Perrotto: Pirates’ Grand Plan Is They Have No Plan
Ben Cherington said last weekend that his focus leading up to the MLB trade deadline was to make the Pittsburgh Pirates better in 2026.
Something happened between Sunday and the deadline on Thursday. The Pirates are worse after the general manager made five trades combined on Wednesday and Thursday.
It is difficult to make a 47-62 team that is 17.5 games out of first place; worse yet, Cherington did it.
The Pirates got only one major-league back player back in the five trades. That is when they acquired left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers from the Cincinnati Reds as part of the deal for third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. Cherington then traded Rogers to the Chicago Cubs.
The only other player with MLB experience acquired by the Pirates was left-handed reliever Evan Sisk, a 28-year-old who made five relief appearances for the Kansas City Royals earlier this season. He gets reassigned from Triple-A Omaha to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Just two of the nine players acquired by the Pirates who could be on their opening-day roster are Sisk and catcher/first baseman Rafael Flores, the centerpiece of a three-player package received from the New York Yankees in a trade for closer David Bednar.
Flores was promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre from Double-A Somerset two weeks ago. The 24-year-old had a good year at Double-A, hitting .287/.346/.496 with 15 home runs in 87 games.
Baseball America ranked Flores as the Yankees’ No. 8 prospect before the deadline.
However, I talked to multiple scouts who have watched Flores, and they have mixed opinions. Some think he will be an adequate major-league catcher, while others feel first base will be the eventual home for the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder.
They all like Flores’ raw power, but some doubt whether he will hit for average in the big leagues because of his penchant for chasing pitching out of the strike zone. The scouts also note that Flores is a very slow runner.
Additionally, the Pirates obtained the Yankees’ No. 16 (catcher/first baseman Edgleen Perez) and No. 24 (outfielder Brian Sanchez) prospects. Both were playing with Low-A Tampa.
The Pirates also got the Reds’ No. 9 prospect (shortstop Sammy Stafura) in the Hayes trade and the Seattle Mariners’ No. 16 prospect (right-hander Jeter Martinez) in a straight-up deal for left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson. Stafura and Martinez, too, are playing at the Low-A level.
First baseman Callan Moss, the other half of the return in the Falter trade, was not ranked in Baseball America’s top 30. Neither was outfielder Ivan Brethowr, who came from the Cubs for Rogers. Moss and Brethowr are playing in High-A.
So, how exactly are the Pirates in a better position to succeed in 2026 short of Flores hitting 40 home runs and winning the National League Rookie of the Year award? Cherington, a GM who appears to be kicking the can down the road to preserve his job, explained on Thursday night.
“I think we took an important step,” he said. “We’re certainly not finished, but we thought about it as we want to take a step on three things. We want to accomplish three things. One is we want to add more young talent in the organization, talent that we can grow with. Number two is to create the right opportunities for August and September for players and pitchers that we believe have the best chance to be part of that team in 2026 that we’re building toward. And then finally, if the opportunities were out there that made sense, create some maneuverability, some options for us this offseason where we can reallocate payroll, perhaps, into other parts of the team.
“We wanted to try to accomplish parts of all three of those things, and we believed we did. We certainly have more work to do once it hits November.”
The Pirates save $36 million over the next four seasons by trading Hayes and Bednar, and Falter would have conservatively cost the Pirates a combined $13 million through the arbitration process next winter.
Will the Pirates “reallocate” that money on major-league hitters who can bolster their offense? Will they hire even more data scientists masquerading as coaches? Will owner Bob Nutting stick the savings in his bank account?
History suggests no one should bet on the first scenario.
But, hey, it should be a good year at High-A in 2026. The Greensboro Grasshoppers will have an excellent chance to win the South Atlanticantic League title.