Pirates acquire slugging OF Bryan De La Cruz among flurry of deals

HOUSTON -- When discussing the Pirates’ Trade Deadline activity on Tuesday, general manager Ben Cherington emphasized that the moves should be viewed in their totality. They did a little of every genre of trade the past 40 hours before the clock struck 6 p.m. ET Tuesday: Prospects for Major Leaguers, Major Leaguer for prospect, prospect for prospect, young Major Leaguer for soon-to-be Major Leaguer. It was hardly a traditional Deadline haul for a team in the playoff hunt.

But looking at the roster after the dust settled and the moves were complete -- and before the Pirates won their 3rd straight game with a 6-2 win over the Astros -- manager Derek Shelton shared what is the general consensus of those moves in their totality.

TRADE DETAILS
Pittsburgh receives: OF Bryan De La Cruz
Miami receives: RHP Jun-Seok Shim, INF Garret Forrester

Pittsburgh receives: INF/OF Isiah Kiner-Falefa
Miami receives: INF/OF Charles McAdoo

Pittsburgh receives: LHP Ronaldys Jimenez
San Diego receives: LHP Martín Pérez

Pittsburgh receives: OF Billy Cook
New York receives: RHP Patrick Reilly

Pittsburgh receives: LHP Josh Walker
New York receives: LHP Nicolas Carreno

“I think we’re better today than we were about four hours ago,” Shelton said.

After trading Quinn Priester for Nick Yorke and acquiring Jalen Beeks Monday, the Pirates completed three Major League trades in the final hour before the Deadline Tuesday. In came outfielder Bryan De La Cruz from the Marlins and Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Blue Jays, and out went Martín Pérez to the Padres. They also made a swap of prospects with the Orioles -- sending right-hander Patrick Reilly for outfielder Billy Cook -- and picked up lefty Josh Walker from the Mets for Nicolas Carreno of the Dominican Summer League.

The Pirates had several needs this Deadline, but none as pronounced as the outfield. Jack Suwinski has struggled mightily and was finally optioned to the Minors after Sunday’s win against the Diamondbacks, with Shelton citing how important it is for him to take a mental break out of the fires of the Majors right now. Michael A. Taylor has heated up lately -- with home runs in each of the past two nights -- but hasn’t lived up to expectations either.

With De La Cruz, they get some much-needed pop in the outfield. He has slashed .245/.289/.417 with 18 home runs in 454 plate appearances this season and is one homer away from his personal best.

Kiner-Falefa has been out since June 30 with a left knee sprain, though he started rehab assignment on July 27. He is widely regarded as one of the better defenders in the game, and he has enjoyed the best offensive season of his career, hitting .292 with seven home runs and a .758 OPS.

They’re also not rentals. De La Cruz has three years of arbitration control remaining, and Kiner-Falefa is under contract for $7.5 million in 2025. That didn’t mean the Pirates were against acquiring a player headed for free agency, but the moves they did make -- even for the young players Yorke and Cook who aren’t on the roster but are certainly on the Major League radar -- could play an impact for years to come.

“We wanted to get better in ’24,” Cherington said. “We wanted to do that in a way that also put us in a stronger position going into the offseason as we continue to build. We believe we were able to do both of those things. There were rental players absolutely that we talked about and had interest in and would’ve acquired. Just didn’t match up for whatever reason with those players.”

In exchange for the veterans, the Pirates sent right-hander Jun-Seok Shim and outfielder Garrett Forrester to the Marlins and utilityman Charles McAdoo to the Blue Jays. Shim and Forrester were ranked as the Pirates’ 17th and 18th prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, while McAdoo was 29th. Shim signed as an amateur free agent in January of 2023, but has not pitched this year due to a right shoulder injury. Forrester was the Pirates’ third-round pick in the 2023 draft. McAdoo was a fast riser in the farm system after being drafted in the 13th round a year ago.

Outgoing is Pérez, who, like Priester and the majority of the prospects dealt, was a pitcher sent out for offensive upgrades.

“A general goal over time to try to move some pitching talent into position player talent,” Cherington said. “That didn’t have to come through one deal specifically, but we were able to start doing some of that this deadline.”

That will likely continue going into the offseason, but that’s not the focus right now. The consensus is the roster is more talented now than it was two days ago, and the Pirates are in the thick of the playoff picture. Getting into October seems a bit more realistic.

“Our focus should go back on the field now, starting momentarily in Houston and every day between now and the end of the season we’ll be focused on that and giving ourselves every chance to win games in ’24,” Cherington said.