What's Next For Pirates After Relatively Quiet Deadline?

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The trade deadline has come and gone and to the delight of Pirates fans everywhere, they only made the moves that they were expected to make. Mitch Keller and David Bednar are staying in Pittsburgh. Rich Hill and Ji Man Choi are headed west to San Diego and Austin Hedges was shipped to Texas for international bonus pool space. The latter of which probably excites fans the most.

If there was ever any doubt that Austin Hedges would be on his way out of Pittsburgh by 6 PM Tuesday evening, Ben Cherington essentially confirmed it when he stated that we would likely see Henry Davis behind the plate a lot more following the deadline. Davis, drafted as a catcher, has only seen one inning there since debuting on June 19. He's mostly been camped out in right field and while he is improving, some growing pains have definitely been noticeable.

It's understandable why the Pirates want to get him accustomed to being stationed in front of the Clemente Wall, as it's undoubtedly the second best spot on the field to utilize his 70-grade arm. With Hedges out of the equation now, hopefully we will get to see him show it off from behind the plate more on days that Endy Rodriguez needs a rest.

However, it's worth noting that the Pirates have already recalled Jason Delay from Triple-A to fill one of their empty 26-man roster spots, so that could throw a wrench into things if they plan to use him in a similar fashion they were using Hedges these last couple of weeks. Still, there are plenty of new players to talk about also....

The Pittsburgh Pirates received three players from the Padres for Hill and Choi; 1B Alfonso Rivas, LHP Jackson Wolf (currently in AA), and 17-year-old OF Estuar Suero. Of course, with both players being free agents after the season, any significant return for them was not realistic, but this package is uninspiring in all honesty. Wolf was ranked as the Padres' #16 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Suero would be the one to keep an eye on down the road as he easily has the most upside of the group.

Rivas has hit a lot at the Triple-A level, but his numbers in the big leagues are underwhelming, to say the least. Nonetheless, he will likely join the Pittsburgh Pirates very soon as they have no true first baseman left on the active roster. We will likely see a Rivas and Connor Joe split time there for the remainder of 2023, with some Endy Rodriguez mixed in on days he isn't catching.

After dealing Rich Hill, the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to have a significant number of innings opened up that would need to be eaten for the final two months and they might've addressed that in their final move of the deadline. Just before the 6:00 hit, it was announced that Rodolfo Castro was being traded to the Phillies for LHP Bailey Falter. To be honest, I'm not a fan of this move. There is no doubt that Castro was struggling mightily before he was sent back down to Triple-A a little over two weeks ago, but this feels like the Pirates selling him at his lowest value.

There was an extended period where he looked like an everyday second baseman with legit power from the tail-end of last season up through the first month or so of this season. However, when Derek Shelton made him almost exclusively a starter versus left-handed pitching, he seemed to lose all of his confidence. Of course, with the surplus of middle-infielders the Pirates have right now, they weren't all going to stick around, but I can't get on board with dealing the one with arguably the most upside out of all of them (not counting Oneil Cruz, obviously).

This screams a potential "mediocre player leave the Pirates and become good" situation, which is the main reason I don't like it. That being said, I'm definitely rooting for Rodolfo to figure it out in Philadelphia, because he was so fun to watch when he was on, and the power potential is incredible. Maybe the Phillies have him start hitting exclusively from the right side and we see a reverse Cedric Mullins situation unfold. Of course, Mullins ditched switch-hitting but became exclusively a left-handed hitter. Still, the player they brought back in the deal can help make the deal okay...

As for Bailey Falter, he is 0-7 this season with a 5.13 ERA in 40.1 innings pitched. That being said, the Pirates need innings, and they don't have much help in the upper minor league levels anymore after Quinn Priester's promotion. Jared Jones seems to be next up, but he was only promoted to Indy from Altoona about a month and a half ago, so it doesn't seem like we'll see him apart from maybe a brief cameo in September as we did with Roansy Contreras in 2021. Perhaps the Pirates saw something that made them think they can revert Falter closer to his 2022 form, where he was much better with a 3.86 ERA and 74 Ks/17 BB in 84 innings.

All in all, the remainder of 2023 needs to be all about finding out who should be sticking around for next year and what positions need to be attacked in the off-season. We already know starting pitching and first base will be at the top of the Pirates' needs heading into 2024, but they should be figuring out who else on the current roster can be counted on for consistent production going forward.

Who will be the everyday second baseman when Cruz returns? Will Jack Suwinski continue to improve against lefties or is he strictly a platoon player? Other than David Bednar, who else can be a mainstay in the bullpen (Carmen Mlodzinski has been very impressive thus far)? These are some of the things the Pirates should be looking to find answers to as it will affect how they attack the offseason and free agency.

The Pittsburgh Pirates didn't trade Mitch Keller and David Bednar which means they aren't kicking the can down the road any further, but they need to build onto this young group and attack the other areas of need if they wish to be competitive in 2024 and beyond.

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