Perrotto: Hard to Catch on to Ben Cherington’s Thinking (+)
Ben Cherington says he is not one and done when it comes to making moves to bolster the Pittsburgh Pirates’ pop gun offense this winter.
That’s a good thing.
While trading for the Tampa Bay Rays for first baseman Ji-Man Choi was a good move for the Pirates general manager, he needs to do more. The 2022 Pirates were 27th among the 30 major league teams in scoring with just 3.65 runs a game.
There were plenty of root problems for the lack of scoring. None more so than the Pirates’ .655 OPS, which was 28th in the big leagues.
Breaking OPS down into its two components, the Pirates had a .291 on-base percentage and .364 slugging percentage, which ranked 28th and 27th in MLB.
“We felt good about this as a first move,” Cherington said about adding Choi. “We’ll continue to look at ways to add to the offense.”
Choi helps make a putrid first base situation better.
His 114 OPS+ this past season meant he was 14% better offensively than the average MLB first baseman. The nine men who played the position for the Pirates in 2022 had a 61 OPS+, meaning they were 39% below league average.
However, first base wasn’t the only position in which the Pirates got nearly no production. Their catchers had a 62 OPS+
The Pirates have just two catches on the 40-man roster in Jason Delay and Tyler Heineman. Delay has a 53 OPS+ and Heineman’s was 52.
Rather surprisingly, Cherington said that adding a catcher this offseason is not a major priority.
Some of that stems from the Pirates having two top catching prospects in Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez. Both finished this year at Double-A Altoona.
Yet it seems unlikely either would be the opening day catcher in the major leagues next year. Cherington, though, still says he would be comfortable going into the season with Delay and Heineman as the catching tandem.
“In terms of resources, whether that’s financial resources or giving up talent, it’s probably not the top of the priority list, in terms of how much resource we pour into it,” Cherington said of the catching position. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t add a good player, a good fit.”
Cherington’s handling of the catching position over the past year has been head scratching.
First, he traded Jacob Stallings, fresh off winning the National League Gold Glove in 2021, to the Miami Marlins. The package of three young players the Pirates got back was underwhelming, starting with amiable right-hander Zach Thompson, who was 3-10 with a 5.18 ERA in 29 games (22 starts) this year.
It wasn’t even a cost-cutting move as the Pirates then signed off-injured veteran catcher Roberto Perez to a one-year, $5-million contract as a free agent. Stallings went through the arbitration process and wound up with a $2.45-million salary, less than half of what Perez made.
Perez played well for the Pirates but didn’t play very long. He was limited to 21 games because of a torn hamstring that required surgery.
Catching is one of the game’s most important positions. The Pirates need someone who can both provide at least some offensive production while helping guide what should again be a young pitching staff.
Going with a tandem of Delay and Heineman isn’t going to cut it.
Why Cherington thinks otherwise is rather baffling.
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