Well Pirates, I Guess There’s Only One Thing Left to Do…

7-31-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

It’s just a gif, not a prediction, calm down and have a little fun.

The best thing about the trade deadline passing is that it’s over.

I know the team has holes, I know it had bigger ones before this deadline. I know the players that were ultimately upgraded needed to be upgraded too, but that doesn’t mean they contributed nothing to this cause along the way.

I guess I get a bit more retrospective around the deadline.

Like, I don’t forget how very underwhelming Jared Triolo has been in his rookie campaign at the plate, but I also remember early on how many 2 out RBIs he popped to take the majority of games from the Marlins and Nationals. I don’t forget how he played excellent defense all over the diamond. I don’t forget the contributions.

There’s a reason so many players get rings when the final out is recorded.

Again, I’m not telling you this is all culminating in a World Series in 2024, I’m just saying while I welcome the additions, there’s a part of me that’s always a little sad for the guys who helped put them at 2 games over .500 and pushed the team to believe adding was necessary, let alone keeping the vast majority of movable talent.

Martin Perez finished his time in Pittsburgh on the struggle bus, but early on he was arguably the Pirates best starter. He provided stability while the other starters found their legs or got here altogether. Martin helped establish many of the rotation’s healthy competition initiatives too and even if they ultimately don’t matter because talent took over, they’re part of a culture that many of them will live by and pass on to others.

Everyone who touched the team on the way to where they are is part of the story, a story most will almost completely forget.

The next part of the story begins tonight.

The process begins to find ways to get the new players acclimated quickly. They should have fewer problems than had they acquired someone brought in here to be the best player on the team for 2 months, instead everyone they brought in is a role player.

Brian De La Cruz has toiled on a team that itself flirted with the playoffs, fueled by pitching, so he’s painfully aware of how injury can change the fortunes of a franchise in a virtual blink of an eye. Think he might have some motivation?

Isiah Kiner-Falefa is a glove first, on base percentage type player who’s experienced a young team trying to get where the Pirates are in the Rangers. He’s been a Yankee, expected to win it all, expected to hit homeruns, expected to do things that simply aren’t in his skill set and on to Toronto, a team with a bunch of expectation where he watched a ton of parts that look great on paper fail to execute as a unit even while he himself put up some of the best numbers of his career.

Jaylen Beeks will enter a bullpen that probably doesn’t think they need him. His numbers are nothing compared to the room he’s entering, so it’s doubtful he carries the weight of expectation, if anything, he probably just wants to slip in quietly and contribute, but having another left handed option that is accustomed to back end could be huge, especially as they face playoff worthy lineups stacked with tough lefties that need dealt with.

They’re a better team and more than anything, from here on out almost everyone that does anything to help this team will be already with them in some capacity.

This is the baseball that turns good players into heroes. Constant performers into either underachievers who wilted under the pressure or guys who reach a different level when the lights get brighter. This is the first stretch run where Mitch Keller isn’t just trying to stretch himself out so when this opportunity comes he might be ready to still have a solid reserve in his tank, this time he gets to use it.

Paul Skenes completing his rookie season by fighting to pitch even longer as opposed to playing out the string and getting his innings in.

Andrew McCutchen has been here before. Literally, he’s the only person on this team who has played and won meaningful baseball games in Pittsburgh. The room will look to him now regardless of what he contributes on the field, his experience is invaluable.

Meaningful baseball.

Something we haven’t really seen here in close to a decade.

It’s time to buckle up, embrace the stress, watch the standings, care about every pitch, wipe away the tears when you get that big 3 run shot from someone who never hits one in the 8th and let the chips fall where they may. One thing’s for sure, they are what they are as of right now.

All the things that you complain about, like payroll, how long it took Cherington to make moves, who they got, for the rest of this season, that doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t make that stuff bull, or irrelevant, it’s just that now there simply isn’t anything to be done before the offseason.

It’s like a poker game and someone just called. It no longer matters whether you were bluffing or not, it’s time to show the cards you have outcome be damned.

It’s been a while.

Just remember, the goal was getting into the dance, after that, even if they play the biggest baddest lineup in the league they have the type of pitching that helps even the playing field. That pitching is what got them here, despite a largely underwhelming offense, an offense that they’ve fortified and improved at least enough to feel they should score a bit more.

When the Pirates have scored at least 1 run in a game this season their record is 55-45.

23 times this year the Pirates have scored 1 run or less in a game.

In one run contests this year the Pirates are 20-18, just improving slightly improves the record significantly.

So no, they didn’t bring in some big star who’s likely going to hit 15 dingers down the stretch. They didn’t take this team that has struggled to hit all year and facelift the entire unit, but they just might have done enough to maximize what these pitchers are doing and improve those records in tight contests toward the good more often. They’ve at least cut down on the 2 or 3 player stretches of under .200 hitters we should see in any given lineup.

For me, all the woulda, coulda stuff is over. If you want to discuss it, have fun, I’ll get back to it in the offseason, from here on out I’m all THIS team and THIS journey, and I really hope all of you are ready to take the ride too.

Lets Go Bucs!