New Pirates trade addition's take on leaving Yankees only raises more questions

The biggest return at the MLB trade deadline for the Pirates was Rafael Flores, and his start in Triple-A has been rather disappointing. He's posted a 63 wRC+ through 24 games. He has a ton of time to figure it out, but all of his success in the Yankees' organization will be history as he has already come out and revealed the differences in player development.

Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette interviewed Flores, and what Beazley was able to come away with is somewhat concerning.

"He’ll also have to adapt to a new organization," Beazley wrote. "He’s already noticed some differences. Flores said the Yankees’ minor league focus is pure player development, while the Pirates value team success more. Flores also said the Yankees give every catcher every available piece of information, while the Pirates tailor each report with what information a catcher wants."

Rafael Flores describes significant difference between Pirates and Yankees player development, and it's a problem

Value team success more? Does this organization really want Bradenton in the Florida State League playoffs instead of players rising as quickly as possible? That might be a slight extreme way of looking at what he said, but it certainly feels like that might be the objective for the Pirates.

For a team that doesn't spend anywhere near the Yankees on players, how could Pittsburgh possibly focus on minor league wins more than player development? The internal improvement over players is the most important part of building a team in Pittsburgh since free agency isn't exactly where the Pirates will build a winner with a sub-$90 million payroll.

Player development is what this Ben Cherington regime has lacked, and Nick Gonzales has been the only offensive player to show any semblance of production on the current team. Jack Suwinski has the highest fWAR out of his acquisitions, but he hasn't been serviceable since 2023 — that says a lot about this player development with the lack of prospects raised through the system.

Flores being able to identify this after just 11 games in the organization says a lot about the problem Pittsburgh has. Something has to change if this team wants to have any long lasting success, and it appears we just peeled back another layer regarding the Pirates deep-rooted issues.