Perrotto: How The Pirates’ New Pieces Fit Together

There was quantity. Ben Cherington believes there is also quality.

The Pittsburgh Pirates general manager made six deals in the hours leading up to Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline. They were all engineered hoping that the Pirates could reach the postseason for the first time since 2015.

From those six trades, three players are expected to help immediately – outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and left-handed reliever Jalen Beeks.

So how do they fit on a team that is 55-53 and 2.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third National League wild card.

De La Cruz joined the Pirates on Wednesday night. He went 2 for 4 while playing right field and batting cleanup.

De La Cruz led the Marlins with 18 home runs in 105 games with a .245/.289/.417 slash line. However, the 27-year-old also had 118 strikeouts in 454 plate appearances with 25 walks.

Furthermore, De La Cruz is a subpar fielder. He had minus-3 defensive runs saved this season at the time of the trade.

The Pirates, though, believe De La Cruz can add some pop to an offense that is 21^st in the major leagues in runs scored and 24^th in home runs.

“Younger, still relatively young corner outfielder with power who’s produced in not an easy place to hit in Miami, bigger ballpark,” Cherington said. “He has real physical ability, big power, solid defender in the corners. He’s someone that even going back to when he was acquired by the Marlins from Houston (in 2021), we had had our eyes on.

“We’ve got some personal relationships, people that know him. He was a target. He was someone that we felt like it was a good time to get a new start from Miami in Pittsburgh. We are excited to get him in our lineup, see what he can do and get to know him better.”

Kiner-Falefa is in the final stages of rehab from a left knee sprain and could join the active roster sometime during the homestand that begins Friday night when the Pirates meet the Diamondbacks at PNC Park.

Kiner-Falefa, 29, would seem to fit in with the Pirates at second base with Nick Gonzales on the injured list. However, Cherington is not committed to the idea completely.

During his seven seasons in the big leagues, Kiner-Falefa has started 315 games at shortstop, 168 at third base, 66 at catcher, 46 at second base, 29 in center field, 28 in left field and four in right field. Kiner-Falefa was the American League Gold Glove third baseman during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with the Texas Rangers.

He hit .292/.338/.420 with seven homers in 82 games this season for the Toronto Blue Jays after signing a two-year, $15-million contract during the offseason.

“I think Nick’s injury is one piece of it,” Cherington said of trading for Kiner-Falefa, “but I think more importantly this is a guy who is a premium defender at multiple spots on the field. He’s been a good offensive producer, certainly this year he’s been a really good offensive producer. Exceptional reputation as a teammate, winning player, can play all over the field. This is a player we think can help us the rest of the way this year and certainly next year also.”

Beeks also made his Pirates debut on Wednesday night and allowed one run in 0.2 of an inning.

Beeks will serve as the second left-hander in the bullpen after Aroldis Chapman. The Pirates have been looking for someone to seize the role as Ryan Borucki has been out since April 6 with left triceps inflammation.

In 45 games with the Colorado Rockies this year, Beeks was 6-4 with nine saves and a 4.74 ERA.

“We’ve had some guys do a good job (as the second lefty) but we were certainly starting to solidify that spot,” Cherington said.

The Pirates have stayed in contention in a jumbled NL race despite being just two games over .500 two-thirds of the way into the season. Cherington hopes De La Cruz, Kiner-Falefa and Beeks can push them into the playoffs.

“We believe we found deals that made sense for us,” Cherington said. “Time will tell. That’s the fun part of it. Now we all get to see what happens, see how it all plays out, and we’ll look back and either feel good or we’ll criticize ourselves. That’s the nature of the game.”

The nature of the trade deadline for the Pirates is usually subtracting players. It’s a refreshing change of pace to see them add help this time.