Today starts something new.
Or at least it should.
The Pirates’ swift and steady tumble to a spot in the standings much, much closer to last place than first place makes it feel like those first 30 games never really happened.
But it should do something else: It should make us all --- from the front office on down to the paying customer --- put a full focus on the future. And those players who will play a part in the future.
Enter Quinn Priester.
Enter Endy Rodriguez.
Enter Liover Peguero.
I know, I know, I know --- feels like we always do this. And I don’t have an answer for your frustration about not competing in the now, because I have that same frustration too.
But I’m also someone who lives in reality.
You do whatever you like on this Monday here in Pittsburgh, but as for me, I’m using it to plant down a flag --- a Jolly Roger in this case, I guess --- that pretty much the new generation of the Pirates are officially here.
Today signifies something. Or at least it should.
Does it bring hope? I don’t know.
Will it bring different results? I don’t know that, either.
Would I be big sellers at the trade deadline now considering the Bucs’ chances of getting back into this thing are pretty much shot? Yes, I’d probably sell off all I could except for McCutchen (for nostalgic purposes) and Bednar, because I both think he could help in the future and I wouldn’t want a fan revolt in the present.
But anyway, back on task --- to Priester’s Major League Baseball debut today against the Cleveland Guardians this evening.
Priester, the first-round pick in 2019, would look to make up one-third of the nailed down Pirates rotation when the timeframe hits that this organization has a chance to compete again, right?
Logic tells me it will be Priester, Mitch Keller and Paul Skenes and then two other arms when the Pirates have a real chance at making a run at the division.
Rodriguez, 23, is the catcher of the future if the Pirates insist Henry Davis is a play-all-over-the-place defender or DH. Heck, Rodriguez might have been the catcher of the future anyway with Davis allocated to a different position, but now it seems he’s also the catcher of the now.
So is the Pirates’ plan fully crystallizing on July 17, 2023?
I wouldn’t say that. But it does feel as if it is coming more and more into focus.
Or, at the very least, the players general manager Ben Cherington have identified as the ones who could propel this organization to another run are now here in Pittsburgh or inching close.
To wit, Keller is obviously here. Priester will pitch tonight and what gives anyone the indication he should (or will) go back to the minor leagues?
Same thing with Rodriguez. He should be bringing his catching gear to the big club for good.
The 2020, ’21 and ’22 top picks of the organization are already in Pittsburgh and are playing roles with Nick Gonzales, Davis and Carmen Mlodzinski on the parent club.
A second-round pick in 2019, Jared Triolo is here and one would assume Skenes will be rocketed through the system.
So, yes, much of the band of who the front office deems as the future core has arrived. Funny thing is, Priester will head to the mound on Monday night with the understanding and comfort that he’s made this journey to Pittsburgh largely with --- and on the same timeframe as --- many of his contemporaries.
“Me, Nick and Triolo have been together since [High-A] Greensboro,” Priester said. “And to be able to have that sense of having people I know, and know really well in the clubhouse, definitely makes the transition a little easier.
“It’s exciting because it is not meeting all new people or all new teammates … but having a couple of those guys who have been consistent throughout my career, it is really cool to be here with them and share this experience with them.”
So, again, do with the Priester start and Rodriguez promotion what you will. I’ll use it as a line of demarcation and a very important date in Pirates history. This should be a day in which, with two more top prospects getting to the big leagues with designs on never going back down, we are getting super close to the “no more excuses” threshold.
Yep, we aren’t too far off from that full cavalry Ben Cherington assembled mainly through the draft being here, being here for good and having an expectation that they should begin a steady trajectory toward winning.