With 2020 in full swing, and the report date for pitchers and catchers now only about a month away, it’s almost time for baseball season. Crazy, right?
The Pirates have completely overhauled their front office and coaching staff this offseason, though they’ve remained quiet on the trade and free agent markets.
If things do stay mostly the same — and they likely will — change will have to come from somewhere. What follows is a list of New Year’s resolutions for Pirates players, stuff none of these guys would mind happening in 2020:
Starting pitchers
Chris Archer — Trimming that unwanted fat by continuing to do what he did during the second half of last season: ditching his sinker, which was hit hard, and relying more on his four-seam fastball and slider.
Joe Musgrove — To find more consistency with his vast array of pitches. Musgrove had outings last summer where he was front-of-the-rotation good, others where he lacked feel and too often made mistakes the the middle of the strike zone.
Trevor Williams — In addition to adding fewer kids — between an adoption and live birth earlier this week, Williams and his wife, Jackie, had two in six months — a repeatable delivery, the common theme among his struggles in 2019.
Mitch Keller — Similar to Archer, sticking with what works. In this case, it’s spin stuff. Keller should also resolve to pitch like he belongs, not like someone is doing him a favor by allowing him to start in the big leagues.
Steven Brault — A better pickoff move. Opposing teams stole 11 bases on Brault, with only one caught. For an athletic, left-handed pitcher, that simply shouldn’t happen.
Chad Kuhl — Easy one here: Kuhl should resolve to avoid more injuries. If there’s a time where the Pirates need Kuhl healthy and harnessing his vast potential, it’s now.
Position players
Kevin Newman — If there was a blemish on Newman’s 2019, it was the number of times he was caught stealing — eight, more than just eight players in all of baseball.
Bryan Reynolds — Hard to find any issue whatsoever with Reynolds’ terrific rookie season, but he did strike out 22.2% of the time, which is probably a little highly for someone who hit .314. When Reynolds did slump, it was often because of too much swing-and-miss.
Starling Marte — It might be that trade to the Mets … or a trade anywhere. But should he remain a Pirate, Marte should resolve to improve his random mental lapses — decisions that often obfuscate his immense talent and innate feel for the game.
Josh Bell — Defense, defense and more defense. Which, to be fair, is basically what Bell works on now. Oh, and probably a little more consistency at the plate. A few more days off might help first-half Bell last the entire season.
Gregory Polanco — If Polanco could find some bubble wrap and develop a way to play right field without ever coming out of it …
Adam Frazier — Barring a trade, the Pirates second baseman should resolve to have a better start; through the first three months of last season, Frazier hit .254 with a .672 OPS, marks that included just three home runs and 19 RBIs.
Colin Moran — Similar to Bell, Moran should resolve to have a better defensive season. Or even a moderately good one. Only four non-catchers were worse last season in terms of Fangraphs’ Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) than Moran’s mark of minus-13.
Jacob Stallings — Treat yourself, Jacob. Stallings spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about defense and his pitchers and not a ton on his own offense — typical for a lot of catchers. If he gets the chance to prove he’s a No. 1, Stallings does need to hit more.
Bench players
Cole Tucker — Easier said than done: Tucker should quit striking out, cold turkey. OK, obviously he would love to do that, but it’s what plagued Tucker when he did run into offensive trouble.
Jose Osuna — The Pirates’ utility man should want a better finish; after posting a 1.077 OPS in the first half, that number dwindled to .686 in the second half, the result of potentially over-exposing a guy who’s probably best suited for bench duty.
Luke Maile — For someone who hit .151 last season, this isn’t hard. It’s the same sort of deal as Stallings, too.
Erik Gonzalez — How about a clear head? Last year Gonzalez was having to prove his trade value and prove correct the Pirates’ decision to make him their Opening Day starter at shortstop. Now, Gonzalez is a bench piece, although a potentially pretty good one if he starts 2020 how he finished 2019, with a .322 average and .756 OPS in September.
Bullpen
Keone Kela — When Kela is healthy, there’s no question he’s an elite, back-end reliever, maybe a closer. He should — and obviously does — want the arm issues that plagued him in 2019 to go away forever.
Kyle Crick — There aren’t many pitches nastier than Crick’s slider, but it got whacked too often last season. Over his final 31 appearances totaling 29⅓ innings, Crick gave up 10 home runs, four via sliders. None of that should happen.
Nick Burdi —The oft-injured pitcher struck out 17 of the first 40 batters faced and looked terrific; there weren’t many better feel-good stories in baseball before Burdi had season-ending surgery. Like Polanco, a resolution for good health — and no weird nerve issues — in 2020.
Edgar Santana — Coming off Tommy John surgery, same deal. Don’t sleep on what Santana did in 2018: 54 strikeouts against just 12 walks in 66⅓ innings, plus a 3.26 ERA and 3.58 FIP. The bullpen was hit sneaky-hard by this loss.
Richard Rodriguez — For the ball to stay in the park. Rich Rod gave up 14 home runs, which accounted for 20 of the 30 runs he allowed. Rodriguez didn’t allow a run for a team-long stretch of 19⅓ scoreless innings. Keep. The. Ball. Down.
Sam Howard — Claimed off waivers from Colorado, Howard has the stuff to become a lefty specialist out of the ’pen, striking out 246 in 274 minor-league innings over the past three seasons. Thus far, though, Howard has not been able to translate that success to the major-league level, at least not consistently enough.
Michael Feliz — Fastball control. When Feliz can hit spots with his best pitch, he profiles as a future closer. (Among returning Pirates pitchers, Feliz had the best strikeout percentage in 2019 — 30.5). When he doesn’t locate his fastball, Feliz is essentially a mop-up guy. Oh, and no more opener assignments in 2020. That didn’t go well.
Chris Stratton — Somewhat out of his control, but to pitch in games that matter. Stratton sliced his ERA to 3.66 (from 8.59 with the Angels) after really improving his walk rate (2.9 from 5.5 per nine innings), but the Pirates were still 7-21 in games when he pitched. Doesn’t he deserve more?
Clay Holmes — It’s sort of like Feliz 2.0. Holmes has the potential to become a devastating late-inning reliever … or simply just devastating, depending on whether he’s able to figure out his control issues. Other than JB Shuck and Luis Escobar, nobody had a lower strike percentage than Holmes (57.5).
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: January 8, 2020, 5:24 p.m.
