CHICAGO — Gregory Polanco was in Bradenton, Fla. on Wednesday, beginning to rehabilitate his shoulder and knee. Chad Kuhl was at home in Delaware, with a trip to the doctor in New York City scheduled for Thursday. Edgar Santana found himself in Dr. James Andrews’ office Wednesday morning, never where you want to be if you’re an athlete.
Joe Musgrove is with the team but shut down due to injury. Keone Kela is with the team but shut down due to workload concerns. The Pirates traded David Freese and are playing Kevin Newman ahead of Jordy Mercer. And yet, prior to Thursday’s series finale against the Chicago Cubs, they had won 14 of their past 20 games.
“You look at the lineup we’re putting out there, we’ve had people shut down, we’ve had people removed from the lineup, it’s not our ‘A’ lineup that we were playing at the strongest point in time of the season,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “However, we’re playing very good baseball because we’re pitching it, and we’re catching it, and offensively some guys have stepped up and there’s been some consistency to our offensive game. That can help moving into next season.
“I believe that can help. It can’t hurt. I know that.”
After their elimination from postseason contention, that’s what the Pirates have been playing for: next year. Different permutations of that focus exist for different players: The team is evaluating rookies such as Newman and Pablo Reyes as they adjust to the majors and the Pirates map out their 2019 roster construction; young starters such as Colin Moran and Josh Bell can finish strong after disappointing defensive seasons without much power at the plate; and Mercer and Josh Harrison, who might find themselves on the free-agent market this winter, have only a few games left to bolster their body of work.
What follows are the major offseason issues facing the Pirates:
Free agency
Mercer is the only one. The 32-year-old shortstop can choose his destination after 11 years in the Pirates organization. There’s a reasonable chance the Pirates bring him back, though with Newman already on the roster, Mercer might opt for a team that offers more playing time or more money.
Options
Harrison has a $10.5 million team option for 2019 with a $1 million buyout. The 31-year-old second baseman has a .294 on-base percentage, a .368 slugging percentage, eight homers and a .252 average in a season during which, though Wednesday, he had 366 plate appearances in 95 games because of hand and hamstring injuries. It seems unlikely the Pirates will exercise the option.
Adam Frazier has changed the equation on this. Since returning to the majors on July 25, he hit .314/.367/.547 with seven homers and played improved defense at second base.
“Frazier has stepped up and shown that he’s ready to take the everyday opportunity at second base,” general manager Neal Huntington said two weeks ago.
The Pirates also hold a $5.5 million option on Jung Ho Kang, who got a visa, made it to Class AAA Indianapolis, got hurt, rehabbed and progressed to playing in fall instructional league games. The Pirates will almost certainly buy him out of the option for $250,000.
“We like the upside of the player,” Huntington said. “Now we just need to put a dollar figure to the attainability of that.”
Kang had not played in the major leagues since 2016 but promoted this week for the season’s final series against the Reds.
Injuries
The bone bruise in Polanco’s knee should heal with rest, but the torn labrum in his throwing shoulder will cause him to miss opening day and could keep him out until mid-June. The Pirates can use Jordan Luplow and Reyes in right field, or, depending on how long it looks like Polanco will be out, they can try to find other options, like they did with Daniel Nava, Michael Saunders and Bryce Brentz this spring before the Corey Dickerson trade.
Musgrove has a stress reaction on the front of his pelvic bone and a strained muscle in his abdominal wall.
“To be determined,” director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said when asked about surgery for Musgrove. “The six-week time frame was announced and we’ll reassess. We’re optimistic.”
The Pirates will be without the services of Kuhl and Santana next season as they recover from Tommy John ligament replacement surgery on their elbows. In Jameson Taillon, Trevor Williams, Musgrove, Chris Archer and Ivan Nova, the Pirates have five starters but lose depth in case of an injury to one of them. Nick Kingham would be the next man up. Hard as it is to lose an effective late-inning reliever like Santana, the Pirates have depth there, with Kela, Kyle Crick and Richard Rodriguez available to set up Felipe Vazquez.
The 40-man roster
The Pirates already put Newman, Reyes and Kevin Kramer on the 40-man roster, which protects them from the Rule 5 draft and Reyes from minor league free agency. They’ll also need to add top prospect Mitch Keller and shortstop prospect Cole Tucker, and there are arguments to add minor league lefty Brandon Waddell, righty J.T. Brubaker and outfielder Jason Martin. Teams don’t have to make these moves until Nov. 20, so there should be open spots by then.
Payroll
The Pirates have between $69 million and $73 million in guaranteed contracts on their 40-man roster next year, including the raises Kela and Dickerson will get in arbitration and the buyouts of Harrison (assuming they buy him out) and Kang. Michael Feliz should qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player but won’t get a significant raise. That should leave them some money to spend, which brings us to …
Holes
Shortstop is the main one. Newman had a .241 on-base percentage, a .222 slugging percentage and a .198 average through 87 plate appearances, which is not to say the 25-year-old rookie won’t improve but that the Pirates might want someone else as their opening-day shortstop. Mercer, Adeiny Hechavarria, Freddy Galvis and Jose Iglesias will be free agents.
Outfield is tricky because Polanco will return; it’s just a matter of when. Reyes has looked solid in right defensively and put on quite a show in a small sample size at the plate, so the Pirates could stick with him and Luplow or go the minor league free agent route.
And they could use some power, somewhere, especially with Polanco missing opening day. They’re on pace to finish 13th out of 15 NL teams in home runs and 10th in runs. But where? Third base? Moran only hit 10, though he played his first full major league season and the Pirates just acquired him.
“To have that threat in the middle of the lineup, there’s no doubt about it, get some home runs from Colin at third base if he’s our guy again next year, you get some more production from our corners, it is important,” Huntington said.
First base? Bell only hit 11, but he hit 26 the year before.
“He’s worked so hard,” Huntington said. “It’s just a matter of getting him to understand what made him successful a year ago, getting back to that, and we’re certainly seeing signs of that there. No doubt, the almost 30 homers that he hit a year ago versus the 10 or 11 that he’s hit this year, you add those 20-something home runs and ideally a few more, it changes the complexity of our offense.”
Given their run differential, on Thursday morning, of zero, a change in complexity could be what the offense needs.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: September 30, 2018, 12:00 p.m.
