Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Pirates GM Ben Cherington's minor moves shake up status quo

While watching the Pittsburgh Steelers get blown out by the Cleveland Browns, I commented to my cousin that Sunday night would have been a better time for the Pirates to trade Josh Bell than Christmas Eve.

His response: Wait, the Pirates traded Josh Bell?

So maybe Ben Cherington’s timing worked, after all.

The Pirates general manager has been quietly making moves to change the complexion of a team that was the worst in baseball last season, even if most of them appear only to be minor moves. That his biggest deal flew under the radar over the holidays for some casual Pirates fans reveals the real lack of interest in a team that went 19-41 last season.

Cherington is showing he isn’t satisfied with the status quo, so he’s shaking up the roster. Since the season ended, the Pirates have also parted ways with the likes of catchers Luke Maile and John Ryan Murphy; infielders Jose Osuna and JT Riddle; outfielder Jason Martin; starting pitchers Chris Archer, Derek Holland and Trevor Williams; and relievers Nick Burdi, Keone Kela, Dovydas Neverauskas, Yacksel Rios, Nick Tropeano, Nik Turley and Brandon Waddell.

Cherington has added an array of young arms and is taking chances on players who were former high draft picks, giving them a shot to resuscitate their careers. And, Bell aside, that beats betting on players who proved this past season that they couldn’t cut it.

After hitting nine total homers in 2015 and 2016, Troy Stokes Jr. broke out for 20 homers in 2017. In 2018 he followed it up with 19 more and based on this #SpringTraining blast, 2019 could also be full of homers.

No. 13 on #Brewers Top 30: https://t.co/SXAhTte5eG pic.twitter.com/dEo1oqntGd

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 8, 2019

1. Different Stokes: The Pirates got a ho-hum reaction Tuesday for claiming outfielder Troy Stokes Jr. off waivers from the Detroit Tigers, given that he’s never played in the majors.

A 2014 fourth-round pick by the Milwaukee Brewers, the 5-foot-8, 200-pound Stokes has a blend of power and speed. He was the Brewers’ No. 15 prospect in 2018, after hitting 20 home runs and stealing 31 bases over Single-A and Double-A the previous season.

Stokes hit 23 doubles and 19 home runs with 58 RBIs and 19 steals in ‘18, when he was a Southern League All-Star and won a Gold Glove in Double-A Biloxi.

But he batted .233 and was designated for assignment after duplicating that average in 2019, when he hit 22 doubles, nine homers and 40 RBIs in 95 games at Triple-A San Antonio. The Pirates have to like his on-base percentage (.343 in ‘18, .341 in ’19) but dislike his strikeouts (87 in ’19, 147 in ’18).

Stokes, who will be 25 in February, was making a good impression on the Tigers last spring with five doubles in 22 at-bats before he broke the hamate bone in his right (throwing) hand, an injury that required season-ending surgery.

Signing Stokes isn’t the solution to the starting spot in center field, where Anthony Alford, Bryan Reynolds and Cole Tucker split time last season after Jarrod Dyson was traded, but Stokes has the potential to be an upgrade over Martin and a possible future fourth outfielder.

If Stokes isn’t, it doesn’t cost the Pirates much. They designated the 31-year-old Turley (0-3, 4.98 ERA), who had more blown saves than actual saves, for assignment.

The Pirates have signed former #MNTwins pitcher Chase De Jong to a minor league contract.

He made four starts for Minnesota in 2018, going 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA. pic.twitter.com/BTB5TUtXZE

— Twins Gems (@TwinsGems) January 6, 2021

2. Saved by Skeeters: Another signing that barely drew a blip was the minor-league contract the Pirates gave to pitcher Chase De Jong on Jan. 5, but his story comes with a twist.

The 6-4, 230-pound right-hander was a second-round pick by Toronto in 2012 but is now with his fifth team after being traded three times early in his career.

De Jong, 27, has been in the majors off and on for four years and has a career 1-5 record with a 7.12 ERA and 1.656 WHIP in 54 1/3 innings over 10 starts and 15 games for Seattle, Minnesota and Houston.

