Tim Benz: If Pirates are serious about getting a real MLB center fielder, here's an idea

Here are the options for the Pirates in the outfield now that Starling Marte has been traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

1. Move Bryan Reynolds to center field and have newly acquired Guillermo Heredia play left field.

2. Keep Reynolds in left field and have Heredia play center.

3. Move Reynolds to center and find someone new to play the uniquely challenging left-field notch at PNC Park.

4. Keep Reynolds in left and find a free-agent facsimile of Marte for center. And by free-agent facsimile, I of course mean “cheaper option.”

5. Just play with two outfielders and embrace the sham of a season that 2020 is going to be. Have one of the racing pierogies play a rover position.

That’s my choice. Sauerkraut Saul looks like he has some range.

However, that would accelerate Saul’s arbitration clock, and we all know the Pirates hate doing that. So, I’ll just dare to dream.

We know what Reynolds wants. He’d prefer to go to center field.

“I’m just as comfortable in center, maybe even a little more,” said Reynolds at PiratesFest, two days before the Marte trade. “I just feel like it’s a truer read out there. I played there growing up. I played there in college and in the minors and some last year. Really anywhere out there I’m perfectly comfortable. Just preparing for all three, really.”

Some fielding stats back up that claim from Reynolds. The eye test suggests that he may have a case, too.

Got that.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/tk9OWLlkgj

— Pirates (@Pirates) September 5, 2019

Bryan Reynolds, Part ✌️.#ROYnolds pic.twitter.com/A4rm22tlBN

— Pirates (@Pirates) September 5, 2019

However, Reynolds appeared to settle in and usually look more suited for left field, especially with his ability to go into the notch at PNC Park.

Or play deep out there and charge in.

Or guard toward center and still make catches coming over to the foul line and near the wall.

Bryan Reynolds robs Mike Moustakas of a home run pic.twitter.com/zHSEyVODTL

— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) August 5, 2019

Reynolds also has more experience in left, having played 54 more games in the corner as opposed to center.

The large matter of exposing a new starter to PNC Park’s difficult left field if Reynolds is moved to center has to be taken into consideration.

We know Reynolds can handle it. He may be able to handle center. But if he has to shade toward right field to protect Gregory Polanco as he returns from injury — or whoever is playing in right — that’ll make it all the more difficult for whoever new manager Derek Shelton pencils into left field.

That could be Heredia, Jason Martin (whenever he gets healthy), or a free-agent acquisition. It may be easier to find a bigger bat on the open market to fill a corner position. Assuming the left-field duties on the North Shore for 82 games a year are no joke, though.

“The left center here is huge,” Reynolds said. “If you are in center, and you don’t have a guy next to you that can cover as much ground as Marte, you have to be aware of that.”

Thus, hampering Reynolds’ ability to shade toward right field if he wanted to do so.

Of Heredia’s 265 career starts, 158 have come in center field. Therefore, if general manager Ben Cherington defaults to who is currently on the roster, the best bet is Reynolds would stay in left.

If you can live with a .225 hitter playing center field. Which I can’t. And apparently Cherington can’t either. He suggested the team will look outside the organization for an answer in centerfield.

The answer should be Kevin Pillar.

Somehow, he’s never won a Gold Glove despite making plays like this.

And this.

And all of these. The fancy defensive stats don’t like Pillar as much. But, I mean, c’mon.

He’d at least be someone exciting that fans can embrace. Visions of Andy Van Slyke dancing through our heads, n’at.

Also, last year, Pillar’s offense wasn’t bad. At 31, he had career highs in home runs (21), RBI (88), runs (83), OPS (.719), and total bases (264) with the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants.

Based on what I’ve read, the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, or a return to Toronto are all possible. Pillar made $5.8 million last year.

If Cherington is serious about using some of the savings on Marte’s contract to get a free-agent center fielder, there you go. That’s your guy. Unless Cherington wasn’t a fan of Pillar’s when they overlapped in Toronto.

Then again, I can’t seriously write about the Pirates being “serious” when it comes to reallocating dollars back into the MLB roster until I see it with my own eyes.

So don’t rule out the “Sauerkraut Saul Solution” just yet.