Five Pirates Thoughts at Five – The Edge of Transition

8-26-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

This Pirates team is heading into the last full month of baseball and the schedule is much more manageable than it was a couple weeks ago.

I wanted them to make a winning season their goal, and whether they did or not that’s still in play. They don’t have room for one more losing streak. They probably don’t even have room for more than one or two series losses.

Nobody said it would be easy, it’s not supposed to be.

Let’s go!

1. Welcome Back Henry!

Not confident that he’ll be good after his call up? Well, me either.

You rarely get to place no risk bets in MLB. I mean, you sign Juan Soto, good shot you get a star player, but when it comes to prospects it’s always going to be a believe it when you see it proposition.

Just this year, Nick Gonzales went from an almost sure fire bust who couldn’t get his strikeout rate under control, and even if he did, he was defensively limited to a player some claim losing to injury tanked the season. Fans suggested trading him, others simply suggested he’d never make it.

Well, in this one season he not only made it back to the league, he showed massive improvement in his approach, swing plane, discipline and most importantly his K rate, not to mention he showed himself to be a plus defender at second base.

That doesn’t mean it’ll go down that way for Henry, it just means especially with a first round pick, he’s absolutely getting another shot at it.

He’s earned it too.

254 plate appearances, 28 extra base hits, 13 of which were homeruns. 23 walks vs 57 K’s, a .307 Average, .401 OBP, .555 SLG and an OPS of .956. I’ve watched him play. Not every game, but close to 10. He looks to be hitting the ball hard and not all pulled right down the 3rd base line. When he makes contact, he’s back to getting it in the air a bit more. I still think his overall stance make his margin for error smaller than they need to be, but he does seem to have fixed his biggest issue by far, catching up to velocity.

Look, there’s just nothing left to learn down there. He’s actually improved on the numbers that ultimately got him called up in the first place.

Again, not a guarantee he’ll succeed. Of course not. You can protect your feelings by full chested declaring he simply won’t make it in the Bigs, but the talent is very real, and he’s not only deserving of this chance, from what I’ve watched, he’s ready for it, and looks different enough to believe he has a good shot at feeling he can not lose his grip on a spot this time.

And don’t worry about Joey Bart or Endy Rodriguez. Couple things there, first of all, no matter what Henry does with this opportunity, it won’t erase what Joey has done. He may not enter camp with the same feeling JT Realmuto has, but he’ll know it’s his spot to lose.

And on Endy, man, Endy has some work to do on his own. He’ll be returning from not facing MLB pitching for over a year, and he still isn’t cleared to start the throwing program he’ll have to be well into before he can resume catching activities. He might not be cleared to hit right handed all that long before Spring. For his sake, don’t see him as an immediate jump right back in guy. Don’t rule him out either, but it’s not fair to expect him to be returned from the IL with the same expectation as a 10 year vet either.

Let Henry’s story be his, and his alone. Let him show you he requires a spot before you start yelling about which spot it should be. Maybe see a little more from all three before you create a sure fire logjam on the horizon that winds up being a couple ill fitting logs that jar themselves loose all by themselves.

You don’t need to decide if he was a good pick right now. This last month won’t tell you the answer anyway. It’s just one more step in a process the team has much incentive to work hard to make a success.

And for God’s sake, don’t hold him to his season numbers, he shot those into the sun already, give him a clean slate here, he could hit .600 the rest of the way and they’d still look like shit.

2. The Ke’Bryan Situation

The injury is no joke. And it’s gone on long enough that its a safe bet both sides have tried to find solutions. This isn’t the Pirates fault, or Ke’s, it’s just an injury.

Maybe some magic treatment will come along, maybe the Pirates could simply observe how he plays after rest and let go of the dream that he’s a 5-6 day a week player. Maybe he has to let that go too, and no, he isn’t there mentally right now.

The Pirates move to bring in Isiah Kiner-Falefa might wind up being brilliant, whether the team did it with an eye toward securing third base or not.

The Pirates still think there is something there with Jared Triolo, think about it, they’ve been Jack Suwinski level stubborn with him in 2024. He was a guy many of us had as a potential Rule 5 casualty and instead the Pirates motored him on up.

The flexibility both players provide could give the team some options for helping Hayes be at his best more often and if one of them overperforms or reaches their potential and it makes it easier to feel you aren’t losing anything resting Hayes, great. Hell, if Hayes performs and you can deal him, maybe it gives you room to entertain it.

