Through The Prospect Porthole: JC Flowers’ Journey From Centerfielder To Starter

12-28-21 By Craig W. Toth (aka @BucsBasement on Twitter)

In Ben Cherington’s first draft as General Manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he followed his first round choice of Nick Gonzalez by selecting five right handed pitcher in a row. Among them were a two-way high school player, a former middle infielder turned reliever and a JUCO Bandit with a limited innings count. At the time statements were made concerning Cherington’s inclination to focus on talented athletes, including some who also happened to be pitchers with minimal miles on their arms. Then this past season he went on to scoop up Bubba Chandler, another two-way player, who was also a four star quarterback recruit for the Clemson Tigers, as well as Penn State Football wide receiver commit OF Lonnie White, Jr., which put a little bit of a punctuation mark on the original assessment from a year ago.

With each of these picks the reputation of the Pirates new GM was bolstered, however, contrary to the belief held by some, targeting these types of players is not the invention from the mind of Cherington. This isn’t to say am not happy with the choices he has made, it’s just that we shouldn’t go around pretending like he’s the one who created fire.

If you don’t believe me all you have to do is go back exactly one year to then General Manager Neil Huntington’s last draft with Pittsburgh. In the first round he selected a right-handed high school pitcher that once was considered to be the future quarterback of Northwestern University, along with the ace of the baseball team’s staff. Of course that was before he fully dedicated himself to his work on the mound. Then in the fourth round the Pirates selected a centerfielder from Florida State, who had exactly 26.2 innings pitched at the collegiate level on his resume. Why you ask? Because he regularly pumps it up to 97 mph on the gun with his fastball, just like he did in high school when the Cincinnati Reds originally picked him in the 18th Round of the 2016 MLB Draft.

For the first two games of his professional career J.C. Flowers performed a familiar role by coming out of the bullpen once and filling in as an opener for the West Virginia Black Bears in Short-Season A Ball. However, his next seven appearances would come as regular part of the rotation; ultimately building up to five innings in his final start of the season. Still, as could have been reasonably expected, this transition was not without some growing pains. On the year Flowers posted a 4.30 ERA and a 1.500 WHIP, while striking out 24, walking 11 and surrendering 5 homers in only 29.1 innings of work.

Entering the 2021 I was extremely interested to see if Flowers would return to a full-time reliever role, or if the new Pirates regime would attempt to build upon Huntington and Crew’s plan to see if they could make a starter out of this project player. In the beginning it looked like this idea had been scrapped in favor of a long relief and/or set-up role, yet once again, after several appearances he found himself back in the rotation; this time as a member of the Low-A Bradenton Marauders, which went a lot smoother than the previous transition. Over six games-two of them starts-and in 17 innings, Flowers posted a 2.12 ERA, a .824 WHIP and a 23 K to 3 BB ratio.

In the short term this level of success would continue as Flowers was promoted to High-A Greensboro in the beginning of June. That month he pitched another 18 innings, walked only batter and put up a 1.50 ERA and a .722 WHIP, but saw his K/9 drop to only 6.5. Unfortunately, the next couple of months were fairly rough as his ERA rose to 5.69 and his WHIP ballooned to 1.711, although some of this can be explained away by a ridiculous .435 BABIP and the potentially negative effect of the Grasshoppers home ballpark-double the ERA.

So, not all good and not all bad, but most regrettably without a way to conduct a clear assessment as to what the future will hold for this former centerfielder; which makes 2022 all the more important for J.C. Flowers.

For his sake I hope it comes with a promotion to Altoona, in an attempt to eliminate any factors beyond his control.

Five Pirates Thoughts at Five

12-27-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

The baseball world is quiet, deafening even. Nobody has put forward any ideas, both sides feel like this is their moment in time, and the longer it goes without starting to hear ideas, concessions, or even just angry vitriol, the more likely this process costs games.

1. Bolstering the Development Team

The Pirates added several new coaches to the development team primarily based in Bradenton shortly before the holiday. One dominated the coverage thought, Caitlyn Callahan. She’s the first in uniform female coach the Pirates have ever hired so everyone crawled out to make sure the world knew how awesome it was so the world knew how great they are. This sort of move comes with little celebration typically, they’ve hired a coach who interned with the Reds last season specializing in video and technology, and if she wasn’t the first, we’d likely not hear about it.

I’m happy to see MLB and particularly the Pirates open doors that were not available in the past, but I’ll reserve my praise for the hire, much like I will for the new MLB hitting coach Andy Haines until I’ve seen some results.

I care about the job, if she does it well I don’t care if she has 7 legs and 8 eyes.

The Pirates also hired Dewey Robinson, who has been seen as a pitching development guru with the Rays. Again, the Rays have obviously done something right in this regard, and he’s been there since 2010, last year moving into the role of Director of Pitching Development. This certainly needs to be a focus for this franchise, but we’ll see. I’m happy to comb some crumbs from a successful organization but the Rays don’t make a lot of mistakes, and that goes for letting people go at the wrong time too.

The Bucs hired a new Minor League Fielding Director, Chris Truby, who filled the same role with the Phillies. He started his coaching career with the Bucs 14 years ago and after one year moved to Philly where he held multiple roles for 13 years.

Finally, the club replaced AAA pitching coach Joel Hanrahan with Dan Meyer who was once a Pirates prospect and has been with the Braves since 2015, most recently as a pitching coach for their AA affiliate.

This is all good stuff, they need to continue to build the development team, I just don’t see one more important than the others based on their sex. True equality to me is ignoring things like that for the most part and focusing on the job they do. Yes, I know that’s not a popular way to look at it but it is where I land on stuff like this.

2. Define Build Sir

This team is clearly building something, and it’s very much so from the ground up. We’re talking an overhaul of the actual system, not just the players and coaches, we’re talking equipment, programs, methods and philosophies.

This is not going to be over anytime soon. Even if by some chance the MLB team returns to relevancy in the next couple years as it looks to be headed, I’m getting the impression that the system itself is more what Ben Cherington is referring to as his build’s focus. That’s been his track record, in Boston he completely overhauled the entire system and turned it into a talent conveyer belt. He then took his talents to Toronto and largely did the same.

The thing is, it can never be seen as a success unless it shows itself on the MLB playing surface.

I’m saying this for one simple reason, even if as a GM Ben Cherington fails to get the job done at the MLB level, he could leave a lasting mark on this organization because of this aspect of his undertaking.

This isn’t uncommon in sports, a guy who is focused on rebuilding the pipeline can sometimes fall in love with his canvas and struggle to actually put down brush strokes. That’s the part of this whole thing I really think we have no choice but to hold our breath and hope over. Can he, will he, use some of the pieces he and his system are going to create to make the MLB product better? Not just via promotion, but as assets, because this won’t work without it. Diversification of acquisition is almost as important as development itself, and willingness is the key to unlocking it.

3. Should We Really Believe Nick Gonzales Can Debut in 2022?

I’ll end the suspense, I doubt it sincerely.

But, but, he did so good in the Arizona Fall League!

Still no.

But, Ben Cherington is known to accelerate development!

Yeah, within reason, he is.

