By Tim Clark / / Column, Tim's Two Cents
Two

If you are a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, you are conditioned to be a fool.

Charles Schultz must have had Pirates fans in mind when he created some of the Peanuts cartoons.

Since 1979 —the last time the Pirates ruled the baseball world— the Pirates have been Lucy and Pirates fans are Charlie Brown.

via GIPHY

In some form this has been the case for the past 47 years.

There was the drug scandals and outfields that included 30 pounds overweight Steve Kemp, Joggin’ —very slowly— George Hendricks, and Sixto Lezcano.

Then there was the dominant division winners of the early 1990’s, only to have Jose Lind, John McSherry, Randy Marsh,  Francisco Cabrera, Stan Belinda, and Sid “mo%^&*#@!%ing” Bream conspire to create the ultimate pull the ball away moment for Pirates fans.

That was followed by too many 100 loss seasons to count, with three 90+ win seasons mixed in only to end in one game  wildcards twice.

This year Ben Cherington and Bob Nutting have tag teamed Pirates fans into almost not falling for the Lucy gimmick anymore. It started with Cherington actually making a great trade in the offseason, followed by a great signing. Couple those acquisitions with a young guns pitching staff led by reigning Cy Young winner Paul Skenes and suddenly Pirates fans were finally going to kick that ball.

Alas…

 


Currently the Pirates are four games under .500 and 17 games out of first place. After being the last wildcard team three weeks ago, the Bucs are now 5.5 games out of the final wildcard. There are only 9 teams worse than the Pirates in all of baseball. In other words, the Pittsburgh Pirates are still the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Complete free fall.

How did it happen?

There is no denying the Pirates were hit by the injury bug more than most teams. The offense had been one of the best in baseball, even through most of the injuries.

 Konnor Griffin was the first to go. Griffin was developing into the star player all had hoped for. The bat was playing, the speed on the bases was impressive, and the defense was solid.

Fans waited, grumbling mightily along the way, for O’Neil Cruz to figure out his immense athletic ability. Hitting .200 and only mashing 20 home runs wasn’t going to cut it. Through 250 at bats this year he was hitting .264 with 14 home runs, 44 RBI, and 21 stolen bases. Down he went.

Spencer Horowitz proved me wrong by batting .280 and being an on base machine. Felled by a hamstring.

Ryan O’Hearn, he of the 17 home runs and 59 RBI, is on the IL for the second time and probably gone for the season.

The Pirates kept chugging on offense because of the pop from Brandon Lowe, the overall hitting of Bryan Reynolds, two actual .300 hitters in Jake Mangum and Nick Gonzalez, and the magic of 22 year old rookie Esmerlyn Valdez. Valdez had 14 home runs before you got back from the refrigerator with snacks.

The last month Lowe has been up and down, Reynolds went cold, and Valdez has crashed back to Earth. Meanwhile, Gonzalez and Mangum may be the dumbest .300 hitters in history. Mangum covers his stupidity with grit and hustle. Gonzalez proves his base running is as bad as his defense. His baseball IQ may actually be a negative number.

Si injuries and stupidity have taken there toll. So has a below average defense. The bullpen got fixed at the trade deadline, and on paper looks pretty solid. Unfortunately that happened about two or three months too late.

Still, the Pirates season isn’t turning sour because of those failures. The offense was good enough up until late July to overcome the bullpen and defense. The Pirates should have easily had a better record. Unfortunately the offense wasn’t good enough to overcome one unexpected weakness.

Starting pitching.

 

 

At the start of the season I suggested that many teams around baseball would like to have the Pirates pitching staff. Paul Skenes won the CyYoung a year ago, Bubba Chandler was a can’t miss prospect, Mitch Keller was the grizzled veteran, Braxton Ashcraft was another fireballing top prospect, and Jared Jones, who showed a ton of promise before his injury,  would be back in May.

All of them have had moments where all that promise is easy to see. Ashcraft, in particular, was stellar in the first half. Jones and Chandler have been good in short spurts. Keller was good for the first two months. The problem is when they were bad, they were very bad.

All that being said, the Pirates would still be in contention if Paul Skenes would have been Paul Skenes.

Instead Paul Skenes has resembled a fourth starter on a bad team. He rarely goes more than six innings, and that’s on a really good day. He has to lead the league in throwing non competitive pitches. His velocity is down, and his ERA is up. Way up.

Skenes doesn’t seem to have an answer, and he comes off as having a care less attitude kind of interviews. He ramped up early to be a true American and pitch in the silly, contrived World Baseball Classic. He is busy making commercials. His famous girlfriend demands attention. Skenes has become a below average pitcher and a marginally unlikable character.

Skenes jumps right to the head of the list for why the Pirates are fading well out of contention again this year. And 2026 becomes another in a long line of typically disappointing seasons. The difference this year was that this team looked like a playoff team through mid July. Truly. A potent offense, some cool stories uplifting the team just when needed, and a starting rotation that SHOULD have been the envy of baseball.

This is the Pirates universe we are talking about, so rather the Pirates got Skene’d. Lucy pulled that ball away once again, and all of the Charlie Brown Pirate fans went flying right back under that dark rain cloud.

Tweet of the Week

How fitting for my column. Mr. Nutting, what say you?

 


The Weekly Shiny Penny

Training camp heroes don’t always translate to meaningful games in the NFL. This guy will be good. Ja’Kobi Lane has always been a human highlight reel. I just wish he wasn’t wearing purple and black.

 


A Penny For My Final Thoughts…

Some random thoughts this week…

  • It is FedEx Cup time on the PGA Tour, and I continue to stand on that island of liking this format.
  • The Detroit Lions need a backup quarterback. The Steelers have too many quarterbacks. Mason Rudolph, come on down.
  • It was only a matter of time until a team showed interest in lunkhead of the year Terrion Arnold. Seattle may make a play.
  • Congress isn’t going to pass the Save College Athletic bill. Surprise, surprise.
Just my two cents…