BRADENTON, Fla. — As the Pirates' pitchers and catchers underwent pre-spring training physicals Tuesday, Gerrit Cole was three-and-a-half hours southeast at the Astros' spring training home in West Palm Beach.
Andrew McCutchen, meanwhile, is preparing to join the Giants for spring training in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Pirates' ace and the face of the franchise are gone after they were traded away for six players last month, beginning a new era for baseball in Pittsburgh.
Though the reaction of their former teammates ranged from sadness to frustration, the message from veterans and young returners inside the clubhouse at Pirate City is to prepare to compete in 2018, rather than dwell on the past.
“Oh, it’s tough,” Francisco Cervelli said Tuesday. “Andrew, for me, was the king of Pittsburgh. Andrew was everything for the Pirates. Cole was the number one guy. ... It was sad, but you have to move forward.”
The "retooling," as Neal Huntington described it last month, began when Cole was traded to the World Series champions for starting pitcher Joe Musgrove, third baseman Colin Moran, relief pitcher Michael Feliz and minor-league outfielder Jason Martin.
Three days later, the Pirates traded McCutchen to the Giants for relief pitcher Kyle Crick and minor-league outfielder Bryan Reynolds. The moves indicated that Huntington and the front office wanted to turn to young, controllable talent to try to return the Pirates to the postseason.
But trading away one of the franchise's greats and a starting pitcher still in his prime led Cole's agent, Scott Boras, to accuse the Pirates of "tanking." After all, Cole was set to make only $6.75 million in 2018 and was under contract through 2019, and McCutchen will make $14.25 million in the final year of his deal.
The Pirates did not acquire a player ranked among Baseball America's Top 100 prospects, and according to Cots Baseball Contracts, the club's projected payroll — including the $2.5 million sent to the Giants as part of the McCutchen trade — is $81.1 million in 2018.
That total includes the raise given to Felipe Rivero as part of the four-year contract extension he signed last month. But Rivero was one of the first Pirates to express confusion on social media after Cole and McCutchen were traded.
"I was confused," Rivero explained Tuesday. "First, Cutch goes and we kind of thought he was going to be gone last year. It didn’t happen last year, so I thought, 'OK I guess they are going to give us another year.' Then he’s gone and you don’t know what to do. Then you see Cole is gone and you think, ‘Now what?’ At the end of the day, though, we have a lot of guys in here. We have [Ivan] Nova, we’ve got the new guys we got like Musgrove, Crick and we have Feliz that can help. Hitters, we have plenty of guys in here to fill the spot with Cutch gone. Right now, I think we’re pretty good."
Most players heard the news of both trades through their agent or teammates. Josh Bell, though, was told by his parents. Sure, the 25-year-old first baseman wasn't surprised by either move. He was at PiratesFest last December when a child asked McCutchen during a question-and-answer session how it felt to be traded to the Nationals.
McCutchen laughed off the question, pulling out his phone to act like he was checking Twitter to confirm the child's report. But it was only days earlier at the Winter Meetings that it appeared a deal between the Pirates and Nationals was imminent.
Of course, McCutchen returned to Pittsburgh for an encore season that included a team-high 28 home runs and the former National League MVP accomplishing more historic feats in a Pirates uniform. That final season included an impressive two-month span where he and Bell were one of the most formidable duos in all of baseball.
Last month, before the trade was completed, Bell told DKPittsburghSports.com during voluntary workouts at Pirate City that he was looking forward to one more year hitting behind McCutchen. Now that he's arrived for spring training, Bell said Monday that the reality of McCutchen's absence still hasn't sunk in.
After all, attendance for most position players is not mandatory until Sunday, but he admitted it was difficult to see the team's best player and pitcher traded away.
"Yeah," Bell said when asked if the moves frustrated him. "I feel like you don’t really realize it until you start playing games, but it’s definitely going to be two presences that are missed in the clubhouse. Hopefully people step up and fill their shoes. This year is going to be important (starting) game one of the season. We’re trying to prepare for that and focus on the future."
Clint Hurdle will not speak to the media until after Wednesday's first workout for pitchers and catchers, but his message will surely have a similar tenor to the one echoed by his players throughout the clubhouse the past two days.
Cervelli and Nova expressed optimism that the rotation remains strong with Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl and Trevor Williams back. Rivero and Williams both mentioned Bell, Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte as players who will help fill the offensive void created by McCutchen's departure.
The Pirates are keenly aware of the public perception that they can't win in 2018. But veterans such as Cervelli and Nova are emphasizing that it's performance, not perception, that will matter once the season begins March 29th in Detroit.
"This is a young team now," Cervelli said. "We are capable of doing a lot of good things, man. We have to start from now. The mentality has to be from day one. This isn’t, 'let’s see what happens.' We have to get together and just move forward. It’s good to be the underdog. It’s good to be under the radar. A lot of people are paying attention to other teams. That’s OK. We’re going to do our thing, but we’re going to win. That’s the plan."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
