A well-run organization generally has plans created for any potential curveballs they may be thrown.
The Pittsburgh Pirates aren’t at a position yet that they necessarily need to have a backup plan if one of their expected stars has a dramatic drop-off in production — similar to their situation in 2016 with Andrew McCutchen.
They won’t need to look for someone to step-up if their rotation doesn’t pitch up to expectations — like that 2016 rotation of Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, Ryan Vogelsong, Jon Niese, and Juan Nicasio.
In the Pirates previous competitive window, the front office didn’t put plans in place in the event their plan ‘A’ went awry.