Bucs continue front-office makeover during Winter Meetings
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DALLAS -- The Pirates had been mostly quiet on the transaction from this offseason before Tuesday's trade for Spencer Horwitz, but they had been one of the busiest teams in baseball in terms of reshaping and retooling their front office.
"It's the most I can remember in a concentrated amount of time,¡± general manager Ben Cherington said at the Winter Meetings on Tuesday. ¡°There wasn't a grand plan to have this much happening in this concentrated amount of time.¡±
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It may not have been the plan, but a thorough evaluation of the front office started a year ago to try to push the development and acquisition teams. It¡¯s yielded one of the biggest shakeups the Pirates have had on the front office side in some time.
News broke at the Winter Meetings that Michael Voltmer was hired to be the vice president of professional evaluation and strategy and will oversee pro scouting. That¡¯s one of three director jobs that was expected to be filled this offseason, with the others being Max Kwan as the new director of international scouting and Kevin Tenenbaum as the Bucs¡¯ new vice president of research and development.
More internal promotions and moves are set to come as well.
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There is one director job that still needs to be filled, and that¡¯s to head player development. John Baker had served as the director of coaching and player development since 2020, and after doing the grind of that job for four years, he was looking for a new challenge. He¡¯ll get that new opportunity and will oversee the performance team.
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¡°In Bake, we started to think 'OK, we got someone here who's got Major League playing experience,¡¯¡± Cherington said. ¡°He's got training and a degree in mental skills. He's performed in a mental skills job for a winning team. He's performed in one of the roles that would be part of the performance group. And now, he's been overseeing coaching now for four years.
¡°So, he's got his hands on all the coaching process. And your farm director, you're obviously collaborating with strength coaches and everybody in the Minor Leagues around player improvement. And, he had real interest. He expressed a real desire to do this and sees it as a really good challenge for him and for the team.
¡°I just think all those things added up, and we got to the point this summer where we felt like 'OK, this could make sense.' We have someone here who we believe has the qualities, the skills, has a pretty unique set of experiences for it. Wants to do it. Ready for a new challenge.¡±
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The front office is changing, and player development MLB-wide has continued to evolve since Baker was hired in 2020. Does that influence what the Pirates are looking for in a farm director now?
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¡°I think what¡¯s different is our department has evolved since then,¡± Cherington said. ¡°I think we¡¯re a little bit more mature in some areas of it. Our pitching group is a little bit more developed and matured than it would have been four years ago. We¡¯re developing our hitting group, and the leadership inside player development, both on the field and off the field, has had time together and reps.
¡°I don¡¯t think we need someone who is going to solve everything. We don¡¯t need someone that¡¯s going to check every single box of the player development universe. We¡¯re starting from a strong position with the people that we have already. We need someone that can lead the group.¡±
Cruz to get to winter ball
Oneil Cruz is expected to get reps in winter ball soon after not appearing in a game last offseason as he rehabbed back from a left ankle fracture. Cruz was given a program to work from this offseason to help him grow as a center fielder after making the positional change in August.
¡°Just to continue to apply some of that in games, and then we¡¯ve got a full Spring Training to really dive into it with him and really try to help him get fully stabilized into the position,¡± Cherington said.
Conversely, there are no plans for Endy Rodr¨ªguez to play winter ball at this time. Rodr¨ªguez missed the 2024 Major League season after undergoing right elbow surgery, an injury that occurred while swinging a bat in winter ball last year. Rodr¨ªguez did play 10 Minor League games in September, but was shut down briefly before the end of the season out of an abundance of caution.