The Pittsburgh Pirates could have made more noise at the trade deadline, but chose the more conservative route and signed a duo of hitters that didn’t cost them a fortune.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa is the more polished of the two newly signed outfielders, but Bryan De La Cruz was expected to make a big impact as a middle-of-the-line hitter. He’s been a major disappointment since his arrival, somehow inferior to what the Bucs were fielding in right field on a daily basis before the deadline. In ten games, De La Cruz has… watch out… hit 7 of 42, giving him a .167 batting average.
Players have dips in form every now and then, and it’s not unusual for a player to hit a slump after a trade, but this is an alarming situation. All seven of his hits were singles, which isn’t ideal for someone you brought in to provide power and score runs. He’s always been a high-strikeout, low-walk player, and you can get away with that when you have a .240 batting average or so and are racking up extra-base hits. It doesn’t play so well when you’re not even hitting your own weight.
As bad as he’s been in the batter’s box and on the field, the Pirates will continue to give him every opportunity to rebound and compete for the right fielder’s title by 2025. Why not? Jack Suwinski isn’t. Ji-Hwan Bae isn’t. Connor Joe is on the bench and Joshua Palacios is injured.
De La Cruz is under his club’s control through 2027 and has hit 50 home runs over the past three seasons. Although he hasn’t left the field once since his time with the Pirates, he’s still tied with Oneil Cruz for the second-most home runs on the team. A cheap, young, controllable player with power is something the Pirates don’t have very much of in the major leagues or in their farm system. And as proven in previous offseasons, GM Ben Cherington isn’t the type to spend big money on a bat even when it’s clearly necessary. If they gave that much leeway to Rowdy Tellez, an older player who cost just $3.2 million, they’ll have the same patience with De La Cruz, whether it’s the right move or not.
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