Holy crap! The Pirates made moves at the trade deadline. And not minor moves. They actually went out and competed with the big boys and traded for legit pieces. The first trade happened Monday night, the Pirates got Keone Kela from the Rangers for Taylor Hearn and a PTBNL. Then they shocked everyone by trading for Chris Archer of the Rays. They gave up Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, and a PTBNL. Archer has been the most interesting starting pitcher trade piece in the last few years and the Rays have always been reluctant to move him. He has multiple years left on his reasonable contract, so the asking price was considered too steep by most teams. The Pirates finally decided to pull the trigger and move some of these prospects. Personally, I love these moves.
The question I keep hearing from some fans is why did the Pirates do this? I think it is a two-fold reasoning. 1) They went on a winning streak. Simple as that. They went from looking completely out of the WC race, to now being three games back, and back in the division hunt (only six games out). I know this seems pretty obvious, but without that streak, if say they just play well and win 7 out of 10 or something like that, then there is no excitement and ownership can look at this ball club and say they have no chance. However, the winning streak generated excitement. BUT, what was the one thing you kept hearing from most fans? “Oh what does it matter? The Pirates will not make any moves, they need pitching help, but they won’t trade for anyone.” The fans are tired of being let down by the front office. So that brings me to the second reason. 2) Decline in attendance made the FO take notice. Even during the winning streak, attendance did not dramatically change. It was not like that excitement from a few years ago. I think if the FO stands put during the deadline (or worse, trades away someone like Cervelli), that would be the final straw for many fans.
I think so many fans, who were on board with the “don’t mortgage the future for the present” strategy, have started to realize that sometimes, the future is just some obscure idea that never actually materializes. We could not trade Tyler Glasnow a few years ago because he was going to be a dominant ace. Never happened. Austin Meadows is the heir apparent to Andrew McCutchen, but then he came up and started hot, but then fizzled out. Look, that is no way me saying that I think Meadows is bad or that he will not be a superstar, but I do not think he is quite the untouchable prospect that people assumed. To be honest, the Pirates did not really give up all that much from their prospect bin. They kept Mitch Keller, Cole Tucker, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Kevin Newman, Shane Baz, and that DR kid who plays shortstop. Hell, there are a few others that I failed to mention.
So what did the Pirates get? Well Chris Archer is a top of the rotation starter. He is a strikeout pitcher and he is pretty durable (over 200 innings that last three years). I have heard some people complain about his stat line, but he pitches in the AL East. I mean, the Yankees and Red Sox pretty much have an all-star caliber lineup, plus I am pretty sure all of the parks in that division are very home run friendly. Yankee Stadium is like 150 feet to right field or something. I look for Archer to pitch very well at PNC Park and in the National League in general. Want to know what else is awesome about Archer? They have him for a few seasons. He is signed through 2019, with fairly friendly options for 2020/2021. Keone Kela was the Rangers closer, but my guess is that he is now the set-up man to Felipe Vazquez. That means the bullpen, which was a liability a month or two ago, now has a fairly dominant 7-8-9 with Kyle Crick. The great thing about Kela? You guessed it, plenty of controllable years. He is just going into his first arbitration year. He will not be a free agent until 2022.
I have been seeing a few complaints about these moves in the Pirates social media world. They seem to fall into three different types:
-Why now? Why didn’t the Pirates do this years ago?
-We gave up prospects! What are the Pirates going to do in a few years? They will miss Meadows then.
-This is too little, too late. Needed to make this move in June.
I already addressed the why now aspect. I also think the Pirates could not continue doing the same strategy. Not moving prospects and being afraid of what they could give up for the present has not helped them. They are right back into another consecutive losing season streak. I am not saying that they should give up on prospects all together, but you have to move them at times. You have to sign free agents, you have to make trades. No team is 100% home grown.
It would have been hard to justify these moves in June (well maybe not Kela, the bullpen cost them some games in late May, most of June). But, can you imagine how outraged people would have been if the Pirates traded Meadows when he was hitting .350 and looked like the second coming of Cutch? I know you cannot base everything on what fans want, but the Pirates were not playing well then and trading away a future prospect would have looked crazy. Also, I think they had a reason to finally look at Meadows and say “you know what? We can afford to let him go.” More on that in a second.
So what will the Pirates do in a few years? Well, nothing really. Look, this is their team for the future. Here is the majority of the team and their earliest free agency:
Chris Archer (2019-options for 2020/2021)
Keone Kela (2022)
Starling Marte (2020-options 2021/2022)
Gregory Polanco (2021-options 2022/2023)
Jameson Taillon (2023)
Trevor Williams (2023)
Chad Kuhl (2023)
Joe Musgrove (2023)
Okay, I am not doing the entire team. Corey Dickerson, Ivan Nova, and Francisco Cervelli are free agents in 2020. The only two we lose this season are Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison, unless the Pirates pick up his option. Everyone else is pretty much locked in for awhile.
Why do I think the Pirates are fine losing Meadows? Remember Jason Martin? The guy they got in the Cole deal? He hit .325 in Altoona and since being promoted to Indy is hitting .283. Bryan Reynolds, one of those players I scoffed at in the McCutchen trade? Also hitting well at Altoona. I am not saying they are going to be superstars or anything, but I think the Pirates FO realizes they have options down there. It is not a barren wasteland like it was years ago. Plus, you never know which player will come up and just hit well. Some unknown may put it all together and become the next big thing. Seriously, Jordan Luplow? I doubt anyone had him on their list of “future major leaguers.” And yet, here he is. Or perhaps they think they can extend Dickerson.
My point is that there is no point in worrying about what could happen in 2023, when the chance to compete is here and now.
