Where Ben Cherington used the MLB trade deadline to swing deals to bolster a battered bullpen, the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager stood pat Monday when it came to one of baseball’s best offenses and the starting rotation despite a pair of possible season-ending injuries.
In his most aggressive moves in seven years, Cherington acquired right-handed relievers in Lake Bachar from the Miami Marlins, Camilo Doval from the New York Yankees, Luke Weaver from the New York Mets and Kirby Yates from the Los Angeles Angels in four separate deals.
“We’ve worked hard to try to add to the team because we believe in the team. We believe this team can win games and make a push into October,” Cherington said on a video conference call. “The bullpen was an area we intended to strengthen. We feel good about the individual pitchers coming onto the team. We feel like the prices made sense. We’re going to look forward to getting to know all of these guys and seeing them come together in the clubhouse now.”
Their arrivals should immediately improve a bullpen that has blown 20 saves this season. The Pirates still don’t have a clear-cut closer in their bullpen and could continue to make matchup-based decisions in high-leverage situations, but they have added depth and experience. Doval and Yates join lefty Gregory Soto as former All-Star closers with seasons of 30 or more saves on their resume, while Weaver is a starter-turned-setup man who is considered one of the top high-leverage relievers in baseball.
Kelly said lefty Mason Montgomery, who posted a 1.46 ERA and 0.65 WHIP with two saves in 13 appearances last month, has earned more opportunities to pitch the ninth inning after striking out three of the four batters he faced while protecting a one-run lead in the ninth inning in Monday’s 4-3 win over the Brewers.
“His stuff is electric,” Kelly said. “Just being able to mix it up, the breaking balls he threw there before the punchout. When he’s throwing 100 (mph) with that breaking ball and throwing strikes, he’s doing a great job. He’s continued to earn.”
Bachar is expected to be used in a bulk relief role, given that he has pitched multiple innings in 21 of his 38 appearances this season. The other new acquisitions provide back-end depth to a bullpen that features lefties in Brandon Eisert, Soto and Montgomery — with Evan Sisk getting ready to return from the IL — and righties in Wilber Dotel, Carmen Mlodzinski and Yohan Ramirez.
With starter Mitch Keller out for the remainder of the regular season, Mlodzinski could return to the starting rotation — even if Kelly wasn’t ready Monday to reveal who would take Keller’s turn. The Pirates also could opt to use Dotel and Triple-A right-handers Antwone Kelly and Thomas Harrington or lefty Hunter Barco in a spot start.
The Pirates didn’t add a starter, despite high-profile trades over the weekend involving two-time American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal being dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kevin Gausman going to the Chicago Cubs, Luis Castillo to the Chicago White Sox and Robbie Ray to the San Diego Padres.
“We looked at that also and considered that and talked about all kinds of things that potentially would have brought that kind of thing back, didn’t ultimately feel like those made sense in terms of what it would have cost us,” Cherington said. “But we feel with the number of pitchers we added that maybe in indirect ways we’ve also added some depth, whether it’s traditional starting depth or at least bulk depth, back to the group that will help us in that regard. Whether it’s literally guys added to the team or how we might be able to deploy other pitchers who are already here, we’ll see. That’ll be determined. We’ll see how that all shakes out, but certainly considered it, but ultimately the deals we made were the ones we believed in.”
Cherington didn’t press the panic button on position players despite losing first baseman/right fielder Ryan O’Hearn (left quadriceps strain) and Keller, who was placed on the 60-day injured list Monday with a right arm teres major muscle injury.
The Pirates inquired about adding a hitter, only to watch infielder Luis Garcia Jr. (Yankees), outfielders Jo Adell and Blake Perkins (Cleveland), Lane Thomas (Atlanta) and Taylor Ward (Seattle) and catchers Liam Hicks (Tampa Bay), Logan O’Hoppe (Texas), Ben Rortvedt (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Adley Rutschman (Boston) get traded.
“We considered position players coming back, bats or potentially defensive-type players, upgrades there,” Cherington said. “On that front, didn’t ultimately believe that there was a player available at a price we believed in that was enough of an upgrade from what we have.”
Cherington also noted that the Pirates believe they will get a “big boost” by the return of center fielder Oneil Cruz, who has been out for two months with a left hand fracture. And Cherington expressed optimism that shortstop Konnor Griffin will return in September. First baseman Spencer Horwitz returned from the IL following a hamstring injury and concussion to deliver a three-run double against the Brewers.
“I think the overall position player mix, now that we have the O’Hearn news — and again, hoping Oneil’s back soon — we’ll continue to look at that in terms of, ‘How do we use the guys we do have in the best possible way?’ now that we’re past the deadline and that’s more clear,” Cherington said. “Certainly considered it, but yeah, just didn’t line up on anything that we thought made sense and also was an upgrade.”
Of the four relievers the Pirates acquired, Bachar, Doval and Weaver all come with additional years of club control. So, the Pirates essentially upgraded their pitching staff not only for this year but next. That they didn’t dump either of their veterans on expiring contracts in Soto and second baseman Brandon Lowe was another sign that the Pirates are committed to ending their seven-year losing streak and making the playoffs this season for the first time since 2015.
While some were ready to read their eulogy after losing eight of 11 games, including three of four to the last-place Cincinnati Reds, Cherington was intent on reviving the Pirates (57-57) with reinforcements while they are within reach of the wild card. Whether it was enough will be determined over the final 48 games of the season.
“Ultimately, we just believe that we should give this group a chance to be as good as it can be for the next two months,” Cherington said. “I think the group loves playing together. You can see that. You can see the fight and the bounce back when we do have a tough day. We are just going to give it everything we have for the next two months and see where the outcomes take us. We are excited to dive into that together and see what happens.”
