I’ve spent some time recently wondering what I’m going to do for content once No Quarter goes live. Maybe the most alarming comment during the team’s GM search was one of Jason Mackey’s sources texting him that Cherington would be “Neal 2.0.” Sure enough, it’s been an all-too-familiar, all-too-sleepy sort of off-season so far. We all expected, or hoped, Ben Cherington would be the new broom. Instead, the only changes in the front office have been the replacement of Neal Huntington and his evil twin, and the only player added to a 93-loss team has been a catcher who barely outhit Joe Musgrove.
As badly as I want to see the team start moving forward, there are perfectly coherent reasons to remain patient. The main one is that Bob Nutting put Cherington behind the eight-ball by waiting until mid-November to hire him. Front office contracts in MLB generally run through the end of October, so the other 29 teams probably had their FOs largely set by the time Cherington was hired. The way I understand it, the etiquette in MLB is that teams will allow an employee who’s under contract to interview for a job that would be a promotion, but not a lateral move. Even then, most of that activity seems to take place in September and October. It’s quite possible Cherington could not have gotten permission to interview, say, a scouting supervisor to be the Pirates’ scouting director.
The FO hires that Cherington makes need to be the right ones, which means he needs the broadest possible pool to choose from. The impact of key FO people is felt over a number of years, so a one-year hire would make no sense. It’d be a terrible practice to hire somebody now and then reconsider once other possibilities opened up next fall. And what are the odds that somebody Cherington considered exactly the right guy just happened to be unemployed in November? So I guess I can understand him sticking with people like the team’s farm and scouting directors at least for the next year. I don’t really expect a new FO to take shape until next fall, which is what happened with Mike Elias in Baltimore.
On the player end, it’s not really surprising that nothing much has happened. There’s only two things that could happen. One is free agent signings, but the truth is, Bob Nutting is still the owner and he flat said he’s not going to spend more. I won’t be the least bit surprised if the team opens 2020 with an even lower payroll than 2019. Cherington may have little choice beyond doing what Huntington did: Wait until everybody else has gotten the players they want and find somebody desperate enough to sign for barely above the minimum salary. Maybe that won’t be the case, but if it is, that’s on Nutting.
The other possibility for players is trades. Cherington reportedly had a lot of trade discussions at the winter meetings. The absence of a deal, though, isn’t necessarily a bad sign. The worst thing a GM can do is proceed with the attitude that he just has to make a move. Huntington’s two biggest recent blunders probably happened in part because he decided he just had to trade Gerrit Cole and just had to have Chris Archer. He got fleeced both times. If Cherington can’t get the right deal for Starling Marte or Adam Frazier, it’s better for him to wait.
I was hoping some information on the lack of action would come out of the Q/A session with Cherington and CEO Travis Williams that the Pirates held for season ticket holders. As far as I can tell, the local media ignored the event. Fortunately, John Alcorn gave us a summary in the Two-Way Player comments. Sounds like it was good talk, at least. There’ve been times when I’ve thought the new guys were directly addressing criticisms folks directed toward the old FO, and it seems like this was one of those times.
Like this (from John’s post):
Also discussed a committee like approach for determining how players will be developed with multiple voices in the room as opposed to one way to do things (a la fastball academy, etc.)
This (possibly) addresses complaints that we’ve seen from time to time of the Pirates insisting on a one-size-fits-all approach for their players and that too much got dictated by the FO (particularly by the evil twin), with too little discretion for individual coaches.
Or:
the only sustainable advantage in continued learning, once you gain an advantage the other 29 teams copy it quickly, so you have to keep innovating.
The Pirates in recent years have seemed increasingly inflexible, with no accountability or willingness to re-examine their own operations. So they’ve fallen farther and farther behind in a very short time.
The most significant item, though, may be:
Travis didn’t have much useful to say IMO, but one thing caught my ear – he said that he has spoken with Bob about cycle spending rather than annual budgets. Looking at it in 3 to 5 year blocks.
To me, possibly the most depressing facet of the Pirates’ mismanagement over the past few years has been the consistent unwillingness to acknowledge the reality of the success cycle. As one exec told Eno Sarris recently for an article about FO realities (sub. req’d), “Other than for a few teams, the concept of competitive cycles is real.” Safe to say, the list of those “few teams” isn’t the Yankees, Dodgers and Pirates. Everybody else in MLB has figured this out, so it was a critical failing when the Pirates’ couldn’t. I’ve also tended to believe that this was a Nutting issue more than a Huntington one. The fact that Trevor Williams sees the need to discuss it with Nutting makes me think that’s the case.
So we’ll see if some of this talk becomes reality. That’s going to take a lot of patience in following a team that’s done nothing for decades now to earn the benefit of the doubt.
SONG OF THE DAY
DAILY QUIZ
You have to type the answers to this one in order. (Hint: A player can appear twice.)
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
By John Dreker
Seven former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including a key piece of the 1990-92 playoff teams and the franchise’s last batting champion.