This is where the 40-man and actual numbers matter. You can’t just ignore all the guys that would need to be jumped or dumped to open a door for Nick to make a meaningless debut in a season unlikely to produce a winning record. I have no doubt he’ll do enough this season to make at least a few of us believe he’s a better option than anyone else in front of him, but that’s not enough. It’s not fair either at times, but fair isn’t a thing in this area of baseball.

Be patient with Nick and in 2023 he’ll be in the picture. Pretending the Greensboro roster from 2021 will all make the league this season is ignoring reality, and worse, it’s setting up for fans to assume failure on his part or the development system when it’s honestly not warranted.

4. No, Virginia, There is No Ownership Change That Would Save This Franchise

The most boring comment I receive is easily “DERP, they need a new owner”.

It’s not even that I disagree, it’s that it won’t solve all the problems.

I won’t mention Bob Nutting in every piece I write, because quite frankly, he has noting to do with much of what we’re watching right now and if that makes you think you need to remind me that he’s part of every problem, I honestly think you’re ignoring that there is very little chance he’s slipped past my eyes examining this club.

I know who he is, I know what he’s done wrong, I know what he’s done foolishly. I’m aware of his short sightedness, his tight purse strings and all of the idiocy of this league that allows it.

I’m also covering a team trying to in part replicate a franchise that has survived and thrived under all the same issues. I think the owner hired someone who can and has done it before. When I choose to not mention the owner, it’s because it’s boring as hell, not because I don’t remember or didn’t realize and the only thing holding me back is your brilliant observation that he’s cheap.

You have to work with the tools you have and that’s how I choose to cover this club. When I want to address the owner, as I have hundreds of times at this point, I’ll address the owner. When I don’t, it’s either because I feel for the subject at hand it’s irrelevant, or it’s such an obvious given I’d like to think you’d give me the same credit I give you, that you already know he’ll have to spend at some point. Honestly if you need to hear it in every story, this simply isn’t the site for you. It’s a reality that people will seek out people who write or say what they want to hear, well, that’s just not how we write. We write what interests us, and if it speaks to you, great.

5. Will There Be MLB Baseball in 2022?

I’d be lying if I told you anything has changed since the last time we spoke. All the same issues remain, all the same arguments, all the same bull headedness.

I will say though, I think missing games is very likely at this point. Both sides are dug in, and while I can sit here and tell you neither side wants to lose money, the people negotiating it are not going to suffer much. The richest players fill up the representative pool, and the owners of course all aren’t going to miss a meal.

If we don’t have news of any movement by mid January, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t book any trips to Bradenton, unless you want to take in a Marauders game.

The Pirates Pivot Point

12-26-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

I haven’t written or talked about the Pirates much in a week. A necessary break for the holiday of course, but also a needed step back from a process that at times can get suffocating. You get so immersed in the ins and outs of the rebuild that sometimes you blind yourself from the obvious.

For me, that part I’ve been forgetting, or probably better said, not spending much time thinking about, is really who or what is the game changer for this rebuild? What takes this whole thing and says, look, this isn’t a team on decline anymore?

For the last successful team, most of us didn’t recognize it, but it might have been this moment.

It was the first innocent single from a future MVP. A rare, in this market, guy who reached the league and showed the hype was real. We of course didn’t know at the time everything he would grow into, or the leader he’d become, but looking back, that single started the ball rolling.

It led to team investment. It led to real free agent signings. It led to veteran acquisitions to surround him with talent. Eventually it even led to almost winning 100 games, but it all started on the 99 loss 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates.

You could argue it was something else. Maybe for you that pivot point was actually signing Russell Martin, or trading for AJ Burnett. For me, none of that happens if Andrew McCutchen is anything less than a guy so obviously good that even this franchise knew they couldn’t waste the talent.

So what’s the pivot point for this iteration of the Pittsburgh Pirates? It certainly could be Bryan Reynolds emerging in 2021. Perhaps it was Oneil Cruz hitting a homerun after his very late season call up last year. Hey, maybe we haven’t even seen it yet right?

One thing about this subject, nobody felt that harmless single I highlighted was anything more than a rookie worth watching at the time, but once the club is actually successful, it’s easier to look back and recognize when and where the change really started.

Let’s talk a bit about some candidates for this club, acknowledging we don’t have all the variables yet. For instance, we haven’t seen this team go add anyone significant yet, and we also can’t clearly say when winning in earnest starts. But if I had to bet, we’ve very much so seen our future pivot point and I think we’ll cover it with one of these options.

First up is the obvious, Bryan Reynolds, and unlike Andrew, It’s a series of games. Bryan Reynolds in July of 2021 showed us something he never had, he wasn’t just going to be an on base guy, he was going to be a power threat too. He had hits in every game but three, and belted 7 homeruns while also starting in his first All Star Game. Posting an OPS of 1.087 and a .376 average during the month, Reynolds put a statement month on paper, even as the team around him floundered. Anyone in baseball will tell you doing that in a lineup filled with studs is hard, doing that in a lineup where you are literally the only player teams need to avoid being beaten by is daunting to say the least.

Next let’s head to Oneil Cruz. Of all the prospects close to MLB, Cruz has the stick that could really be transformative. Elite power, and a flare for bad ball hitting that speaks to top notch bat to ball skills, Cruz has shown the goods. Obviously we need to see more, but easily we could have witnessed the beginning of something special in those last couple games last season. He has a ton of weight on his shoulders, because if he isn’t a piece, the Pirates will have to wait for the next wave to see one most likely, and in many ways, Cruz will help this club decide how far away they are. That matters for extension discussions, signings and even moves. If this man is part of the solution, the answer starts to make itself known, if he’s not, we adjust our gaze back a bit.

The final guy I’m going to look at is Roansy Contreras. He’s a fringe guy here, because let’s face facts, he’s only had one start. So it’s relatively impossible he’s already shown us a turning point, but he’s certainly a candidate for being the guy who eventually delivers it. This one is also the simplest of all to explain, if Roansy is a top of the rotation fixture once he makes the roster on a more permanent basis, the entire timeline starts to look more realistic. If for whatever reason he isn’t, well there isn’t another with his ceiling until Quinn Priester.

Who’s your candidate? Has the player actually played yet? Maybe this is a topic best served by the hindsight it takes to appreciate that harmless single mentioned above, but maybe, just maybe, the player and his potential are what raise eyebrows from the jump. Regardless, let me know your thoughts on this, it’s interesting to say the least.

A Very Merry Christmas Eve Message from Gary at Inside the Bucs Basement

12-24-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Christmas, regardless of your religious conviction, is a time of peace, giving, family, and love. So, today, I’d like to take a moment today and talk about what this team means to me, and how much some of you have impacted my experience covering them.

As a website, Craig and I have no physical address for our little business, which we both refer to as our little Building and Loan, you It’s a Wonderful Life fans will get that pretty quickly. We didn’t expect this to grow quickly because our literal goal has been to not put click bait out, and we also wanted to avoid writing what the pulse of the fan base wants to hear.

So color me surprised when Craig and I were asked for our addresses from a bunch of you wanting to send Christmas cards our way. I’m touched that a couple guys just wanting to write about our favorite baseball team reached so many of you, and I’m even more taken aback by how many of those cards referred to us as Family.

