East points Pirates in the right direction?
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 29th 2024
It was a week before Christmas but the excitement around the PNC Park Media room was not caused by seasonal festivities. A collection of media and PR types were milling around, cellphones glued to ears, photographers noisily set up their various tripods and light stands, and grizzled Pirates beat writers took the opportunity to swap notes with the big national reporters just arrived in town. They were all in Pittsburgh for the formal announcement of a much heralded trade; the first of Sam East's tenure, and one that clearly showed the strategy the new GM would be adopting.
After some time waiting the crowd were rewarded for their patience. The rangy Texan starting pitcher Michael Kopech made his way to the podium. Accompanied by his agent and the Pirates manager, Kopech looked genuinely pleased to be there (or maybe he was just happy about the three year contract extension East had promised him on the day of his arrival?) Kopech's five years with the Rangers had come to an end. He spoke about his love for a team who he'd supported as a kid growing up in Mt. Pleasant. He answered the usual questions about the radial nerve injury that restricted him to a couple of starts last year. He expressed confidence that the recovery process was complete and how excited he was about a new opportunity. The journalists nodded, typed notes into laptops and phones, filed copy and the cameras clicked away in the background. Kopech left after 15 minutes and the press conference announcing the biggest Pirates trade since Austin Meadows left for New York seven years ago was over.
It was only once the crowd had cleared out that I realized that East was no where to be seen. I followed his assistant into the executive offices and found him in a smokey, windowless room hunched over a conference phone. He was surrounded by pads of paper covered in illegible scribbles, empty coffee cups, an ashtray overflowing with cigarette ends, and an assortment of take out Chinese food boxes. In the middle of this disorganized scene East was hammering out the final details in the next trade of this incredible off season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. “Is that a deal then Gary? are we going to do this one?” “agreed, it feels fair to me too…. Thank you… I'll file the paperwork with the ABL today” He ended the call, stubbed out another cigarette victoriously, looked up at me and happily announced “we have our new right fielder!”
Indeed, acquiring Michael Kopech was only the start of a process to completely overhaul the Pirates major league roster. By the end of Spring training Pittsburgh had acquired the much travelled veteran closer Craig Kimbrel, set-up reliever Trevor Rosenthal (arrived as part of the Kopech deal), ever popular Robert Stephenson was another addition to the bullpen, and Adonis Medina arrived having been claimed off waivers from the Reds. If anything the line up was even more changed. Luis Arraez came from Boston to play second base and bat lead off, the spot in the line up behind Arraez was soon occupied by right fielder Khalil Lee (the deal I had walked on East negotiating with the Miami Marlins), Jeren Kendall completed the trio of left handed bats. Ketel Marte was one of only two relatively small free agent deals signed by East; this team was being rebuilt through the trade market and this team was being rebuilt to win now.
A surprising approach? Most expectations were that East would go in completely the opposite direction (West?!).
The Pirates rapid decline and challenges are well known. From the heroic World Series win in 2018 to humbling 105 loss season in 2020; followed by three years struggling to achieve .500 futility. Last year saw the Pirates finish 33 games back of the star studded Brewers team. Fans and commentators expected a total rebuild, which seemed like the ‘sensible’ strategy given the strength of the NL Central division, the Pirates recent record and a threadbare farm system that was ranked #26 in the ABL. So why did East choose to reconstruct this Major League roster and try to compete? After all, 33 games is a big gap to bridge in a year.
“Building a consistent, strong rotation is the hardest part of roster construction” East told me “…and that was the one clear area of strength when I arrived in Pittsburgh. We were one true ace away from having a starting rotation that can compete with most teams in the ABL and then Michael (Kopech) came onto the market. From that point we felt we could build a team that could compete this year”
So that was the rotation what about the offense? Well the the line-up reconstruction followed a clear pattern.
Left handed, high OBP bats, players in their mid-late 20s, consistency from 1 through 9 but without noticeable ‘star players' and a number of platoon positions. Today’s announcement of a deal bringing catcher Reese McGuire over from Seattle is likely to see another platoon with Sal Perez. The only player who’d be recognized walking down Main Street is Trent Clark, who coming off a tough first year in Pittsburgh, will be playing for a big new contract this year. I spoke to Trent back at the start of the year and he seemed confident of a strong bounce back year for him personally "I'm swinging it pretty well right now, and it sure does give you confidence when you're surrounded by guys who've been brought here to win some games and compete."
The bullpen rebuild also followed a clear pattern. Right handed, veteran (avg. age over 31), ground ball pitchers, short contracts, and again, with the possible exception of Kimbrel, a 'no stars' collection of players.
So a solid existing rotation, a new ace fireball throwing starter, a reconstructed line-up and a bullpen full of veterans on short contracts. Is this a winning formula? How has the new era of baseball in Pittsburgh started?
Five months after the Kopech press conference and the Pirates have exceeded most expectations. Sitting at 17-10, a game back of Milwaukee, coming off a four game sweep vs the Diamondbacks and East seems very pleased with the first month of the season. “It’s obviously very early but we’re pleased with every part of our game. We’ve played well on the road and pitched well in tough spots”. And Michael Kopech? After a nervous looking first few starts he’s won his last two, going 13.2 innings without an earned run and striking out 11 twice.
Will the new look Pirates win this highly competitive division in 2024? The bookmakers (Pirates are 6-1 for the pennant) and commentators aren’t optimistic, but no one would bet against both Wild Card teams coming from the NL Central this year. However, the fans reaction to this winning start has been marked. The Pirates are on a run of 13 straight sellouts at PNC which means average attendance is up by a third. For this correspondent the short term future looks bright. I like the way East has set up a solid, if unspectacular team that does all the basics well. That said, it is noticeable that the usually straight talking GM avoids directly answering questions about the Pirates farm system. If the farm was low on prospects when East arrived it's empty of them now and I can only hope the longer term future of this proud franchise hasn't been mortgaged for a one-off Wild Card game?