The Pirates have designated for assignment 13 pitchers since last May. Chase De Jong and Rob Zastryzny appear on that list twice. There are also the requisite randoms such as Eli Villalobos and Roddery Munoz.
None carry the weight of what they did over the weekend to make room for Paul Skenes.
Likely cutting ties with Roansy Contreras, a former top-100 prospect and expected rotation stalwart, should not be taken lightly. Not for the player development potholes the Pirates believe they patched, the same for what it would mean if Contreras finally realizes his potential somewhere else.
“We like Ro, and he’s a really good pro,” general manager Ben Cherington said Saturday at PNC Park. “He’s a talented kid who we believe will be a good big-leaguer.”
Cherington isn’t wrong. It will also likely be with another team.
Given Contreras’ prospect portfolio and position, there’s a high probability another team takes a chance, perhaps with some sort of minor trade compensation coming back to the Pirates.
It’s a shame, too. Heading into last season, Contreras, 24, appeared to be one of the key pieces of the future in Pittsburgh, the guy who was every bit as hyped as Oneil Cruz when they both debuted in September 2021.
Now look.
Twice demoted to the bullpen, Contreras was deemed expendable to the point that the Pirates chose him over Kyle Nicolas (9.58 career ERA), Hunter Stratton, or sticking with a traditional five-man rotation and sending down another optionable arm in Quinn Priester.
Ro, apparently, had to go.
“We wanted to give it all the time we could with Ro,” Cherington said. “Obviously, he’s been a guy we believed in and were hopeful for. We just felt like right now, the alternative moves we could have made to open up that spot were not going to be best for the team.”
Whether Cherington did or didn’t do something that’s best for the team remains to be seen. We’ll need someone else to claim or trade for Contreras, then try to fix him in any number of ways, the time-honored tradition of Major League Baseball.
The Pirates should probably hope it’s not the Rays, who can probably find a use for Contreras’ slider while helping him command his fastball better. Whichever teams grabs Contreras also has to think that he didn’t just magically lose 3-4 mph of velocity on his heater.
For anyone who has been around Contreras when he carved up minor leaguers before experiencing a roller coaster ride in the big leagues, it’s pretty simple: His confidence was shot.
After a decent first month in 2023, Contreras wound up with a 6.59 ERA in 19 MLB games covering 68 1/3 innings. He was banished to the bullpen and didn’t pitch in the majors after July 5, spending time with one the Pirates’ Florida Complex League teams in Bradenton, Fla.
“Last year was really hard,” Contreras told me this spring, with major league coach Stephen Morales translating. “You go up and down. The hardest part was trying to find myself and the pitcher that I know I can be.”
It was an unfortunate confluence of events that led both parties to this point, but it started — in my opinion — with the Pirates tinkering too much when it came to Contreras and his mechanics.
Now, to be fair, how they’ve handled their pitching program has actually been fairly solid. Pitching coach Oscar Marin talks a lot about “best stuff in-zone,” and it’s why you’ll often see guys load up on a particular pitch (sinker, slider, etc.).
Given some of the results we’ve seen out of Jared Jones and Bailey Falter, I’m largely OK with what Marin and others have done. But they do worry a lot about biomechanics and movement down the mound. This results in mechanical adjustments that are often made to hopefully preserve arm health or make a pitcher’s stuff a little more dynamic.
Again, it’s hard to criticize someone for trying to make players better, but I don’t think that’s what happened here. Did they over-coach one of their best pitchers? It’s possible. But I do know this: Contreras never recovered from what the Pirates tried to do with him, which worries me about the future.
Some team will claim Contreras — the Rays are great at this stuff — and untangle the knot that surrounds him at the moment. Sure, there’s work to do on his fastball, both with velocity and more consistent command. He’s only 24. That’ll come, especially with confidence.
But the first step should be taking a step back and finding out how Contreras feels most comfortable. In other words, getting back to the form that led to him pitching for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, the ability that produced a 3.79 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 95 innings across 21 games (18 starts) in 2022.
If that happens and another team can solve Contreras, it’ll be damning for the Pirates on a few levels.
For one, a legitimate criticism of the former Pirates regime was its inability to complete development at the major league level.
Which begs the question: Have they gotten any better at that stuff under Cherington? I’d argue we don’t have enough of a sample yet, but it’s hard to say Henry Davis, Jared Triolo and Jack Suwinski represent progress. The same can be said for Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero, neither of whom have broken through consistently. The same can be said for Ji Hwan Bae, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Priester or even a couple of starters-turned-relievers in Luis Ortiz, Carmen Mlodzinski and Nicolas. There have solid moments, sure. But again, there hasn’t been enough to say this has been a strength.
Next, trades.
The Jameson Taillon deal is down to Smith-Njigba and Maikol Escotto, an outfielder they’ve DFA’d twice and a 21-year-old at High-A with a career .671 OPS. Starling Marte brought Liover Peguero and Brennan Malone. Clay Holmes got Hoy Park and Diego Castillo. Josh Bell got Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean. That’s 0 for 4.
Joe Musgrove (David Bednar, Endy Rodriguez) and Jose Quintana/Chris Stratton (Johan Oviedo) could probably be considered ties, but it’s hard to say the Pirates have gotten better at identifying, acquiring and developing young talent.
If they’re going to win, it’ll never going to come from a big budget. But it must include identifying prospects like Contreras and developing them. Their inability to do the second part here makes the move both maddening and concerning.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and @JMackeyPG on X.
First Published: May 13, 2024, 2:53 p.m.
