2015 Pittsburgh Pirates Offseason

[Crimson's Ghost]

Breaking it down position by position.

Starting Pitching - My guess at a rotation next year includes Gerrit Cole, Vance Worley, Jeff Locke. Morton will be out 'till mid-year. Do they bring back Volquez or Liriano? I'm not sure they will. Jameson Taillon and Nick Kingham are knocking on the door, heck Kingham might earn a spot right off the bat. I think they will roll with that look, but they might bring in a free agent or bring back Volquez. Do they make a run at Jason Hammel or Brandon McCarthy? Jake Peavy or Ervin Santana? Scherzer and Lester are the top two on the market, wherever the end up will help the dominoes fall. Having two promising 23 year old hard throwing righties is a good thing. Pitching can be in good shape. Glasnow is now the team's top prospect, and he will be in AA next season.

Relief Pitching - Melancon, Watson, Holdzkom, Hughes, Wilson all back. I'd try to mix it up otherwise, maybe say goodbye to Axford and Jeanmar. There's always relievers on the market, and the Pirates have a good track record of finding relief pitching out of nowhere. They have their 8th and 9th inning guys set in stone, they should be able to mix and match after that. Huntington finds them, Searage saves them, and they've been playing well. It's worked for a few years, my guess is they can figure something out again.


Catcher - Can they resign Martin? Should they? Will they? Nobody knows. The Pirates basically are in this position, they can pay you for what they think you can do, not what you have done. Basically, if they are going to open the checkbooks, they are expecting Martin can play at this high of a level for 4 more years. Some team like LA can say, "you played great this year, here's 75 million dollars." Pittsburgh doesn't have that luxury. They have to be smart with their money. I want them to bring him back, but I would be shocked if they do. The internal options of Stewart and Sanchez aren't too thrilling. Top prospect Reese McGuire is still years away from playing in Pittsburgh. Elias Diaz is 24 and had an excellent year in AA/AAA, he could be an option. They may have to find a catcher in a trade, buck up for Martin, or deal with what they have. The Free Agent market looks rough beyond Martin. Geovanny Soto? Ehh.

First Base - You have Ike Davis and Gaby Sanchez back for a platoon. You have Andrew Lambo, and you have Pedro Alvarez. Josh Bell is in AA. So those are the options in-house. They could roll with the Davis/Sanchez platoon again. They could trade Pedro and maybe acquire a Catcher or First Basemen. So that's an option. Lambo could beat Davis. No big time free agents other than a Cuban defector, but I don't expect the Bucs to get in that race. They can either hope to get a little better production with what they have, or seek someone out in a trade.

Second Base - Neil Walker has two more years here for certain. He will play hard to earn an extension here, or a good deal away from Pittsburgh. Walker is good for a .270-.280 batting average, 15-18 Homers, 70+ RBI's, and at least one stint on the 15 day DL. Pretty solid for a middle infielder. Could he move to third at some point? Is he athletic enough to play up the middle for many more years, does he have the arm to play third? Alen Hanson should be in AAA this year. Is he as immature as the people from Altoona thought? The manager got canned and rumors were he may have mishandled Hansen this year, and that led to his firing. The kid is talented.

Third Base - Josh Harrison deserves to have the starting spot going into Spring, BUT Pedro Alvarez deserves the chance to win his job back. Alvarez had a combined 66 Home Runs and 185 RBI's in 2012-2013, but had a major drop-off this year. The throwing thing, the injuries....he just lost all confidence. He will get the benefit of the doubt because he has a chance to hit 35 Home Runs, and nobody else in the lineup can really do that. Nothing at all at this position in the minors. Chase Headley, Pablo Sandoval, and Mark Reynolds are all free agents if they were so inclined.

Shortstop - Jordy Mercer has this locked up. I thought he played well this season. He's nothing great, but he's solid. Mercer knows his role, and heck he crushed left handed pitching this year.

Outfield - McCutchen and Marte are locks. But what after that? Polanco has an off-season to get things in order. If not Snider looks like a capable bench bat, and he could be the platoon lefty if Polanco needs minor league time. Either way, Snider has carved out a nice little role for himself. He's not a great player, but he's a solid 4th outfielder. I think they need to add a right handed outfielder better than Tabata. Josh Bell is the team's top hitting prospect and should start the year in AA, does he make the move to first? Is he trade bait? Is Polanco the trade bait?

