PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Since general manager Ben Cherington joined the Pirates, he’s drafted a shortstop number one, made his first trade for another. He acquired three more in trade deadline deals last week.
Sunday during his show on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network, Cherington said he hasn’t given up on 2014 first round pick Cole Tucker.
“You look at Cole’s year,” Cherington said. “One, it’s been interrupted by minor injuries and by getting called up, but during those times not getting to play a lot. The key for him is to be able to play consistently. When he’s done that, we are seeing a better player. We are seeing a player who has improved from last year.”
“Even though he’s in Indy more, doesn’t mean he hasn’t improved.”
Tucker is still just 25, the same age as Hoy Park who played his first game at second base for the Pirates since acquired from the Yankees in the Clay Holmes trade.
Tucker has hits in seven of his last nine games. He’s raised his batting average over 20 points. Cherington said Tucker will get consistent at bats, including some in the outfield.
Same plan with infielder Tucupita Marcano, acquired in the Adam Frazier trade. Cherington will give him the opportunity to impress, but also in Triple A even though he started the season on the Padres Opening Day roster.
“He’s really young,” Cherington saod. “He’s already been in the big leagues. I think this is a good time for him to get consistent at bats in Triple A. It gives us a chance to know him, go into an off-season with a really good plan. Look forward to seeing him play every day for Indy for now.”
Still not buyers
Even with adding over 30 players in July, Cherington cautions there is more work to do acquiring talent.
“We just need lots and lots and lots of good players and time with those players to continue to help them take a step forward in their game,” Cherington said. “The more examples of those we have. The more it helps our team in Pittsburgh win more, get closer to a position then it starts to make sense for us to add players back.”
“We are talking about more often adding players back to the team as opposed to trading players. 100 percent, our focus is to get to that point as quickly as we possibly can. To get to winning as quickly as we possibly can. It’s the only reason we do these things.”
“We talk about working with an urgency, but not in a rush. There is nothing wrong with being urgent to get better. We have to be urgent every day to get better. We want to avoid rush. When we get in a rush we make mistakes.”
Catchers
It started with Endy Rodriguez coming over in the Joe Musgrove trade via the Mets. The drafting of Henry Davis tops overall and getting Wyatt Hendrie in the seventh round. Then Cherington added two more catchers in the last week.
“Everyone told me about it, it was a question on everyone’s mind,” Cherington said about the lack of catching depth in the organization. “That’s a really strong start when you major league catcher is Jacob Stallings. We wanted to improve our depth at that position. We can’t force that. You just don’t know when the right opportunity is going to be there to acquire catching. It’s just that it has happened more recently.”