The roster Neal Huntington constructed is eight games below .500 with 74 to play, and he says the next week will determine whether or not he begins to tear it down.
Huntington, speaking to reporters before first pitch Sunday at PNC Park, took verbal ownership of the Pirates' failures after an offseason in which they did not sign a free agent to a major-league contract and traded their two best players. And he indicated he's ready to sell at the trade deadline if the club doesn't gain traction in the nine games before the All-Star break. The Pirates host the Nationals for a three-game series beginning Monday, followed by five games in four days against the first-place Brewers.
With expiring contracts on the roster, including Jordy Mercer's, Huntington said he is deciding whether to give at-bats and innings to young players.
"We entered the season with the optimistic belief that we had those traits of teams projected to win 78 to 82 games and could exceed that and be one of the teams that was in a postseason battle. ... The optimism has turned to realism, and we know we need to gain some ground here this week and need to continue to show we can be one of those teams," Huntington said.
The Pirates are 40-48 and 12 1/2 games out in the Central Division and need to leap five teams in the Wild Card race. They've lost five in a row while being outscored, 51-15. Their offense now ranks 10th in the National League in runs and 13th in home runs. Additionally, they've lost 11 of their past 15 series and are 14-31 since May 17.
Seemingly their entire lineup has gone cold for stretches this season. Josh Bell, a finalist for National League Rookie of the Year in 2017, has only five home runs in 88 games. Josh Harrison is batting .260 with a .297 on-base percentage. Mercer is at .245 with a .308 OBP. Francisco Cervelli and Starling Marte, catalysts during the hot start, have struggled since May 15, batting .218 and .188 in that span, respectively. Corey Dickerson, acquired from the Rays in late February, has been their most consistent player, slashing .308/.342/.461, but he's hit only six home runs and driven in 34. Gregory Polanco has batted .296 with four home runs, 15 RBIs and a .989 OPS over the past 30 days; however, he's still batting just .231 with a team-high 76 strikeouts.
When the Pirates traded Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole during the offseason, Huntington and Clint Hurdle cited the health of three players — Polanco, Marte and Cervelli — and the young starting rotation as reasons to believe the Pirates could actually improve from their 74 wins a year ago. Those comments were made despite the club not adding to its bullpen after losing Tony Watson and Juan Nicasio last season.
Instead, the Pirates made George Kontos, a waiver claim last August, their setup man and relied on young pitchers, including Steven Brault and Tyler Glasnow. They signed minor-league free agents such as Richard Rodriguez, acquired Josh Smoker from the Mets and used their two most valuable trade chips to supplement the bullpen, adding Michael Feliz and Kyle Crick.
None of the four returning starters has been consistent, and Joe Musgrove did not make his first start until May 25. The bullpen, meanwhile, has the fourth-worst ERA in the National League. Kontos was released, picked up by the Indians and released again.
"This is on me," Huntington said. "This is a club I put together. This is a club our staff put together. I believe in our coaches. I believe in the message they’re giving, the information they’re giving to our players. But we’re where we are. It’s real. We’ve had a 15-game spin in a relatively short period of time, and we need to recognize that. How do we put this club back in a position, whether it’s this July if we get on a really good run or it’s next July, we can add to it because we’re a postseason-caliber team?"
Huntington was then asked if player development is also an issue, yet he again blamed himself for the Pirates falling short of expectations. He then went on to defend the front office's decision to not add to the roster when most projection models had them winning anywhere between 78 and 82 games.
He cited previous teams exceeding those expectations to win the World Series or make the postseason — including the Pirates from 2013 through 2015 — and said young players on the roster deserved an opportunity to fill spots on the 25-man roster. Now, he must decide which contracts to unload, although any trade would require a partner.
Mercer will be a free agent this offseason, while Cervelli, the club's highest-paid player, is under contract through next season at $11.5 million. Harrison has team options for 2019 and 2020 at $10.5 and $11.5 million, respectively, although there's a buyout for both seasons.
David Freese has one team option remaining at $6 million with a $500,000 buyout. Dickerson, who's making $5.95 million this season, is arbitration-eligible and won't become a free agent until 2020.
"There’s a good group of young players that are really interesting that we will continue to work to help get better, and how do we build around those young players?" Huntington said. "We’ve got guys that are on expiring contracts that maybe make sense to give those at-bats and those innings to some guys that are young, that are learning. Then we have some guys that are on some limited-duration contracts where the first thing you look for is 'Who wants to be here?' Then you look at how they fit and then you look at how that factors into your decision going forward."
Austin Meadows could replace Dickerson in left field, while Elias Diaz has batted .302 with 23 RBIs in 35 starts behind home plate this season. Also, the Pirates have infielders Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer at Triple-A, as well as Jose Osuna and Adam Frazier.
However, relying on young players was part of this club's undoing the past two seasons.
"A lot of it came back to the guys we had in place, the young players we had in place we felt earned opportunities, that we felt deserved those opportunities," Huntington said when asked why he didn't add. "We didn’t want to do that because we believe in our young players. We believed we had some starting pitching that was young and ready to take a step forward. We believed we had some young position players. We still believe in this young, talented, but erratic bullpen. We believed that they could go do the jobs. It didn’t work. Again, that’s squarely on my shoulders."