Pittsburgh Pirates, GM Ben Cherington, -4.9 games
Cherington has been nothing if not aggressive in his efforts to reinvigorate the Pirates franchise. Since the end of the 2020 season, he has acquired a dozen players who have taken the major league field, signed eight free agents, and promoted three rookies.
Meanwhile, 11 former Pirates have been dispatched either by trade, sale, waiver or free agency.
None of the 23 arrivals have made a significant positive contribution greater than free agent reliever Chasen Shreve’s +0.5 games.
By contrast, seven new Pirates have produced negative values in excess of that half-game standard.
The most notable:
- Rookie Will Craig (-0.8).
- Free agent pitcher Trevor Cahill (-0.9).
- Free agent infielder Todd Frazier (-0.5) and free agent outfielder Wilmer Difo (-0.6).
- The purchase of outfielder Dustin Fowler (-0.6) from Oakland.
- Pitcher Wil Crowe (-0.9) came over from Washington in exchange for Josh Bell (0.0). Net impact of that trade to the Pirates: -0.9.
- Pitcher Luis Oviedo (-0.6) was purchased from the Miami Marlins.
- Outfielder Ka’ai Tom (-0.6) was picked up on waivers from Oakland.
That’s a lot of churn, but little positive movement. Cherington’s team has three productive assets, outfielder Bryan Reynolds, catcher Jake Stallings, and infielder Adam Frazier, and all three are contractual holdovers from the Neal Huntington administration.