Pirates lose sneaky solid outfield depth with Padres recent signing

This offseason, the consensus need for the Pirates was offense. While they need a splash on of that side of the ball, they also need depth in their minor leagues. There are some strong names in the organization with Konnor Griffin, Edward Florentino, and Esmerlyn Valdez, yet there isn't a strong core in ready to help this big league club.

The Pirates depth just got a little deeper with the acquisition of Jhostynxon Garcia and Marco Luciano. Both are likely to make an impact in the big leagues at some point. But, as it sits right now, Billy Cook is the only player in the organization that can be in the Triple-A outfield. The depth in the outfield is very thin and if an injury happens, the Pirates do not have any answers to replace.

There was a productive minor leaguer who could have held that depth spot in Triple-A in Jase Bowen. In Triple-A, Bowen batted .294 with three home runs and 17 RBI. His OPS reached .870 and his wRC+ of 134 was very strong. He wasn't a ranked prospect, yet he was still a productive bat in the organization.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, Bowen became a free agent and the Padres signed him to a minor league deal. Now that he is gone, along with multiple other players in Triple-A, the Pirates have a lot more work to do to fill those voids.

Pirates lose Jase Bowen to Padres in free agency and open major outfield depth hole

Speaking of Valdez, it would be really bold and risky to jump the gun on him to fill the void up there. While he did have a very convincing time in the Arizona Fall League, leading the league in home runs, he still didn't have very many at-bats in Double-A. He was solid at that level, posting a 124 wRC+ with a .772 OPS, but also saw his .592 SLG with High-A fall to .409 with Altoona. No one was expecting him to sustain such a crazy stat, but the major drop shows he needs more time in that level.

Mitch Jebb spent the entire season in Double-A and may get considered for a promotion, but he wasn't great in Altoona. His wRC+ sat at 97 with a .265 batting average and a .667 OPS. He is an old-school kind of player, walking more than he strikes out (11.5% BB% to a 10.9% K%) and brings a ton of speed, stealing 33 bags. He just doesn't generate many extra-base hits and his batting average just doesn't jump out at anyone.

There are definitely some gambles the Pirates could take to fill in their outfield in Triple-A, but it would have just been easier to retain Bowen. He may not seem like a big loss, but he had a decent bat and could have been an important role player to the organization.

If Garcia does get optioned and the Pirates add a guy like Mike Yastrzemski, there isn't a big problem with their depth. Jack Suwinski and Luciano are out of minor league options, so they are really stretched thin if either gets DFA'd moving forward. There's still plenty of time this offseason, but this is definitely something that must be figured out.