The Pirates are Winning Baseball Games, Despite Their Warts

6-8-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

Lately, it seems most of the people covering the Pirates are more interested in telling fans how they’re supposed to feel than they are actually covering what the baseball team is doing.

This is a team that has had a fatal flaw just about all season long, and the target has moved as the season progressed. They were firing on just about all cylinders to start the season, and even then they were leaving a ton of guys on base.

Then the bats went ice cold in unison, even as the starting pitching was becoming a storyline.

It felt like the the bullpen started malfunctioning, at least beyond the couple guys who struggled from the jump right as the bats came back to life, but in reality, they struggled even as they had no leads to protect. Essentially they got cover.

Oh, it was brought up, but it also never mattered as much as the fact they were pitching in a 4-0 ballgame already.

Right now, they’ve minimized those issues, and for the most part, circled the wagons with that excellent starting pitching. The type of pitching that allows a 4 hit, 3 run attack to be a winning effort.

That’s great, it’s also sure to not be sustainable. I don’t say that to suggest any one of the starters are going so suddenly stop pitching well, it’s more to suggest MLB is hard, and you’re going to have to be a more complete team than they are to win more games.

The Pirates are 3 games under .500, a half game out of the last Wild Card Spot.

And yes, last place in their division. They’re also a half game out of 2nd place in the NL Central.

I’m not sitting here telling you that this is all peaches and cream, it’s not. They’re critically thin on starting pitching due to injury and innings limits. They have gotten precious little production from their lefty power guys.

They are having a hard time getting Henry to graduate. The Hitting coach is at the very least not proving effective in helping guys at the MLB level when they fall into disrepair.

The bullpen is showing signs of forming a decent “win ramp” with 7-8-9, but role players are being asked to do to much, and struggling to wear daddy’s shoes.

They still strike out too much, and Runners in Scoring Position to just about anyone but Nick Gonzales seems to become a tight butthole moment.

It’s not a perfect team, and it won’t be a perfect team by the end of the season either.

I’m a little disturbed though reading the stuff I’ve seen lately out there.

Like, I just told you in a pretty straightforward way that this is a last place team in their division. I’m not hiding from that fact, I’m not pretending you should cheer for it. I’m just providing context and using, oh, lets call it 40 years of baseball fandom to remember what congested standings like this tend to play out like.

I’m looking at a team that’s had their “dependable” bullpen guys fail, and fail big together for weeks. A team that has gotten nowhere near the production they expected from their expected superstar short stop. A team that spent a month without their gold glove 3B, who does add to the lineup, even if he isn’t hitting homeruns.

A team that has lost 2 opening day starting rotation members to the IL and has onboarded 2 very young rookie starters.

A team that hasn’t even played two members of their division yet, two teams that happen to be a half a game in front of them.

More than anything, I see a team with absolutely, undeniably, elite starting pitching. The absolute hardest thing to acquire this team has, and they’ve got even more coming, while having half a decade of control of everyone here doing the job right now.

Look, I don’t expect celebration that your team is very much so an average MLB team right this second. I’m just saying, this shouldn’t be seen as some one and done run, this is just the first year they’ve put together enough to be around all year.

I also don’t think we need to act like a team that very much so has room for improvement, even if it only came from Oneil Cruz locking in a bit more, Henry Davis starting to look like at least a once in a while contributor, and a bullpen guy or two joining the party. That’s not a lot to ask, it’s also not enough for some deep run, they’d absolutely have to add to see that play out, but man, it’s just not depressing, not to me anyway.

I’ve seen more despair this year than I did in 2021 when the team was all but shooting for 100 losses.

To me, take a step back, really look at this team.

You will see warts. You will see places to improve. But you’ll see some good things taking shape too.

This is going to be a dogfight all season long. Even if this team adds a big piece, they’ll still be relying on youngsters to keep taking steps. There is no path for this team to become some monstrous juggernaut offensively, but there’s a good chance only 2 or 3 teams could touch their top 3 starters.

Yeah, last place, but I think it’s fair to say, it can be acknowledged without claiming anyone who sees some reason for optimism has loser mentality. I’m not sure I need the GM to jump on some weird patch to a hole that isn’t a great fit either.

Like Harold Ramirez. Very little power, decent average typically, not so much this year. DFA’d by the Rays, can play some 1B, corner OF, and DH. He’s right handed too.

Is he better than Rowdy Tellez? Probably. But is he better than Connor Joe, Edward Olivares? Probably not. Well, it’s at least debatable, he certainly has less power than either of them. Maybe he’s Taylor’s replacement! Sure, but that probably means Jack is your center fielder most games. Unless you want to play Reynolds there again.

See, point is, I can make an argument that he improves something, even if it’s just their bench, but man, I’d much prefer a lefty, and I’d prefer even more he provided some power. I’m open to additions, I just want the additions to be absolute improvements, or at least potentially. Call me crazy.

Some of the teams in this franchise’s history that first learned how to win are my favorites to look back on. I guess at this point in my life I’m ready to relish that a bit more than I was in the past. I’m more accepting that the growth and the setbacks and the highs along with the lows all go together and they’re all necessary aspects to the goal.

I dunno, fan however you want to. I’m pretty pleased with where they are, and where I think they’re headed. Feel like they’re on a good path to be in position to add.

If that makes me a loser, ok.

I bet I’m a loser enjoying a fun baseball season a lot more than you.