P2Daily: Are the Pirates Changing Their Financial Ways?

Did Ben Cherington just establish a window?

The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped to 0-2 today. There was a lot of excitement in the minors. And the details came out about their extension with third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes.

That deal with Hayes is front-loaded, and will pay him $7-8 million a year for his 2024-2029 seasons.

Maybe the Pirates can pull some magic and start contending by 2023. I could see it happening with enough going well at the big league level with the younger guys this year.

A more conservative projection would have them contending in 2024. Ideally, they will have a longer run than the three year stretch they saw last time.

Would six years be too much to ask?

In the past, that would have meant the Pirates contending from 2013-2018. That’s not difficult to imagine being possible, since they had a winning record in one of those non-contending years, and played the “No Man’s Land” game of being both buyers and sellers at the trade deadlines. Some better roster construction and better player development and the Pirates might still be contending long-term from that stretch.

The Hayes deal points to the Pirates having better roster construction going forward. As I outlined in my breakdown of his contract, the Pirates took money from those 2024-2029 seasons and moved some of those funds to the 2022, 2023, and 2030 seasons. That potentially saves $20+ million from the contending years.

It’s all money, and it shouldn’t matter when it is spent. The Pirates have balked in the past at a more exponential spending pattern that would see them deficit spend in winning years and make up for that with lower spending in other years. Perhaps this is a sign that things are changing from a Bob Nutting perspective as well.

At this point I believe that Ben Cherington knows how to build a winning team in any market. I think we’re going to see proof of that in the coming years in Pittsburgh. I believe that John Baker’s approach is going to be the missing link in the Pirates’ pipeline. Honestly, my biggest concern is that they would both be hamstrung by outdated small market spending methods.

So far, there have been some signs pointing to a change in how the Bob Nutting-owned Pirates are operating regarding financial decisions.

If anything, I think it’s open season to start lining up potential 2024-2029 contributors from the farm system.