The trade deadline has come and gone. Depending on how you view the Pirates' rebuild efforts, that should either bring a sigh of relief or a question of "is that it?"
Despite having a big "For Sale" sign right outside of 115 Federal Street, the Pirates ended up trading just three major-leaguers, bringing back a couple major-league ready pitchers and a hitting prospect they were linked to years before.
Let's take a look at what these past few weeks yielded.
WHO DID THEY DO
The Pirates ended up making three individual trades this deadline:
DH Daniel Vogelbach to the Mets for RHP Colin Holderman
LHP José Quintana and RHP Chris Stratton to the Cardinals for RHP Johan Oviedo and 1B Malcolm Nuñez
Acquired RHP Jeremy Beasley from the Blue Jays for cash considerations
The Beasley acquisition is little more than a waiver wire claim, and the Holderman acquisition has been examined in depth already by both myself and Chris Halicke.
That leaves the Cardinals trade as the big move of this deadline. Quintana was a logical trade chip since he was on an expiring contract and had been pitching well.
Stratton had struggled this year, posting an ERA over 5.00, after being consistently reliable. He was also a clubhouse leader, and his trade caught the players off guard.
"We didn’t feel like we had to move anybody," Ben Cherington said after the deadline Tuesday. "But in that case, as we were talking to the Cardinals, as it lined up, we just felt like there was probably some mutual benefit, including for Chris."
In return, the Pirates got Oviedo, a 24-year-old righty who has bounced up and down between the majors and minors with the Cardinals the last three years. He works primarily off a mid-90s fastball and a high spin slider, but has a changeup and curveball he'll mix in as well.
He found some success in the majors finally by pitching out of the Cardinals' bullpen, recording a 3.20 ERA and 26 strikeouts over 25 1/3 major-league innings this year, almost all in relief, but the Pirates view him as a potential starter.
"We see a starter’s body, starter’s delivery, starter’s repertoire and has already touched the big leagues," Cherington said. "We think he’s not quite a finished product, and there are some specific things we see that we think we can help him with, adjustments. He needs runway and opportunity. We’re excited to work with him. We think he can be a starting pitcher in the big leagues."
For Nuñez, he's most likely destined for a designated hitter or first base job in the future, but he has hit and power tools that could still put him on a major-league trajectory. In 250 plate appearances with the Cardinals Class AA affiliate in Springfield, he slashed .255/.360/.463 with 17 home runs, 11 doubles and 66 RBIs.
He was assigned to Class AA Altoona and will need to be added to the 40 man roster this winter to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
"He’s a little bit of something we don’t have a lot of," Cherington said. "We feel like we have a lot of talent in the organization, but maybe corner guys with real bat-to-ball skills, the hit skill with some strength and power, he’s been really young for every level he’s been at. He’s performed. Excited to work with him, too. See if we can help him tap into even more of that offensive potential."
WHAT DIDN'T THEY DO
This is honestly the better way to describe the Pirates' trade deadline approach.
Teams targeted Bryan Reynolds and David Bednar, and while the Pirates listened to offers on their All-Stars from the last two seasons, they had no serious interest in trading them and they stayed put.
In keeping them, Cherington said the word they want to emphasize is "urgency."
"We just want to be urgent about getting better all the time," Cherington said. "Those are two guys that would be really important parts to getting better quickly. We respect the heck out of them as people, as players. Value what they do for the Pirates, on and off the field. I'm really glad they're Pirates today and tonight, and we're thrilled that we get a chance to keep building not just with those two guys, but with many others in this organization."
"When you have players like that, people are going to inquire on them, and then you're going to hear speculation," Derek Shelton said. "But, it's important that they're still here."
There were some other potential, more minor trades the Pirates could have made. Ben Gamel could have fit in nicely as an extra outfielder somewhere and is on an expiring contract. Kevin Newman is having a nice bounce back season at the plate.
But outside of the two All-Stars or a controllable player, the Pirates did not have many trade chips that could bring back a significant return. The Pirates made it clear they were willing to listen on just about everyone and made calls on some, but most of the big trade chips Cherington had were dealt either last trade deadline or during the 2020-21 offseason.
WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO
We got a glimpse at the roster changes the Pirates are going to make in the coming weeks Wednesday. Yoshi Tsutsugo has been designated for assignment, and the odds seem good he won't be the only struggling position player who will be let go before the end of the season in favor of giving a rookie a major-league opportunity.
That doesn't mean there will be an avalanche of roster moves immediately.
"It doesn't have to all happen at once, and in some cases, I think it makes sense it doesn't happen at once," Cherington said. "We still have to be mindful of if there's development focus with guys, whether it's here or in Indy. Maybe we feel like guys are in the right spot for now to keep working on something for a little bit longer. It's just case by case and one step at a time."
As for who could get those major-league opportunities, Roansy Contreras will get recalled when he's comfortably stretched out to pitch at five innings an outing again after a planned midseason break to manage his workload. (Contreras went three innings in his most recent start with Indianapolis Sunday.) He is a logical candidate to take Quintana's spot in the rotation when he is stretched out.
Oviedo is also being stretched out as a starter again, though no timetable was given for when the Pirates feel he could be ready to make the leap.
As for if the Pirates could target Quintana again this winter, Cherington declined comment as to respect that he is a Cardinal now, only offering that the organization enjoyed their time with him.
Stratton's spot on the roster, and likely as a leverage reliever, is now Holderman's. The designated hitter has been rotated since Vogelbach's trade.
Jack Suwinski, Travis Swaggerty, Tucupita Marcano, Rodolfo Castro and Diego Castillo all seem like candidates to return to the big leagues at some point. And while utilityman Ji-hwan Bae is currently injured and right-hander Mike Burrows has only six Class AAA starts under his belt, it seems possible they could make cameos in the majors at the end of the season since they will need to be added to the 40 man roster anyway this winter. Cody Bolton falls in the same category.
These changes signal that emphasis is on individual player development.
"Whether it's in Indy or here or both, we'll turn our attention to that," Cherington said.
