The Pittsburgh Pirates are a changed team this year.

The results? Not so much.

You know what they say. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

There are only four teams with worse records than the Pirates in the National League. It is also true that the Pirates are within four and a half games of seven of the ten teams ahead of them in the standings.

Maybe it is the years and years of futility, but this team appears closer to the bottom than the top. It is just that they have found a new way to get there.

The Pirates splurged this past offseason. Splurging if you consider how they typically do business. They raised payroll to around $104,000,000. That still leaves only seven teams below them, and lagging almost 30 million behind the Reds and Brewers. Another team in their division —Cubs— is in a different stratosphere. Only the Cardinals are spending less, yet getting better results.

Two big bats —Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn— have boosted the offense to levels not seen in Pittsburgh in years. Unfortunately, 12 million dollars was wasted on DH Marcel Ozuna. I said when it happened it was a bad signing. He was clearly in decline last season and isn’t capable of playing in the field. Keeping Andrew McCutchen would have been cheaper, given at least a slight bit more production and defensive maneuverability, and won more fan support. I swear, only Ben Cherington could make two great moves only to spoil it with the Ozuna signing.

Nonetheless, the offense has been good. I was wrong about Spencer Horowitz, who has been fantastic in the leadoff role. I had almost given up on Jake Mangum, who I thought would be a spark plug kind of guy. It took a minute, but that spark is ignited. Nick Gonzalez is the new Freddy Sanchez, hitting .300 at this time.

I said if the Pirates wanted to truly contend this year they would need O’Neil Cruz to step up. He has stepped way up. Then he got hurt. He will be out another three to four weeks.

I thought Konnor Griffin could potentially win the Rookie of the Year award. He was really gaining steam, hitting .270 with some pop and stealing bases to boot. Then he got hurt. He will be out another week or two.

In typical Pirates buffoonery, they misdiagnosed both injuries. Both players had to let the team know they were still in pain. How much that exasperated the injuries and extended the down time for both is unknown. As usual, it sure didn’t look good for the Pirates.

Injuries mean depth is required. Young players like Esmerlyn Valdez and “The Password” look overmatched in the majors, another calling card of the Pirates. They are unable to develop hitters in the minors.

I predicted the bullpen would be bad. I was wrong. The Pirates bullpen is atrocious. They have far exceeded my expectations. There are many guys in that bullpen that simply stink. There are some guys that seem to have good stuff, but can’t get guys out consistently. Gregory Soto has been forced into the closer role, which should make everyone nervous.

It was GM malpractice to go into this season thinking Dennis Santana would be a quality closer. Carrying three or more guys that simply aren’t major league pitchers adds to the malpractice. Manager Don Kelly might as well pick guys out of the stands at this point.

The sooner GM Ben Cherington makes a move the better. He should be talking to Boston until they can agree on a deal for closer Aroldis Chapman. Chapman loved it in Pittsburgh and should have never been allowed to walk away. Even if they would be fortunate enough to land Chapman, more bullpen additions will be needed. That won’t be easy, but Cherington may need to just start taking fliers on some guys. But for goodness sakes, he needs to show some urgency and try something different. The season is slowly slipping away.

The biggest reason to think this season is drifting the wrong direction is the highly touted starting pitching. The starters have simply not been good enough. A pitching coach change —by most reports requested by the pitchers— was made, but Bill Murphy’s only benefit to date is his slow walk to the mound to give the next bum out of the bullpen more time to limber up their batting practice arm.

The pitching starts with Mr. Cy Young, Paul Skenes.

The Pirates have lost Skenes’ last six starts. Some because of Skenes, others because his defense, offense, and bullpen let him down. Fair or not, for the Pirates to climb out of the muck and challenge for a playoff spot they need vintage Skenes. His fastball hasn’t been as fast, his command —or lack thereof— is running up his pitch count, and he has had far more trouble putting hitters away. Why the loss of three to four miles per hour on the fastball only Skenes knows, but it seems to have made a bit of a difference. Again, it isn’t fair to Skenes —his ERA is 2.85 not 5.85— but the Pirates lean on him to lead the way. Five or six inning outings won’t cut it.

