Pirates fully commit to rebuild as most recent teardown nears completion

Rebuilds are inevitable and often painful. Few understand this better than Pittsburgh Pirates fans.

The Pirates won the 1979 World Series largely thanks to the potent bat of Willie "Pops" Stargell, who won the NL, NLCS, and World Series MVP awards. Pittsburgh won two championships in the 1970s and posted a winning record each season except for one. The Pirates again rose to prominence in the late '80s with Barry Bonds' arrival, culminating with three consecutive NL East titles from 1990-92, but they fell in the NLCS each time. Then the bottom fell out.

Bonds left after 1992 and the Pirates wouldn't reach the postseason again until 2013 after 20 straight losing campaigns. Following three brief trips to the playoffs from 2013-15, Pittsburgh hasn't played in October in each of the last five years. Any resemblance to those competitive teams has been erased.

The most recent teardown began after the 2017 season when the Pirates said goodbye to Andrew McCutchen and ace Gerrit Cole, and it's continued to its logical conclusion this winter. It's become an all-too-familiar refrain for a fan base that's been teased with greatness only to come up short and rebuild once again.

Let's take a look at the seven biggest trades Pittsburgh has made in recent years and how they've ushered in a new era.

Gerrit Cole (Jan. 13, 2018)

The Pirates had their fair share of high draft picks after scuffling through 20 consecutive losing seasons, including Cole. The first overall selection in 2011 came through Pittsburgh's system with colossal expectations.

Cole was solid for the bulk of his Pirates tenure, but he found a brand-new gear in Houston. He went 35-10 with a 2.68 ERA and an otherworldly 13.1 K/9 while tossing 412 2/3 innings over two seasons with the Astros.

The return, while ample in terms of quantity, looks underwhelming in hindsight, especially considering Musgrove's recent departure. Moran's recorded a .757 OPS and 34 homers in 345 games with Pittsburgh while Feliz has posted a 5.20 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 108 appearances. Martin signed with the Texas Rangers in December after playing in 27 games for the Pirates.

Andrew McCutchen (Jan. 15, 2018)

With apologies to Jason Bay and Brian Giles, McCutchen is the biggest star to play for the Pirates since Bonds. Him leaving was the biggest indication that an era had ended.

However, McCutchen hasn't played to the same level since. He's hit .255/.361/.433 with 40 home runs in 271 games between the San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Phillies. Reynolds finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2019 before an ugly 55 games in 2020 (.189 average) while Crick has established himself as a mostly effective reliever.

It's not a bad return in terms of numbers, especially since both Reynolds and Crick remain on the roster. However, losing McCutchen serves as the starkest reminder that the club failed to make good when he was at his MVP peak.

Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows (July 31, 2018)

The Pirates got off to a surprisingly good start after dealing away both Cole and McCutchen and were in the thick of the playoff race leading into the trade deadline. So, they jumped on Archer.

Glasnow looked like a bust with a 5.79 ERA and 5.8 BB/9 over 141 1/3 innings during his Pittsburgh tenure. He's since turned it around and enters 2021 as the Tampa Bay Rays' ace. Meadows was an All-Star in 2019 and even received down-ballot MVP votes. Baz, the player to be named later in the deal, is now Tampa Bay's No.8-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

Meanwhile, Archer is a free agent after missing 2020 due to injury and posting a 4.92 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 33 starts with the Pirates. Neal Huntington remained general manager until after the 2019 season, but this trade was a total disaster and his firing was hardly a surprise.

Starling Marte (Jan. 27, 2020)

In comes Ben Cherington to clean up Huntington's mess. The Pirates didn't seem fully committed to tearing it all down before this point. Trading Marte - an All-Star outfielder who had been in the organization since 2007 - put that debate to rest. They were raising the white Jolly Roger.

It remains to be seen whether or not Malone and Peguero will be part of the next core that returns Pittsburgh to contention. Both were recently listed among the club's top 10 prospects by MLB Pipeline, but neither is among the four Pirates in the top 100.

Josh Bell (Dec. 24, 2020)

Bell had a career year in 2019, mashing 37 home runs and earning a spot on the NL All-Star roster. He was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak season. But he took a step back in 2020, even though it's hard to write anyone off after the pandemic year. Now, Bell gets a change of scenery and the Pirates get a couple of lottery tickets who could become fixtures for the pitching staff over the next few years. However, if Bell quickly returns to form with the Washington Nationals, the return may look light.

Joe Musgrove (Jan. 19, 2021)

Musgrove may have always been a transitional arm in the Pirates' rotation. Other than that brief glimmer of hope that led to the Archer trade, Pittsburgh hasn't been competitive since acquiring Musgrove. In terms of sheer volume, the team made off well. If even one of these players becomes everyday Pirates, it's not a bad return on investment.

Jameson Taillon (Jan. 24, 2021)

Taillon was another high draft pick. Selected second overall out of high school in 2010 - a year before Cole - Taillon's injury history, which includes a pair of Tommy John surgeries, prevented him from ever reaching his true potential in black and yellow.

Not long after moving Musgrove out West, the Pirates shipped the returning Taillon to the East Coast. He rejoins former teammate Cole in the Bronx and gets a second chance to show what that tandem could look like leading a rotation.

In an alternate universe, Pittsburgh would have a rotation of Cole, Taillon, and Glasnow alongside Mitch Keller and a random fifth starter. Instead, those three are gone, and so is one of their ostensible replacements (Musgrove).

What's next?

The all-encompassing teardown is hardly a new strategy, but it's arguable Cherington had little choice but to follow through with extreme measures after inheriting the roster he did in 2019.

The Baltimore Orioles, for one, announced a fresh start after their own mid-2010s resurgence by trading superstar Manny Machado during a 115-loss campaign. But the Orioles didn't have as many high-profile star players to trade as the Pirates did. Few teams have.

So, a new era begins in Pittsburgh. The hope is a young roster built around promising third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes, infield prospects Nick Gonzales and Oneil Cruz, outfield prospect Travis Swaggerty, Vanderbilt right-hander Kumar Rocker - the likely first overall pick this summer - and others will yield postseason glory. Will this group find success where McCutchen, Cole, Taillon, and others didn't?

It's easy to be disappointed by the Pirates after they squandered their most talented roster in decades. However, their brief ascent and subsequent fall serve as reminders of how difficult it is for teams that don't have the resources of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, or Yankees to thread the needle. Pittsburgh wasn't able to do it, but the Royals were. It could have been the other way around. But it wasn't, and who knows how much longer the Pirates' championship drought will last.