Tim Benz: Pirates can embrace the future without so obviously spitting in the face of the present

It was just one thought from Ben Cherington during an 18-minute interview. And it was said in almost a throw-away fashion by the Pirates general manager.

But I hope he was paying attention to the words coming out of his own mouth.

On 93.7 The Fan Thursday, host Andrew Fillipponi asked Cherington about the unique timing of having the 2021 Major League Baseball draft in July after the College World Series ended, as opposed to early June when the selection process usually takes place.

“This year, I am grateful for the extra month, partly because 1:1 (the first overall pick in the first round) is really important. We have to get it right,” Cherington said. “Partly because we missed so much time last year (due to the coronavirus pandemic), and players missed so much time last year. We’re trying to make up for that. So the extra month is meaningful for us this year.”

Actually, scratch the second part of the quote. Just seize on the first part. The first overall pick in the draft is really important, and they need to get it right.

Period. Stop right there.

If we could isolate that part of the quote, you’d probably think, “Well, yeah. No kidding. The first overall pick is important. So draft Vanderbilt pitcher Jack Leiter and be done with the conversation.”

That’s probably the safest path toward “getting it right.” After all, the guy just mowed down college baseball to the tune of an 11-4 record, a 2.13 ERA, 179 strikeouts in 110 innings pitched, and .129 batting average against. He’s also a finalist for college baseball’s Golden Spikes Award as the top amateur player in the game via USA Baseball.

However, context is important. The context is that Cherington’s comment came after roughly six minutes of conversation about the Pirates’ draft strategy and how one thing that might be considered is spreading out the team’s allocated draft pool of funds. Thus, in theory, making sure the franchise doesn’t spend the highest possible dollar amount on pick No. 1. Instead, the plan could be to allocate their dollars throughout roughly the first 10 rounds to entice other selections to sign later in the draft.

“It’s also very clear we need to get the most possible talent we can out of the entire draft this year,” Cherington said.

“Our job is to get the most possible talent we can with the pool amount we have.”

In other words, expect the Pirates to select high school shortstop Marcelo Mayer or Louisville catcher Henry Davis atop the board on July 11.

And expect a lot of hardcore Pirates fans, blogs, Twitter threads, chat rooms and draft analysts to tell you that’s the right way for the Pirates to go.

Because due to 24 years of losing over the last 28, as a fan base, we’ve been reconditioned to think that the present is always so bleak that the Pirates perpetually have to think toward the future. That prospects are always more important than what’s on the big league level, even though — theoretically, anyway — the Pirates are a Major League team.

By extension, the national media that analyzes such things never concerns itself with what the Pirates may look like this year or next. So, instead, it’ll applaud the organization’s attempts to build up its farm system with quantity instead of quality.

This is why frustration over every trade of a Gerrit Cole or a Starling Marte or an Andrew McCutchen is tempered by a slew of explanations over how Pirates fans should be happy with what they got in return with their haul of prospects.

Yet Cole was a “1:1” pitcher traded as a 27-year-old, who has gone on to finish in the top five of Cy Young voting three times. Joe Musgrove was part of the return in that deal with the Houston Astros. Then he was shipped away at the same age. Now he’s enjoying his best MLB season with the San Diego Padres.

Bryan Reynolds came to town from San Francisco’s organization in exchange for McCutchen. This looks like a good trade by former general manager Neal Huntington upon further review. Although now there is even talk of him being moved at age 26.

That should seem outlandish. Yet the conversation exists because many baseball fans in this city have had their brains permanently rewired to believe that the future is always more important than the present, even though the future isn’t allowed to stay once it gets here.

Similarly, that’s why we are all celebrating the All-Star selections of Reynolds and Adam Frazier. But we are doing so through the lens of, “Boy, this will really help their trade value before the deadline at the end of the month, huh?”

A deal sending Frazier out of Pittsburgh feels like a foregone conclusion at this point. Whereas a real MLB franchise might be more inclined to keep a 29-year-old Gold Glove infielder who is hitting .324. Especially since he’s making a relatively affordable $4 million and still has one year of arbitration left before hitting free agency.

“The more control or arbitration years a player has, the more value that player is going to have both to the team that he is on now and any team that asks,” Cherington said. “Adam Frazier is a really good player having a really good year with one year of arbitration left. That is valuable to us.”

Again, I hope Cherington was listening to himself. Because Reynolds has four years of arbitration left. So imagine how valuable he must be if that’s the case.

To continue the point, though, that’s why some are endorsing the notion of a trade now to maximize return. Because God forbid what a player means at the current time should outweigh what he could command in exchange for a bundle of prospects who might — might — combine to become his equal five years from now.

Well, before they eventually get traded by roughly 2026 at an all-too-young age.

And so on. And so on. And so on.

It’s time to understand that the Pirates are stripped at the Major League level to the point that the only good players remaining are actually worth retaining for the present — and the future. The same mentality should be applied to the draft, at least for the top overall pick.

My guess is, though, Cherington won’t listen to me. Or the 20,000 of you who seem to be avoiding PNC Park on a nightly basis.

Unfortunately, in this case, I don’t expect he’ll listen to himself either.