I didn’t expect this. In fact, I didn’t expect to make any friends doing this. The message Craig and I are delivering isn’t exactly happy all the time. Still, some of you have embraced us and helped spread the word and slowly but surely our cute little B&L reference we started with is becoming less and less relevant.

Focusing on chronicling the build this team is undergoing was of course going to be glum at first, and hard to digest for folks that so desperately want to simply see their team win. Sure, some people have asked us to be more positive, or told us we’re not critical enough, but if I’m honest, getting comments like that in both directions is exactly what we really want to see. It means we’re staying right where we want to be, on the fence. Not picking winners and losers, simply telling you what we think we see.

So, for the website, we thank you all so much, for your readership, your passion, your heartfelt arguments, your reluctant agreements, and in many cases, your friendship.

This franchise is historic, and as a lifelong fan who’s literally never seen them win it all, I rely on fans just like some of you to pass those stories and feelings along. I had a head start with my grandparents, but hearing the where you were stories from all of you really add to the depth of understanding and for those who take the time to care, really adds to the understanding as to why so many are so frustrated with the club.

This is the home of Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner, Willie Stargell, and Ralph Kiner. Champions and homerun kings, community organizers, ambassadors and humanitarians, Pittsburgh has played home to some of the greatest players and people to ever play the game and I’m so proud to cover an organization that still embraces that philosophy of giving and family.

Players wives, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, mother in-laws and former teammates reach out and provide the human element to what we see on the field, reminding us that these past few seasons we’ve watched weren’t just hard on us, but their families and the players themselves too. They’ve lost games, they’ve lost friends, and they’ve dealt with conditions so foreign to everything they enjoyed as baseball players their entire careers, and these folks help keep us in check or simply add to our understanding of why someone might have looked less than focused for a couple weeks back in June.

To their credit, they understand criticism, and don’t take it personally but let me give you an example of what this job does to you. As a writer, covering this team I reasoned and expected Chad Kuhl to be non-tendered. I wasn’t mad about it, didn’t disagree with it and knowing his wish to remain a starter differed from what the Pirates wanted him to be, really made it more probable. That said, I had so many great interactions with his wife Amanda, it was bittersweet to see him go. Again, as a fan of the team, I knew it was progress the team needed, but I also know how much he and Amanda wanted to be part of the solution here. These are real people, and while my job is to write about them as assets or pieces, I love that so much depth to my understanding has come from these incredible people. Being a baseball player’s significant other isn’t exactly an easy gig.

We have started to form one hell of a family here at Inside the Bucs Basement, and every single one of you is valuable. Your opinions matter, and this holiday season I wish nothing more than to see each of you have the celebration you all deserve.

It’s been a hell of a ride, and we’re just getting started.

Merry Christmas, and thank you all for allowing us to be part of your family.

Gary

Through The Prospect Porthole: Potentially Held Up In Altoona

12-23-21 By Craig W. Toth (aka @BucsBasement on Twitter)

Recently, the chatter on Pittsburgh Pirates Social Media has been filled with discussions concerning the development of the team’s players; especially when it comes to prospects in the Minor Leagues. Obviously one main reason for this trend is that with the MLB Lockout in place all transactions, and realistically any news beyond staffing changes at 115 Federal Street have been put on hold. However, it was a quote-but more accurately a single word-uttered by Manager Derek Shelton during a lunch and learn presser with the media members on the Pirates Beat that honestly put things into motion. That word was expedite.

“The one thing we’ve always asked is for everybody we hire, regardless of whether it’s at the major league level or the PD [player development] level, you have to be willing to learn and grow and challenge ideas,” Shelton said. “Our group has done that. We’re not going to apologize for doing things differently. The game is changing. We’re trying to figure out ways to expedite development and make sure development is done in the right way.”

Almost immediately there was a drive to determine exactly what this could mean for the Current Prospects; particularly as far as promotions were concerned within the Pirates Farm System.

In the past there has been this overarching theme of decisions made pertaining the movement of prospects throughout the Pirates Farm System in a fashion that is often perceived as holding players back, most notably at the Triple-A Level, in order to maintain control of the player for a longer period of time; also know as good old fashioned service manipulation. Clearly this isn’t an issue tied solely to the Pirates and their modus operandi. Just look at the grievance Kris Bryant filed-and subsequently lost-against the Cubs following his rookie season. However, it is one that has come up on a fairly regular basis over the years when it comes to how Pittsburgh’s Management Teams have done business; most recently with Ke’Bryan Hayes during the truncated 2020 Season when he was called up for the final month, or nearly half of the scheduled games.

As far as prospects that have been deemed as potentially less than MLB ready, in addition to those with limited professional experience, the new regime led by General Manager Ben Cherington has been a little more aggressive with Minor League Assignments, as well as cups of coffee handed out at PNC Park. Simply look at Travis Swaggerty showing up in Indianapolis after finishing up the 2019 Season in then High-A Bradenton, Liover Pegeuro being assigned to now High-A Greensboro at the age of 20, First Overall Pick Henry Davis skipping straight over the Marauders on his way to the Grasshoppers, Roansy Contreras getting a start with the Pirates at the end of year in-spite of spending almost the entire year with the Curve and Rodolfo Castro bouncing back and forth between Altoona and Pittsburgh in 2021.

I have no doubt that Cherington fully intends to continue to this process on an individual basis in their player centric organization, whether you agree with or not.

Truth be told I am on the fence about the whole idea, however, it doesn’t just come down to my feelings about if it will be effective. At this point I am more apt to focus on how practical it will be to implement with the logjam forming on the 40-Man between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis; including how this could potentially cause prospects-two in particular-to be stuck waiting their turn in Altoona, with some high end talent nipping at their heals.

In the forefront of my mind when thinking about all of this was the Pirates Minor League Honus Wagner Player of the Year, Matthew Fraizer. As the 40-Man stands currently, there are eight outfielders that would technically be considered in Fraizer’s path to MLB, with a few others-like Cal Mitchell-that aren’t even included in this number.

At the start of this past season he found himself at High-A Greensboro, where in 75 games and 350 plate appearances, Fraizer slashed .314/.401/.578 with a ridiculous 20 homers; but more importantly for me his K rate sat around 21%, while his BB rose to 12.3% from 8.2% in 2019.

Ultimately for Fraizer this slightly surprising breakout would lead to him being promoted to Altoona at the beginning of August. Over the final month and half of the season Fraizer would tail off slightly as he slashed .288/.356/.492, while putting only three more balls over the fence. He did however manage to hit three triples and twelve doubles, which nearly matched his total for the Grasshoppers in less than half the at bats.

Lumped into this train of thought is Ji-Hwan Bae; and although he has started to play some centerfield, I would consider Bae an infielder first, an outfield option for now and most likely a super utility in the end. Because of that Bae is not only blocked by the eight or more outfielders already mentioned, but also the nine infielders-some of whom that can play both in the grass and on the dirt-scheduled to be in either Indianapolis or Pittsburgh to start the season.

For Bae 2021 was pretty much a repeat of every previous year of professional ball, except for the fact that he tapped into some unexpected power in Altoona. Over the course of his Minor League Career with Pittsburgh, Bae did not have a single home run. Yeah he hit two in the Australian Baseball League a couple years ago, but never in the states. That changed this year when he launched seven homers for the Curve and one while rehabbing in the FCL; which was a welcomed addition for a player who has always hit for average-.297 in three years, with a South Atlantic League Batting in 2019.

