When you’re a successful team, other teams try to copy that success. This happens in the form of using similar strategies — both on the field or off the field — or it happens by hiring away personnel from a successful organization.
The Pirates have won the fourth most games in baseball since the start of the 2013 season. As a result, they’ve started to see some of their methods copied, and some of their personnel taken away. The former requires new ideas to find the next edge in the game. The latter requires the ability to find smart people to replace other smart people. This process might be more important, since you need smart people to find the next big thing in the game.
As you would expect, the Pirates have started losing personnel. The big one at first was Jeff Banister, who was hired by the Texas Rangers to be their manager. A year later, the Miami Marlins hired away pitching guru Jim Benedict and Special Assistant to the GM Marc DelPiano, who was responsible for scouting some pretty big signings for the Pirates, such as Russell Martin, A.J. Burnett, and Jason Grilli.
The trend has continued with scouts and other personnel, and has carried over to this off-season, even though the Pirates are coming off a down year. The Arizona Diamondbacks hired away quantitative analyst Mike Fitzgerald, who was responsible for bringing a lot of new ideas into the clubhouse and being the link between the analytics department and the coaching staff and players. He was also someone who pushed for the signing of Russell Martin, arguing the value of his defense just before advanced catching metrics took off.
The Pirates also lost James Harris recently. You might not know him as well as the other names, and that’s probably because he was only around for one year. The Pirates hired him before the 2016 season to help with their performance team. He previously worked for the Philadelphia Eagles, making the jump over to baseball for another management role. It was apparently a good hire, because a year later, he was hired away to be the farm director for the Cleveland Indians.
The big concern with this trend is whether the Pirates can replace the people who helped bring them success with other smart people who can find the next big edge.
I feel that they’re going to be able to accomplish this, and it’s actually the Harris move that gives me that feeling. Harris is a sign that they’re still bringing in smart people, and that they didn’t just luck out with a few hires several years ago. Hiring a guy who wasn’t even in baseball, and then watching him get hired away a year later to run the farm system of the American League champions indicates you’re still hiring the right people.
It’s almost like the process of signing reclamation pitchers. After the Pirates turned A.J. Burnett around, it was just viewed as a good move, but they weren’t yet seen as a team that had the tendency to turn pitchers around. Then Francisco Liriano happened. Then Edinson Volquez opened a lot of eyes. Then J.A. Happ and Ivan Nova. And while the Pirates aren’t going to be perfect with their reclamation pitching projects, they’re now known as a team that can find good pitchers with a good chance of turning them around.
In terms of hiring smart personnel, we’re somewhere in the Francisco Liriano area. We saw them land some good people in the A.J. Burnett stage, but no one was thinking that the Pirates were just good at finding smart people. Then they started seeing more and more personnel hired away, and a track record was starting to form. Harris might be pushing us into Edinson Volquez territory, where a person that was totally unexpected to be a big hire ends up surprising and opening eyes.
Of course, it helps future hires when you can point to so many people who have gone on to bigger jobs. Other teams will see the Pirates as an organization to look at for their job openings. Smart people looking to enter or move up in the game will look at the Pirates as a good opportunity for this reason. Basically, the personnel side isn’t going to be much different than the player side, with the Pirates never really keeping someone for the long-term, and needing to replace them with more talent in order to remain competitive.
The Pirates already have other smart people in the organization to replace the people who were hired away. Eventually, those people will be hired away, and they’re going to need to bring in more smart people to replace them. The early signs show that they’re capable of repeating this process, which is a good thing for the Pirates finding the next edge and remaining competitive for the long-term.
**Pirates Claim Brady Dragmire Off Waivers From Texas Rangers. I had a feeling they might take another shot at him when he was DFAd by Texas. The big question is whether they will try to sneak him through waivers again.
**Derek Holland Signs With the White Sox. I wasn’t a fan of the Pirates trying to sign him, and don’t think it’s a big loss that he went elsewhere.
**Winter Leagues: Elias Diaz’s Return From Injury is Brief. John Dreker with the latest news, including a setback for Elias Diaz.
