Kovacevic: Pirates' promising trade comes with quite the backstory

Half a decade and a whole lot of karma later, Malcom Nunez is finally part of the Pirates.

It's quite the backstory, and I can't wait to share anew.

But first, hey, the story that's right up front: Ben Cherington began what promises to be a busy Major League Baseball trade deadline for the local franchise by sending Jose Quintana and Chris Stratton to the Cardinals for a 24-year-old pitcher off St. Louis' active roster, Johan Oviedo, and Nunez, a 21-year-old Class AA corner infield prospect who's really raking this summer.

No, really, the kid's slashing .255/.360/.463 with 17 home runs, 11 doubles 66 RBIs and, in a richly encouraging sign for someone so young, he's worked 48 walks in 350 plate appearances, suggesting he's advanced well beyond his age. He's also 5-foot-11, a stocky 205 pounds, and he puts it all into the serious pop he produces.

Which is to say ...

... yeah, he hit as many home runs in one inning as Yoshi Tsutsugo's hit all season.

And just for fun, this was later that same week, with maybe a crisper look in the daylight at that swing:

He'd end up the Cardinals' minor-league player of the month for June with a .381 average, nine home runs, 27 RBIs and 61 total bases, and he moved up into their top-10 prospect rankings per most every outlet. 

Now, picture the setting in which the Neal Huntington front office was presented with a one-shot opportunity to sign this young man, based on the passionate recommendations of their Latin American scout at the time ... only to pass.

Mm-hm.

The story, as I'd reported exclusively at the time for this site, took place in the summer of 2017. Gayo'd been in touch with Nunez's representation in Cuba, and he'd pleaded with them to keep their communications to the Pirates and no one else, which has forever been how the game goes in that part of the world. He'd seen Nunez, he loved Nunez but, as I can attest from speaking with him at the time, he was nervous about needing Huntington's authorization for any significant signing -- that's standard procedure in the majors -- and Nunez's people were seeking a seven-figure bonus. Gayo thought he could pull it off at $900,000, so he sought the approval.

Nope.

Huntington decided he'd first prefer to have two other people on his staff -- assistant GM Greg Smith and special assistant to the GM Ron Hopkins -- fly down and see for themselves.

Which they did. And Nunez, according to Gayo then and now, "put on a show."

Nope again.

Smith, who failed as scouting director under Huntington and would get replaced by Joe Delli Carri, and Hopkins, who'd previously worked in Oakland and was for-real one of those old-school scouts portrayed in the 'Moneyball' movie as being berated by Brad Pitt portraying Billy Beane for a lack of new ideas, sent back lukewarm reviews. And Huntington nixed everything.

Since no one else was in on Nunez, he went unsigned until the following year, when the Cardinals scooped him up for $300,000, since 17-year-olds tend to be seen as less valuable. And all he'd do in that very same summer of 2018 was win the Dominican Summer League Triple Crown, leading the league in batting (.415), home runs (13) and RBI (59) as well as OBP (.497), slugging (.774) and total bases (127).

Karma'd catch up with all those guys, of course, all the way up to Huntington.

Here's hoping Cherington's crew comes with a sharper awareness of what they just acquired.

GETTY

Johan Oviedo pitches for the Cardinals, June 16 in St. Louis.

• Don't fret, please, about positional depth charts when it comes to prospects. It doesn't matter at all at this stage that Nunez plays first and third base. Or that, at 5-11, he's not optimal height at the former. This stuff always sorts itself out over time.

This organization needs hitting. Largely because of injuries to Henry Davis and Nick Gonzales, there's no one at any level of the Pirates' minor-league system hitting the way Nunez is, and nothing else here matter. A good bat will always find its way onto the field.

• A good bat will then dissipate into nothingness upon arriving in Pittsburgh, but that's another problem Cherington's got to solve.

• Both Oviedo and Nunez are Cuban, by the way. Just a coincidence in the acquisition, obviously, but no less an encouraging sign that top baseball talent's finally finding a way off the island. Wasn't that way for the longest time under Fidel Castro. 

And my goodness, talk about a backstory: Read up on how Oviedo made it off the island.

• Give credit to Cherington for, two years in a row now, nailing it in pinpointing a veteran lefty starter he could parlay into prospects at the deadline, with Quintana actually exceeding Tyler Anderson in that regard. This is terrific asset management in building up a foundation.

Give even more credit to Quintana himself. A model citizen in the clubhouse -- JT Brubaker told me in Denver a couple weeks back that the starters "all look up to him, all watch what he does" -- he revived his career at age 33, something seldom seen in professional sports, and posted a 3.50 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP and 89 strikeouts in 103 innings.

He'll be missed.

• As Quintana was leaving the clubhouse Sunday at PNC Park, I overheard him asking one of the attendants if he'd be working Monday, an off-day for the Pirates. He wanted to get some extra work done.

Can't coach that. It's either there or isn't.

• It's funny, but Stratton played a similar role for the relievers. He wasn't at his best this season, but his teammates respected his tenacity, his past performance and, in a behind-the-scenes kind of way, that he was their union rep during a difficult labor negotiation over the winter.

He'll be missed, too.

• Anyone have the stomach to read about how, if the Cardinals succeed in their high-profile pursuit of Juan Soto from the Nationals, they'll win yet another World Series?

If so, my friend Derrick Goold's got that in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as well as the fascinating nugget that the Pirates and Cardinals hadn't made a trade of any kind since 2000.

• In-division trades are inconsequential, at least in that context, when one of the teams is terrible. If anything, because of the youth of the players the Pirates acquired, they're a lot more likely to haunt the Cardinals someday than anything Quintana and/or Stratton could do head-to-head.

• One pattern that's suddenly becoming set for Cherington is that he's trading for players who are either in the majors or close. Same way he did in the Daniel Vogelbach trade in insisting that the Mets including someone off New York's active roster and, thus, acquiring Colin Holderman.

• This isn't done. The deadline's at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and Cherington's still got Ben Gamel, Jake Marisnick, maybe Kevin Newman and who-knows-who-else he can move in a similar way.

• If there's a taker for Yoshi, I'll walk from here to Tokyo. With Josh VanMeter on my back.

• Thanks for reading my baseball stuff.