An interesting story line for Pirates spring training come February 2021 will be whether or not Anthony Alford can play well enough to become the club’s regular center fielder, but it won’t be the only position battle worth monitoring.
The day after the Pirates signed Erik Gonzalez to a $1.225 million contract for the 2021 season, general manager Ben Cherington told the Post-Gazette that he anticipates a three-man competition for the starting shortstop role between Gonzalez, Kevin Newman and Cole Tucker once the team convenes at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla.
“Someone is going to earn the right to play more short than somebody else,” Cherington said by phone on Thursday afternoon. “We don’t know who that is yet. There’s always a chance that any of those three could end up playing somewhere else on the field depending what happens. We hope one of them steps up and takes the shortstop job. We’re not making that decision quite yet. Obviously with Cole and Newman, they both have options. We think there’s room for everybody and also plenty of room for competition.”
It’s tough to handicap the race or provide early odds. Newman was terrific in 2019, when he hit .308/.353/.446 with a .800 OPS, 12 home runs, 16 stolen bases and a bWAR of 3.1 that trailed only Bryan Reynolds (4.1). But this past season, Newman hit just .224, didn’t steal a base, made a team-high eight errors and was worth -0.6 bWAR.
Gonzalez experienced that wide array of outcomes inside the 2020 season while hitting .308 over his first 15 games and just .111 over his last 18. He wasn’t terribly far ahead of Newman defensively, committing six errors.
Tucker — who had been developed as a shortstop — didn’t spend a single inning at the position, instead shifting to the outfield. Tucker hit .220, slugged just .275 and would need to take some steps forward at the plate to win the position.
“We feel pretty good about the deal we got on Gonzalez, and we know the defense is going to be good,” Cherington said. “We know that he hits the ball hard. Obviously there was a stretch last year where it looked like the decision-making was improved, the results were getting better. Then it did not end well, clearly, the last few weeks there. But we felt like he is still someone we could see potentially earning a lot of playing time at short. If for some reason he doesn’t, he’s a good enough defender that he can be a safe backup at a number of positions.”
Cherington stressed that additional positions could be in play for all three. Tucker remains a viable option in the outfield. Gonzalez has played well at third, if Ke’Bryan Hayes would need a break. Both Gonzalez and Newman have at least dabbled with the outfield, though it probably wouldn’t be the Pirates’ preference.
The biggest thing, though, is for someone to emerge as a clear-cut starter.
“We think they’re all capable of doing that,” Cherington said. “We also don’t think anyone has arm-wrestled it away from anyone else yet.”
Outfield a need
If you sketch out a possible Pirates lineup, good luck finding much outfield experience beyond Reynolds, Alford and Gregory Polanco. In fact, if you have a five-man bench that includes Gonzalez, Tucker, Phillip Evans and Colin Moran as the non-catching options, the most experienced outfielder would be Tucker.
Which is why Cherington said a fourth outfielder, someone with experience, is definitely on his radar for the offseason.
“Yep, I think so,” Cherington said when asked whether the Pirates would try to sign another outfielder. “I think we’d like to add to that group between now and spring training.”
Feliz at Driveline
Gonzalez wasn’t the only player the Pirates signed to a contract Wednesday, thus avoiding arbitration. They also inked reliever Michael Feliz to a one-year deal worth $1 million, according to a source.
With three throwing-arm injuries since August 2017, as well as plenty of inconsistency with his performance, Feliz decided to spend part of the offseason at the Driveline Baseball Institute, taking a data-driven dive into his mechanics and performance.
Located in Kent, Wash., Driveline is arguably the industry’s best tech-based offseason program for pitchers.
“We felt pretty good about where he’s at health-wise,” Cherington said. “He’s obviously had stretches where he performed well in the big leagues. On his own, he has gone to Driveline. He’s actually at Driveline now this offseason. To be honest, he’s one of the first native Dominicans that I’ve ever heard do that, and really on his own volition. That by itself doesn’t guarantee anything, but I think it speaks to the level of motivation. That was compelling to us.”
It’s been a mixed bag results-wise for Feliz, who had 73 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings in 2019 but also coughed up 11 homers. In 2016, when Feliz struck out 13.2 per nine innings with the Astros, he allowed 10 homers in 65 innings.
One of the reason for the mishaps, the Pirates have found, includes how mistake-prone Feliz becomes while trying to max out with velocity on his fastball. A point of emphasis with him has become eliminating those mistakes by not over-throwing. The Pirates have also been encouraging Feliz to use his slider more.
“The fastball is good enough to be effective,” Cherington said. “But it’s not an out pitch; you can’t live and die with it.”
Around the horn
The Pirates non-tendered Clay Holmes on Wednesday but hope to sign him to a new deal. The issue was Holmes being out of options and also missing ample time with injuries.
“We hope he’s a Pirate next year,” Cherington said. “He’s talented, and we see a guy who still as a chance to be a good major league pitcher.”
The move clears up a spot on the 40-man roster with the Rule 5 draft looming on Dec. 10. It’s a weird year, with no minor league season and thus no outcomes for many of these players, but Cherington did seem to indicate that the Pirates were likely to use their No. 1 choice.
(Teams don’t always use Rule 5 picks because the drafted player must stay on the active roster for the whole season.)
“We have to spend more time on it,” Cherington said. “Our scouts and analysts groups have come up with a group of players that we want to look at closer. No decision has been made. But we’re picking first, and we want to at least leave open the possibility of using it and being active. We’ll look more into that in the next few days.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: December 3, 2020, 8:27 p.m.
