Kevin Gorman: Converting Pirates fans could be best trade of all
As Neal Huntington was in the process of finalizing the biggest blockbuster at MLB’s nonwaiver trade deadline Tuesday afternoon, Joe Musgrove and Trevor Williams were putting the finishing touch on a tweet: Which locker do you want, @ChrisArcher22?
The starting pitchers posted photos of the empty lockers next to their own inside a clubhouse that was excited despite the bittersweet news that Archer’s arrival would come at the expense of sending reliever Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Austin Meadows and a “player of significance” to be named later to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Coupled with the trade for Texas Rangers closer Keone Kela late Monday night, the Pirates pulled off a pair of major moves that not only signaled their intention to compete for a playoff berth but a departure from their penny-pinching ways of seasons past.
After years of trading high-priced veterans for prospects whom they protected at all costs when they weren’t standing pat, the Pirates went for broke. They finally mortgaged the future for the present, backing up their offseason talk of playing for the playoffs and going as far as saying they are chasing a World Series championship.
In the process, the Pirates might have completely changed their public perception. Fans revolted when they traded their former No. 1 overall pick in ace pitcher Gerrit Cole and five-time All-Star center fielder Andrew McCutchen in a 48-hour span in mid-January.
Now, in less than 24 hours, the Pirates had Pittsburgh buzzing about baseball on the final day of July. That’s typically a time when the city shifts its focus to Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent.
While Pirates president Frank Coonelly stuck to his guns that these were “baseball decisions,” he didn’t mind if fans finally started to believe Bottom-Line Bob Nutting was willing to spend to win.
“We’d love to have our fans believe that we care about them because we do,” Coonelly said. “We care about our fans. We care about what they care about, and that’s winning a world championship — putting a team on the field that they can be proud of and they can be proud of in part because they’re a legitimate contender for a world championship.”
That’s the message the Pirates sent to their players, who opened a two-game series against the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs having won 15 of their past 19 games to climb into wild-card contention. It’s the kind of message that turned even their biggest doubter into a believer.
That would be Josh Harrison, the two-time All-Star second baseman who publicly requested a trade the day after McCutchen was traded to the San Francisco Giants and doubled down on that stance in spring training.
“It kind of lets you know as a team what the belief is as a whole,” Harrison said of the trades. “We’ve put ourselves in a position to make some noise, and we’ve got two guys coming in who we know can help this team. It makes our team that much better and gives you an idea that we want to win as a whole — everybody. … I think our play on the field has put them in a position to give us an opportunity, and that’s all we can ask for as players.”
Whether two deals are enough to earn the trust of Pirates fans remains to be seen for Nutting. The Pirates owner issued a statement declaring the moves “should make us a stronger team this season and beyond.”
That’s the key. The 29-year-old Archer has three more years of control at an affordable salary, making $7.67 million next season with club options for $9 million in 2020 and $11 million in ’21. The 25-year-old Kela, expected to serve as a setup man for closer Felipe Vazquez, has two more years of arbitration remaining before becoming a free agent. Even if the Pirates don’t make the playoffs this summer, they have positioned themselves to be contenders for years to come because they didn’t have to surrender their top prospect, pitcher Mitch Keller.
The future was always the focus in the past, which is why eyebrows raised with the Pirates’ willingness to part with Meadows and Glasnow, a pair of former No. 1 prospects.
“The piece we’re getting for them is someone that’s established, someone who’s going to bring over more than just his physical ability to throw the ball,” Musgrove said of Archer.
The Pirates proved that they learned a lot from their past, when they failed to pull the trigger or put the finishing touches on deadline deals that could have helped their wild-card teams from 2013-15 win the division. They weren’t just buyers, but spared no expense. Pirates players certainly couldn’t hide their excitement.
“Sometimes, adding and subtracting — sometimes subtracting, sometimes adding — they do play a role in the mentality and the level of belief in that clubhouse,” Huntington said. “That’s not reason why we made the move. We made the move to get better. If that’s a side effect, it’s fantastic.”
If a season that started with a petition urging MLB to force Nutting to sell the team ends with Pirates players and fans buying in on the Bucs because of the deadline deals, it will be their best trade of all.
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
