While expectations weren’t particularly high for the Pirates in 2021, being 50-90 and almost guaranteed to finish last in the National League Central and with one of the highest picks in the 2022 draft has still been tough to sit through.
That comes with the first year of a rebuild, not that it’s being tolerated.
“Not breaking any news, we need to improve across the board. Pitching, hitting, defense,” Ben Cherington said during a Zoom call with reporters Friday afternoon.
There are a myriad of holes that will need to be filled for that to happen, ranging from the rotation, bullpen and several position players.
However, that doesn’t mean there is a specific list Cherington is looking to cross off. Things are still very much in the big picture stage when it comes to making this team better.
“Overall, our hitting and pitching performance still needs to improve for us to win more games, so that's our focus,” Cherington said. “A million things go into how you do that. We haven't gone as far as to look where the specific targets would be in terms of adding to the roster. I'm sure we'll get to that soon after the season."
Looking at the Pirates’ farm system, there are potential fixes to holes coming over the next few years. That paints a positive outlook for the future, but not necessarily 2022.
And there is a sense of urgency to not have 2022 be a repeat of 2021.
“We need to be urgent about improvement, for sure,” Cherington said. “Absolutely. I believe we can improve at the major league level next year.”
“We feel urgency, literally every minute, to get better,” he added shortly after. “And we believe if we stay focused on that, on every aspect of that, that will lead to better outcomes in time, and we'll keep our energy on the improvement."
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• With there being a little more than three weeks left in the major league season, the Pirates do not have any September call-ups "on the horizon that we're planning," though there is always a chance for more pitching need.
As for other levels in the system, Class Low-A Bradenton and High-A Greensboro are most likely playoff bound, potentially extending their seasons. Class AAA Indianapolis will play through the end of the major league regular season as well. So there is still some chance of minor-league players getting a very late-season promotion, most likely at the Altoona level.
"[The] AA season is going to wrap up at the end of next week, so perhaps that will create an opportunity for some movement. We'll see. I wouldn't rule it out."
• On August 30, the Pirates parted ways with hitting coach Rick Eckstein, citing a desire to revamp the entire hitting program for the organization.
Don't expect any names for potential replacements to come out yet.
“We’re working through the very early part of the process and the preliminary stages of sourcing and just really working on a framework of what we’re looking for... As we get toward end of the season, we’ll see what that candidate looks like.”
As for the rest of the coaching staff, Cherington affirmed that appreciated their effort, but he and Derek Shelton will have discussions after the season on what the future of the staff should be.
"I have a lot of faith in this group, but I always think it’s appropriate after the season to spend time on the topic and look for ways to improve."
• Yoshi Tsutsugo has been a very pleasant surprise for the Pirates' offense this season, posting an outrageous 1.117 OPS and seven home runs over his first 22 games with his new team.
Since he was a veteran international free agent, he is not subjected to service time rules, so he will be a free agent at the end of the season. So far, the Pirates have not had any discussions about his future with the organization past this year.
"We’ve really enjoyed getting to know him. Swung the bat really well. We feel like we’ve known him for a while back to work by our Far East crew when he was in Japan. But obviously now getting to know him better here, it’s been fun. We’ll see where that leaves us after the season."
• So far, the Pirates' top high school pitcher draft picks -- Anthony Solometo, Bubba Chandler and Owen Kellington -- have not appeared in a game down in the Florida instructional league.
That is by design. Pitching coordinator Josh Hopper and the pitching development team, after meeting with them, decided that the best course of action is to focus on onboarding them into the organization. That includes focusing on training movements, throwing skills and their throwing volume, which are building blocks of the team's pitching development program.
"All those guys, I would expect anyway, to be part of offseason development camp programming also. It’s possible that there could be game activity between now and next spring training, but we made a choice to really focus on training and try to get those guys in the best possible position physically to then be prepared for a great offseason going into next year rather than try to sprinkle in a few innings.”