Are the Pirates Directionally Challenged?

Welcome, officially – to the launch of our Yinzer Crazy Website. Everything and anything goes here on this blog – so don’t sweat the discount of fundamental punctuation or the occasional swear word that you’ll read. For those who don't know me, my name is Mike and I'm the co-founder of YC, and a frustrated Pirates fan. This is a club (frustrated fans) that unfortunately continues to grow exponentially in numbers by the minute – and dammit it is maddening (I told you there would be cursing – please avert your children’s eyes).

I’m not angry at the players, I love this group and their ability to stay positive after a tough 2019 campaign that saw this team ultimately fire their GM and Coach (Huntington and Hurdle).  I’m not angry at the appearance changes, have you seen those new jerseys with the return of the Pittsburgh script? They are freaking sweet and I can’t wait to max my weekly budget by purchasing a few of them and skipping a couple of meals and gas payments. I can eat Arby’s every week and save a few bucks, shout-out those sliders which are much more fulfilling than any slider I’ve seen from a Pirates pitcher the last few seasons (bad fast food joke in the second paragraph – we’re off and running baby).

What has my panties in a bunch is the lack of clarity in regard to what this Pirates team is looking to achieve this year. In my estimation, this is a team that should be completely gutting their entire major league roster and looking at a full on rebuild. The energy around the team is already zapped from the tumultuous last few seasons – so should selling tickets really be at the forefront right now? I don’t see that going so hot anyways unless the free shirts given away on Friday home games are from Banana Republic or a company with some reputable backing.. Because that’s quite frankly what we’re missing now in Pittsburgh – substance. The Pirates are currently the Old Navy of Baseball teams – not exactly sure who they are and what they want to be (hopefully we didn’t have any Old Navy partnership lined up in the near future).

Lets keep it real – our core is legitimately fun. Josh Bell broke onto the scene last year with an incredible first-half and although struggled in the 2^nd half still finished with an incredibly respectable .936 OPS while mashing 37 dingers and driving in 116 runs. Bryan Reynolds showed flashes of being a future All-Star mainstay as a rookie. And Kevin Newman flew under the radar as a player who appears to have the tools to be an above-average big league shortstop for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately, the surrounding pieces are just not good enough to give these guys any chance of being competitive in a stacked NL Central Division. USA Today just released their post-winter meetings projections, and their pundits estimated the Pirates as a 60-102 ballclub. Good for dead last in the National League. That’s disgusting. When I read that I nearly threw up my Arby’s, which wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. But it's hard to completely disagree.

New GM Ben Cherington and Manager Derek Shelton have constantly said that this is not a team that is in full tear-down mode and that they intend on being competitive in 2020. My question for them: why?!

This is an entire organization in need of a face-lift, so stop hedging your bets to save face and sell a few extra tickets. Fans aren’t being salvaged right now, they’re slowly being pushed away. Tear this sucker down and start a new, similar to what the Houston Cheetah’s (formerly known as the Astros) did a handful of years ago when they made a pledge to be bad, and I mean REALLY bad. They lost 107 games in 2012, and just seven years later won 107 games. That’s because they rebuilt the right way – tore it down to the dirt by trading away any assets with value, accepted that fans would be temporarily disengaged, and revamped a system entirely to make it one of the best in baseball in what was then a relatively small market. They also cheated -  but you get my point.

That’s my advice to Cherington and the Bucs – follow that plan. The current one the Orioles are on as well when they struggled to reach 60 wins last season. Massacre this thing. Pick a direction, have a plan and stick to it. Why tread water or drag your feet? To try and win 75 games? If you thought you had a team that could actually compete the offseason acquisitions would have been more substantial than a washed up starter on a Minor-League contract in Derek Holland and a journeyman catcher who likely won’t even start over Kevin Stallings. This is a bad team with some real assets that will sadly waste away in continued purgatory until a decisive path is determined.

The overhaul recognition has already started to a degree with Starling Marte being dealt to the Diamondbacks a few prospects with high-ceilings, most notably right-handed pitcher Brennan Malone, the 33rd overall pick in the 2019 draft. Difficult to see a player in Marte who has been here through the recent ups and downs? Absolutely. But also completely justifiable. As hard as it will be to swallow - trade Josh Bell. Move Kevin Newman while his value is high for prospects that will help you in four years. And see if you can re-build Chris Archer's value in the first-half and move him at the deadline. Just like everything else in life, timing is everything. And sadly, right now isn’t our time. Anyone who is over 26 on this roster should be moved for younger, controllable assets.  Because as much as you want to sell to the fans that this team isn’t in that same mold as the Astros or Orioles when they fully rebuilt and were shitty for a couple of years, I got news for you Mr. Cherington – we already know they are.

Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

 - Mike

YinzerCrazy Co-Founder and Contributor