"Just getting better."
I'd just opened a portal through which Ben Cherington, the Pirates' new GM, could have paved a more visible path for the franchise that maybe Pittsburghers would appreciate. My question on this Friday afternoon at PNC Park, upon the opening of the annual PiratesFest, was the same as it's been since the day he was brought aboard: Whether or not there's a hard rebuild in place, what's the plan?
And he came back by beginning with those three blah words up there.
Here's the full exchange:
"Every kind of resource you can imagine, whether it's time, energy or dollars, will go into getting better" he'd continue after those three words. "That's not always a straight line, as we know. But every day in 2020, we're going to spend it on trying to get better. That can include player-related opportunities, that can include acquiring players, that include trading players at some point, but it also includes a lot of other activity like working with the coaching group or our scouting process -- amateur, international, professional, et cetera -- all throughout our baseball operations."
Hang on. I've got to yawn before I finish typing this out.
All right, here's the rest ...
"I wouldn't say our focus is on anything but getting better and working to building a winning team."
Hm. Yeah. That wasn't going to work.
I tried harder with the follow-up: What's the view, very specifically, on 2020?
"Excitement," came this reply without hesitation. "Excitement for the group of players we have. Excitement for the opportunity to get to know them even better and, hopefully, help some of them grow their game, tap into their skill. And also, excitement to look for opportunities to add talent, whether that's at the major-league level, through the draft, internationally, you name it."
Slight pause. I'd swear he grasped here this wasn't at all what I'd been seeking.
To which he wrapped up, ""We are simply focused on building a team that's got a chance to play meaningful games in September and October. And we're going to keep marching toward that."
Still awake?
OK, that was on purpose. I don't normally transcribe something that awful, but it's done this time with a purpose: Because Cherington means it. And because he legitimately won't be fazed by whether you or I are fazed by it.
There'll be a reflex for a lot of fans to hear/read what's above and compare Cherington, yet again, to Neal Huntington. But what's becoming increasingly clear to me is that, wholly unlike his predecessor, Cherington's comfortable with his convictions. And that, all by itself, is a colossal difference.
When Cherington speaks, dry as it can sound, he does so with zero palpable defensiveness and with even less of an attempt to convince anyone of anything. He just believes what he believes, he'll work toward fulfilling that belief, and he'll let the results generate whatever excitement might follow.
That's not Huntington, my friends.
So, what is the plan?
Here are three key elements I've been able to cull, from independent conversations with Cherington and several others in the Pirates' hierarchy:
• Yes, Starling Marte will be traded, as I reported this past November. It might not happen before the season, but that's by far the likeliest scenario. Talks are ongoing with multiple teams.
• Even if Marte is traded for prospects, as I'm expecting -- hoping, actually, given the desperate need for elite-potential arms -- that won't signal a hardcore rebuild. It'll just infuse the system with talent at the game's critical and most expensive position. But the approach to 2020 and the current roster won't change.
• More outfield depth is already being pursued, as Cherington acknowledged, and that undoubtedly is due to Marte's pending departure.
Beyond that ... it actually is about "just getting better."
There won't be any wholesale, sweeping shipping-out, as we've seen over the years in Miami and elsewhere, the kind that would put even Josh Bell and other younger guys on the block, all aimed at some tidal wave of prospect talent. There's no appetite for that in the front office, and that goes all the way to the top. Not that Bob Nutting's overseeing baseball ops -- thankfully, he's never done that -- but he'd rather not see Bell, Bryan Reynolds, Kevin Newman, Mitch Keller dispersed toward a goal that's a handful of years off. He'd prefer instead to build with this group.
I'm OK with that. All of it.
Provided the execution's there, of course.
This has been my course of choice for quite a while, but the chief concern was that Huntington, Kyle Stark and company were ill-suited to execute it and, after the Chris Archer trade, didn't deserve another chance.
Maybe Cherington will reap real rewards. And maybe, if he does, no one will mind having to hit the snooze button when he speaks about it.
• For full context, I pressed Cherington yet again later about his 2020 needs, and he did acknowledge it's pitching. So there's that. Alex Stumpf has more.
• The script 'Pittsburgh' on the new jerseys is fun, and I'm fine with harkening back to the early 1990s since those brought the most recent division titles.
This was the video shown to media beforehand:
??????????
