Jim Sankey: Extra Innings: Does Pirates management know baseball is back?

Feb. 13—When the curtain fell last fall on the Pittsburgh Pirates' 2023 season, it didn't take a baseball genius to figure out what needed to happen before today, when Pirates pitchers and catchers gather in Bradenton to begin training for the 2024 regular season, just six weeks away.

The Pirates needed three starting pitchers to join Mitch Keller and Johan Oviedo. With Endy Rodriguez firmly entrenched as the top catcher, the team needed to find a spot for Henry Davis. The Bucs also needed a replacement for the traded first base Gold Glove finalist Carlos Santana. And with Oneil Cruz finally healthy, he would be ready for spring after getting some playing time, perhaps in the Arizona Fall League or elsewhere.

How's all that workin' for ya?

Before long, the team's arguably best pitcher in Oviedo required Tommy John surgery and a long wait for the 2025 season; likewise, Rodriguez had elbow surgery that will sideline him until 2025 too.

So, adjust that list to four starting pitchers and one starting catcher.

The Pirates' one-year $2.5 million offer on Sunday to 35-year-old Yasmani Grandal, who batted .219 over the last two seasons and who FanGraphs says is worth a -16 defensive runs saved during that time, screams volumes about the team's faith in Henry Davis, who last year didn't warrant more than two measly innings behind the plate.

Cruz has played in just nine major-league games since 2022, although we've been assured he is 100 percent ready to go. The Brewers let first baseman Rowdy Tellez leave for their intra-division foes in Pittsburgh.

As always, fans were assured that moves were coming, that there was a long time before spring training, that the team had been close on several players and that the team would address concerns. But as always with the Pirates, it is about money.

"I'd say that payroll, while important, is not the most important factor in terms of how we get to building a championship team for our fans," Pirates president Travis Williams said. "We're putting all of our revenues back into the ball club. We're trying to get better every day and investing in areas where we're gonna get better every day. We're doing all the right things to win for Pittsburgh. We want to make this work within the economics of baseball."

Well, Mr. Williams, in case you haven't noticed, "the economics of baseball" means that mid-tier and lower free agent starting pitchers are getting two- and three-year contracts of $15-$20 million a year.

"The economics of baseball" means that Milwaukee's Brewers (ranked 27th in market size) signed 19-year-old top outfield prospect Jackson Chourio to an $82 million, eight-year deal with two club options that could push the pact to 10 years and $140 million. This is for a kid who has played just six games in AAA.

And "the economics of baseball" saw the Kansas City Royals (30th) recently extend two-year veteran shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr. to an 11-year, $288 million deal.

But "the economics of baseball" in Pittsburgh (22nd) means that the team hasn't signed a free agent to a multi-year deal since 2016.

Only Brian Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes have contracts past 2024, with lefty Marco Gonzales having team option for 2025. Gonzales, who pitched in 10 games (5.22 ERA) in 2023 with Seattle went on the injured list in June, had season-ending nerve surgery in August. He was shipped to the Braves, who sent him to Pittsburgh for cash or a player to be named later.

It means that the Pirates got 27-year-old outfielder Edward Olivares from the Royals for 21-year-old Deivis Nadal, who batted .212 for low-A Bradenton in 2023.

It means the Bucs got outfielder Billy McKinney, 29, from the Yankees for cash.

It means the team signed free agent pitcher Martin Perez, 32, who pitched for Texas in 2023, but was demoted to the bullpen and could be the best of the new bunch — at an un-Pirates like $8 million.

It means that 29-year-old Tellez will bring his best Pedro Alvarez defense to first base. The Brewers let him walk after fell to .215 with 13 home runs in 2023 after bashing 35 bombs in 2022.

Projected by FanGraphs to be 29th in team payroll in 2024 ($79 million), coming in between $21-$119 million less than their division rivals, the Bucs look to own less than half of the major-league average payroll of $161,991,932.

But, who knows: By the time your read this, the Pirates may have signed free agents Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell and Matt Chapman.

But first, somebody needs to tell management that Spring Baseball is here.

JIM SANKEY is the Allied News columnist for Major League Baseball, specifically focusing on the Pittsburgh Pirates. His work appears weekly during the MLB season.