The Pirates are 7-2, and Honestly, They Haven’t Fired on All Cylinders Yet

4-6-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

This isn’t a perfect team.

No team is, but typically when a team goes on a good stretch they’ve probably played some damn good baseball. All the stars are aligned and playing well together.

This Pirates team though, I’ll be honest, they’ve won despite some less than optimal performances and some ill timed mistakes. In fact, they might have played one game against the Marlins, who currently are 0-9 by the way.

Look, I know a bunch of you want to hedge your bet or hold back just a bit with fingers crossed and tail tucked between your legs to say it aloud, but this is a good baseball team, and believe it or not, I’m here to tell you they could play better than this start and may well need to as the competition they face improves.

They’ve done this with two sub par outings form their top starter. They’ve done this with two blown saves from their heralded closer.

This 7-2 record survived a game where Ke’Bryan Hayes blew up defensively. They’ve somehow gotten past Alika Williams filling in at second base looking like anything but a defensive specialist.

They’re missing 2 of their best bullpen options on the IL.

Andrew McCutchen looks like a shell of himself. Henry Davis has caught well but the bat, well he just got outshined by Joey Bart in his first game as a Pirate today. Works in progress to be sure.

I mean my goodness it looked like Moses was on the Clemente Bridge casting plagues of ice and wind on our home opener!

Point is, good teams come out of all that with a record very much so like 7-2. Bad teams let that stuff plummet them down the standings.

They’re a good team for the simple fact they don’t have to be perfect to achieve results. At least not against the lower end of the league. That’s more than most can say, and it’s why they’ll finish this season with a winning record.

I’m not ready to pretend it’s more than that, I’m also not going to sit here and tell you it’ll be the same problems all year, I’m just telling you, they’re built to survive quite a few of them at any one time and it isn’t a death sentence.

The ways they’ve achieved probably won’t even stay the same. Getting 2 out hits and scoring runs in that fashion probably won’t continue. At least not all year. Your entire bullpen outside of your closer being on virtual autopilot won’t last either.

What you look for when hoping your team is ready to climb out of the darkness and into the competitive window they’ve been working toward is a number of players who you believe can help who aren’t even here. That’s not just prospects, that’s players who didn’t make the roster, guys who got squeezed out to AAA, and yes, that next wave of talent.

You hope the team isn’t dying for any of them when they get the call. For instance, you want Liover Peguero to hit so much that the team simply can’t leave him in AAA any longer. Bring him up because he has to be here, not because someone is struggling or injured.

I’m just using him as an example, but you could do that with anyone. Paul Skenes, you want him getting the call because they’ve allowed him to toss 5 innings, he still looks like a smoke show and damnit it doesn’t matter who he replaces, you just have to get his arm up here.

It’s a long season, and a ton of things will happen, but just today should teach you several lessons.

• Bailey Falter is not someone you have to think has a long term role on this team, but you have to admit, you didn’t think he had a game like that in him did you?
• Getting mad that Derek Shelton is resting stars during a homestand is to immediately see this team differently than the players themselves do, they don’t think there’s an incapable player among the bunch. And, don’t look now but for the most part, Shelton has been dead on right.
• Rowdy Tellez isn’t a disaster at first base, in fact he’s looking like a pretty nice fit for this team.
• Luis Ortiz has really found a nice role in the bullpen.
• The defense is noticeably better when Taylor is in Center.

I’m sure you have some too, it was a roller coaster of a game after Falter exited.

I have questions about how good they can be, but I’m done questioning if they’re good at all. Bad teams don’t survive all this, let alone thrive through it.

I’m not sure they’ll do enough to get into the playoffs this year, I hope so, just not sure I see it quite yet. That said I think I see a path to them being a better team than they are now by mid summer, and man, that’s exciting.

It’s one thing to wait for help, it’s another thing entirely to win while you wait.