The Pittsburgh Pirates have made two additions to the front office today. Bill Brink first reported that the team added former first baseman Kevin Young as a special assistant to the baseball operations staff.
Kevin Young has joined #Pirates' baseball operations staff as a special assistant.
— Bill Brink (@Bill_Brink2) December 8, 2014
The first thing you usually think about with Young is how his extension really hurt the Pirates about 15 years ago. It also serves as a realization of how much things have changed in the last 15 years. Young was coming off two years where he combined for an .830 OPS, and was about to turn 30. The Pirates gave him four years and $24 M. He produced a .722 OPS during those extension years. By comparison, James Loney was coming off a year last year with a .778 OPS, and was about to turn 30. That was his best season since 2007. He had a .713 OPS in his previous two seasons, and was never over a .756 OPS in the previous five seasons. He landed a three-year, $21 M deal, which was a higher average annual value than Young.
Meanwhile, Young’s deal looked bad due to his .722 OPS over his four-year deal, while Loney had a .726 OPS in the four years before his deal. You can only imagine what Young could have commanded in today’s market.
As for the other addition, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports that former Dodgers manager, Grady Little, has also joined the team as a senior advisor.
Former manager Grady Little, out of baseball since leaving the Dodgers after the 2007 season, is now a senior advisor for the Pirates.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) December 8, 2014