The Insufferable Success of Former Pirates Across MLB

Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Andre Curtis

For years now, Pirates’ fans have watched their organization trade away their most talented players. There are dozens of great ballplayers in the league right now that were former Pirates. This article will go through an entire 26 man roster of former Buccos that are tearing it up in the league right now. The truth of it all is, The Pirates’ problem isn’t finding talent, it's developing it and keeping the talent around. That is not to say that the Pirates don’t have any talent on their roster this season. In fact, there are a couple of absolute all-star caliber studs on the Buccos. For example, Bryan Reynolds who is a switch-hitter and has 10 homeruns so far this year. There is also Ke’Bryan Hayes who has an OBP of .361, and David Bednar who has 10 saves and an ERA of 1.29. There are other players on the Pirates that are having solid seasons so far as well like reliever Wil Crowe, utility man Michael Chavis, and big hitter “The Hefty Lefty” Daniel Vogelbach. Just imagine if the Pirates kept some of these good bullpen arms like Clay Holmes or Daniel Hudson for this season, or if the Pirates kept Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen to go with Bryan Reynolds in the outfield, and Josh Bell at first base. I am not saying that this would immediately become a world series caliber team, but they could compete in the playoffs.

I will start with pitchers. Here is a full rotation with backups of active MLB pitchers that played for the Pirates. Their 2022 ERA (Earned Run Average) will be next to their name. 

Former Pirates Starting Rotation with 2022 ERA

1. Joe Musgrove- 1.50 
2. Gerrit Cole- 3.63 
3. Jameson Taillon- 2.93 
4. Charlie Morton- 5.67
5. Tyler Glasnow- 2.66 in 2021 (Injured in 2022)
6. Tyler Anderson- 3.07
7. Shane Baz- 19.09 (1 start)
8. Chris Archer- 3.65 

Former Pirate relievers and their 2022 or career ERA

1. Clay Holmes- 0.31
2. Daniel Hudson- 2.66 
3. Tony Watson (Retired in 2021) - 2.90 Career ERA
4. Mark Melancon- 2.89 career ERA
5. Justin Wilson- 2.45 
6. Richard Rodriguez- 3.28
7. Joakim Soria- 3.11 Career ERA

Position Players  2022 Slash Line  (AVG, OBP, SLG) and career WAR (Wins Above Replacement)

1. Josh Bell - .302/.374/.450 -  (7.6  Career WAR)
2. Andrew McCutchen- .233/.286/.332 -  (45.3 Career WAR)
3. Starling Marte-  .281/.322/.447 -  (36.5 Career WAR)
4. Adam Frazier- .234/.304/.320 - (11.5 Career WAR)
5. Austin Meadows-  .246/.341/.322 - (6.6 Career WAR)
6. Josh Harrison-  .181/.256/.284 - (15.8 Career WAR)
7. Corey Dickerson- .194/.245/.286 - (13.2 Career WAR)
8. Jordan Luplow- .165/.283/.435 - (2.3 Career WAR)
9. Elias Diaz-  .204/.258/.289 - (2.2 Career WAR)
10. Jacob Stallings- .206/.271/.255- (5.6 Career WAR)
11. Jose Bautista (Retired in 2018) - .247/.361/.475 - 36.7 (All Career Stats)

There I give you the 26 man roster of former Pittsburgh Pirates. Almost all of them are still everyday players on big league ball clubs. If you take a look through these guys’ statistics, and compare them with what the Pirates active roster is doing, these players are doing drastically better. There are three players on this list that I wish the Pirates never gave up in particular. Those are Joe Musgrove, Clay Holmes, and Josh Bell. The numbers particularly stand out this season from Joe Musgrove, who the Pirates traded away 2 seasons ago to the San Diego Padres. Musgrove leads the league in ERA so far, and has cemented himself as one of the best starting pitchers in the league over the past several seasons.

Clay Holmes has virtually been unhittable ever since joining the New York Yankees, tossing 29 strikeouts with only 3 walks this season so far.

Josh Bell has been absolutely mashing this year, having the best year of his young career to date. Starling Marte is honorable mention as well, being an everyday starter for the 1st place New York Mets in the AL East. All of these guys were very solid players for the Pirates. So…WHY are we getting rid of them? The problem is not money if that's what you’re thinking, and I’m fully aware that the Pirates are a small market team. Yet in fact, it is estimated that Bob Nutting is amongst the 10 richest owners in the MLB. The Pirates organization does spend money when the team is good. During the 2012- 2018 stretch, the Pirates had a payroll of around $100 million each year. I believe there is another window for the Pirates to be competitive coming up possibly as soon as next year. Will the Pirates pay some of their big players like we saw with Ke’Bryan Hayes $80 million contract earlier this year? I hope the answer is yes. (Bob Nutting, are you reading?)

The point is, the Pirates just continue to be the Pirates year after year, but there are talented former Pirates on virtually every team it seems, and there is going to be a window of success for the Bucs coming up shortly. The question is, will they still have the players needed for that success when the window comes?