Nearly one month after the completion of the Winter Meetings, Neal Huntington finally revealed the Pirates' offseason plan by trading Gerrit Cole to the Astros on Saturday.
The move indicates the club will likely go with a full youth movement in 2018. However, Huntington told reporters during a conference call Saturday night there's no guarantee the Pirates will also trade Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison before the start of the season.
"Not necessarily," he said. "We will continue to engage and look to find opportunities that make this organization better, that put us in position to be a better major league team than we were the last two years. On paper, we weren’t supposed to win in ’13, ’14 and ’15. We were actually supposed to win more in ’16 and ’17 on paper than we were at the start of ’13, ’14 and ’15."
Huntington expressed confidence that the Pirates can still be competitive despite trading the ace of their rotation in exchange for starting pitcher Joe Musgrove, third baseman Colin Moran, reliever Michael Feliz and outfielder Jason Martin.
Musgrove, 25, will compete for a spot in the rotation, despite recording a 6.12 ERA in 78 innings as a starting pitcher last season. The 25-year-old right-hander did have success in the bullpen, though, recording a 1.44 ERA in 31 1/3 innings.
Huntington indicated that Moran is now penciled in as the club's starting third baseman. Ranked by Baseball America as the Astros' eighth-best prospect, Moran batted .308/.373/.543 with 18 home runs and 63 RBI in 79 games for Triple-A Fresno this past season. He has only 16 games of major league experience.
Martin will likely begin the season at Double-A Altoona, but Feliz is a right-hander with experience handling high-leverage innings. He struggled in 2017 with a 5.63 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in 46 appearances for Houston in 2017, but he had a breakout year the season prior with a 1.18 WHIP and 95 strikeouts to 22 walks in 65 innings.
The trade did fill a few holes on the major league roster. Musgrove will compete against Tyler Glasnow and Steven Brault for a spot in the rotation. Feliz addresses one of the club's bigger offseason needs, joining a bullpen that includes Felipe Rivero, George Kontos, Daniel Hudson and Edgar Santana.
Moran, meanwhile, is the power-hitting third baseman the club sought with Jung Ho Kang unable to return to the United States because of his third DUI conviction.
But Harrison is likely to go since the Pirates also have Adam Frazier, Sean Rodriguez, Jose Osuna, David Freese and Max Moroff on the 40-man roster. The Pirates also have a number of infielders in the minor leagues, including Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer.
The Yankees, who are in need of help at second and third base, were reportedly interested in acquiring Harrison last month. Huntington has a long history of making trades with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, including deals that involved Ivan Nova, A.J. Burnett, Francisco Cervelli and Justin Wilson.
The Yankees are also quite aware of which prospects in their system would be of interest to the Pirates since the two clubs discussed a trade involving Cole.
Harrison is under contract for three more seasons, including club options for 2019 and 2020. He'll make $10.25 million in 2018.
He’s only 30 years old and was just selected to his second All-Star Game, batting .272 with a .339 on-base percentage, 16 home runs and 47 RBI before a broken finger ended his season in September.
There are few second basemen available in free agency. Neil Walker is reportedly seeking a four-year deal and other players on the market are deficient offensively. Harrison would likely be the top option available via trade.
McCutchen will make $14.5 million in 2018 before becoming a free agent next offseason. He's a much cheaper option than the top outfielders in free agency — J.D. Martinez and Lorenzo Cain — and could be a nice fit for a club looking for a short-term commitment.
The Giants reportedly remain interested in McCutchen after they lost out on Jay Bruce, who signed with the Mets earlier this offseason. They have a deep farm system that would be of interest to the Pirates, and San Francisco’s center fielder of the future, Steven Duggar, is not expected to be ready for the major leagues by the end of 2018.
McCutchen has also played quite well at AT&T Park, batting .275/.367/.451 in 28 games there. And he increased his value in the eyes of many teams after playing exceptionally well at times in 2017.
After reaching the Mendoza Line in Atlanta on May 23, McCutchen rediscovered his swing. He batted .411/.505/.689 in June with six home runs, 23 RBI and only 12 strikeouts in 90 at-bats to be named National League Player of the Month.
He then batted .322 with eight home runs and 19 RBI in July before struggling in August and then finishing strong in September and October.
Trading McCutchen would create a vacancy in left field, though. The Pirates would move Starling Marte to center with Gregory Polanco in right, but Austin Meadows is not expected to be ready for the major leagues after an injury-shortened season at Triple-A in 2017.
The Pirates could opt to sign a free-agent outfielder such as Austin Jackson to a one-year contract. Frazier and Rodriguez would also be candidates to take over in left field.
Although Huntington did not tip his hand, he made it clear he's still open for business with spring training one month away.
"If there’s another move that makes for sense for us big picture, as an organization we have to engage on it," he said. "If there’s not then that’s fine with us as well. Again, we made this move because we felt it was the right move for us as an organization as we worked to get ourselves back in a postseason spot."