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As the Pittsburgh Pirates prepare for 2021, a vast amount of uncertainty exists.
When will games start? Will fans be allowed? What will the length of the schedule be? What about payroll?
Who knows?
One thing I can pretty much guarantee, though, is that the Pirates will not be allowed to play with six middle infielders on the field at once.
Even for the pitiful Pirates, that might — might — be seen as an advantage.
Prior to 2020, middle infield depth on the big league club and within the organization looked like one of the rare strong points of the franchise.
Back in the dark ages — formerly known as 2019 — Adam Frazier was steady at the plate and was nominated for a Gold Glove. Kevin Newman hit .308 over 531 plate appearances.
Newman’s fellow first-round draft choice Cole Tucker showed speed and flash at shortstop, even if his bat hadn’t quite caught up to major league pitching.
By the start of 2020, Erik Gonzalez recovered from a broken clavicle and was primed to fulfill the promise the franchise saw in him when he was acquired from the Cleveland Indians in November 2018.
Plus, the Pirates still had second-rounder Kevin Kramer in the system as well as promising prospect Oneil Cruz and 2020 first-round draft choice Nick Gonzales. Not to mention Liover Peguero (acquired in the Starling Marte trade) and South Korean prospect Ji-Hwan Bae.
All appeared to have the potential to play either shortstop or second base to some degree or another.
None ended 2020 with any indication that a position would be reserved for them on Opening Day 2021.
Gonzales had his first year of development slowed by the lack of minor league games due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kramer had hip surgery in May. Cruz was involved in a fatal car wreck in the Dominican Republic after the season ended. He was uninjured but three others died. So his legal status is unclear. However, general manager Ben Cherington expects Cruz to be with the team in spring training.
“(There is) no reason to believe he wouldn’t be available for spring training, full participant,” Cherington said on Sept. 30. “No information that I have would suggest he wouldn’t be.”
As for the guys who were on the big league club in 2020, Tucker spent most of the year playing in the outfield. He hit .220 with 31 strikeouts. That’s along with only five walks and one home run.
Newman’s average plummeted to .224. He wound up with a meager six extra-base hits in 172 plate appearances. Plus, he committed a team-high eight errors.
After a solid first month of the season, Erik Gonzalez saw his OPS drop from .809 in August to .466 in September when he went 16-for-87 at the plate. Even Frazier saw his production drop, hitting .230 with an OPS of .661 and an on-base percentage of .297. All numbers well off his usual totals.
When the 60-game schedule opened, it felt like there were no wrong answers for the Pirates at second base and shortstop.
Now it feels like there are only questions.
“The more talented players we have. The more options we have. The more versatility we have,” manager Derek Shelton said in his season-ending press availability.
Indeed. The Pirates have “options.” But the organization may be starting to wonder if those options are of the quality they once hoped.
They do have organizational depth. But how Major League-efficient will any of it be for 2021?
“It’s going to be a competitive environment when we come into spring training in 2021,” Shelton insists. “It’s something that we have been very honest with our group about. There are some options in the middle. Those guys can play in the middle and also other places.”
In terms of those “other places,” one such spot may have vanished. Rookie Ke’Bryan Hayes burst on the scene at third base at the end of 2020. Anyone looking for playing time at that spot will probably be doing so in just a backup capacity.
In Tucker’s case, the outfield remains in the conversation. Yet his strong suit always appeared to be his athleticism and glove at the shortstop position. Playing him in the outfield seems to be a waste of his best skillset. Not to mention, what’s the need for an outfielder that barely hits while he is just learning to have his feet on the grass?
“We still view him as an infielder. To play second and to play short. Just like the ability Frazier saw going into the outfield,” Shelton said.
Contractually, all these players are still under team control. But as Frazier and Erik Gonzalez approach their second year of arbitration, their names have come up as potentially tradable commodities. For a while, the Pirates looked like they could make such a move from a position of strength.
If you consider strength in numbers, that’s still true. If you consider strength of production, it isn’t.
But when it comes to lack of clarity in 2021, why should this offseason be any different than most of the last 40 for the Pirates?
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
Categories: Pirates/MLB | Sports | Breakfast With Benz
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Pirates middle infield is full of options for 2021. It's also full of questions - TribLIVE
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