To a lot of fans, priority one for the Pirates’ new GM is the farm system. Ben Cherington certainly has some background there. He started off with Boston, back before the Theo Epstein years, as an area scout and much of his early work was in scouting. That included a stint as international scouting coordinator. After Epstein came along, though, Cherington’s main focus was player development, and that was also his primary focus in Toronto as vice president of baseball operations. In between, of course, he was the GM in Boston for four years.
It’s a challenge to decide how much blame or credit a GM, or a director of player development, should get for the team’s farm system. The latter isn’t involved (or at least not a lot) with scouting, which in my opinion is more important than development, probably by a lot. The GM doesn’t scout amateur players, except probably first round draft picks, and doesn’t coach them. But higher level front office folks hire people, and so are responsible for what those people do.
I think a GM’s impact can be felt in more ways than just the people he hires. The focus of the people at the top tends to filter down in any organization. It can’t be a coincidence that the Red Sox had a moribund farm system before Epstein came along and focused heavily on the farm, transforming it into one of MLB’s better ones. That continued under Cherington, who was GM from after the 2011 season until after the 2015 season. The Sox went in the opposite direction under Dave Dombrowski, who also had consistently bad farm systems in Detroit. The Baseball America preseason rankings of Boston’s system, starting in 2014, were 2nd – 5th – 4th – 14th – 23rd – 30th. At mid-season this year, BA ranked the Sox 22nd. Trades and graduations don’t account for the drop; Boston graduated Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley, Jr., and Xander Bogaerts, among others, way back in 2014 and traded Yoan Moncada after the 2016 season. (One measure of the Sox’ system is that their current #15 prospect is 27-year-old Colten Brewer, whom the Pirates drafted and signed in 2011.)
This is more speculation that anything, but I DO think a GM can impact a team’s farm system, beyond just his hiring choices, simply by paying more attention to it. That may happen through closer supervision and higher expectations, certainly, and also through organizational philosophies, which we’ve discussed here at times. The Pirates, for instance, have been obsessed for years with fastball velocity and groundball tendencies, and that clearly extends from the top downward. So I think it’s fair to believe Cherington’s tenure in Boston, both as GM and before that, shows that he has some idea how to operate a successful farm system.
Assuming I’m right, then Toronto’s experience is also encouraging. Cherington went to work there near the end of the 2016 season. BA’s preseason rankings for the Jays, starting in 2016, were 24th – 20th – 8th – 3rd. Toronto’s mid-season ranking this year was 6th even though Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., and Cavan Biggio had both graduated. Bo Bichette has since also lost prospect status, and he, Vlad and Biggio all hit the ground running in the majors. Bichette and Vlad did so at ages 21 and 20, so they all seem to have been well prepared.
To get into specifics, Cherington’s drafts as Boston’s GM weren’t good. Including supplemental first round picks, the Sox had seven first round picks in those four years. By far the best so far has been Andrew Benintendi, drafted seventh overall in 2015. Boston also had two late first-round picks in 2014 who could be good major leaguers. One was prep pitcher Michael Kopech, who may or may not succeed in the majors but who at least helped Boston acquire Chris Sale. The other is Michael Chavis, who had a reasonably good debut as a utility guy for Boston this year. None of the others have worked out, including Deven Marrero (2012) and seventh overall pick Trey Ball (2013), a seventh-overall pick who’s out of baseball. None of the later-round picks from those four drafts has done anything of note. Two of them are currently among Boston’s top 30 prospects, neither highly rated. A couple others (Carlos Aruaje and Logan Allen) rated highly in the Padres’ system after being traded for Craig Kimbrel.
Where the Red Sox did better was on the international front. Bogaerts ($410K) signed a couple years before Cherington became GM and Manuel Margot ($800), who went to San Diego for Kimbrel, signed just before he took over. Cherington signed Yoan Moncada out of Cuba in 2015 at a cost of $63M, half of which was a penalty for exceeding the bonus pool restriction. Moncada, of course, was the main piece in bringing Sale from the White Sox. In 2013, Cherington signed Rafael Devers for $1.5M. He also signed LHP Darwinzon Hernandez, the team’s current #5 prospect, for $7,500. Beyond that, Cherington signed a slew of players, too many to list here, who went in trades and who ranked in the middle, or higher, of various teams top 30s at various points. One, Javy Guerra, ranked #1 for the Padres one year after going in the Kimbrel trade. At the least, we can conclude that Cherington is willing to be aggressive on the international market and sometimes go after top prospects, something the Pirates didn’t do under Neal Huntington.
Toronto during Cherington’s tenure seems to have been capable at development. Vlad, Jr., was such a good hitter from the day he signed that even the Pirates couldn’t have messed him up. Biggio, though, was a 5th round pick with modest tools; now he’s the Jays’ second baseman and has shown solid power. Bichette was a second-rounder, 66th overall, who was rated 8th in BA’s overall top 100 for two years and batted 311/358/571 in a 46-game major league debut this year. The Jays also turned catcher Daniel Jansen, a 16th round pick, into the #42 prospect on BA’s top 100. RHP Nate Pearson, a 1st round pick (28th overall) in 2017 out of junior college, made it to AAA this year at 22, despite missing all but one game in 2018 when a line drive fractured his arm. He’s also made it into BA’s top 100.
