PG (Kovacevic): Pirates Q&A: Not playing the market

In response to a questioner who asked:

Is it smart for the Pirates to be avoiding free agents and targeting prospects?

Kovacevic responds with some pointed criticism of management:

Seems that the Pirates’ new management entered the process with a firm idea and stuck to it. And there is nothing wrong with that, intrinsically. In fact, some would call it commendable. But different circumstances call for reactions. Once management saw that the offense, chemistry and some other elements looked to be in place last summer, maybe there could have been an adjustment to the pre-ordained Bay-must-go plan. They could have capitalized on the kind of thinking that you describe, going for legitimate value through free agency and waiting until the cycle changes to try to pry away other team’s top prospects.

In the interim, there might have been some competitive baseball played in Pittsburgh, and there is value in that, too: It would represent a tangible, real change in culture, something that would have a positive impact inside and outside the organization. The players would believe, as would the prospects coming up, as well as potential outsiders who might previously never have wanted to play for the Pirates. The public surely would get on board, too, and that would result in healthier attendance and other revenue streams.

But all of that, for reasons outlined at length in previous writings, was predicated on keeping Bay. Not because Bay singlehandedly would have carried the franchise. Obviously, that was not the case during his time here. Rather, it was because his trade set into irreversible motion the dismantling of the current roster and, with little depth immediately behind them, it probably will be a long time now until the team is competitive at the top level again.

As the questioner argues, it is very possible that we have passed into a cycle where the smart thing for a limited-resource team to do is to look at second-tier free agents and keep building its own prospect pipeline, rather than trying to dispose of salary for other team’s prospects. Interesting thoughts here.