The Pittsburgh Pirates spent a part of deadline day sprucing up their offense by buying outfielder Bryan De La Cruz from the Miami Marlins and infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Toronto Blue Jays. Neither hitter offers the celebrity affect to totally rehabilitate Pittsburgh’s fixer-upper lineup. As an alternative, they yield an impact much like tearing out the wooden paneling, scraping the popcorn ceilings, and making use of a pair coats of paint in a shade known as one thing like Chantilly Cream to zhuzh up the place. Maybe this offseason, Pirates’ GM Ben Cherington will put in a name to Chip and Joanna Gaines to facilitate a full renovation, however till then, this actually makes the area the Pirates at the moment occupy nicer.
De La Cruz and Kiner-Falefa be a part of the Pittsburgh clubhouse amidst a handful of different additions and subtractions over the previous few days. The group acquired two lefty relievers in Jalen Beeks and Josh Walker alongside Nick Yorke, a post-hype hitting prospect who is able to compete for giant league enjoying time, in response to Eric Longenhagen’s breakdown of all three acquisitions. Moreover, the Pirates dealt from their beginning pitching depth by sending Martín Pérez to the Padres in change for Ronaldys Jimenez, an 18 year-old left-handed pitcher at the moment within the DSL.
On the entire, Pittsburgh’s deadline exercise quantities to a sequence of one-for-one trades that marginally enhance their present scenario, with out upsetting their long-term development plans for constructing Barbie’s Dream Roster sooner or later. (Or as a result of it’s the Pirates, no matter possession deems is Kenough.)
For his half, De La Cruz provides Pittsburgh the choice to constantly roll out a Bryan-with-a-y at each nook outfield spots. Each Bryan Reynolds and De La Cruz have largely performed left discipline this yr. Neither Bryan performs dazzling protection, however De La Cruz has the stronger arm and has been barely extra serviceable in proper than Reynolds has this yr. With De La Cruz within the fold, the Pirates now get to discipline a fairly constant trio of outfielders — with Reynolds in left, Michael A. Taylor in heart, and De La Cruz in proper — quite than biking by way of totally different mixtures of Jack Suwinski, Edward Olivares (each of whom are again at Triple-A), Connor Joe, and Joshua Palacios.
On the plate, De La Cruz has been roughly the identical hitter all 4 seasons he’s been within the majors. 12 months-over-year, his efficiency fluctuates gently inside the vary of his true expertise, however the profile stays regular and the manufacturing stays firmly common. This season, De La Cruz has posted a 96 wRC+. His strikeout charge is on the upper facet in comparison with his profession numbers (26.0% relative to 24.4% total), however he’s additionally hitting on the higher finish of his energy potential (.172 ISO in comparison with a profession mark of .161). Moreover, De La Cruz could also be due some optimistic regression, as his batted ball traits have him at the moment underperforming all of his anticipated stats (.245 AVG vs .257 xBA, .417 SLG vs. .465 xSLG, .305 wOBA vs .327 xwOBA). He struggles to hit breaking pitches, however lays off them properly sufficient to attenuate the potential injury of such an simply noticed weak spot.
Although his hitting profile sounds pretty vanilla (one other potential wall colour), in comparison with the outfield manufacturing posted by the Buccos to this point, De La Cruz is a wanted sweetener in an in any other case bland offense. Thus far, Pirates outfielders rank twenty fifth within the majors in wRC+ with a mixed mark of 83. They rank twenty eighth by ISO at .125, making De La Cruz and his 18 HR on the season a particular improve.
To get De La Cruz, who will eligible for arbitration for the primary time subsequent yr, the Pirates despatched Jun-Seok Shim and Garret Forrester to the Marlins. Shim is a 20 year-old right-handed starter who opted out of the KBO draft to signal with the Pirates in January of 2023. On account of accidents, he’s solely made 4 begins in affiliated ball and none this yr, however he nonetheless grades out as a 40 FV pitcher. Right here’s Longenhagen’s analysis of Shim from the Pirates High 40 Prospects listing final month:
When wholesome, Shim’s fastball sits 95 with above-average life. His gradual, mid-70s curveball is straightforward to establish out of his hand, however it has beautiful form and depth of break, so maybe it may be sculpted right into a extra conventional huge league breaking ball due to his proclivity for spin. Opinions on Shim differ as a result of he provides much less bodily projection than is typical for a 20-year-old pitcher, however there’s huge arm pace right here and large using life to Shim’s fastball. The results of a professional energy and conditioning program would possibly kick-start him down the trail towards discovering a extra constant launch and sustaining the large velocity as a professional starter, which he would possibly even be capable to concentrate on throughout this harm rehab interval. That’s a really walkable path. Nonetheless, the teenage pitcher demo is bust-prone and, anecdotally, this appears very true when the prospect in query already throws actually laborious at age 17 or 18 and instantly will get harm a number of occasions as soon as turning professional. These dangers apply right here.
