Neal Huntington’s Balancing Act

Jan 27, 2012 by joe

Pirates GM Neal Huntington found himself with quite a dilemma this winter. While his main focus continues to be rebuilding the farm system and preparing for a window of opportunity to compete in 2014-16, the Pirates wild first 100 games last year – at the end of which they found themselves in first place – have engendered a demand for continued improvement now, regardless of the fact that the Buccos limped home 19-43 the rest of the way. Let’s take a look at what steps Huntington has taken thus far to tame this two-headed monster.

 

 

 

• Signed free agent catcher Rod Barajas to a one year, $4mm contract. This move encapsulates the danger associated with an imperative to improve immediately. Yes, both Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder had expensive options that the Pirates were correct to decline. However, plugging a hole with a mediocre 37 year-old player for one year just kicks the can further down the road. The Pirates need a young, talented catcher; their top catching prospect, Tony Sanchez, flopped miserably in AA last season. Ramon Cabrera, next on the depth chart, is an intriguing guy; he won the batting title in the Florida State League last year while walking more than he struck out. But Cabrera has been subpar behind the plate, and at 5’7, 205, there are legitimate questions about his ability to improve enough to stick there. With two big question marks at the position, I would have pursued a trade for either Hank Conger or Jesus Flores, two players who are relatively out of favor with their organizations, and therefore attainable for a reasonable price. Both have significant upside, and would have given the Pirates a fallback option should both Sanchez and Cabrera wash out.

 

• Signed free agent shortstop Clint Barmes to a two-year, $10.5mm contract. It is somewhat ironic that the Pirates chose to give up on Ronny Cedeno after he had the best defensive year of his career. Gone were many of the mental mistakes that he had become infamous for – Cedeno had his head screwed on tight, and had an excellent year in the field. But the Pirates turned down his $3mm option and signed Barmes instead. Barmes is a very good defensive shortstop in his own right, but he is 33 years old; the likelihood that he will be around to contribute in three years is virtually nonexistent. The Pirates didn’t have a lot of options here – any reasonable facsimile of a major league shortstop is in great demand – but Cedeno would have provided about as much value as Barmes for less salary, while providing the Bucs another year to come up with a solution to their shortstop problem. Barmes, at two years, was the wrong move.

 

• Declined the option on pitcher Paul Maholm. This decision has generated the most controversy. In my opinion, Maholm was simply not worth his $9.75mm option. But it would have been reasonable to bring him back for two years at something like $3-4mm per year. He was a steady performer coming off the best season of his career, and had been somewhat undervalued prior to this season due to the poor defenses behind him. This was a tough call; I can’t complain about the decision to let him go, but here was an opportunity to help the team for the next two seasons without doing anything stupid or dangerous.

 

• Traded pitcher Brooks Pounders and IF Diego Goris to the Royals for IF Yamaico Navarro. Probably Huntington’s best move this offseason, as Navarro is a talented hitter with considerable power for a middle infielder. He helps now, by contributing in a super utility role and improving the team’s woeful bench, as well as down the road, when he may be able to hold down an infield position. Pounders is a former 2nd round pick who has been pitching reasonably well out of the bullpen in the low minors, but he was not among the Pirates’ top 30 prospects. Goris had a good year in the Dominican Summer League, but it was his fourth season, and at age 20, he was a candidate to be released, given how many talented Latin American players the Pirates are currently sorting through, and the limited number they can bring to the U.S.

 

• Selected shortstop Gustavo Nunez in the Rule 5 draft. Nunez is an interesting prospect; his defense is considered major league caliber, and he has plus speed. His bat has not kept up, but he had a good stint at Lakeland before an already tough adjustment to AA was exacerbated by an ankle injury. This could be considered a freebie for Huntington and the Bucs, except that they had to place newly acquired pitcher Jeremy Hefner on waivers to make room for Nunez, and lost him to the Mets. Despite Clint Hurdle’s desire to have a defense first type of SS on the bench, it is unlikely Nunez will stick, meaning that Huntington’s fixation with the Rule 5 draft cost the club a young pitcher, who at the very least would have provided starting pitching depth at AAA. If the Pirates do decide that they like Nunez enough to keep him, they may be able to work something out with Detroit, and send him to the minors for more development. It is not like either of their other shortstop prospects, Chase d’Arnaud or Jordy Mercer, are forcing their way into the picture.

 

• Traded Jose Veras for Casey McGehee. Another very good move both for this season and the future. Veras performed admirably last year, especially considering how hard he was worked, but he was arbitration eligible with a projected salary in the range of $2mm, and as a result was a candidate to be designated for assignment. Right before the deadline for offering arbitration, Huntington found a match with the Brewers, who were probably not going to offer McGehee a contract after his dismal 2011. But Huntington did well to get McGehee; he is only 29, and one year removed from a 3.3 WAR season that featured an OPS of .900 against left-handed pitching. His BABIP was ridiculously low last year; a bounce back season is well within the realm of possibility. McGehee also can fit two roles for the Bucs– one as a platoon partner for Garrett Jones at 1B, and another as a replacement for Pedro Alvarez at 3B, should the latter require more time in AAA.

 

• Signed free agent pitcher Eric Bedard to a one-year $4.75mm contract. This was a good gamble for the Pirates. Yes, Bedard has a horrific medical history, but the risk is for only one year, and he is arguably as good as anyone on the current staff. Again, this is an acceptable move to help the team be competitive now.

 

• Minor free agent signings. Huntington added some interesting minor league free agents such as ex-Met Nick Evans, who can platoon with Jones if McGehee plays third, and pitchers Shairon Martis and Aaron Poreda, as well as some inscrutable ones, like Jo Jo Reyes, Jake Fox and Daniel Cabrera.

 

Faced with the dichotomy of trying to stick to his plan while at the same time plugging holes and trying to improve the team this season, Huntington deserves credit for holding on to his prospects, and avoiding the temptation to trade them for a big name who would be gone before the team was ready to compete. He has brought in a few talented young players with upside at little cost, and signed some minor league free agents who have the potential to pay off.

However, I am disappointed that he used the veteran free agent market only to plug holes at the major league level with temporary stop gaps. For the Pirates to rise from obscurity to contention, as they did in the late 80′s to early 90′s, they will need to be more creative than this. Had they traded for a young catcher, and kept Cedeno, they would have saved upwards of $5mm this year, which they could have put towards a quality free agent, like Edwin Jackson, who would still be able to contribute at a high level 3-4 years from now.

Huntington and his staff have to focus on young players who are either blocked, or in some way undervalued, in their current organizations. Syd Thrift and Larry Doughty did exactly this when they traded for Andy Van Slyke, Bobby Bonilla and Jay Bell, each of whom was available because their previous teams fixated on their weaknesses instead of their strengths. He also needs to send a message that the Pirates are willing to compete for real in the free agent market. It is difficult to build a contending team solely made up of home grown talent; at some point Huntington will have to use all of the tools at his disposal to bring in the missing pieces of the puzzle that will return the Pirates to respectability.