Following his time with the Curve, and mostly because of the missed time due to injury, Bae found himself on the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League. At first he excelled, but then he struggled; ending the approximately 30 game season with a .250/.343/.380 slash line, thanks in part to his speed and infield singles.

Now, all of this doesn’t mean that one or both of these guys isn’t going to get the promotion at some point in 2022. However, the moving parts of the situation sure could make it a little bit more difficult.

At times Bae was bumped to centerfield because of Rodolfo Castro and Oneil Cruz being on the Altoona Roster. Well, the same thing could happen with Liover Pegeuro and Nick Gonzales in 2022. For Fraizer this concern may not be as prominent because any pressure coming from behind seems to be at least a year behind him. Unless, there happens to be a change in position on the higher end of the talent pool.

So far all the talk has been about Cruz being bumped to the outfield to make way for Pegeuro. But, what if Cruz sticks at shortstop? It’s not out of the realm of possibilities. Neither is Pegeuro not performing at the expected level if or when he reaches MLB for that matter. Nevertheless, let’s just say for arguments sake they both continue to perform at a fairly high level. Who’s to say that it isn’t Pegeuro that ends up being moved? Mookie Betts came up through the Red Sox Farm System as a middle infielder before making the full-time transition to the outfield across the upper Minors and MLB during his rookie season. Clearly I am not directly comparing Pegeuro to Betts. It’s a simple example to illustrate that this type of move is possible; and more common than some of you might realize.

Best case scenario is that everyone, or at least several players in this cluster of outfielders and infielders work out in order to entice another team into trading one of their MLB players for prospects once the Pirates are ready to take the next step forward; whenever that might be.

Five Pirates Thoughts at Five

12-20-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

It won’t be long, and we’ll all be gathering with family and friends to celebrate and before I start getting into the Pittsburgh Pirates today, I’d like to start with thanking all of you for making us part of your reading, listening and in general Pirates fan experience.

1. Ch-ch-ch-changes…

When a team heads off into a rebuild and you start reaching the fan fatigue part of the show it’s hard to feel progress is being made. Let’s consider a few things.

6 players remain from the 2020 Opening Day Roster. Chris Stratton, Bryan Reynolds, Cole Tucker, Kevin Newman, JT Brubaker, Mitch Keller. This means the roster has been almost completely turned over in 222 games. The perception that this rebuild has drug on for eons really doesn’t add up.

16 is the MLB Pipeline ranking for the Pirates farm system in 2020 and as we wait for baseball to come back the system currently sits at number 4. More importantly, some of them are actually close to MLB now, meaning we’re not far from starting to see this ranking show itself where it matters.

The MLB club has been bad, but it’s also almost entirely different and the minor league system has been almost completely restocked. This is a process, but this isn’t a process that allows you to just look at the MLB product and assume nothing is better or different. We’ll soon find out what 2022 provides, but I’d expect that number of players who remain to dwindle to 3 or 4 by season’s end.

2. Andy Haines the Right Guy?

I mean, who really knows, we’ll have to let the season start to paint the picture, but unlike some hires this team has made, we do have a limited track record to look to.

He has an extensive independent and minor league resume, but his first taste of the major leagues was in 2018 with Chicago, and after one season he would jump to Milwaukee.

Just looking at those teams the 2018 Cubs, and the 2019-2021 Brewers you see a philosophy start to emerge.

First let’s talk results, in 2018 the Cubs scored 761 Runs. The Brewers from 2019 – 2021 scored respectively, 769, 247 (60 games), 738.

So his teams have scored, but it’s entirely fair to look at those rosters with players like Kris Bryant, Javi Baez, Anthony Rizzo, Christian Yelich, Avi Garcia and on and on, and diminish his credit a bit.

Power seems to be a priority over contact for Andy and I think it’s fair to ask if that can possibly be the philosophy with the current make up of the 2022 Pittsburgh Pirates.

In Milwaukee it’s a mixed bag. Many criticized Haines for the deterioration of Keston Hiura and Christian Yelich both from a power and hitting ability standpoint, but he also is credited with improvements to Kolten Wong, Luis Urias and Willy Adames.

As much as cumulative stats matter in baseball, Stars still drive this game, and coaches are still judged on their ability to maintain, improve or even just help stars stay that way.

Walking into the job in Pittsburgh, let’s be real honest here, he has maybe 3 guys we should be watching. Bryan Reynolds has emerged as a star, and fair or not, ANY step back will be attributed in part to the new hitting coach. Ke’Bryan Hayes spent much of 2021 injured or recovering from injury, he’s another guy that fans and the organization alike will expect to take a step this year. The 3rd I’ll say if he finds a way to draw something resembling an offensive threat out of Cole Tucker, Kevin Newman or Yoshi Tsutsugo kudos would be due.

Overall, this hire doesn’t inspire me but as I said right after Rick Eckstein was fired, this is now Derek Shelton’s hitting plan, so perhaps they’ve just hired a shepherd here, as opposed to a guy bringing in his own philosophy. Either way, this is the last year they’ll have the lack of talent on the roster to experiment. Answers have to come or they need to move on, and quickly.

Here’s a quote about the hiring from Derek Shelton and courtesy of Jason Mackey of the Post Gazette, “He’s really open-minded. We’ve seen the hitting space grow exponentially in the last few years. I think when you find guys who have done it, they’re not as open-minded as we thought Andy was. We thought that was kind of a unique blend, a guy who has been a major league hitting coach and been around some really good hitters, but he’s still open-minded.”

You could read that a couple different ways right? First I think it confirms that the coach is going to do what the organization wants, or read from the right playbook minimally. And it really means in his short career Haines hasn’t really developed anything he personally feels hard line convicted in.

As I started with, it’s a whole lot easier to decide a coach isn’t doing a good job than to decide they will do one. There just isn’t a way around this one, but there is absolutely nothing that could damage this club worse than stunting Bryan Reynolds in any way. New coach, meet measuring stick.

3. Talking, but Avoiding the Big Stuff

For the first time since the lockout went into effect the MLB and MLBPA met on the 16th and reportedly didn’t touch any of the big stuff. Focusing instead on minor housekeeping aspects such as Grievance procedures, as well as drug and domestic abuse policies. It’s a start, and sometimes the best way to start big negotiations like this is to remind everyone in the room that they’re capable of agreeing on something.

A lockout has never in league history led to missing games, only a strike has done that, so I’d expect that the league feels fairly confident they’ll get something done here.

The big economic issues are still there, and while this whole thing could get done with just a little give and take the sides are both in need of a fairly big win on one or more items.

The Players simply can’t come out of this without some sort of a win on arbitration. They need to reduce the time it takes for players to start making money, and that could come in the form of a new MLB minimum salary on the low end, or decreased arbitration years on the high end. The owners can’t come out of this without some changes to revenue sharing, competitive balance and expanded playoffs. Grey area for the league, they could try to sell expanded playoffs as competitive balance, which it won’t be but if push comes to shove, I bet they’ll try to sell it that way.

Either way, I didn’t expect them to meet prior to Christmas, so I’m encouraged that they did so, because no matter what you think of either side, nothing happens without them meeting.