Forrester was a 3rd spherical decide by the Bucs in 2023 out of Oregon State. He performed first base in school, however upon turning professional, it initially appeared the plan was to transform him to catcher. Nonetheless, since returning earlier this month from an eight-week stint on the IL, Forrester has performed largely at third. He’s posted a good .390 wOBA in A-ball, and although Longenhagen describes him as a “full all-around hitter” within the Prospects of Word part of the Pirates listing, he additionally suspects Forrester is benefiting from pitching that’s beneath his talent stage. On condition that the Marlins have acquired over a dozen prospects by way of their deadline strikes, the place they select to roster Forrester and the way they select to deploy him defensively will seemingly be impacted by the deluge of different roster selections awaiting Miami.
For the Marlins, this explicit commerce takes place within the context of per week or so wherein they traded 5 pitchers who’re collectively chargeable for simply over 1 / 4 of their complete innings pitched, along with their solely three hitters to succeed in 400 PA on the season. The following closest are Jake Burger with 342 PA and Jesús Sánchez with 333 PA. Heading into Tuesday night time’s recreation, Miami’s lively roster contained 23 gamers, quite than the allotted 26. Whereas they’re positive to fill the remaining roster spots in some unspecified time in the future over the subsequent day or so, it’s troublesome to keep away from utilizing drained clichés to explain the roster’s demolition as promoting something not nailed down. Nonetheless, it does seem the Marlins have fairly a little bit of development of their future.
In the meantime, Pittsburgh’s reno continued with the addition of Kiner-Falefa to the infield. IKF has logged roughly 40 video games every at second and third, with 15 video games at shortstop. In keeping with OAA, his protection has been barely above common at each second and third. There’s a dip in high quality when he stands in at quick, however that’s unlikely to be a job he’s requested to fill with the Pirates so long as Oneil Cruz stays wholesome. And because the Bucs have Ke’Bryan Hayes locked in at third, Kiner-Falefa ought to get most of his enjoying time at second, significantly with Nick Gonzales on the IL for the subsequent few weeks. Jared Triolo has logged 39 video games at second this yr, however given his 56 wRC+, he appears unlikely to meaningfully compete with IKF for taking part in time.
Throughout the first 4 months of the season, Kiner-Falefa has posted a few of the finest offensive numbers of his profession. His 116 wRC+ places him above common for the primary time in his profession, beating his earlier better of 91 (achieved over 228 PA in 2020) by 25 factors. In comparison with his 2023 season in New York, he’s dropped his strikeout charge by 6%, and he’s surpassed his house run complete in 80 fewer plate appearances (granted, that places him at seven lengthy balls on the yr, however seven stays bigger than six, and just one shy of his profession excessive in 2021, which took 677 PA to succeed in). Kiner-Falefa’s batted ball information reveals he’s making extra contact and hitting the ball within the air extra, whereas sustaining his typical HR to fly ball charge, which interprets to extra dingers and extra-base hits. His anticipated stats do path his IRL stats, so there could also be some luck concerned and maybe some unfavorable regression coming, however not sufficient to make him much less productive than the Pirates’ present choices at second.
To get Kiner-Falefa, who stays beneath contract by way of 2025 (with a $7.5M AAV), Pittsburgh parted methods with outfielder Charles McAdoo (plus money concerns), who made the aforementioned Prospects of Word part of the Pirates listing as a power-first hitter, with questions round his means to make sufficient contact to stay within the huge leagues. Within the up to date notes that Longenhagen offered for this piece, he reiterated McAdoo’s plus energy, however voiced considerations that,“His swing’s size will make him extra susceptible to velocity versus upper-level and MLB arms.” And although he has posted strong contact and hard-hit charges this season, most of these numbers had been generated at Excessive-A. The actual take a look at for McAdoo will come on the higher ranges of the minors.
For Toronto, like Miami, this commerce is considered one of many over the past week or two. The Blue Jays traded away 5 pitchers and 4 place gamers and obtained 15 minor leaguers in return. Although the amount of the gamers moved is excessive, the now-former Jays are largely of the relievers and function gamers selection (except for Yusei Kikuchi), so it might be an exaggeration to say Toronto is stripping it right down to the studs. However even when {the electrical} and plumbing look okay, they’re undoubtedly redoing the loos and changing the home equipment within the kitchen.
Pittsburgh, Miami, and Toronto are all in very totally different phases of their roster development initiatives. However the Pirates have determined their home is able to reside in, although they proceed to place the ending touches on the rework. With De La Cruz stabilizing the outfield and Kiner-Falefa firming up the infield, Connor Joe and Rowdy Tellez can settle right into a extra normal platoon at first base, whereas Triolo and Palacios can return to roles as backups on a bench with freshly stained pine.
