BRADENTON, Fla. -- Within the span of a few hours Friday night, Ben Cherington made a pair of moves to provide additional depth to the Pirates’ outfield and starting pitching situations.
On Saturday morning, Cherington addressed the additions of Michael A. Taylor and Domingo German at LECOM Park. The Pirates signed Taylor to a one-year major-league contract worth $4 million. Hours later, they agreed to a minor-league deal with German. Both were made official Saturday and Taylor was added to the 40-man roster with Dauri Moreta (elbow) being placed on the 60-day injured list to make room.
Cherington said adding to the outfield was something the front office wanted to accomplish over the course of the offseason.
Taylor, 32, fits in as a 10-year veteran who can contribute both at the plate and in the field. He’s coming off a career-best 21-home run season and is a few years removed from winning a Gold Glove in 2021 with the Royals. He’s posted 72 defensive runs saved during his big-league career, which has mainly been spent as a center fielder.
“We feel really good about the outfielders that we have here. But if there was a specific skill set, it would probably be that premium defender, power element,” Cherington said. “If you think about the really good Pirates teams at PNC, I think most of them have had that center field, quality defender, more than one of them to handle center and left. It’s a tricky outfield. If you think about other ballparks around the league that have those big spaces and unique configurations, it’s like having more than one center fielder out there. Usually the good teams have that. That was something that we circled in our minds all offseason and have been talking to different targets about.”
Taylor said the Pirates reached out and expressed interest within the first few weeks of the offseason. Conversations continued throughout the winter before things heated up over the last week.
“I had an opportunity to hop on a Zoom with the coaching staff and the front office, just talking about the winning culture, doing things the right way and working hard, all things that are in alignment with what I believe,” Taylor said. “I had the opportunity to come here and I heard a lot of good things from guys who played here previously, so it seemed like a good fit."
Taylor will immediately factor into the Pirates' plans in center field with Bryan Reynolds and Jack Suwinski being the main cogs at the corner outfield spots. Derek Shelton said one of the many things that stand out about Taylor's defensive ability is what he's able to do in terms of reads and jumps.
"He’s a really good athlete. He’s a big guy, a fluid guy. Just the way he moves in general," Shelton said. "We got to see him a little last year, but early in the offseason, I even talked to Rocco (Baldelli) about him as an outfielder -- how he moves and where he was at. That’s coming from a guy who was a pretty good center fielder. The way he talked about his reads and breaks, that’s why he has won a Gold Glove."
From an offensive perspective, Taylor experienced some success while with the Twins last season. His power numbers were up and he drove in and scored as many runs as he has in some of his best offensive campaigns. He only slashed .220/.278/.442 and struck out 130 times compared to walking just 26 times, but an aggressive approach seemed to lead to good things as a bottom-of-the-order bat.
“Working with the hitting staff for the Twins, they kinda freed me up to be a little bit more athletic and not worry about the strikeouts as much," Taylor said. "Now I’m trying to find a balance of both. Being aggressive has unlocked some things for me, but then finding a two-strike approach that’ll allow me to compete late in at-bats will be a good blend for me.”
In terms of offseason focus, Cherington said starting pitching was specifically identified as an area of need and an area the club wanted to add to. Time was spent looking at every free agent as well as potential trade targets. He said German was on the long list based on his ability and his qualities as a pitcher.
German, 31, spent the first six years of his big-league career with the Yankees. Last season, he started 19 of the 20 games he appeared in, sporting a 5-7 record with a 4.56 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP and a 4.65 FIP. He posted 114 strikeouts and 34 walks in 108 2/3 innings. On June 28, German threw the 24th perfect game in MLB history in an 11-0 win over the Athletics.
"In big moments, he's been a good pitcher in the major leagues," Cherington said. "We also learned, from the course of our work to understand more about him, we talked to a lot people -- teammates, coaches, front office, people that have been around him a lot -- and pretty unanimously, they said this guy is an extreme competitor on the field. Wants to be out there in the biggest situations. From that perspective, as a pitcher, he's a talented pitcher we feel can help us on the field."
While he’s been able to see some on-field success, he’s also experienced off-the-field issues over the past few years, beginning with a 2019 suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s policy against domestic violence. Last August, he was placed on the restricted list after being involved in a clubhouse incident and later agreeing to submit to inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse.
"I've been growing as a person. Growing and moving forward," German said Saturday via interpreter and assistant coach Stephen Morales. "Just getting stronger and wiser when it comes to those stages of life."
The Pirates spent time during the offseason meeting with and interviewing German and his wife, Mara, as well as several team, league, Player’s Association and industry sources. Cherington said it was understood that a lot of time and effort would be required to better understand his past and where he is currently with his family.
“We decided to do that work. The more work we did, the more we understood, for much of the offseason, it just meant that we had more work to do,” Cherington said. “Eventually, more recently, we got to the point where we felt like we had satisfied two questions. One, have we understood everything more clearly that has happened? Including the incident in 2019 that led to his domestic violence suspension and also more recently the incident last summer that led to his release. We felt like we were more clear on everything that had happened in the past. And also more clear on the work that he’s doing to grow and what he’s doing with his family to grow from that. We felt like, over time, and it took a lot of time, we were able to get more clear on those questions. The second question became, ‘Is he deserving of a chance with the Pirates? Are we the right organization to partner with him?’ That became the second question.”
It was after internal discussions and gathering feedback from inputs inside the organization that Cherington made the decision to make an offer that led to the agreed upon minor-league deal, one that could then lead to a major-league opportunity based on his performance on and off the field.
“He’s here as a non-roster pitcher, invited to camp. He’s obviously not built up or stretched out like other pitchers are, so that’s gonna take some time. Would anticipate that, when he’s ready, he’ll report to Indy,” Cherington said. “We’re excited that he’s here and excited about the chances he has to help us. But he’ll need to earn that opportunity, like any other non-roster invite would.”
Prior to the agreement with German, discussions were held with the Pirates’ current group of veteran players, Cherington said. He added that details of the work and the research conducted over the course of the offseason was shared.
"Shared what that meant to us, where we feel he is and if he was going to be a Pirate, what we need to do to support him, support his family going forward,” Cherington said. “That was important that we had those conversations and answered any questions that came from that.”
Cherington is confident in the people within the organization tasked with providing support for German as he moves forward. That includes those within the Pirates' clubhouse.
"I feel really fortunate in this organization, we've got a lot of people who have spent their lives dedicated to finding ways to help people who need help. Specifically, in this case, a lot of people who have done that with players who come from Latin American, Spanish speaking backgrounds," Cherington said. "We're still working on the details of that. We intentionally wanted to get two or three weeks with Domingo here in camp before we put the final details of what those resources would be and how we would deploy them. But very confident that we've got people that can form a good support structure. And certainly teammates are going to be part of that, and that was really the gist of the conversation we had with players. If he was going to be here, that they've got a role in this. They seem willing and eager to do that."
"Pirates people are going to help me out throughout the process," German said. "And myself, too, just make sure that I continue to communicate with them to work as a team and continue to move forward."
