On March 28, 2019, the Pirates had an active roster of 25 players and eight more on the injured list for their opening day contest against the Reds.
Just five of those players are still with the organization.
It officially became five Wednesday night when Erik González, who had been outrighted to Class AAA Indianapolis in August, elected free agency. That means just Jacob Stallings (who was filling in for the injured Elias Diaz), Steven Brault (then considered a reliever), Colin Moran (the backup third baseman behind Jung-Ho Kang), Kevin Newman (the backup shortstop behind González) and Chad Kuhl (on the injured list recovering from Tommy John surgery) are the final five who could still call themselves Pirates. (Bryan Reynolds and Cole Tucker would get promoted in April and Mitch Keller in May).
Just five remain with the team. Odds are that number will decrease again this offseason due to an upcoming roster crunch and some of those players nearing free agency. Which ones are the most likely to return in 2022?
JACOB STALLINGS
We’ll start with the no-brainer of the bunch and keep it brief. Stallings is not going anywhere anytime soon. He’s very likely going to be adding a Gold Glove to his mantle next month.
Perhaps just as important is Stallings has emerged as a clubhouse leader since Derek Shelton took over as manager in 2020.
“I think it was important to help set the tone, set the culture around here,” Stallings told me at the end of the season about being more of a leader this year. “Let guys know what we expect, what’s ok and what’s not ok. Tried to do that as best I could this year.”
A Gold Glove caliber catcher who is respected in the clubhouse and has three years of team control remaining. It would take a lot to pry someone who checks all those boxes away from the Pirates in a trade. He’ll be setting up behind home plate opening day 2022.
STEVEN BRAULT
After years of bouncing between the bullpen and rotation, Brault made a good case at the end of 2020 to keep him in the starting five. However, a pair of lat injuries in his left shoulder limited him to just seven starts in 2021.
Brault dealt with shoulder injuries in 2019 and 2020 as well, and had it not been for the delayed start of last season, he would have missed significant time that year too. It raises the question of if he can handle a full season workload as a starter.
“I think we need to get into the offseason, learn a little more about him,” Ben Cherington said on the subject in his end of season Zoom call with the media. “He's a talented guy. He's certainly capable of pitching effectively in the major leagues and we need guys like that. We'll learn more as we get into the offseason in terms of his recovery."
Brault is forecasted to make just $2.2 million in 2022, according to MLB Trade Rumors' arbitration projections, and has two years of team control remaining. If the Pirates think he can stay healthy, he’s a no-brainer to keep. However, with the exception of Stallings, he’s the only player on this list who has any sort of trade value because of his team control, low salary and potential as a starting pitcher.
If the Pirates do move him to the bullpen, is it strictly in a middle relief role or could he bump another lefty from the mix, like Anthony Banda, Sam Howard or Chasen Shreve. Brault could probably do well in that role, but is that where he’s best suited.
A team doesn’t need a lefty in the rotation, but it definitely is a plus. Brault is the best lefty option the Pirates have internally in the majors or Indianapolis.
CHAD KUHL
Kuhl was technically on the injured list for 2019 recovering from Tommy John surgery, but going by how long he has been in the majors without being optioned to the minors or designated for assignment, he is technically the Pirates’ longest-tenured Pirate, dating back to August 2016. (Stallings debuted a few days before him but was DFA'd twice.)
He may not hold that distinction for too long, however.
Kuhl was moved from the rotation to the bullpen after he returned from COVID-19 in August, and the results were definitely mixed. While he had been inconsistent the first four months of the season, he posted a 2.91 ERA over the month of July with 23 strikeouts over 21 2/3 innings. It looked like he was maybe turning a corner.
However, the Pirates opted to transition him to the bullpen for the final month and a half of the season rather than have him build his pitch count up again. In 14 relief appearances, he allowed four home runs, batters had a 1.037 OPS and he pitched to a 6.75 ERA.
