Bobster wrote on Sep 6
th, 2022 at 9:14am:
GreenWeenie wrote on Sep 6
th, 2022 at 7:51am:
Cherington started with nothing isn't exactly the case. I'm not sure that any team does, unless it's an expansion club.
Well stated, doc
What he started with was an incomplete roster, which has been the club's issue on and off for a long time. That's not the same as nothing.
When BC was hired after the 93-loss 2019 season, he wasn't expected to immediately turn over the MLB roster into a post season contender for an owner who refused to pay for the acquisition of productive veterans who might reasonably be expected to turn over the MLB roster into a post season contender.
Whether he succeeds or not, BC's mission was very clear: build up the team internally via drafting and trading for prospects.
And he literally started with nothing! Covid eliminated all minor league play when BC started in 2020. There was no minor league play, no minor league development. Even the draft was reduced to 5 rounds. Even the MLB season was a mere 60 games with the distractions of health concerns, never knowing from one day to the next if the games would be played, in empty ballparks with crowd noise piped in. Essentially the entire 2020 season was a wash and a complete 1-year hiatus for the minors. And when they finally resumed a normal season in 2021, the talent BC was inheriting at Indy and Altoona was very thin.
So whether we like BC or not or think he's doing a good job or not, the fact is that he took over a 93-loss team trying to rebuild via the minor leagues in a year when there were no minor leagues. So "starting with nothing" sounds pretty accurate.
Of course Cherington started with nothing. He had very little to work with in the way of players who had successful careers. Probably the best players he traded were Bell, Musgrove, Taillon, Stallings, Frazier, and Marte. I’m sure I’m missing someone. But just considering those players, in the 31 combined seasons they played here, there were four All Star seasons and eight playoff games played (all by Marte) among them. Combined, there were four winning seasons, three of them, again, during Marte’s time only. It’s not like these guys had made the Pirates a scary playoff contender.
In addition, with the exception of maybe Stallings and Frazier, none of their agents were going to allow them to sign here. They had to be traded.