Pirates roster additions a reflection of GM Ben Cherington's trades, investments in prospects

When the Pittsburgh Pirates protected shortstop Liover Peguero and outfielders Canaan Smith-Njigba, Jack Suwinski and Travis Swaggerty from the Rule 5 Draft by adding them to the 40-man roster Friday, it wasn’t as simple as picking prospects acquired by Ben Cherington.

Clearly, there were investments involved. The Pirates general manager traded two All-Stars and a former Opening Day starter for three of those prospects — Swaggerty was a first-round pick by the previous regime — to infuse talent at positions of need into the minor-league system.

But Cherington made it clear the Pirates baseball operations staff isn’t designed to gamble the club’s future on his investments alone. They put time, energy and money into the development of all of their prospects.

“I certainly hope not. I hope we have enough people in our group who would shout if they thought that was happening,” Cherington said. “The decisions have to be about the players, and we try to take a holistic approach to look at each player, look at every angle, get every piece of information we get from all those people I mentioned before. Our jobs are obviously just to try to make the best decisions for the Pirates, so whether we traded or drafted or however we got the player wouldn’t have any bearing.”

But Cherington would have been criticized if he hadn’t protected those four players. Swaggerty was the No. 10 pick in the 2018 MLB Draft and signed for a $4.4 million bonus. Peguero is a top-five prospect who was the centerpiece of the return from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Starling Marte in January 2020. Smith-Njigba was one of four players acquired from the New York Yankees for Jameson Taillon, and Suwinski one of three from the San Diego Padres for Adam Frazier.

Then again, Cherington left himself open to being second-guessed by not protecting a handful of players ranked in the Pirates’ top 30 prospects. One of them is slugging first baseman Mason Martin, their 2019 minor-league player of the year. Outfielder Cal Mitchell was a 2017 second-round pick who is ranked a top-20 prospect. Right-handed pitchers Tahnaj Thomas and Cody Bolton are former top-10 prospects who still are ranked in the top 15 by Baseball America. Right-hander Eddy Yean and lefty Omar Cruz were involved in high-profile trades, Yean for Josh Bell and Cruz for Joe Musgrove.

So, Cherington said, the discussions weren’t cut and dry. The Pirates had to identify who they wanted to keep and which players on the 40-man roster they were willing to lose. They released reliever Tanner Anderson, catcher Taylor Davis and corner infielder/outfielder Phillip Evans early in the week, then designated backup catcher Michael Perez for assignment Friday to clear roster space.

“We definitely talked about a lot more than four,” Cherington said. “There were several other players we spent a lot of time on. Pulled a lot of information from our scouts, our analysts, our player development staff. They’re obviously important decisions. A 40-man spot, or a spot on the (26-man active) roster, is a really valuable thing.”

And the Pirates put a premium on outfielders. Only All-Star center fielder Bryan Reynolds is locked in as a starter, and even he has been the subject of trade rumors this offseason. The Pirates have eight outfielders on their 40-man roster, with Reynolds joined by Anthony Alford, Greg Allen, Ben Gamel, Jared Oliva, Smith-Njigba, Suwinski and Swaggerty. They typically keep four on the active roster.

“We think that any of the outfielders who are currently on our 40-man roster could very well push for playing time as early as next year,” Cherington said. “But it wouldn’t preclude us from pursuing other players this winter.”

One player Cherington said the Pirates are pursuing is free agent Yoshi Tsutsugo, who posted an .883 OPS with eight doubles, eight home runs and 25 RBIs in 43 games. Cherington said the Pirates are “hopeful” to bring Tsutsugo back.

“Most of our conversations have been around first base, but we know he can go to the outfield if that’s what was best for the team and best for the roster,” Cherington said, “if we were fortunate enough to re-sign him.”