Kuhl had never pitched out the bullpen outside of piggyback appearances, and his greenness would show. Occasionally he would have a nice spike in velocity, but it would take several pitches to reach the upper-90s. That inconsistency showed on his scorecard and kept him in middle relief.
MLBTR projects Kuhl to make $3 million, which is a reasonable price if you think of him as a buy-low free agent. It’s not much more than they signed Tyler Anderson for in February. The question is would they keep him as a starter, or was the bullpen transition permanent? If it’s the latter, then the Pirates might be better off trying to trade him to a team looking for a backend of the rotation starter. That would free up a roster spot for a waiver claim, Rule 5 pick or protecting a minor-league reliever like Yerry De Los Santos or Hunter Stratton.
Kuhl is entering his last year of team control. If the Pirates are looking for someone to help the rotation one year in a capacity like Anderson, then retaining him makes sense. If they want to see him as a reliever, going with a rookie seems like the smarter long-term move.
COLIN MORAN
Without context, a projected arbitration salary of $4 million with two years of team control remaining isn’t bad for your primary cleanup hitter. But given how much Moran struggled down the stretch and that he finished the year with just a .724 OPS makes that decision tougher.
While the Pirates as a team hit better in September after the dismissal of hitting coach Rick Eckstein, Moran was one of the few hitters who really dropped off. Perhaps that can be attributed to the injuries he suffered over the season, but those two clicked as a duo. Eckstein spoke very highlight of Moran in particular, and it was the only time in Moran’s professional career where he had the same hitting coach two years in a row. The Pirates felt firing Eckstein was the right move for the team, but Moran might have taken a bigger hit than expected because of it.
I’ll preface this that I don’t believe Moran will be non-tendered, but a trade could be on the table, especially with the National League very likely adopting the designated hitter for next season. That creates 15 more hitter jobs, and Moran could fill that while also providing some corner infield depth.
Of course the Pirates could keep him in that same capacity too. This offense needs pop wherever they can find it. In 2020, he hit 10 home runs in 52 games with a .797 OPS. Projected over a full season, that’s in the 25-30 range, though that is far from guaranteed.
Through 460 career games in the majors, Moran has been worth exactly 0 WAR, according to Baseball Reference. He’s had bursts as a hitter, and perhaps a transition to DH could help him be more consistent. But with Yoshi Tsutsugo a free agent and Mason Martin in Indianapolis, the Pirates need to take a long look at what they can expect from Moran going forward and how he plays into future plans.
KEVIN NEWMAN
It’s hard to believe that Newman, who was promoted in mid-August 2018 and is set to reach arbitration for the first time this winter, is the fifth-longest tenured Pirate on this roster.
If you followed the team this year, then you know the shtick with Newman. His defense was greatly improved, being worth nine defensive runs saved with a league-best .993 fielding percentage from the shortstop position. After struggling with the glove for most of his career, the 28-year-old has a shot at a Gold Glove nomination this year.
The bat, on the other hand, was terrible. His .574 OPS was dead last among the 132 hitters across baseball who qualified for the batting title, and the last Pirate hitter with a worse OPS+ (56) than his while getting at least as many plate appearances as him (554) was Bones Ely in 1898.
Newman is just two years removed from batting .308 with an .800 OPS as a rookie, and his improvement with the glove came after really throwing himself into an offseason project to take high velocity grounders from close range to improve his first step. It’s not out of the question that he could pick something up this winter to help him with the bat.
“I did the work [on defense] and it showed up,” Newman said at the end of the year. “It gives me confidence on the offensive side, too.”
But Tucker had a strong finish to the season, positioning himself well for an opportunity to play in 2022. Given the number of major-league-ready prospects the Pirates have up the middle -- including Oneil Cruz, Rodolfo Castro, Tucupita Marcano and Diego Castillo – and new-to-the-Pirates utilityman Michael Chavis, it just may be too crowded of a group for Newman. If he is brought back, he’s going to have to earn his playing time.