Hamstrung by mediocrity, the Pirates front office attempted to balance adding to a club that had shown promise with an honest assessment of its chances. At the non-waiver trade deadline Monday, they pretty much spun their wheels.
The first of their two moves could not have been less surprising — they sent left-handed reliever Tony Watson to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two Class A prospects. They did the same thing with Mark Melancon a year ago. Watson is also a free agent after this season, he’s 32 and recently hired Scott Boras as his agent. Re-signing him was unlikely.
But the second move, the acquisition of 40-year-old reliever Joaquin Benoit from the Philadelphia Phillies, made less sense. By trading one reliever on an expiring contract and acquiring another, the Pirates did not improve their roster for this season or next, after which the current window — which corresponds with their contractual control over Andrew McCutchen — will close.
“We had other expiring contracts that if we wanted to, we could have moved other players,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “The returns were not compelling. The Watson return was compelling. But we also see some positive signs with this group.”
Watson joins a Dodgers team that had won eight games in a row and 39 of their past 45 on the way to a 74-31 record. Los Angeles added another left-handed reliever, Tony Cingrani, to strengthen the bullpen ahead of closer Kenley Jansen, and acquired starter Yu Darvish from the Texas Rangers.
“We cannot express enough appreciation to Tony Watson as a man as well as the pitcher, everything he’s done,” Huntington said. “The stable force he’s been in the back end of our bullpen for a long time.”
Only Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison had been with the Pirates longer than Watson, who made his debut in 2011. In his seven seasons in the major leagues, only three pitchers had made more appearances than his 450 games. He was one of the best setup men in the league for closers Jason Grilli and Melancon. His own turn in the closer’s role did not go as smoothly, and he lost his job to Felipe Rivero in June.
The Pirates enter their series Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds at 51-54 and 5½ games back of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division. The Cubs not only began the second half 13-3 but filled their needs at the deadline, acquiring left-handed starter Jose Quintana, catcher Alex Avila and left-handed reliever Justin Wilson.
The Pirates had shown similar improvement in July, winning 12 of 14 to move within two games of first place by July 21. A 3-6 trip to the West Coast put them back in their previous predicament.
“We’ve played well against good teams, we’ve not played well against teams that haven’t played well,” Huntington said.
The Dodgers will assume the roughly $1.9 million left on Watson’s contract. The Phillies sent cash with Benoit to help with the $2.5 million left on his contract. Benoit has 43 strikeouts in 42 innings and a 4.07 ERA in 44 games this year; the 16-year veteran will join his eighth organization. Class A Bradenton right-hander Seth McGarry, an eighth-round pick in 2015 who had a 1.34 ERA in 31 games this year, went to the Phillies.
But Benoit is gone after next year, and the prospects acquired in the Watson trade, minor leaguers Oneil Cruz, an infielder, and right-hander Angel German, are 18 and 21 years old. Nothing was done to improve the 2018 Pirates; what is the front office’s view of next year?
“We still like the core of this club,” Huntington said. “We still like the depth and quality of the rotation, the depth and quality of the position-player group. We’ve got some young players that we feel are continuing to grow and continuing to develop at [Class AAA] and have an opportunity to step in and help us next year. We’ll look for opportunities to add to this club in the offseason.”
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: July 31, 2017, 7:27 p.m.
Updated: July 31, 2017, 8:03 p.m.
