BRADENTON, Fla. — Decision time is fast approaching for Ben Cherington.
Within five days of the World Series ending, Cherington must decide whether to pick up Chris Archer’s $11 million option for 2021 or buy him out for $250,000. The Pirates general manager also needs to clear space on his 40-man roster. Meanwhile, Cherington said the Pirates are conducting interviews for a new farm director, a position that was created when they changed Larry Broadway’s role.
With a lot going on, let’s take each of those one-by-one and break down what might happen.
Archer option
Archer missed the 2020 season after having season-ending surgery on June 2 because of thoracic outlet syndrome. This came on the heels of his worst MLB season, one in which he had career-worst marks in ERA (5.19), walks per nine innings (4.1) and home runs allowed per nine (1.9).
Consider the Pirates are unlikely to compete for a playoff spot in 2021, and it doesn’t make a ton of sense to throw $11 million at a 32-year-old with his recent track record.
For what it’s worth, Cherington said the Pirates are still thinking things through.
“We’re going to take every minute we have,” Cherington said. “The obvious difference this year is just the uncertainty around what the pandemic does to the economic market and how that relates to free agency, how player contracts are valued. None of us know exactly what that’s going to look like. That’s just an added wrinkle this year. We’re trying to learn from other teams on that, too, and how they’re looking at it.
“But the short answer is no, we haven’t decided. We’ll take all the time we can.”
Roster crunch
The Pirates had 11 players on the 45-day injured list at the end of the season, though two of them were Keone Kela (free agent likely to depart) and Archer.
Same as Archer’s option, the Pirates have five days after the World Series to get their 40-man roster compliant. They do clear one spot because Derek Holland will become a free agent.
As for the group that was hurt, it includes pitchers Nick Burdi, Michael Feliz, Clay Holmes, Yacksel Rios and Jameson Taillon; outfielder Anthony Alford; infielders Phillip Evans and Kevin Kramer; and catcher Luke Maile.
Taillon, Alford and Burdi should be easy. Feliz has been inconsistent but has terrific stuff and can bolster the back end of their bullpen. Holmes remains a project, although it’s hard to see the Pirates cutting bait now. Evans was a terrific story in 2020, hitting .359 in 11 games before a broken jaw ended his season. It’s easy to see the Pirates valuing Evans as a utility man off the bench.
The question marks become Kramer, Rios and Maile. Pittsburgh already has a logjam of middle infielders, while Kramer has hit just .152 in 43 MLB games. Rios has a 6.28 ERA the past two years.
Maile is the tougher call. He’s likely a better defensive option than John Ryan Murphy, but he didn’t play in 2020 because of a broken finger, could make more than $1 million via arbitration and hit just .151 in 2019.
It’s possible the Pirates could try to address this spot via free agency, although Cherington said they’re not yet there.
“Honestly, we haven’t gotten too deep into our offseason planning,” Cherington said. “At a high level, I would say we’re still in a mode where we need to take advantage of opportunities we have to help players grow. Some of them are already here. We hope to identify more. Along with that, we need to be focused every day on condensing as much talent as we possibly can onto our 40-man roster.
“Again, I think some of it is already on there. But everything we do will be kind of around that. Of course there are some positions that are probably more spoken for than others. But we also have a lot to improve on as a team. I don’t think we can be too narrowly specific about fits. We just need to build a more talented roster, period.”
Who could go?
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the Pirates choose to reinstate six — Burdi, Feliz, Holmes, Taillon, Alford and Evans.
With Holland giving them one spot, they would need to find five more from a group that likely consists of pitchers Tyler Bashlor, Austin Davis, Carson Fulmer, Brandon Waddell, Nick Mears, Dovydas Neverauskas and Nick Tropeano. It’s hard to see them jettisoning any position players other than John Ryan Murphy (.172 in 2020).
Farm director
Cherington said interviews are ongoing to fill the spot, and he described the Pirates as “having a full search.”
Other than that, Cherington was fairly mum on the topic, saying he couldn’t give a timeline on when he’d like to have someone in place and he “wouldn’t want to define the candidate pool too much.”
One intriguing name here is Joe Sclafani, who’s the assistant director of player development with the Blue Jays. Sclafani fits the bill in myriad ways.
The Toronto connection is obvious; Cherington, assistant GM Steve Sanders and manager Derek Shelton all spent time in the organization and know it well. They’ve also done a lot right as it pertains to the minor leagues and player development.
Sclafani certainly fits the mold. He’s a 30-year-old Dartmouth product who is seen as an up-and-comer around the industry and is likely tracking toward a larger role, given Toronto’s recent success in this area.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: October 23, 2020, 12:33 p.m.
