It was a perfect disaster for the Pirates this year. Underperforming role players and injuries to the pitching staff as well as a couple steps back for a pair of developing middle infielders led to the Pirates now having the worst record in the NL (2nd overall to
). GM CRS245 was somewhat prepared for this possibility, saying, "In the winter meetings, I told Orange Country to watch out and prepare for domination [after Gonzalez and Pujols joined team]. I knew there was very little to work with outside of those two players, so in the event that everything didn't click, there was an escape plan..."
An escape plan there was... in the past week, the Pirates got busy and traded away Pujols to the Yankees for a booster shot to the young Pirates pitching core as well as Eric Campbell. Pujols was tradeable and has high value despite the contract. The fit came at the right time. The Pirates now have a rotation of four starters for next year led by Kyle Lohse. They could also get Humber or McDonald back for 2015. Beyond that, the Pirates have above average SP prospects at the AAA level that would fill three franchises. The rotation is solid as ever. Where the Pirates struggle is on offense. Years ago, when the likes of Nick Swisher and Andre Ethier ran the show, and veteran bats came in and out of Pittsburgh, that was the strong part of the team. Now, the Pirates have an arms machine oiled and ready, and they just need to figure out who can hit the ball out of the park.
It's not as bad as it seems for the Pirates offense. Campbell just joined the team and Adrian Gonzalez is still on the books. The Pirates, who are rumored to trade AGon, could keep him and still have $25m in cap space next year. They are weak at MI and OF but have Wieters at backstop and they just extneded Revere. The $25m could buy them five $5m/year players, which if spent right, could be a lot of production. The options open themselves further if management wants to go younger. That may be the best plan as everywhere else, the team is young and contracts are kept low. Trading AGon would not only open the team up to nearly $45m in cap space next year, but there would certainly be a haul of young bats that the Pirates could acquire.
The situation gets even brighter. The cap space gives the team a lot of flexibility and the power to retain young prospects. The pitching goes deeper than AAA with players like Aaron Blair who was one of the most dominant pitchers in the California League during the month of June. In the upcoming entry draft, the Pirates have the 6th overall pick plus a supplemental first that is slotted at 51st. With the team's performance this year, they are looking at a top three pick in next year's draft.
The Pirates never made the playoffs with their veteran, offense-first, team that had improved 20 games from 2010 to 2011, broke the franchise losing record, and had back-to-back winning seasons. That's because the team peaked quickly and started to regress in 2012 before a change was needed last year. The 2013 campaign was rough and this off-season brought promises, but it also provided flexibility and the development of a sustainable franchise.
Nothing is guaranteed to be sustainable of course. While the young pitchers are promising and a few hitters will stick around until next season, nearly all of them still need to develop. That, and the Pirates have a window in free agency once again, but will they have a backup plan in case everything heads south? Time will tell.