The team is going to give him another chance. It’s really that simple. Yeah, partially because of the contract, but it’s got a little to do with them believing in him too.

One thing I think both sides need to stop holding onto though, he can’t just tough guy his way through this thing. This isn’t about toughness, it’s about physical limitations brought about by chronic injury.

Think about it from a pitchers standpoint. A guy has a bum knee but he’s a trooper and wants to just push through. You need him because you’re next option is Jake Woodford and you’re a GM who thinks that’s a bad option (sorry had to). He’s still a veteran pitcher and knows how to do more with less, but his 93MPH fastball being his max effort output isn’t much better than Jake would be.

At some point you have to stop respecting the toughness and realize you’re hurting the team more than helping it by gutting it out.

3. Why Waive a Player and Keep Them?

Some of you saw that Michael A. Taylor was being placed on Waivers and assumed that meant he was off the team. He could be claimed and that would take him off the team, but it also isn’t the same as being DFA’d, or Designated for Assignment.

Don’t get me wrong, this is all leading to him being released if he isn’t claimed, but the reason you see it so much around the league right now is usually about giving veteran pending free agents a shot to play in the playoffs if some playoff team might want the addition.

It takes a miniscule amount of payroll off the books, and clears 40 man spots that you’re likely to need for Rule 5 protections this winter so you can have some late season cups of coffee to hand out.

Now that MLB limits September roster expansion to 28 spots, only 2 extra, teams have had to get creative about how and when to start making moves to clear space. The timing is all about being eligible for playoff rosters should they be claimed.

It means the team at the very least is ok with moving on from the guy, but it doesn’t mean they feel like they have to if they go unclaimed.

Some of you remember this situation playing out with Gregory Polanco a few years back. That was a bit different because he was a contracted player with a track record of being on the Pirates for the better part of a decade and no matter how small a role helped bring playoff baseball back to Pittsburgh. This is just a stop gap free agent.

He knows he didn’t do what the team or he hoped, no hard feelings, it just didn’t work.

4. Where the Pirates Finish in the Central is Entirely Up to Them

Below is a list of games the Pirates have remaining against NL Central foes and their record against them so far.

6 games against the Cubs (4-3)

4 games against the Cardinals (4-5)

3 games against the Reds (7-3)

3 games against the Brewers (5-5)

That’s an overall NL Central record of 20-16.

With 16 games left against them, there’s significant room to all on their own climb out of the basement in this division. A winning record against each and every one of them is on the table. A winning record in the division is very much so in order.

There isn’t a team in this division that this team can’t compete with. Doesn’t mean they always do, but they have an opportunity to make a significant move up the pecking order in this division this year and it’s a side race I’m keeping an eye on as we finish out the season.

5. Hire for the Job You Need Filled

In a past lifetime I managed a restaurant. When you do so, you always run into hiring issues. When you really need help, nobody is applying, and when you don’t, Michelin Star chefs are walking in offering their services for 20 bucks an hour.

When this happens, you start to get desperate. Someone applies to wash dishes, you convince yourself you can teach them to cook. You know?

The Pirates tend to have a figure they’re comfortable with to fill a position and then they convince themselves that a part time player can fill a full time role, or maybe recapture a role they haven’t filled in a few years.

They talk themselves into believing their former team had the luxury of even more players to fill the role, not that the player simply wasn’t what he used to be.

What it results in is a player like Yasmani Grandal being asked to start. His body didn’t cooperate and his offensive and defensive performance fell far below the line. They got lucky with Joey Bart and suddenly were able to play Grandal in a more comfortable role. Personal catcher and part time starter.

It’s helped him turn his season around.

Since going to a more limited role with more rest he’s looked much better. He’s played 30 games since June 17th, and gotten 89 at bats in that timeframe. 5 homeruns, .236 Average, .296 OBP and a .461 SLG.

Not great, but more than passable for a backup catcher. Which is really what he always should have been.

I’m sure Henry Davis hurt their plan, and there’s no way they could have planned on Joey Bart both being here or performing like he has.

What I’m saying here is, if you have a full time need, don’t hire a platoon player. If you need a center fielder, sign a center fielder, not someone you think might be able to handle it.

For once I want them to just identify a target and acquire said target.