4. Expediting Prospects

The Pirates are now on record saying that they consider a players development to be MLB ready even if they haven’t hit AAA yet. We saw this play out last season with Rodolfo Castro, but it sounds like we could see more of that play out in the future. Many teams will put prospects on the 40-man roster simply to protect them from the Rule Five draft but the Pirates philosophy is to only protect guys they legitimately feel could contribute at the MLB level.

At least that’s what they’ve shown. I mean Roansy Contreras and Oneil Cruz weren’t exactly seasoned in AAA before making their debuts either. This could mean despite not touching a AA field yet, Liover Peguero could be in play for a cup of coffee as early as this season, although I think that would take quite a few injuries or overt failures from the glut of players in front of him. The point is, they’ve shown us this is possible, they’ve said it’s part of their philosophy so we can reasonably assume they weren’t forced into these decisions, and maybe we’ll see some other guys take relatively big jumps this year.

I take from this, that the staff trust what they’re seeing, and they don’t feel the drop off from AAA competition to AA competition to be all that drastic. That’s a different take than I’ve seen around the sport, but we can hardly say they’ve been wrong so far. Castro wasn’t polished, but he sure did some exciting things up here. In 31 games, his 5 homeruns tied him for 9th on the club in 2021. That’s a stat that’s both frightening and enlightening at the same time. That said, he only hit .198 and made some very rookie looking plays in the field. When plays were based on athleticism he excelled, when plays were based on experience, like throwing to the right bag or making the turn at second base on a double play, he struggled.

So what the Pirates seem to believe is that they can sacrifice polish for talent at times, and that’s at least different.

I don’t think I can say bad or good yet, but I can say it’s something worth keeping our eyes on, and should Henry Davis make it to AA this year (he should), we shouldn’t rule out that he’s a possibility to make the club in 2023.

5. 72-77 Wins in 2022?

I’ve seen projections all over the map for the Pirates but most credible projections seem to be in this range. I’ll be honest, it’s hard to look at this projected lineup and see those numbers, but if you believe in WAR the math works out.

Baseball isn’t played on a calculator though, so I’ll wait and study a bit more before I make any suggested record predictions.

I expect the rotation (year long, not opening day) to improve over what we saw last year. If you like to number starters, I’d say last season was a bunch of 5’s, 6’s and overt shouldn’t be here’s and 2022 will be more 4’s, and 5’s. The bullpen scares the hell out of me and is primarily why I won’t predict anything right now, because if this bullpen remains unchanged I might be inclined to predict a worse record than last season.

The bats are just about where they were in my mind. Yoshi for Moran is a wash with a chance to be a bit better. Hayes if healthy has a chance to really improve but it’ll be eroded by the loss at catcher and Reynolds is still THE outfielder.

Additions like Cruz will help, but rookies aren’t something I like to project as huge contributors before I see it.

As I sit here right now, best I can do is say 72 seems “doable”, 77 seems pie in the sky. That said, it’s hard to lose 100 games, so you’ll rarely see that predicted by anyone. OK, I remember the comment section of everything I wrote last year, yes, you’re all smart and absolutely predicted it last year but I’m talking national baseball writers.

I think the team will look similar to even a bit better early in the season, and by season’s end they’ll be more exciting and loaded with rookies.

Really need to see Cherington’s finished work before we judge.

Top 5 Pirates Prospects: The Sky Is The Limit

12-18-21 By Craig W. Toth (aka @BucsBasement on Twitter)

One knock on Neil Huntington during his tenure as General Manager in Pittsburgh-with many others that could surely be listed by the Pirates faithful-was his propensity to make deals for Major League ready talent. Of course you could always thrown in the occasional Oneil Cruz acquisition to balance things out a little bit or make a slight counter argument; however, for the most part Huntington brought in players whose potential ceilings were most likely limited, but had floors that were high enough to almost immediately slide into the lineup at PNC on a regular basis.

Low risk, with what was in all probability going to be minimal reward. That was one of Huntington’s calling cards; and it worked from time to time, along with other well-timed moves to bring a level of success to the Pirates Organization that hadn’t been experienced in two decades.

Unfortunately for him, in the end it just wasn’t enough; ultimately resulting in him being shown the door following the 2019 season.

Enter the current General Manager Ben Cherington, who in his first major move sent Starling Marte to the Arizona for two high ceiling 19 year old prospects that ranked 9th and 18th respectively in the Diamondbacks Farm System according to MLB Pipeline.

As with Huntington there have been some decisions made to go off script, bringing in players like David Bednar and Wil Crowe; nevertheless, with that one move Cherington essentially broke the Huntington mold, and in turn showed Pirates Fans that it wasn’t going business as usual moving forward. Still, we can’t pretend that trades such as this are foolproof in nature; hence the term high risk, potential high reward, with the word potential being key to this and every other discussion.

Prospects that have a high ceiling by nature are more apt to have a lower floor; especially ones that are brought into the organization at young age. Obviously there are exceptions, but the odds are rarely in their favor. Yet, if they work out, the benefit to the Major League Ball Club could be nearly beyond measure; particularly if it happens more than once as Pirates Fans are hoping for.

But what are the chances? And who are the lottery tickets Pirates fans are praying to the baseball gods for, in hopes of seeing them at PNC Park one day?

1) Liover Peguero

Brought over from the Diamondbacks for Starling Marte as one of the previously mentioned 19 year olds, Liover Peguero had originally been signed by Arizona in July of 2017 for $475,000. Over the next two years the Dominican Republic product would make four stops in the Diamondbacks Farm System; from the DSL to the Arizona Complex League in 2018, and then from the Advance Rookie Club in Missoula to the Short-Season A Hillsboro Hops in 2019. All in all it was a fairly progressive path, which Peguero mostly took in stride; with a few bumps along the way as he moved up the ladder.

In his time with the DSL Diamondbacks 1 the then 17 year old batted .309 with a .812 OPS that took a pretty hit , falling to .197 with a .450 OPS when he jumped to the ACL. The next year the same thing happened-just less dramatically this time-when his Missoula average of .364 with a .970 dropped to .262 and .690; all while he spent every single game at shortstop.

Ultimately he-along with fellow top prospect Brennan Malone-would catch the eye of Cherington and Company; eventually spending the 2020 Season at the Alternate Site in Altoona before being assigned to the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers for the duration of the 2021 MiLB Season.

Now, for those of you that don’t consider Peguero a lottery ticket player any more, try to talk Gus into forking over your winnings from the Daily 4 when you only matched three numbers. See how far that gets you.

Yes, I know that he is in the Top 100 Prospects in MLB, but so was Anthony Alford a few years back. No, I am not saying that Pegeuro is Alford; it’s just that he isn’t a player without any concerns based on what I have seen from the young man thus far.

During the 2021 season his home and road splits were striking-at least as far as power is concerned-in that he batted .271 across the board, yet saw his Slugging Percentage drop from .486 to .393 when he was away from the hitter friendly confines of First National Bank Field with 10 homers versus 4. Pegeuro also had a tendency to exhibit a less than ideal approach at the plate as he struck out at a 25.2% clip versus a 7.9% walk rate. In the field he also struggled at times, committing 23 errors in 86 games and posting a .934 fielding percentage. He did however show some decent range with a 3.95 R/9, which would top Kevin Gold Glove Finalist Newman (3.77).