De Jong was 0-1 with a 14.73 ERA and 2.182 WHIP in three games (two starts) with the Astros last season, giving up 12 runs on 12 hits, but had nine strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings (11.0 K/9).

What’s interesting is that he has a five-pitch repertoire — fastball, cutter, slider, curve and changeup — and was considered the No. 13 prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ system (five spots behind Walker Buehler) in 2017.

That followed De Jong’s best season in the minors, when he was 14-5 with a 2.86 ERA in Double-A Tulsa and named the Texas League pitcher of the year. De Jong had 133 strikeouts in 147 innings over Double-A and a short spell in Triple-A that year.

But he was traded to Seattle, then to Minnesota (in a deal that included Zach Duke) before electing free agency.

#Astros RHP Chase De Jong says pitching with the @SL_Skeeters last season and in their Constellation Energy League this summer is a big reason why he’s in the big leagues now: “It’s a great place to play and as far as indy ball goes it’s top-notch.” pic.twitter.com/kcynJKKOWD

— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) August 24, 2020

Now here’s the interesting part: De Jong was playing for Pete Incaviglia and the Sugar Land Skeeters in the Constellation Energy League when the Astros came calling. He led the four-team league in K/9 (17.0), with 27 strikeouts in 17 innings.

If nothing else, De Jong gives the Pirates more starting pitching depth, which Cherington has made a priority.

3. Arms race: Since October, the Pirates addressed areas of need by claiming catcher Michael Perez, right-hander Sean Poppen and now Stokes off waivers.

But building a deep pitching staff — Cherington said he wanted to be able to go 30 deep — is the intent.

That makes sense, considering Jameson Taillon is returning from Tommy John rehab, Joe Musgrove and Mitch Keller spent stints on the injured list and Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl slowly built their innings up after returning from injuries.

And rebuilding a bullpen that was prone to blowing late leads was necessary, so those who can’t crack the starting rotation might have a shot of sticking as relievers.

The Pirates have added the likes of Jose Soriano, Luis Oviedo, Shea Spitzbarth and Jeffrey Passantino through the Rule 5 Draft,Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean through the Bell trade and now De Jong with a spring training invite.

They also drafted pitchers Carmen Mlodzinski, Jared Jones, Nick Garcia, Logan Hofmann and Jack Hartman, although Hartman underwent Tommy John surgery.

Whether that makes the Pirates’ pitching staff better remains to be seen. But it’s hard to imagine it could be much worse.

4. Wait and see: When the Steelers agreed with Kraft Heinz to extend the Heinz Field naming rights for another year, it made me wonder what the Pirates were going to do about naming rights to PNC Park.

The 20-year, $30-million naming rights deal expired after the 2020 season, but I was told that both sides agreed to extend the window of discussions for renewal.

Pirates president Travis Williams negotiated the original deal when he served as outside legal counsel while working for Reed Smith, and told me in February that he has a good relationship with PNC Financial Services CEO Bill Demchak and its head of regional markets for Pittsburgh/Southwestern Pennsylvania, Lou Cestello.

“PNC has been beyond a wonderful partner for the Pirates; PNC has been a wonderful corporate citizen, in terms of what they mean for the City of Pittsburgh from jobs to their investment in different community activities,” Williams said last year at Pirate City. “We certainly acknowledge what they’ve done for us for 20-plus years and we’d love to continue that relationship.”

5. Numbers game: All of the roster turnover has led to a shuffling of jersey numbers for some players.

According to the Pirates transactions page on MLB.com, the following players have changed their numbers: Jared Oliva (from 76 to 14, which belonged to Maile); JT Brubaker (65 to 34, which belonged to Trevor Williams); Austin Davis (75 to 35, which belonged to Kela); Tyler Bashlor (67 to 38, which belonged to Rios); Blake Cederlind (62 to 49); Michael Feliz (49 to 45, which belonged to Derek Holland); Phillip Evans (64 to 24, which belonged to Archer), Nick Mears (70 to 36, which belonged to Osuna) and Cody Ponce (60 to 44, which belonged to Kevin Kramer).

On the 40-man roster, No. 5 has been given to Perez (Guillermo Heredia had it to start last season), No. 57 to Oviedo, No. 62 to Poppen and No. 72 to Soriano.