Column | Pirates made the right call letting Bryan De La Cruz walk

When the Pittsburgh Pirates released their list of players who were tendered contracts for 2025, some notable names weren’t on it. Along with outfielder Connor Joe and relief pitcher Hunter Stratton, the team decided to let right fielder Bryan De La Cruz walk. 

De La Cruz was one of three trade additions Pirates general manager Ben Cherington made last season, along with utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa and lefty reliever Jalen Beeks. The trio were supposed to help usher in a new era of Pirates baseball — one that saw the team make the playoffs for the first time since 2015. 

But almost immediately after the trade deadline, the Pirates collapsed. A 10-game losing streak plummeted the team several games under .500, a benchmark they would never get back over as they finished the year 76-86 — the exact same record as 2023. 

Nearly everyone on the team suffered some sort of slump or decline down the stretch last season, and the additions that Cherington brought in failed to deliver the spark they were asked for. But the biggest disappointment by far was De La Cruz. 

De La Cruz was acquired from the Miami Marlins on July 30 for prospects Jun-Seok Shim, a right-handed pitcher, and infielder Garret Forrester. Known for some good glovework earlier in his career, the 27-year-old had since built up a reputation as one of the worst defensive outfielders in the game.  

The Marlins sheltered him the best they could, playing him as the team’s designated hitter in nearly half of his games with Miami. But since Andrew McCutchen had the DH role locked up in Pittsburgh, the Pirates took a risk by sending De La Cruz to the outfield regularly. 

Still, for two prospects who had not yet made it past the Low-A rung of minor league baseball, it was a relatively small price to pay. De La Cruz, despite his defensive and consistency flaws, was advertised as a power bat who would provide some offense to a position group devoid of it — aside from Bryan Reynolds.  

The Pirates’ offseason additions failed to supplement their offense, and no matter who the team called up from their farm system, none made a true impact. That’s where De La Cruz was supposed to come in. Even though he wasn’t the most consistent hitter, he averaged .245 on the year in Miami before the trade. De La Cruz’s 18 home runs and power in his bat would have been a welcome improvement to the outfield bats the Pirates trotted out there. 

Instead, it failed. Miserably. 

In 44 games with the Pirates, De La Cruz slashed an awful .200/.220/.294 with three home runs and 17 runs batted in. His decision-making worsened almost immediately after arriving in Pittsburgh. His strikeout rate shot up to an alarming 31%, up 5% from his time in Miami. At the same time, he drew walks in just 2.4% of his plate appearances, down from the 5.5% he had with the Marlins. 

The power he was supposed to bring also evaporated instantly. His home run rate fell from 4% to 1.8%, and his hard-hit rate — which measures how often a ball in play reaches an exit velocity of at least 95 miles per hour — fell from 43.3% in Miami to 36.0% in Pittsburgh. 

As the Pirates tumbled out of playoff contention, the organization turned to eyeing other players in their system for the future. The Pirates deployed a seemingly endless cycle of outfielders, from journeymen like Billy McKinney to prospects such as Billy Cook to finish the year. Nearly every one of them outperformed De La Cruz. 

For as bad as his offense was, De La Cruz’s defense may have been even worse, continuing the pattern he displayed with the Marlins. He finished the season with -7 defensive runs saved and -8 outs above average, per Baseball Savant. Both of those figures were among the 25-worst performers in baseball. 

Adding him to an outfield with Reynolds — another one of the worst defensive outfielders in baseball — and eventually, Oneil Cruz, who had to learn center field on the fly, was a risk that did not pay off in the slightest. 

There was a possible argument in favor of keeping De La Cruz around. Despite his drop in production after the trade, he still hit 21 home runs on the season, which would have tied for second place on the team. One could also argue that with the Pirates making a change with their hitting coach, replacing the unpopular Andy Haines with former Pirate Matt Hague, the team could find a way to turn De La Cruz around and squeeze more production out of him. 

It’s an argument that does have some merit, but it’s all speculation. It’s easy to get caught up in his season-wide numbers last year, but with time away from the game we are all forgetting how universally frustrating he was to watch — both in the field and at the plate. There’s no guarantee that De La Cruz will improve in 2025, and it wouldn’t take long for his remaining supporters to lament him if he had a slow start next year. 

The De La Cruz trade will go down as the latest in an embarrassing number of trades Cherington has lost since taking over five years ago. But it is refreshing to see the team get proactive in moving on from players instead of giving them far longer leashes than they deserve. 

Fans have every right to have skepticism about where Cherington will spend that extra $4 million that De La Cruz was projected to make. But the first step in truly improving this team is cutting bait when things don’t work instead of the Pirates’ usual strategy of letting underperforming players stick around far too long. 

The outfield is a point of emphasis for the Pirates as baseball’s winter meetings inch closer. Even with Oneil Cruz moving to center field, the team still needs at least one more outfielder either via trade or free agency to round up the group — and that’s before a potential move of Reynolds to first base. 

Now, it’s about finding the right player to replace De La Cruz with.