FanPost

Pirates in the Tank

"Also it’s opening day and I don’t care.

And that makes me sad."

-Facebook Message from an old friend.

One of my best friends is a Pirates fan. He is a huge Pittsburgh sports fan. We were roommates when I lived in Chicago. The day I moved in, having had maybe one phone call with him and exchanging a few emails; shortly after I got my stuff into the apartment, he cornered me—manically asking with wide bright blue eyes, if I wanted to watch his 2005 or 2008 Steelers Super Bowl DVD. A few months later, quarterback Tony Pike marched the ball down the field, as time expired, completing U.C.’s epic comeback over Pitt, to claim sole ownership of the Big East title that seasons. We still really can’t talk about that.

He was down on baseball when I met him, but the 2013-2015 seasons brought him back to the fold. The prospect of another lengthy rebuild after such lackluster results in the "good years", has left him cynical and pretty disenfranchised from baseball. When baseball loses a super-sports fan like him, that is troubling. As a kid, baseball was his favorite sport to play. His dad had Pirates season tickets and he spent much of his summers at Three Rivers Stadium. Baseball hasn’t lost him because he has a short attention span, (he spent months in Philadelphia sifting three 200-300 year old documents to write his 300 page dissertation) baseball has lost him because he is fed up with his team being third class. Watching teams like the Cubs, (who came up the year after the Pirates did, but unlike the Pirates their window does not appear to be closing anytime soon) adding high-priced free agents that moves the needle from playoff contender to World Series favorite, extending their window, opening it earlier and keeping it open longer, while his favorite team maybe gets 3 or 4 years, and everything has to go right for that 3 to 4 year window to happen.

My friend still lives in Chicago, which means he is bombarded by the Cubs. In the offseason, when the Cubs are acquiring guys like John Lester, John Lackey, Ben Zoborist, Yu Darvish, etc, he is watching the Pirates either trade away guys like Cole or pick up meddling free agents like Francisco Liriano or Edinson Volquez. The Pirates, like the Reds, have to take calculated risks. It is the hidden expense of being poor.

In many ways, the Pirates are a more extreme version of the Reds. We all know that just a few years ago, there were Americans who could legally buy a drink who had not witnessed a winning Pirates season in their life time. Being in the same division as Cincinnati, the Reds futile run from 1996-2009 with just 2 winning seasons and no playoff appearances is quickly forgotten when compared to the Pirates historic period of futility. Neither team has won a playoff series (I’m not counting the Pirates one game Wild Card victory over Cincinnati in 2013) since the early/mid 90s. In September of 2015, a dirty slide by a Cubs thug, leveled a devastating knee injury on Pirate shortstop Kang, which was there version of losing Cueto in game one of the NLDS. The Cubs went on to beat the Pirates in the one game play-in Wild Card game. Really it is worse, because it is the rich kid beating up the poor kid.

The Pirates, like the Reds, highlight the problems of baseball’s resource distribution. The Pirates, after 21 years of being in the wilderness, had three good seasons that ended in either the Wild Card game or the NLDS, only to see their window slam shut. The Pirates have sold off fan favorites like Garret Cole (who just dominated in his first start for Houston) and Andrew McCutchen. It really sucks, when your team is relegated to producing good players, other teams will trade for.

Position Players:

https://rotochamp.com/baseball/TeamPage.aspx?TeamID=PIT

What will my commentary add? I find their starting 8 so boring, you can just click the link above. Josh Harrison is still around and he is a Cincinnati guy. But, their line up looks pretty weak, and not good enough to hold up pedestrian pitching staff.

Starting Rotation:

Ivan Nova

Trevor Williams

Chad Kuhl

Jameson Taillon

Joe Musgrove

Ivan Nova is the definition of boring. With a career ERA of 4.27, he is basically Mike Leake with a little better fastball, but not the same predictable year to year stats. Meh, boring, he will retire and nobody will care except Nova, and Nova’s agent who only remembers Nova when he gets his cut of Nova’s contract.

Trevor Williams, I haven’t really heard of him. The Pirates acquired him in the most Marlins/Pirates trade ever, for a (still) minor leaguer named Richard Mitchell. Williams is not interesting, his ceiling is Mike Leake.

