Recent silent release closes book on ill-fated Ben Cherington trade with Yankees

One of the first trades Ben Cherington made when he took over as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager was trading Jameson Taillon to the New York Yankees. Like many of Cherington’s trades, the deal has not worked out in the Pirates’ favor.

The last remaining piece of the trade in Pittsburgh, infielder Maikol Escotto, was recently released, bringing an end to what has become an unimpressive return for Taillon.

At the time of the trade, Escotto was arguably the fourth most valuable piece of the deal, but was still a top 30 prospect in the Yankees’ system. Escotto only appeared in 45 games in the Yankees’ system, all at their Dominican Summer League affiliate in 2019. He put up strong numbers in that small sample size, slashing .315/.429/.552 with a .465 wOBA and 158 wRC+. While he struck out 26.1% of the time, he went yard eight times in 218 plate appearances, and had a 14.7% walk rate. 

Heading into 2020, Baseball America ranked Escotto as the Yankees’ 27th-best prospect. The rest of the package the Pirates got back for Taillon, Roansy Contreras (No. 8), Miguel Yajure (No. 11), and Canaan Smith-Njigba (No. 16) ranked ahead of Escotto on their top 30 list. Despite his prospect pedigree at the time, Escotto hasn’t done much since the Pirates acquired him.

Maikol Escotto's release brings an end to the Pirates' Jameson Taillon trade.

In 1526 plate appearances, Escotto only hit .220/.296/.355 prior to his release. He saw an uptick in strikeouts, going down on strike three 28.4% of the time. The infielder only walked in 8.4% of his trips to the plate as well. Escotto only had 39 home runs, fueled by an isolated slugging percentage clocking in at .135. Now that everything iss said and done, Escotto finishes off his time in the Pirates’ system with a poor .305 wOBA and 80 wRC+.

The rest of the return the Pirates got for Taillon didn’t pan out much better than Escotto. Miguel Yajure's career was ultimately derailed after he suffered multiple injuries to his back, forearm, and elbow. Roansy Contreras was a flash in the pan, showing off a ton of potential early in his career, but since becoming organizational depth for other teams. Canaan Smith-Njigba’s bat also didn’t develop as hoped. While Taillon’s best seasons were with the Pirates, he still made 61 starts over two years with an exactly league average 100 ERA+ between 2021 and 2022.

The Taillon deal will go down in Ben Cherington’s trade history as yet another poor deal he made with the New York Yankees. Escotto’s recent release only brings an end to what all Pirates fans already knew about the trade for the last year-plus. Hopefully, Escotto lands on his feet somewhere, but one can’t help but wonder what a better general manager would have gotten for Taillon.