At only 21 years old heading into the 2022, and most likely heading back to Altoona as one of the newest members of the 40-man, there is still a lot of room for growth and improvement in all facets of his game.

2) Joaquin Tejada

After the Pirates deadline attempt to move Tyler Anderson across the state to Philadelphia fell through, the team immediately set its eyes on the Seattle Mariners System and two of its prospects in particular; Catcher Carter Bins and Right-Handed Panamanian Pitcher Joaquin Tejada, who at the time had only logged 5 innings in the DSL following his $200,000 signing back in 2019.

Standing at 5’11” and only weighing in at 160 pounds, this teenager is known for his off the charts spin on his 55/60 grade curve ball, but also unfortunately for his lack of command at the moment. Over his final 23.2 innings, now in a Pirates uniform, Tejada put up a 3.80 ERA, a 1.500 WHIP and striking out 25 batters. Unfortunately, due to his lack of control he also walked 13 along the way.

A true lottery ticket, there is really no way of knowing what the future holds for Tejada; especially if his pitch management never comes around, or he can’t add some untapped velocity onto his high 80’s fastball.

3) Bubba Chandler

On the second day of the 2021 MLB Draft Cherington and Company utilized the money they saved by picking Henry Davis at 1:1 to select-and eventually sign-three more prospects that fell within the Baseball America’s First Round Grades/Rankings; the final one being two-way player, as well as Clemson QB Commit, Bubba Chandler (Number 20) at 72nd Overall in the Third Round. In the end it took a cool and even $3 million ($2.3 million over slot)-plus the promise of allowing him pitch and play the field-to bring Chandler aboard.

With a 60 grade 92-95 fastball that touched 97 during his senior season at North Oconnee High School in Bogart, Georgia, Chandler posted a 1.25 ERA with 96 Ks-including a 17 strike out one hitter-in just north of 44 innings. At the plate he batted .411 with 8 homers and 12 doubles, while he leaned on his 70 grade arm from the shortstop position in the field.

Following the draft-and subsequent signing-we only were able to see him briefly in the Florida Complex League, and only at the plate 37 times. During this minimal glimpse Chandler hit .197 with one homer and 16 strike outs.

Due to this extremely small opportunity it seems to me that Chandler will resurface back in the FCL to start the season after having participated in both versions of the Get Better Camps this off-season.

4) Po-Yu Chen

On August 28, 2020 the Pirates traded outfielder Jarod Dyson to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for an additional $243,300 of international bonus pool space; a bump in available funds that they almost immediately put into signing the 22nd best International Prospect in 2019–20, Po-Yu Chen of Taiwan, for $1.25 million.

In 2019 the 6’2” 198 pound right-handed hurler pitched in the WSBC U-18 Baseball World Cup, where he put up a 1.29 ERA over a total of 14 innings thanks to his high 80s/low 90s sinking fastball, curve ball and somewhat advanced changeup.

With the Pirates, Chen would begin his professional career in the FCL; a situation in which he was nothing shorting of dominating. Over his 26 inning of work he did not walk a single batter, struck out 29 and posted an nearly identical 0.69 ERA and .692 WHIP. His transition to Low-A Bradenton did not go as smoothly however as put up a 5.63 ERA and a 1.688 WHIP, while walking 12 and striking out 15; although his one start was a 7 inning, 3 hit, 0 run and 6 K performance.

As far as Chen’s future is concerned, much of his success-or lack thereof-will depend on his ability to add strength and velocity.

5) Shalin Polanco

Heading into the pandemic delayed 2020-21 International Signing Period, Pittsburgh had been regularly linked to the 11th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline, soon-to-be 17 year-old outfielder Shalin Polanco. So, it was really no surprise that on January 15th of this year, Polanco was ultimately inked to a deal by the Pirates. However, to some extent there was a little bit of sticker shock as Polanco received $2.35 million for his services; the second biggest bonus ever given to a non-drafted international free agent in the team’s history.

Due to this large sum of money being invested, and the high prospect ranking, expectations for Polanco were set fairly high from the get-go; which is probably the reason why many were initially disappointed in young man from the Dominican Republic.

Over his first two months of pro-ball in the DSL, Polanco’s slash line sat at a meager .157/.252/.260 with two homers. Articles were written, pondering whether or not to give up on him, and all the talk about where he should rank among the Pirates Top Prospects became a quiet whisper.

Then came the final month of the season. In 17 games and 65 plate appearances he slashed .271/.323/.458, as his strike out rate dropped from 28.8% to 18.4%.

Obviously, this extremely small sample size doesn’t guarantee any certain level of success, but it at least doesn’t make it seem like all hope is lost.

Conclusion

It is pretty easy to imagine that this list could have been made into a Top 10-or more-because of the types of trades, draft selections and signings that have become commonplace during Ben Cherington’s time with the Pirates. Even so, that’s not really the point; or is it?

This process that the new regime in Pittsburgh has instituted is one that has loaded nearly every level of the system with talent; albeit largely high risk/potential high reward talent, conceivably as way to minimize risk. It sounds crazy doesn’t it?

So crazy, it just might work.

Let’s Tackle Some Common Comment Fodder About the Pirates

12-17-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

As this venture, Inside the Bucs Basement, Craig’s podcast Bucs in the Basement and mine Pirates Fan Forum have grown, responding to every single comment has become much harder. As a result, I’d say I spend much less time responding to common comments that are far enough off the mark that I just know I’ll get nowhere.

Today, I’d like to take a crack at some of them in the form of an article because legitimately some of these are based in some realm of reality and they deserve to be addressed.

This Team Rebuilds Every Season

I’d hate to fall on a meme here but tell me you don’t understand what a rebuild is without telling me you don’t understand what a rebuild is.

I mean, that’s why I wouldn’t bother responding to something like this typically, but I’ll try to get into this. First of all, I get why you feel that way, but it’s really more of a process that rolls over several seasons.

For instance, you could argue this rebuild should have started way back when the Pirates traded Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen. If they had, perhaps we’d still have Huntington and possibly they’d have arrived already. The Cole trade returning primarily players ready for MLB (or at least close) meant a full rebuild couldn’t happen. What Huntington attempted, and I could make an argument it was solid thinking, was a retool. It was recognizing he had a pretty decent core of players still and his system didn’t have anything close to really helping so he decided to use his big chip to try to augment it. Didn’t work obviously, but it also wasn’t what you’d call a rebuild.

Now if you jump to what Ben Cherington did and is doing, the difference is stark. It’s not a rebuild of the MLB club, or a resurfacing of the road. No, this dude is digging up the entire stretch of road, laying new rebar, new concrete, and finally they’ll resurface it on top of the new, structurally sound foundation they’ve laid. Now all that’s nice, but at some point (and it’s coming like a freight train) he’s going to need to paint lines on this thing and that’s going to require money.

This really started in 2019, when Starling Marte was moved. Marte knew what this team was about to do, and didn’t want to be here for it. A convenient stance since there was little doubt he would be moved anyway, but I digress.