Chad Kuhl, I also haven’t heard of him. Basically everything I said above about Williams applies to Kuhl, except Kuhl was drafted by the Pirates.

Jameson Taillon is the ace, and is being held to start the Pirates home opener. Since Taillon is pretty good, you can expect the Pirates to trade him for somebody who won’t command nearly as much in arbitration. Taillon has a history of throwing hard, striking out about a batter an inning, not walking too many, and controlling the home run ball. Yeah, they’ll trade him, probably soon, likely next off season.

Joe Musgrove, the disappointing (to Pirates fans, rather than their stingy ownership) returning for former staff ace, Cole. His name seems generic, based on his name. I’m not excited for his future.

Not listed, Tyler Glasgow. He is basically their Robert Stephenson, once a highly rated prospect who throws hard, but walks too many, and can’t command his stuff enough to get strike outs.

The Bullpen:

The bullpen is pretty meh, and is filled with generic guys we’ve never heard of and who we will forget shortly after the Pirates leave town. George Kenton’s is one of their most experienced relievers, and he was selected off waivers from the Giants last year, and looks like he is on the down hill side of a decent career. Most of the Pirates relievers are in their mid to late 20s, with little experience and little upside.

Closer Felipe Rivero is the exception. Oddly enough the Pirates actually got some value in their 2016 trade of Mark Melancon, so that is something. Last year he struck out 10.5/9IP while walking 2. His average fastball was 98.8 MPH last season and he was no stranger to triple digits, running it up to 103 MPH. As he will be arbitration eligible for the first time after this season, look for the Pirates to trade him for a minor leaguer or a guy who will earn league minimum.

Conclusion:

The Pirates, like the Reds, are hard on their fans. The Pirates are more blatant though, and have less good will in their community. The Reds at least seem to sorta try and win, where the Pirates seem to just be the rest of baseball’s farm system, while gladly cashing their revenue sharing and media checks. It is hard to continue to invest time and energy in a sport that stacks the deck against your favorite team.

Rob Manafort is an asshole, perhaps a bigger asshole than Bud Selig. My friend has soured on baseball not because the games take too long, my friend has soured on baseball because baseball has actively alienated him as a Pirates fan. The Pirates got smart at the end of the era of poor teams getting smart. There was a brief golden age in the early part of this decade, where poor teams were (usually) smarter than rich teams, which reaped benefits for the Reds, Pirates, Rays, and Royals. Suddenly the Cubs, Dodgers, and Yankees realized they were spending their money stupidly. Why were they spending their money on expensive and (usually) over the hill free agents, for mediocre results while teams like the Reds out performed them with mostly arbitration eligible and league minimum players, with a few select trades for veterans and/or free agent signings (Scott Rolen, Edinson Volquez, Franciso Liriano)? Those teams fired their stupid general managers and replaced them with smart general managers, or in the Yankees case Brian Cashman evolved.

Rather than fixing problems that don’t exist, like 6 mound visits a game, or no pitch intentional walks, or maybe in the future extra innings opening with a man on second, Manafort should be focusing on maintaining and building fan bases in the second tier markets like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Twin Cities, etc. Relative to the size of their market, the Reds get great TV ratings and they punch above their weight in attendance during the good seasons. But, again the system is stacked against Cincinnati. It would be good for baseball to focus on a nationwide plan, as we all have TV’s and internet. If baseball continues as it is right now, it will become a costal game with the exception of Texas, Chicago, and St. Louis (who some how defy all odds as a small market team that wins year after year).

The Reds and Pirates combined for 8 winning seasons in the last 20 years, with 6 playoff appearances, and have won 0 playoff series. In that same period of time the Yankees have 20 winning seasons, have won 100+ games 5 times, have 16 playoff appearances, have gone to the World Series 6 times, and have won the World Series 3 times. The Yankees are freaks of baseball and were before free agency. In the last 20 years the Dodgers have 17 winnings seasons, 9 playoff appearances, gone to the World Series once, but a Championship has remained elusive. Why should Cincinnati fans, or Pittsburgh fans, or Minnesota fans continue to care?