Pirates keep dodging the one decision fans are begging for

Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Esmerlyn Valdez, who surged in 2025 with emerging power and better contact quality, sits squarely in the Rule 5 gray area: talented enough that other teams will notice, but still young and raw enough that he’s not obviously MLB-ready.

But the Rule 5 Draft forces teams to make binary choices. Protecting Valdez now means committing a 40-man spot to a player who has never played above Double-A. Leaving him exposed means risking losing him for virtually nothing.

Pirates director of coaching and player development Michael Chernow believes “you can never have enough at-bats,” according to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. But between now and the Nov. 18 protection deadline, the organization is going to have to make a decision on Valdez.

“I think just generally, you want to see guys play as much as possible because it is such a hard game to play and that transition to the big leagues,” Chernow said. “And I think for [Valdez] in particular, everyone's journey is different. Some guys need more than others. The way that I think about it is just assessing day by day, is the level that they're currently at is the appropriate level for challenge for them, and are they being challenged enough to continue their development the way that we want to, and sort of let the player answer that for us.”

Chernow’s comments are a textbook example of organizational deflection with purpose — he’s offering a philosophically sound statement about development while very carefully sidestepping the concrete question Pirates fans care about: will Valdez be protected on the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft?

Pirates dancing around Esmerlyn Valdez decision ahead of Rule 5 protection deadline

By leaning on a broad player-development truism — that repetition and challenge fuel growth — Chernow shifts the conversation away from the looming administrative deadline. It sounds proactive (“we just want him to get at-bats”), but it really buys time. It allows the front office to appear methodical without committing to protecting Valdez. It subtly implies that Valdez might still be too raw, which conveniently justifies delaying the roster decision.

Chernow’s “let the player answer that for us” line perfectly encapsulates the pass-the-buck logic front offices use in these moments. It shifts accountability to performance metrics, not organizational philosophy, even though the real calculus is roster arithmetic.

Pirates fans recognize this pattern, and it’s what fuels their frustration. Valdez just dominated the Arizona Fall League and proved his offensive ceiling is real. Pittsburgh's system is flush with arms but short on middle-order bats, exactly what Valdez represents. Yet the club’s history makes it easy to suspect the front office is again hiding behind process language to avoid committing payroll or roster space.

The Pirates' development staff may want Valdez protected, but the front office hasn't signed off. Chernow’s diplomatic tone avoids saying “yes, we’ll protect him,” but it also avoids saying “no,” leaving fans to interpret silence as indecision — or worse, cheapness.

Chernow's response keeps every door open (for now). It's a perfectly constructed non-answer — and a reminder that, in Pittsburgh, player-development rhetoric often doubles as a shield for roster and financial caution.