With the bullpen residing in Sucksville, the Pirates need far more innings —preferably quality innings— from the starters. That isn’t happening. In addition to Skenes rarely lasting past the sixth inning, Bubba Chandler has made it out of the fifth inning one time due to lack of command, Jared Jones is returning from essentially a two year injury and is on a limited pitch count, and Mitch Keller is disintegrating before our eyes.

Braxton Ashcraft was the ace of the staff until his last two outings. Ashcraft has been the only consistent innings eater on the staff. The starters must pitch deeper into games to prevent mass illness across Pittsburgh from watching the bullpen pitch too many innings.

I predicted the bullpen would be bad. It is.

I predicted the defense would be bad. It is.

Having said those two things, if the starters were pitching to expectation I wouldn’t be writing this column.

I think it is safe to say that —and I am figuring conservatively here— the bullpen has cost them at least three games. If the starters were performing as expected that would be three more games. Those six games would have them right on the heels of the Brewers for first place.

It won’t get easier. The Pirates have 29 games against division leaders and the Phillies. That doesn’t take into account countless series against teams like San Diego, St. Louis, both Chicago teams, Miami, and Washington. All of those teams are even or ahead of the Pirates in the standings.

In other words, it may not be the summer Pirates fans were hoping for in 2026. They got absolutely thumped last night by a team without a home.

The game pieces on the board are different this year. Bashing home runs and scoring more than three runs has been fun. However, failure to catch the ball, failure to preserve leads, and failure of starters to go deeper into games has left the Pirates game pieces in a similar spot on the standings board.

Of course, struggling to stay afloat is better than already sunk.

*Walking away and muttering, “Don’t be so pessimistic, but Henry Davis is hitting .135. Don’t be so pessimistic, but Marcel Ozuna is still on the roster. Don’t be so pessimistic, but Bob Nutting is still the owner. Ugh….

Tweet of the Week

If you listened to last week’s Musings of a Sports Fanatic podcast you heard my rant on this, but here is video proof. Dave Portnoy stated the most insufferable people he has ever met are career educators and that teachers wouldn’t survive in the real world. Here is Mr. Real World trying to pound in a nail.

 

 

The Weekly Shiny Penny

There may be no better moment in all of sports than the last seconds ticking off the clock and the ensuing celebration for the Stanley Cup champs. There is no more difficult championship to win, and the emotion these grown men let out is awesome.

 


A Penny For My Final Thoughts…

Some random thoughts this week…

  • I thought Carolina was the best team in the NHL this year, and they proved that fact. The Hurricane have been knocking at the door for some time, and stuck with the system they thought worked. Well deserved.
  • Jordan Staal won the Conn Smythe trophy becoming the third center from the 2009 Penguins to do so(Crosby, Malkin). Couldn’t happen to a better guy.
  • Carolina absolutely destroyed these playoffs, going 16-3 in all. Very impressive.
  • Did someone say 16-3? The New York Knicks did the same thing in the NBA playoffs. Not only that but when they closed out series it was by 51, 30, and 37 points.
  • Ironically, the Spurs should’ve, could’ve won every game in the Finals.
  • Wemby needs to toughen up mentally. He looked and sounded like a baby for much of the Finals.
  • The NHL has the handshake tradition, which is really cool. The NBA watched the Spurs walk off the court without shaking hands. I am fine with both.
  • I think Scottie Scheffler completes the career grand slam this week at Shinnedock Hills. This tournament, and more specifically this course, will make you grind. Scheffler is the king of grinding. If Bryson DeChambeau can get his putter going, he could contend. Rory, Cameron Young, and Ludvig Aberg could get in the mix. Hideki Matsuyama is also very steady and could be a long shot.
  • We could be headed towards an Oklahoma vs North Carolina CWS. Sure would be a shame if no SEC schools make it.
  • I’d like to recalibrate my NL Cy Young pick. Give it to Jacob Misiorowski right now. He threw a 95 pitch, 15 strikeout complete game this past week. The gas is more than legit.

 

I mentioned that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark would be put to the test with the Brendan Sorsby situation. Test passed. Sorsby entered his name into the NFL Supplemental Draft, ending the eligibility fiasco. Yormark did the right thing, and he once again proved he is the best of the conference commissioners.

  • Check out my Musings podcast later this week for my World Cup and UFC thoughts.
Just my two cents…