Note, he didn’t try to bring back a guy for the rotation in 2020, or even 2021, he brought back 2 high ceiling prospects. Liover Peguero, a classic lottery ticket, high skills, high talent, but so far away anything could happen. 2 years later and he’s on the verge of entering MLB’s top 100 list and gotten himself on the 40-man, meaning next year he should be in the mix, in fact this year isn’t crazy. He’s got the talent to be a star, which is different than getting someone like Colin Moran, who had the potential to be a “good” player.

He also got Brennan Malone, another lottery ticket pitcher, he’s progressed much slower. Injury has played in there, learning has factored in, and raw talent takes a while to turn into a pitcher who can hit his spots and miss bats. Maybe he turns out, maybe he stalls, either way that’s why he didn’t stop there, because you have to insulate the effort by stacking prospects.

Every year since has been a continuation of this effort, and this year we reach the point where the curve starts heading North. It won’t feel that way at first, but by season’s end, you’ll be able to count 7-10 players you expect and want to see in 2022. Every year that number will creep up and it’s all part of the same effort.

So yes, they are in a rebuild every year, but every year isn’t a fresh start at it, this all started in 2019 and won’t end until it reaches it’s apex. Again, if it requires money and that isn’t provided it’s a fail. If the prospects don’t turn out or reach close to their ceilings, it’s a fail.

What’s a win? Well, that should be obvious even if you still don’t understand what a rebuild is.

They’ll Never Win if They Don’t Spend

This is absolutely true, in context.

No matter how it happens, when and if this team succeeds the payroll will be much closer to 120 million than where it sits now.

99% of the time this comment is directed primarily at the MLB payroll and the want to bring in free agents. This is where both sides of this are typically wrong. Ben Cherington truthers will tell you he shouldn’t spend a dime until a glut of the prospects have arrived and started contributing, so much so that signing Yoshi Tsutsugo pissed some of them off. Others think they should go get a top tier pitcher for 30 million a year.

Thing is, the payroll through nothing more than arbitration will wind up putting this team into a more competitive payroll figure over time, but I don’t think it needs to be so rigid. If Cherington decided to add to this club in a substantial way this season, it wouldn’t hurt the rebuild. It has to be smart mind you, for instance, signing a star short stop to a 5 year 120 million dollar deal would be silly for a team with such a bulk of potential stars coming in that spot, but they could go get a real outfielder for a couple years and probably wouldn’t block anyone of significance.

In other words, you aren’t wrong, but spending right now would be more about providing a soft landing spot for prospects or making the team and the players who are here and will be here feel a bit more supported. They’re still too far away to really fight for anything this year and more than anything, they need to actually start working through some of these stacked prospects now.

Folks, that’s just not going to cost money but you don’t gather all these prospects to find ways to block them. They won’t all pan out, but you’ll never know until you play them and that’s what starts to happen this year. Bryan Reynolds is cheap too, that doesn’t mean he is anything less than the absolute class of the ballclub. If you believe in the effort to acquire and rebuild the farm system to ultimately make the MLB club into a winner, it doesn’t come without this next step, even if you’re tired of losing.

As I said though, the statement is true, this payroll won’t be embarrassingly low when this team is competitive. The main point many are trying to make that argue the fact is that adding 40 million this year will do little more than feel good and if done foolishly could actually prevent the club from finishing the development of much of the product they’ve returned in deals and the draft.

The Pirates Trade Everyone as Soon as They Get Good

I guess.

This is where someone wanting to defend the Pirates would list off all the guys they’ve extended like Cutch, Marte, Polanco, Harrison, Liriano, I mean pick your example, but you can’t ever really jump one hurdle, at some point, even if extended, the player gets traded.

That doesn’t mean it’s always a bad move, or to avoid paying a guy. It certainly isn’t some scenario where the GM looks down from his box seat and sees a player doing well then jumps to the phone. It’s more about the general truth that players who make it to MLB will tend to become more helpful pieces as opportunity and time take over.

Take a player like Chris Stratton this year. The Pirates have in Stratton a player who has had multiple opportunities to become a good pitcher. He failed as a starter, he largely failed as a reliever, now, in this opportunity he’s become a reliable arm that can come on in the back end of the bullpen. He’ll also likely be traded soon. So will the Pirates trade him as soon as he got good? Well, yeah, pretty much. Wanna know the alternative? Colin Moran, Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault, are three guys who didn’t get traded, they simply were allowed to walk. They never forced the team to make a decision. Never warranted an extension, and never got another team interested in acquiring them for anything worth getting.

How about everyone’s favorite example Josh Bell. Well, the first thing I’d argue is, was Bell really good? Above average, yes, great guy, yes, worthy of a team like this extending him, oh hell no. So again, you’re right, he got to a certain point, and the team moved him. If Josh Bell was just reaching the point where he had 4 years of control left here in 2022, maybe he’s worth holding onto, but as it stands he’d be entering his last year of control, now ask yourself, does Josh Bell on this team help the 2022 product? He’d cost more than Yoshi, and I bet they’ll produce about the same thing. Oh the return, yes, Wil Crowe hasn’t been great, and Eddy Yean is forever away and quite frankly might always be.

The dirty secret here is if this team is constructed correctly, they’ll probably never stop making decisions like this. Let’s say they extend Bryan Reynolds to the end of the decade as I’ve suggested, well in 2028 don’t be shocked if he’s on the block. He’ll likely still be a productive player, but if the team isn’t in the thick of a pennant race and they have someone like Hudson Head pushing for more playing time, guess what they’ll do.

Long story short, you aren’t wrong, it just isn’t as simple as that statement is viewed or meant.

Odd Happenings for a Rebuild in This Stage

12-16-21 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

When news broke yesterday, no thanks to the Pirates by the way, that Joel Hanrahan would be moving on from the Pirates, I couldn’t help but think about how odd it is to finally have real prospects hitting AAA and suddenly have no pitching coach or manager.

As many of you will recall, the Pirates chose to not retain Brian Esposito as the manager of the Indianapolis Indians earlier in the off season.

Now, while I like Joel, and the Pirates obviously did as well since they used him as a “fixer” and offered him a multi year extension, I’m not going to go crazy and claim they lost some guru. I mean, much like Oscar Marin, I’ve seen next to no improvement.

Instead, my question is, in a year where the rebuild has finally started to reach the upper level of minor league baseball, can we get a little bit of a sense of urgency about filling out a staff? I mean they have a hitting coach, John Nunnally, at least we hope, after all Joel apparently told the Pirates 2.5 weeks ago he was leaving and they still haven’t told us directly, leaving breaking the news to Joel himself on Twitter.

Look, it’s not like they’re playing tomorrow, it’s not even like the guys at the camp currently will play for this new unit, but nothing else is happening in the baseball world, so I’d imagine filling this staff out would be a priority.

Another point here, and I’ve touched on this before, this team has almost no ability to play the PR game. I’m not talking about creatively selling a 101 loss team as good, I’m talking about clearly explaining vision. Taking control of a situation like what just played out with Joel and making sure fans knew this was expected and they have candidates in mind.

As it stands now, the most logical thing might be to transplant the staff from Altoona to Indianapolis, but let’s not pretend that doesn’t effect an equally, probably more so, group of prospects.

If you want wild takes and extremes of emotion, let things like this continue to play out on social media and let the only story anyone hears be the person leaving. To me this looks like the team either really thought Joel was bluffing or worse, they didn’t think anyone would care.

