Kevin Gorman's Take 5: Productive day for Pirates, who add another Polanco

Signing another Polanco might have provided a punchline for fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Friday proved to be a productive one for an organization that is making moves to rebuild from the bottom up.

The Pirates started by signing 15 international prospects, highlighted by the top teenage outfielder in Shalin Polanco of the Dominican Republic. They added infielder Wilmer Difo on a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training. And they avoided arbitration with all nine players who were eligible.

Sounds like a win for Ben Cherington and the baseball operations.

The Pirates general manager wasn’t about to do a victory lap. His only comments came in a statement in a press release about Polanco, who signed for a $2.35 million bonus. It’s the second-highest international bonus in club history.

“We are excited to add Shalin to the Pirates organization,” Cherington sai. “He’s an athletic outfielder and promising left-handed hitter with power potential. Junior Vizcaino and our international scouting group did a terrific job getting to know Shalin and his family, and we look forward to seeing him in a Pirates uniform. We are equally as excited about our entire international signing class and look forward to the time we can be on the field with them.”

No wonder Vizcaino, the Pirates’ international scouting director, started a conference call with reporters by thanking Cherington and ownership for their backing to scout and recruit the top international prospects.

“It’s awesome because it allows us to compete,” Vizcaino said. “There’s no player that comes to market that, as a staff, we feel like we can’t compete in. … Knowing that they have our back and support us 100%, that’s been huge.”

The big international signing today for the Pirates, Shalin Polanco.https://t.co/ictibaoVvk pic.twitter.com/dUqUWDlvVt

— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) January 15, 2021

1. Praising Polanco: That the Pirates signed a position player ranked No. 8 by Baseball America and No. 11 by MLB Pipeline was a positive sign that they continue to be competitive internationally even after MLB prevented trades for bonus pool money.

Despite his surname and being a left-hander, the 6-foot, 170-pounder appears to be more likely to become the Pirates’ next Starling Marte than he does another Gregory Polanco.

Vizcaino said Shalin Polanco, who turns 17 on Feb. 6, projects as “a five-tool player” who can be a “plus defender” in center field and “hopefully hit in the middle of the order.”

What Vizcaino really raved about was Polanco’s personality.

“He has the makeup to be a leader on the team,” Vizcaino said. “We really like his makeup. We think he’s a great kid. He works hard, kind of an over-worker.”

Vizcaino laughed, recalling how the Pirates got a report that Polanco was playing so hard at the Dominican academy that the club had “to back him off a little bit” to prevent an injury before signing.

“He’s going to be somebody that’s going to come in, get dirty and he’s going to lead by example,” Vizcaino said.

Very few of us will ever see our bank account hit a million bucks, let alone by the age of 16! But Sydney teenager Solomon Maguire is well on his way to baseball superstardom, having struck a deal with American pro-league team the Pittsburgh Pirates. #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/QlViyijWS4

— The Project (@theprojecttv) October 29, 2020

2. Look at me: The Pirates have invested in center fielders the past few years, from drafting Travis Swaggerty No. 10 overall in 2018 and Sammy Siani No. 37 overall in ’19 to signing Australian teenager Solomon Maguire for $594,000 last February to now paying a premium for Polanco.

What is a position of need on the major league roster, so much so that former first-rounder Cole Tucker switched from shortstop to center last season, is getting stocked with talent.

MLB.com ranks the 23-year-old Swaggerty the Pirates’ No. 6 prospect and Siani, who just turned 20 last month, at No. 10. Maguire, who turns 18 in March, and Polanco are still teenagers and years away from the majors.

But you can start to see potential at the position, one that could allow for a succession plan from Swaggerty to Siani to Maguire or Polanco — or see some of them in the same outfield someday if one or more moves to a corner spot and things work out.

3. Catch me if you can: Vizcaino said he likes to sign a catcher in every class, so it made sense that the Pirates added one in Miguel Sosa, a 5-11, 181-pounder out of the Dominican Republic.

How they discovered Sosa is an interesting story.

“Catching is so difficult to find,” Vizcaino said. “I think we got lucky with Sosa because he was an outfielder. He was a power-hitting, hard-throwing outfielder. We scouted him as an outfielder. We weren’t sold on him.”

The next time the Pirates sent Dominican scouting supervisor Emmanual Gomez to see Sosa, he got behind the plate to catch.

That’s instructive, as the Pirates liked the power in Sosa’s bat but he didn’t stand out from the other outfielders at the Dominican Academy until he moved to a position of need.

“Even though he was raw, the willingness for him to do it was huge,” Vizcaino said. “His tools played way better behind the plate than they did in a corner outfield spot.”

I've put this take on the record many times, but Wilmer Difo had the best walk-up song of any Nationals player in recent years. Here's his music to accompany his exit from Washington after almost 11 years with the organization: https://t.co/i2Nik50RBe

— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) January 15, 2021

4. Riddle me this: The ho-hum reaction to the Pirates signing Wilmer Difo amused me, as if inviting an infielder with major-league experience to spring training on a minor-league contract is a risk.

Difo is a 28-year-old switch hitter with a good glove who has started games at five positions — primarily second base (107 games) and shortstop (89) — but has the speed to play outfield.

My guess is that the Pirates didn’t sign Difo, a career .247 hitter in six seasons, to replace Adam Frazier so much as they did to replace JT Riddle.

What the Pirates need is a super utility player who can give a starter a day off, whether it’s in the infield or outfield. Difo has started two games in right field and one in center.

The Pirates have to hope Difo is an upgrade over Riddle, who hit .149 last season and had three errors at third and one at short. Riddle played two games each in all three outfield spots.

If Frazier is traded, you would imagine that one of the three shortstops — Erik Gonzalez, Kevin Newman or Cole Tucker — could switch to second base. Adding Difo gives the Pirates infield depth and a player who can play the outfield in a pinch, like Frazier.

The bigger question is whether Cherington will add any other free agents. Last year, his signings of Riddle and outfielders Guillermo Heredia and Jarrod Dyson were essentially busts, even if the Pirates were able to flip Dyson for international pool money.

5. Sign and trade?: Avoiding arbitration with the eligible Pirates has to be viewed as a win for Cherington, especially when he signed 10 of them for less than $3 million in 2021.

And the only players to command more than that — Frazier ($4.3 million) and right-hander Joe Musgrove ($4.45 million) — are the most likely candidates to be traded this offseason.

The market for both could soon clear up, and the Pirates have the New York Yankees to thank. The Yankees agreed to terms with second baseman DJ LeMahieu to a six-year, $90-million deal and signed right-hander Corey Kluber, a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner, to a one-year contract for $11 million.

That’s not to make comparisons, but clubs seeking a versatile position player and/or a starting pitcher could ramp up their interest in Frazier and Musgrove now that both are locked in at affordable salaries with two years of club control remaining.