Andy Van Slyke, outfielder for the 1987-94 Pirates. He came to the Pirates from the Cardinals along with catcher Mike Lavalliere and pitcher Mike Dunne on April 1, 1987 in a trade for All-Star catcher Tony Pena. In 1990, Van Slyke helped lead the way towards the Pirates first pennant since 1979 by hitting .284 with 77 RBIs and playing stellar defense in CF winning his third straight Gold Glove. That’s an award he would win again the next two seasons as well. Van Slyke helped the Pirates to a second straight title in 1991 by driving in 83 runs and scoring 87 times. The 1992 season would see the Pirates make the playoffs for a third straight time and Van Slyke had his best overall season as he hit .324 with 103 runs scored and 89 RBIs. He led the NL in hits and doubles and he made his second All-Star team, won his fifth Gold Glove, won his second silver slugger award and finished fourth in the NL MVP voting. In 1,057 games with the Pirates, he hit .283 with 117 homers, 134 stolen bases, 564 RBIs and 598 runs scored.
Freddy Sanchez, infielder for the 2004-09 Pirates. He was originally an 11th round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2000. Sanchez played briefly in the majors for the Sox in both 2003 and 2004, getting a total of 52 plate appearances over 32 games. He was traded to the Pirates along with relief pitcher Mike Gonzalez in exchange for pitchers Brandon Lyons and Jeff Suppan. Sanchez won the NL batting crown on the last day of the 2006 season by going 2-for-4 to finish with a .344 average. He also led the league in doubles with 53 and drove in 85 runs. In 2007 he became the everyday second baseman and would make his second straight All-Star appearance, as he hit .304 with 42 doubles and 81 RBIs. He struggled in 2008, hitting a career low .271 which came along with a .298 on base percentage. Back on his game in 2009, Sanchez made his third All-Star appearance. He was traded to the Giants at the trading deadline that year and finished his career after the 2011 season. He batted .297 in 904 big league games.
John Hope, pitcher for the 1993-96 Pirates. He was a second round draft pick of the Pirates in 1989 out of high school. He made it to the majors four years later, going 0-2, 4.03 in seven late season starts. During the next two seasons in Pittsburgh, he saw limited time out of the bullpen, pitching a total of 12 games. Hope allowed 20 runs over 14.1 innings between both seasons. In 1996, he was again used as a starter and struggled, going 1-3, 6.98 in four starts and one relief outing. That was the end of his Major League career. The Pirates released him after the season and Hope spent three years in the minors, two in Independent ball, before retiring.
Danny Kravitz, catcher for the 1956-60 Pirates. Kravitz was a local kid, signed as an amateur by the Pirates in 1949. It took seven years before he made the majors. He had some poor timing with Pittsburgh, getting traded during the World Series winning 1960 season, after spending 11 years in the organization, though two full years were spent serving in the military. Over his five seasons in Pittsburgh, he hit .236 with six homers and 40 RBIs in 156 games. His best season with the team came in 1959, when he hit .253 with 21 RBIs. On June 1, 1960, the Pirates traded Kravitz to the Kansas City A’s for Hank Foiles and cash. Kravitz would finish out that season with the A’s, then play the last three years of his pro career in the minors.
Bill Werle, pitcher for the Pirates from 1949 until 1952. As a 28-year-old rookie in 1949, Werle went 12-13, 4.24 in 29 starts and six relief appearances for the Pirates. The next season, he went 8-16, 4.60, but proved to be a valuable asset, by making 22 starts and 26 relief appearances. In his first two seasons combined, he pitched a total of 436.1 innings. In 1951, he was able to put together an 8-6 record in nine starts and 50 relief appearances, despite playing for a team that went 64-90 and posting a 5.65 ERA. Werle got into five games for the 1952 Pirates before they sent him to the Cardinals in exchange for pitcher Red Munger. He pitched in the majors until 1954, then stuck around in the minors until 1963, finishing with a 29-39 big league record and 147 minor league wins.
Pete Scott, outfielder for 1928 Pirates. Scott was a great hitter, but he is remembered most for being one of the players returning to the Pirates in the lopsided Kiki Cuyler deal. While Cuyler went on to make the Hall of Fame, Scott played just 60 games for the Pirates. In two seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Scott hit .299 over 148 games, with 55 RBIs and an .802 OPS. After the trade, he hit .311 in 60 games for the Pirates, scoring 33 runs and driving in 33 runs. He was seldom used at the beginning of the year and missed all of August with an injury. Despite hitting well when he played, Scott returned to the minors in 1929 and never played in the majors again. He played a total of 14 years in pro ball, only batting under .300 twice, once as a rookie with the 1926 Cubs and the other time as a rookie in the minors, when he hit .291 in 1920. Scott finished with a .320 minor league average in 1,073 games.
Warren Gill, first baseman for the 1908 Pirates. Gill played a total of 12 seasons in the minors as a light-hitting defensive-minded first baseman. Early in his career, he also pitched. His big league career consisted of just 27 late season games for the 1908 Pirates. He hit .224 with 11 walks and 14 RBIs, while playing flawless defense at first base. After the season, Gill was sold to Minneapolis of the American Association. The Pirates picked up Gill prior to the 1908 season and kept him around during Spring Training, but when he didn’t make the team, they sent him to Grand Rapids of the Central League, where he was said to be the best first baseman in the league. When regular first baseman Alan Storke struggled, the Pirates sent for Gill and kept him in the lineup for most of the remainder of the season. In a sign of the times, one of Gill’s strong points according to the local press was his constant chatter during games, encouraging his pitcher.
