Pirates Make Roster Moves, One Took Fans by Surprise

3-23-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X

The Pirates made a couple roster moves yesterday, one of which really took me aback.

Jose Hernandez, a rule 5 selection who performed well last year for the Bucs was optioned to Indianapolis. This was a little surprising but more so because of the injury concerns they’ve had in the pen than him actually being sent down. In fact, before the season several of us had him starting in AAA. Signing Chapman further cemented it for many, but injuries piled and it became a very back of the mind thought.

Even so, that wasn’t the controversial move.

Liover Peguero was optioned to AAA and in so doing, essentially decided Alika Williams will make the club as a bench infielder.

So let’s tackle all of this, from every angle.

First, this isn’t how I would have gone. I’d have started Peguero and used Jared Triolo to bounce around, the thinking being they’d get enough at bats for both in the process. That’s me, that’s where I was, and that’s where I largely still am, but as always, there are other ways to see it, other reasons to consider and I want to make sure I cover them all.

As we go through this, keep that paragraph in mind, I’ve thought through this and I still land where I did, but thinking through all these other things, at the very least I can at least swallow that there is grey here to play with.

What About Your Best 26?

This is a battle cry that is very hard to argue with. Why wouldn’t you want your best 26 players on the roster? Especially when you’re talking about players with no service time issues, graduated prospect status, no real incentive for the team to hide them in the minors for financial gain.

Again, this plays right into my way of thinking for filling this role, but I’d also say this really should be more about deploying your best unit, not 26 players. In this case the Pirates think at least early on here that they’d prefer Peguero get regular at bats in AAA and are fine with Alika having splinters in his backside.

Best 26? No. Best deployment of assets? They sure think so right?

How Can You Try to Win and Roster Alika Williams?

Do you remember Clint Barmes? Rafael Belliard? Defensive specialists who didn’t play much. Late inning replacement, spot starter types. A support role.

It was my belief they would probably rest Ke’Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz regularly, one for the back issues that crop up every year and one for the continued slow walking of his return from injury. Another reason I thought there was plenty of room for both Peggy and Triolo on the roster.

So either the Pirates don’t plan on a ton of that rest being necessary early on, or, they really are very concerned about the up the middle defense.

Alika isn’t ever going to be a bopper, but he can top out at what I’d consider a defensive specialist who makes contact. He’s never going to be a player you get stoked to see in the lineup, but in this role, that might just be ok.

If they use Alika the way I hope they would, he plays maybe 1 start a week at short and maybe comes in late defensively to gobble up ground balls.

What I have a hard time getting past is they’d almost have to use him more. Jared Triolo will need to cover 3B on occasion and he himself will need a blow once a week right? Again, this is why I land back on there was room to keep Peggy.

Peggy Was Out Much of Spring

Instead of copying and pasting this into my own words, Craig Toth did a fine job making this point.

Peguero has played just once since March 13th due to an illness, and only got a couple at bats. Get built back up/up to speed again. If he plays/hits the way he did at the beginning of Spring, he shouldn’t be down too long. #LetsGoBucs https://t.co/HlJYCN8dNk

— Bucs In The Basement (@BucsBasement) March 23, 2024

This is a great point, that honestly I didn’t see. I lost track of how much time Peguero had missed, and his AB totals aren’t all that much lower than his competitors for the position.

In other words here, Craig is suggesting here potentially the Pirates themselves would rather go the way most of us saw them going, but Liover needs to work a bit, just getting back to game speed.

First, that’s some flu that was going around right? Seems like the guys who got it were knocked out for weeks.

This theory and reason has legs.

He Needs Consistent At Bats, So AAA it is

I can get behind this argument for a whole lot of players….but not Peguero and here’s why.

Peggy has over 1000 plate appearances from the AA-AAA levels and he’s been on the 40-man for 3 years.

In that time he’s had 217 plate appearances in MLB with the Pirates.

We’re beyond that kind of territory on this player in my mind friends. I just can’t play this consistent at bat game with everyone. I should also note, he’s still only 23, and I don’t mean like he turns 24 in a week either, he’ll be 23 this entire season. He’s been a name for a long time in this system because he needed added to the 40-man early, he was part of the return for the Pirates most valuable asset to trade Starling Marte, and largely, he’s performed.

At his age, it’s fair to expect he has a lot of room to grow, but I don’t think that growing will happen at the AAA level, and further, he’s going to run out of time to contribute here if they mess with him and let Cheng or Johnson catch up. Make no mistake, they’re both a-comin’.

If nothing else, you’d get more trading a player who has cracked and stuck in MLB than a prospect who has 1300 at bats in advanced minor league baseball. They could tank his value and usefulness in one flail swoop if they aren’t careful here, not to mention, burning another option on a guy who may very well need to have them in his pocket in a year or two so you don’t lose him for nothing.

Triolo Beat Him for the Job!

OK, I mean you know I love me some Triolo. In fact he’s the only infielder I called as a lock to make the club before camp started. He’s versatile, healthy and productive. I’m happy for him, every player would prefer to be the guy at 1 position than bounce all over wondering where you might be tomorrow, if you’ll be somewhere tomorrow that is.

He has earned it. And regardless of how long it lasts, or how the team plans to move forward when Peguero is deemed ready, or even when Ji-hwan Bae is healthy or if Gonzales starts looking like his pedigree would suggest he could, maybe Jared will find himself back to the super utility player many of us envisioned. There are still a ton of ways this could all play out, but for now, Triolo in my mind has shown more at the big league level than any of the other alternatives.

This won’t be the last difficult choice this team makes, in fact, they only stand to get more difficult, with bigger names potentially getting iced out. A deeper team will lead to MLB players filling the coffers in AAA. As many as you can anyhow before you’re forced to turn them loose or trade them. It’s a difficult dance, hard for fans to watch. You get attached to guys, convince yourself someone is part of this team for a long time based on a good stretch or year only to see them supplanted.

This team is going to have a lot of moving parts, just is. I can see a ton of up and down movement this year, both for the purposes of meeting the innings demand, and, they have a lot of kids who they have to work through.