[Eaglealum]

If they're able to bring back Martin, I'd move Sanchez (Tony) to first... Good bat and was clutch early. Remember when he was sent down, he was 2 nd on team with 12 RBI and 4 game winners (not all walk offs but go ahead RBI).
Diaz is a solid backup now IMO... Stewart and Pedro can go and free up $$ for Russ and hopefully another bat or arm. Cutch needs protection. Which is where Pedro should come in but I've got a problem with him even being there. That's for another post.

[WPIAL~Titan]

Priority: Kdro must go to the developmental league to learn 1B when his foot is healed and rehabbed. His power will be needed. Can't depend on 10 guys hitting 10-20 HRs again. Need 35 from him.

Bullpen should be OK. I think something is wrong with Justin Wilson's arm or head. He was throwing 97-99 last year, 94-95 this year. Not the same player this year.

Starting rotation is a question Mark. Should sign Liriano.

Catcher...Martin is must sign. IMHO the best offer he will get from pgh won't be good enough. Maybe a 3yr/33M with a club option in 4th. He will be offered 4/60 by someone.

OF...potential to be Uber dynamic.

We will see.

[Crimson's Ghost]

If Liriano was a free agent last season, no way the Pirates would've been able to resign him. He wasn't as good this year, so his price should come down. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have him back, even if it's just a one year deal.

[Eaglealum]

Any news on Tallions timetable on rehab, etc?

[voncap]

Good rundown Crimson.

Here is my opinion for what I see for 2015.
Gone:
Martin (Everybody agrees he is priority number 1, but just don't think the Bucs can afford to pay him what a big spending team will throw his way)
Ike Davis- Pedro will be the LH bat playing 1st base.
Axford - Holdzkom looks like he can do what Axford can do for a lot less money.
Volquez- He will probably want a multi-year deal. I just don't see the Pirates offering him much more than a one year 6-8 mill contract, and probably should not with Kingham and Taillon waiting in the wings.
Tabata- His contract doesn't look nearly as good now as it did in 2011. FO may have to eat this one.

Locks to return:
SP- Cole, Locke, Worley, Morton
RP- Melancon, Watson, Hughes, Holdzkom,
INF- Walker, Mercer, Harrison
OF- Marte, Cutch, Polanco
C- Stewart, T. Sanchez
Bench - Snider

Likely to return:
Pimentel - After basically a wasted year where he was treated like a rule 5 draftee, he is still out of options. The Pirates need to find a role for him or trade him
G. Sanchez -RH bat and good glove for 1st base and what he receives in Arbitration should not break the bank
C. Barmes - at any more than 2 mill a year absolutely not, but he has value at multiple positions in the infield for the right price
Pedro- must find a way to get his bat in the lineup, and no way Harrison does not get the starting spot at third so Pedro has to go to 1B

Question Marks:
Liriano -at worst he gets a qualifying offer from the Pirates. Doubt he will accept it but at least they get something in return if he signs somewhere else. Would think he will also be looking for a multiple year deal, I just don't see the FO doing that.
Wilson -this guys has really become an enigma. Great stuff but a bad case of Kris Bensonitous. He could go either way. He probably will be on the opening day roster, but I would not be shocked to see him in another uniform in 2015.

Signee:
I expect the top priority (after Martin) to be a starting pitcher especially if Liriano is not resigned. If Martin and Liriano are both gone, the FO can take the money from their contracts and pursue a #2 starter. Cannot go into the season with Locke or Worley as the # 2 starter.
Would expect to see the FO sign a few bullpen guys and a backup infielder to complete the roster.

[crfball]

Jose Tabata DFA yesterday

[Manfred]

All good food for future thoughts so far. Thanks guys.

[PortagePride]

I'd be incredibly surprised If an organization doesn't throw some crazy money at Josh Harrison in the off season. If both Martin and Harrison are in a Bucco's uniform next year It's a big win.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Why throw crazy money to Harrison on a non free agent year? If he continues to challenge for batting titles, maybe, but you should never hand out contracts to utility players who have one good season under their belt. That would be bad business on the Pirates' end of things.