seen above their price point", but couldn't agree on value.
2) He says there are "two or three" trade scenarios which are sitting around waiting to be pursued to find that player, but nothing is yet imminent. That said, he says that the Pirates sound confident that such a trade will happen before spring games start (two weeks basically).
I tend to think that #1 could very much just be spinning BS from the Pirates angle. There really aren't a ton of options for who that kind of player could be, and it's not like anybody got a huge contract relative to normal, expected market value. Guys didn't even get crazy term either... what are we supposed to conclude? We low-balled Santander on a three year deal and he told us to f*** off? Good for him if so.
Regardless of #1, and to be clear that is just DK relaying what he's being told, the more exclusive-to-DK story is about the possibility of a trade, which he floated the other day. I tend to believe this is true and that there's a good chance something happens. The reasons to me are fairly obvious: this Horowitz thing looks like a total and complete disaster. Say what you want about Nutting and an arbitrarily low payroll (it's all valid), but there's no chance in hell that he is happy with the situation right now.
Mackey even got into some of this on his podcast yesterday, to such an extent that he seems to really think that it's put up or shut up time for this group, and a bad four months could lead to firings in advance of the trade deadline. The offense is basically teed up to lead to a bad four months, absent some kind of miraculous return from the dead by both Hayes and Suwinski and the entire rest of the offense both staying healthy and being productive (this is always a truism with the Pirates, but it's even more apparent this year that the depth is so bad that now one big injury to Cruz or Reynolds and what little chance we have is up in smoke, but that's a topic for another day).
Obviously, assuming all of this is true, it doesn't necessarily make for the greatest position to deal from. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about what kind of trade we were shaping up to see. On the one hand, there's the possibility of a deal that would revolve around trying to move Jones for an equivalent bat who would be controllable and change the dynamic of the situation. On the other hand, I think it's worth remembering that there were rumors about a Keller trade, and although it seems like it would be foolish to pull the trigger on that now given everything else (especially if your job could be on the line), I can't rule it out. I saw a Baltimore writer floating a trade like Keller for Dean Kremer and Dylan Beavers, an OF prospect who is pure surplus in Baltimore, and that would be the kind of disaster fuel that worries me.
Maybe there's a path towards a third kind of deal, i.e., just to take this specific idea, trying to acquire Beavers for an equivalent prospect pitcher. Given his lack of experience, that wouldn't be any kind of needle mover, but it still could be a good opportunity to bring in a solid player, and Baltimore's situation is such that they basically have to deal some of this upper minors OF depth sooner or later, even if there may be some roster shuffling that does along with it.
Kjerstad is the bigger fish there, and it seems like even he doesn't have consistent everyday ABs lined up (seems like they'd platoon him), but if we were moving Jones, I think I'd rather try and build a package around Casas. That said, the Red Sox may not have as much of a need at SP because they have retooled by getting Crochet and Buehler to go along with Houck, Bello, Giolito, and Crawford.
Regardless, I do think something has to give. I don't want to underestimate the pathetic nature of the front office given the past several offseasons, but with Horowitz blowing up like this and now being a total and complete question mark, they have to try and do something to address the situation unless they are just gonna let a 75-win season play out again to the tune of them being fired in July.