Well, we care because you told us to. You, the Pirates, made sure we knew how much faith you placed in Joel Hanrahan to help turnaround struggling pitchers, and while I never saw tangible evidence it worked, I certainly took their word that he had effectively instilled the message and found a way to make it stick. I can honestly say Mitch Keller at least looked different when he came back from his fix me tour with Joel, even if I can’t back it up with statistical advancement.

As we sit here, the Pirates now need a AAA manager, a AAA pitching coach, a new position they’re calling Coaching Coordinator and they’ve already decided to not externally hire a fielding coach for MLB, instead opting to pile it on coaches already in the fold.

None of this stuff is the end of the world, again there is plenty of time, but the way this stuff plays out matters. When a team like the Pirates show sloppy searches for coaches, or messy exits, hell, even just the perception of messy exits due to their own stubborn silence, it’s easy for fans who already don’t trust the organization to assume it’s more of the same.

Oh, if Ben Cherington turns this thing into a winner you can look back on all this stuff and laugh I suppose, but let’s face it, Ben and Travis Williams weren’t just brought here to build a team, they were brought here to change the way this team does business. They were brought here to better communicate with fans and communicate in general would seem to be a good start in that effort.

I’m a firm believer, if you want people to stop taking pot shots at you, maybe stop wearing the jacket with a target on the back. Stop giving people ammunition works too. If you want to stop being the joke, stop acting like one.

I don’t care why Joel wanted out, and honestly I’m not sure anyone should. This stuff happens all the time, but if you sell a guy as some kind of especially talented member, it would behoove you to get out in front of the story, and explain before he has an opportunity to discuss it with Alex Stumpf and Jason Mackey. Take ownership of the process, make it look like the organization played a role in this move even if it’s just having a different vision or wanting him to fill a different role than he wanted.

I mean, that’s what happened, but instead of that being the story, the story is more about a coach dropping a bomb on social media. It’s more about a franchise that can’t even competently staff their AAA staff and seemingly got caught flat footed.

I can’t sit here and deny that the talent level in the system is better, it certainly is, but there is more to turning this franchise around than bringing in talent. As Clint Hurdle once famously noted, part of his job was reconnecting this baseball team to it’s city and fans. Winning certainly helped him get the job done, but transparency about the ethos and methods they’d use helped create buy in, and quite honestly we’re not seeing that.

Even with a move they made earlier with Jacob Stallings, man it just felt like they didn’t see why anyone would question it. Word salad from the GM eventually meandered to all the touch points you’d want to hear, but you have to fight through the boogers to get to the kleenex with almost every statement. At least there was one though, even if it wasn’t deemed important enough to address at a press conference as opposed to on a laptop waiting for a flight at the airport.

The team on the field is obviously priority number one, but where we are in this rebuild, this team needs to improve some of this stuff and tighten up too. I’m sorry, Derek Shelton is a nice guy and his t-shirt thing is cute, but at some point someone has to do more. It’s not Travis Williams or Ben Cherington’s fault this team has a damaged reputation, but it is their job to fix it. Maybe that’s an impossible effort with their owner, I mean they could hand out $100 bills in Market Square and have people ask how much it was in total and list off the players they could afford to bring in with the cash.

It’s not an easy lift, but it shouldn’t mean it’s not attempted. What I feel right now is a management team that feels winning is the answer, solely. I suggest making fans feel like you are making purposeful moves as the process unfolds and including fans in the ups and downs would create an invested and passionate base when that winning does actually come into the conversation.

As it stands now, they’re in my mind throwing their hands up and deeming it unnecessary to bother. Hire someone else to do the job if that’s what it takes, but people in this industry should simply know things like hey, it might not be the best idea to send out season ticket packages and seating reassignments to fans the day after your 101st loss of the season and heading into a lockout.

As Vince Vaughn would say, Lock it up.

Hanrahan Pulls The Good Old Off-Season Irish Goodbye On The Pirates

12-15-21 By Craig W. Toth (aka @BucsBasement on Twitter)

I guess Joel Hanrahan technically didn’t leave without saying goodbye, but to claim this wasn’t unexpected and abrupt would be completely underselling the fact that all of us as Pirates Fans found out about him stepping down as the Pitching Coach of the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians through a tweet.

Hired under Neal Huntington back in 2017, Hanrahan began his Minor League Coaching Career as the Pitching Coach of the Advanced Rookie Level Bristol Pirates. At the time I can remember an almost immediate rush of excitement from Pirates Fans-myself included- as they saw “The Hammer” back in Pirates Organization. I mean how could you not be?

For three years and change, during the teams eventually resurgence to relevancy at the turn of the last decade, Hanrahan electrified the crowds at PNC Park on a regular basis; piling up 82 saves and earning back-to-back All Star honors in 2011 and 2012,

Following his time in Bristol, Hanrahan would receive a promotion from the management team each and every year-outside of the 2020 Season when he coached at the Alternate Site in Altoona, which could at least be perceived as a nod of approval-ultimately ending up in the position he resigned from; one step away from the Majors.

Seen by many as the heir apparent if and/or when Oscar Marin fell out favor, it was his mix of old school toughness and adaptation to new school methods that had the Big League Club calling his number this past season to “fix” the demoted Mitch Keller. In the end this experiment is probably perceived as less than successful; however, one could argue that Keller had his most successful month of the season in September-with his less than ideal 4.71 ERA. Nonetheless, for me it was all about the trust they apparently had in Hanrahan more than anything else; not that it means much anymore.

With the departure of Hanrahan, and the recent firing-formerly deciding not to renew his contract-of Triple-A Manager Brian Esposito, the lone man standing in Indianapolis is the Pirates so-called hitting guru Jon Nunnally; a man that I am kind of surprised didn’t get the promotion when Rick Eckstein was let go near the end of last season.

Now, as far as Hanrahan is concerned it appears as if he is moving on-a decision that was made a week or so ago-to potentially greener pastures; which was a question I had during my immediate reaction upon hearing the news.

So, where do the Pirates and Ben Cherington-along with the Director of Coaching and Player Development, John Baker-turn now? Gone is the hard-nosed coach-who was reportedly liked by players, fellow coaches and management alike-with yet another hole left in the highest level of the Minors.

If I am being totally honest about, I’m not really sure. This isn’t a position I’ve even considered the Pirates having to replace. Yet, when Hanrahan’s goal seemed to be a MLB job and the Pirates only offer was a multi-year MiLB position, the writing was probably on the wall.

At the moment, my gut instinct is to simply promote Drew Benes from Altoona to Indianapolis for the sake of continuity when it comes to pitchers like Roansy Contreras and Omar Cruz. Also, he’s been with the organization for five years, has a family pedigree-his father is former Major Leaguer Andy Benes-and least importantly he conveniently lives in Bradenton. Although, if anyone is wondering, the Curve had the third worst ERA (4.67) and the fourth worst WHIP (1.357) in the Double-A Northeast.

Just something to think about; there’s plenty of time before the first pitch is thrown at Victory Field.

And, for those that are curious, I don’t believe Joel Hanrahan is irreplaceable; but I also think that Minor League Coaches and Managers are more important than some of you may be willing to admit.

I’ll just leave it at that in the meantime; and wish “The Hammer” good luck, wherever he goes.