Rewrite the Script pic.twitter.com/XgIVm5LKW4
— Pirates (@Pirates) January 24, 2020
What's best, though, is that a 134-year-old franchise shows pride in precedent rather than getting all goofy with its gear. And that's definitely the case here.
• I asked Bell if he thought the jersey was cool enough for him to wear, stylish dude that he is ...
... but then, as you'll see above, I broached the far more serious topic as to whether or not they'd be cool enough for franchise icon Steven Brault.
Broached this with Cole Tucker, too.
"Everything is cool enough for Brault," Tucker quipped back. "We could go out there and wear, like, white undershirt tank tops and jean shorts, and Brault would have the gold chain and the colorful tats and the sick hair and just make it cool."
Brault wasn't immediately available for comment.
• Not sure how far the Pirates will take the 'Rewrite The Script' slogan that accompanied this unveiling, but that's neat, too. On many levels.
• Both Cherington and Derek Shelton had 20-minute media sessions after the unveiling, this in the media lounge. Both came across as cool as ever, albeit each in his own way. They'll carry themselves well on the job, for sure.
Maybe the newsiest item to emerge from either session came when I asked Shelton if he'd decided upon Keone Kela as his closer.
"Kela's gonna pitch at the back end of games," Shelton replied. "To specifically say right now he's going to be our closer, I'm not gonna say that. I think he's going to pitch very meaningful innings at the back end of the game. I'm excited to watch him. I mean, it's a big arm with really good stuff. I've had multiple good conversations with him this offseason."
I asked if Kyle Crick could be in that mix, as well.
"There's multiple people who can be in that mix, who are going to be pitching at the back end of the game in big innings for us. I've expressed that to those guys and told them that, and then as we get to spring training and work further, we'll be able to make that decision."
Sounds like a spring competition.
• I'm firmly in the Crick camp. Been there for a while.
• Shelton's magnetic, and it's easy to see, much less experience. As such, since he's had hardly any chances to partake in any baseball activity with his players, I asked if he maybe sees some of the same positive traits that lifted this group through the All-Star break last summer:
Picturing this guy jumping around with everyone after some extra-inning walkoff is kind of easy, huh?
• Reminder: Payroll is projected to be $59,148,500. Even if Cherington signs free agents, as he strongly suggested here he's still likely to do, that won't go up much.
• Nutting's here. Mingling with season-ticket holders. A welcome sight.
• Give it up for Joe Musgrove. Always speaks his mind, as Alex reports, and never worries about who he might tick off. After a 69-win catastrophe, that's not the right thing to do ... it's the only thing to do.
"We lacked a little bit of leadership in the clubhouse, and no one was really ready to step up and take that role," was among Musgrove's remarks. "Kind of taking it in the teeth last year gave us some fire to step up and be ready to fill those roles."
That's essentially an echo of similar sentiments he shared with me at season's end, but the apparent follow-through matters.
• Wherever Marte's headed, it probably won't be the Mets. And Brodie van Wagenen's strong statement on this same day in New York powerfully supports that:
Brodie Van Wagenen says he can't envision making a deal at this point in the offseason that would significantly disrupt the Mets' current outfield mix.
In other words, don't count on Starling Marte or anyone else coming in. The Mets like what they have.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) January 24, 2020
It'll be somewhere, though.
• There won't be a team in baseball untouched by the Astros' cheating, but the Pirates will come as close as anyone.
Musgrove's already publicly denied any knowledge of the process from his time in Houston in 2017, and there's been no indication he was interviewed by Major League Baseball. I wasn't in on this Musgrove session -- working the other side of the same room -- but I'm told it never came up with reporters on this day.
Don Kelly, the Astros' bench coach last year now back home to fill the same role, politely told me on this day he'd rather not be interviewed. But Cherington confirmed to Alex that neither Kelly nor new international scout Oz Ocampo, also arriving by way of Houston, are connected in any way.
I asked Shelton how much he'd have to adjust if Rob Manfred follows through with a discussed banning of all in-game video equipment, including batters going back to the clubhouse to watch their at-bats.
"I mean, we've had baseball before that, so we'd get by," Shelton answered. "But I'll be surprised if it comes to that."
• Marte, Archer and Gregory Polanco aren't at PiratesFest, but Cherington dismissed that as being reflective of anyone's future with the team. All communicated reasons they couldn't make it.
• Seventeen days until pitchers and catchers.
• Hey, if you're at the main PiratesFest day Saturday and see us, give a shout!
