Pirates Q&A: What Will Cherington Do With Payroll Space? Are Cardinals a Trade Partner?
Welcome back to another edition of our Pittsburgh Pirates Q&A. Let’s get to your questions.
When are we going to something… I’m getting impatient – Matthew Cook
That’s the beauty of the offseason, Matthew, things can happen at any time. The safe guess is that the Pirates will do something at next week’s Winter Meetings, the busiest couple days of the winter.
But the Pirates are aggressive in their pursuit of lineup help and are actively taking a look at both the free agent and trade markets. Looking around the league, there have been a handful of notable moves, but there are still a lot of teams waiting to strike.
I’m confident the Pirates will make moves in time, but I’m not confident in guessing when that time will come.
What moves do you realistically see being made to get the so called increase of “30-40 million” in payroll? If we take the reports as facts and this is the goal.. – David Smith
I’m expecting the Pirates to land at least one impact bat this offseason for starters and I think there’s a solid chance there are two notable upgrades to the lineup. If I had to bet, I would say one of those bats comes through free agency, and there’s a real possibility the Pirates sign a free agent to a multi-year deal for the first time under Ben Cherington.
I also think the Pirates will use their pitching depth to acquire another bat, one that could come in a swap for Mitch Keller or one of the plethora of young arms as part of a package of prospects. A Keller trade could create even more financial flexibility.
But I think the Pirates will add a corner outfielder, another bat in the infield and potentially a depth player who could come off the bench. They’ll also need at least one and probably two relievers — one left-handed option and one in the back end of the bullpen. If they trade Keller, they’d also probably look to add a veteran starting pitcher.
There’s a lot to do and it should be an active couple months for the suddenly urgent Pirates.
Do you see a cap in place while Skenes is here so players will have to sign? – Jason Williams
I’m skeptical that a hard cap will be added in the new CBA after what’s sure to be heated negotiations, but I think there will be other factors that will *somewhat* level the playing field — increased revenue sharing, harsher penalties for going over the luxury tax, etc.
But whether a cap is in play or not, the Pirates need to go all in as long as Skenes wears a uniform, which will be through the end of the current decade as the best possible scenario. They already wasted a year with a failure of an offseason last year and the clock is ticking.
Is realistic to get Arenado (as a dump salary for the Cards) and Donovan without giving out Keller? – Jeroboam De Dios Vargas
The Pirates and Cardinals, despite sharing a division, are logical trade partners this winter. But Nolan Arenado won’t waive his no-trade clause to come to Pittsburgh and the Cardinals probably don’t want to take on Mitch Keller’s salary.
However, Brendan Donovan is a good fit for the Pirates. I actually examined him as a trade target last week. There are other players who could make sense too, like Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar and Nolan Gorman. And the Cardinals would no doubt have interest in guys like Johan Oviedo, Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows, Hunter Barco and others.
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