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How Long Do the Pirates Have Their Roster Under Control, and What Prospects Are On The Way?

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The MLB trade deadline is a little less than two months away, and already the Pirates are starting to get outside interest in players from their big league club. That will happen when you have a losing record, and rank 12th out of 15 teams in the National League.

Over the next week, I’ll be working on a few articles previewing whether the Pirates should be sellers this year (Spoiler Alert: I think they should sell). Before I get to that, I wanted to take stock in the team right now — or at least what the team is supposed to look like without injuries — and see how long the Pirates have their starters at each position. I’ll also look at the notable prospects who could arrive in the next few years to serve as replacements or upgrades.

Catcher

The Pirates have Francisco Cervelli and Elias Diaz this year, but Diaz will be the main guy next year, with Jacob Stallings likely as his backup. There aren’t any starting catching candidates on the horizon in the system, and Diaz is under control through the 2022 season. They’ll need to find a replacement eventually, but for now they still have three more years of their future starter beyond the 2019 season.

First Base

The good news is that Josh Bell has broken out in a big way, and still has three more years of control beyond the 2019 season. The bad news is that he’s a Scott Boras client, meaning he’s more likely to go year-to-year, and probably isn’t in Pittsburgh beyond 2022. And because home runs get paid in arbitration, he might be gone earlier than that.

The Pirates do have some first base prospects in the system, such as Will Craig in Triple-A, and Mason Martin in the lower levels. Craig would be the immediate replacement option, and it would benefit the Pirates if the NL added the DH before Bell left, allowing Craig to get adjusted to the majors before he’s needed as the starter.

Second Base

The Pirates have been giving Adam Frazier a shot this year, but he has yet to repeat his offense from the second half last year. He is faring well defensively, and is on pace for a 1.5 fWAR season. That’s something the Pirates can and should look to upgrade over.

They’ve got options in the minors, with Kevin Kramer being the second baseman of the future. The shortstop situation could also lead to someone moving to the other side of the bag if Kramer isn’t ready. Frazier is under team control through 2022, but the Pirates would be better off moving to someone else earlier than that.

Shortstop

The shortstop position was a big question mark heading into the year, and it hasn’t gotten much better. The Pirates started with a combo of Erik Gonzalez and Kevin Newman. After Gonzalez went down, they called up Cole Tucker for a bit, but recently sent him back down after he struggled.

Newman has stepped up with some good production, easily leading the way for the position, and it looks like Jung Ho Kang will get some time there now. The Pirates would have Newman or Tucker under control through at least the 2024 season, but they’ll need one of them to emerge as more than a below-average to average option.

One interesting longer term dynamic is Oneil Cruz. There’s a chance he won’t stick at shortstop, but if he does, and if he can get close to the potential with his bat, then the Pirates could eventually have an impact guy at the position. However, best case would have Cruz arriving around 2021-2022, so they’ll need Tucker and/or Newman to step up beforehand.

Third Base

Colin Moran hasn’t been bad this year at third base, putting up a .273/.332/.472 line and on pace for a little over a 1.5 fWAR. Again, this is something the Pirates could improve upon.

Fortunately, they’ve got one of the top third base prospects in the game in Triple-A. Ke’Bryan Hayes could arrive this year, and should take over the starting job at some point next year at the latest. Until then, Moran will get his chance to improve and show that he still has a role on this team when Hayes arrives. Moran is under control through 2023, and a league minimum guy next year, so he’s not going anywhere in the short-term.

Left Field

Corey Dickerson entered the year as the starter, with the Pirates looking for a long-term solution to emerge. That happened after Dickerson went down with an injury, with Bryan Reynolds stepping up as a starting option.

It remains to be seen if Reynolds will perform up to his current level over the long-run. He is under control through the 2025 season, so the Pirates did get their long-term option. They also have Jason Martin in Triple-A as a fourth outfield or depth option, and under control for about the same amount of time as Reynolds.

Center Field

Starling Marte has two years of control remaining beyond 2019, both in the form of option years. They’re also low cost for his production, so the Pirates could keep him around if they wanted to go for it during those years.

They will need a replacement for him eventually. That could be Reynolds, with the hope that a replacement emerges from the minors for the corners. Travis Swaggerty is the big hope for a center field prospect, but hasn’t lived up to expectations yet, and it’s hard to project a timeline until things click for him. Calvin Mitchell and Jack Herman are interesting corner outfield options, allowing Reynolds to move over to center. However, both players are several years away.

Right Field

There’s not much to add to the outfield from the right field position, other than Gregory Polanco is under control through the 2023 season. The Pirates will need one outfield replacement to step up in the next year or two for Marte, followed by another one emerging to replace Polanco after that.

Starting Rotation

The current rotation in Pittsburgh has been destroyed by injuries. Here are the top five guys, when healthy, and how long they’re under team control:

Chris Archer – 2021

Jameson Taillon – 2022

Trevor Williams – 2022

Joe Musgrove – 2022

Jordan Lyles – 2019

Mitch Keller will be the replacement for Lyles, under team control through the 2025 season. JT Brubaker is the top depth option in the upper levels, although he’s currently recovering from a forearm strain. Steven Brault is under team control through 2023. Chad Kuhl will be back next year as a depth or rotation option, and like many of the others in this group, he’s also under control through 2022.

The other short-term depth options include Dario Agrazal, James Marvel, Cam Vieaux, and Pedro Vasquez. The long-term options are Cody Bolton, Travis MacGregor (rehabbing from Tommy John this year), Max Kranick, Domingo Robles, and Aaron Shortridge, plus all of the starting pitchers taken in the last two drafts.

The Pirates have a number of prospects. What they lack right now behind Keller is another top of the rotation guy. Bolton and MacGregor have the best shot at that upside, and Quinn Priester looks promising, but obviously nothing is guaranteed.

Key Bullpen Arms

Here are the key relievers, and how long they’re under control:

Felipe Vazquez – 2023

Kyle Crick – 2023

Keone Kela – 2020

Nick Burdi – 2023

Richard Rodriguez – 2023

I threw those last two in for reference, as it’s hard to count on either for the long-term due to Burdi’s injury and the struggles from Rodriguez this year. It’s hard to project out relief pitching prospects, as most of the excess starters from above will switch to the bullpen eventually. There will almost certainly be outside additions, as you may have noticed that all five of the above players came from other organizations.

The key thing to note here is the trend that you’ve probably noticed throughout the article, where most of the top players on the roster are only under control through 2022-2023. For another way to look at that, here’s a handy chart:

And here’s another version of that chart for one final way to look at the current roster:

More on that in my next article…

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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