PITTSBURGH — In the latter stages of the regular season, Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neil Huntington was asked what would constitute a successful year.
“A World Series championship,” he said without hesitation.
That didn’t happen, though, as the Pirates lost at home to the San Francisco Giants in the National League wild card Wednesday. Thus, it is now 35 years and counting since the franchise has played in a World Series, beating the Baltimore Orioles in 1979.
However, it would be hard to define the Pirates’ season as anything but a success. They made it to the postseason for the second consecutive after having a losing record in each of the preceding 20 seasons, a major North American professional team record for futility.
The Pirates also appear poised to remain a competitive team well into future. Right-hander Gerrit Cole is just 24 but is already about one step away from bring an ace. The talented outfield trio of center fielder Andrew McCutchen, left fielder Starling Marte and right fielder Gregory Polanco is under club control for five more seasons through 2019.
Furthermore, the Pirates’ farm system has become much more fruitful in recent seasons as the duo of pitching coach Ray Searage and Jim Benedict, a special assistant to the general manager, has shown the ability to fix broken pitchers. In the last three seasons Searage and Benedict turned around the careers of A.J. Burnett, Francisco Liriano and Edinson Volquez.
The Pirates’ best asset of all, though, is manager Clint Hurdle. He took over after Pittsburgh lost 105 games in 2010 and has transformed the once-downtrodden franchise with his optimism and enthusiasm.
Hurdle fosters a positive attitude, even in the worst of times, which reassures the players during bad times.
“He’s just so upbeat every day,” Pirates second baseman Neil Walker said. “He never has a down day, so we don’t have down days as a team. When things go bad, we just keep working.”
Huntington has quite a bit of work to do this winter as the Pirates have four players eligible for free agency and 12 who could go to salary arbitration hearings.
The top priority is to re-sign catcher Russell Martin, and team owner Bob Nutting says he is willing “to stretch beyond might be comfortable” to retain him. Other than that, the Pirates’ offseason will likely consist of finding bargains and reclamation projects to fill in around their core players.
“We’re very proud to have gone to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons but we want more than that,” Huntington said. “We want this to be an every year-type thing. It might not be realistic to think you get to the postseason every year but the goal is continuing to build this organization to the point where we are contender on a yearly basis. I feel we are getting there.”
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We’ve been to the wild card two years and now it’s time to take that next step and win our division. That’s what we’ll be shooting for when we all get together again in spring training,” — Hurdle.
BIGGEST NEEDS: Much depends on how free agency shakes out. The Pirates will need a frontline catcher if Russell Martin is not re-signed and at least one starting pitcher if both left-hander Francisco Liriano and right-hander Edinson Volquez leave. If the Pirates re-sign Martin and either Liriano or Volquez, then they are pretty much set for 2015.
FREE AGENTS: INF Clint Barmes, LHP Francisco Liriano, C Russell Martin, RHP Edinson Volquez.
Martin is the top priority and even frugal owner Bob Nutting says he is such a fan of the veteran catcher that he will likely allow Huntington to overpay him. Liriano and Volquez got their careers back on track with the Pirates while working with pitching coach Ray Searage, but the bad news is that they may have become too rich for Pittsburgh’s blood. Barmes, who was leaning toward retirement for most of the season, has changed course and the Pirates would likely re-sign if he agrees to a low salary.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE: 1B/3B Pedro Alvarez, RHP John Axford, 1B Ike Davis, RHP Jeanmar Gomez, INF/OF Josh Harrison, RHP Mark Melancon, 1B Gaby Sanchez, RF Travis Snider, C Chris Stewart, 2B Neil Walker, LHP Tony Watson, RHP Vance Worley.
The only obvious non-tender candidate is Axford, who didn’t turn out to be a good fit after being claimed off waivers from Cleveland in August. The Pirates have interest in retaining each of the other 11, though they would likely not tender contracts to Davis, Sanchez and Stewart rather than go to hearing with them.
IN LIMBO: Melancon. The Pirates don’t pay big money to relief pitchers and Melancon will start to get expensive as a second-year arbitration-eligible player coming off a 33-save season. The Pirates could use him as trade bait.
MEDICAL WATCH:
–1B Pedro Alvarez (stress fracture in left foot) left the Aug. 26 game, and he didn’t play Aug. 27-Sept. 3. He pinch-hit Sept. 5, his last game regular-season game appearance. He was left off the roster for the NL wild-card game. He hit balls off a batting tee Oct. 1, and he should be completely healed by the start of spring training.
–RHP Charlie Morton (sore right hip) went on the 60-day disabled list Sept. 24. Morton was on the DL from Aug. 16-Sept. 16 with the same ailment. He underwent season-ending surgery Sept. 26 to repair the labrum in his hip. The expected recovery time is about six to eight months, which puts his availability for opening day in question.