The Jays have done best with hitters, but they managed to graduate a few pitchers this year who had respectable debuts in the majors. Trent Thornton and Jacob Waguespack both joined the team’s rotation and had solid performances in the high-offense AL East, with ERAs of 4.84 and 4.38, respectively. Those ERAs may not seem exciting, but they were good for ERA+ marks of 94 and 104, and neither was a top prospect. (And if you want to feel better about them, and Cherington, just compare their debuts to the pitchers the Pirates called up this year.) Sean Reid-Foley managed a 4.26 ERA in a 31-inning debut, although his xFIP was 6.26.
Boston’s drafting under Cherington is definitely a concern, but there are good reasons to believe that he’s capable on the development end. The Sox’ work on the international front is encouraging; they were far more successful there than the Pirates have been under Huntington. Of course, it’s going to take a long time to see whether any of this helps the Pirates.
SONG OF THE DAY
DAILY QUIZ
TODAY IN PIRATES HISTORY
by John Dreker
Seven former Pittsburgh Pirates born on this date, including a Hall of Famer.
Freddie Lindstrom, outfielder for the 1933-34 Pirates. He was a star third baseman for the New York Giants for nine years before coming to the Pirates. While there, they had an entire outfield that would go on to the Hall of Fame, with Lindstrom and the Waner brothers. He batted .302 in 235 games with the Pirates and he was a .311 career hitter over 1,438 games. He retired from baseball at age 30 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1976.
Brian Meadows, pitcher for 2002-05 Pirates. He was a starter his first season in Pittsburgh, then moved to relief, where he made a total of 160 appearances for the Pirates. Meadows went 8-12, 4.20 in 291.2 innings in Pittsburgh. He pitched a total of nine years in the majors, seeing time with four other clubs. He picked up double digit victories in each of his first three seasons.
Bill Almon, utility fielder for the 1985-87 Pirates. He played seven positions during his time with the Pirates, everything except pitcher and catcher. In 209 games, he was a .246 hitter with 13 homers and 57 RBIs. He spent 15 years in the majors after being drafted first overall in the 1974 draft by the San Diego Padres. Almon hit .254 over 1,256 career games.
Darryl Patterson, pitcher for the 1974 Pirates. In 21 innings over 14 relief appearances with the Pirates, he had a 7.29 ERA. He debuted in the majors by posting a 2.12 ERA for the World Series winning Detroit Tigers in 1968. Patterson had a 7-1 record for the 1970 Tigers, yet he finished his career with an 11-9 record over five seasons in the majors.
Billy Clingman, third baseman for the 1895 Pirates. Prior to the start of the 1895 season, the Pirates picked up Clingman in the Rule 5 Draft from the Milwaukee Brewers of the Western League. He hit .332 in 1894 with Milwaukee, collecting 40 extra base hits, 32 stolen bases and he scored 128 runs in 126 games. For the 1895 Pirates, Clingman hit .256 in 107 games, with no homers, 45 RBI’s and 69 runs scored. His defense was slightly above average that year, though later in his career he was known for his strong glove. In 1897 he led all NL third baseman in fielding percentage and four years later, he led all AL shortstops in the same category, while also leading in assists. Clingman was dealt to the Louisville Colonels in 1896 and he had seven more seasons ahead of him. Prior to joining the Pirates, he had played seven games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1890 and one game for Cincinnati of the American Association in 1891.
Alex Beam, pitcher for the 1889 Alleghenys. His big league career started on May 25, 1889 and ended four days later. Beam only pitched twice for the Alleghenys due to major control issues. In two complete game starts, he walked a total of 15 batters while recording just one strikeout. Beam was a strong pitcher from the area and the Alleghenys scooped him up so HOF manager Harry Wright couldn’t pick him up for his own Phillies team. His big league debut was a successful 3-1 win over Washington despite issuing nine walks. His second start was a double failure for the 19-year-old pitcher. He faced Harry Wright’s club and got battered, losing 15-4. Not only was that his last game with Pittsburgh, it also left a bad impression with Wright. Beam pitched minor league ball until 1892.
Henry Youngman, infielder for the 1890 Alleghenys. The 1890 Pittsburgh club was the worst in team history and it isn’t even close. They went 23-113 and during a time when teams regularly used 15-20 players over a full season, the Alleghenys used 46 players. Youngman had a decent minor league career, but his brief time in the majors was unsuccessful. In 13 games split between third base and second base, he hit .128 and made 16 errors. Not surprisingly, that was his only chance in the majors. Perhaps the most surprising part was his big league debut, in which he had two hits and his defense at third base was praised.
