Many say that the Pirates are bad at developing position players. They point to the many failures over the past 2 to 3 years. I believe the Pirates make poor decisions. They choose the wrong ways to handle and play their players. I do not think I would classify this as bad coaching either. That is not to say that the Pirate coaching staff is doing a good job. Coaching is harder if a player is not put in the position he should be playing. Players can only do what an organization asks them to do. In other words, the Pirate management team are these players’ bosses. It is these decision makers that should no longer be around when this season is over. I am going to go down a list of players whom I think were handled poorly. In other words, the Pirate organization did not put them in the best position to succeed. In one final example, I will show that the Pirates are just petty and mean-spirited.
Let’s start with Oneil Cruz. He has had the most disappointing season of any Pirate and that is saying something. Oneil Cruz was coming off a horrific broken ankle leg going into the 2024 season. Going into that season the Pirates should have made the decision right then to move him to the outfield. Outfield is much less stressful on the lower body. This was a player who was having problems playing shortstop even before he broke his leg. When the Pirates finally did put him in the outfield at the end of 2024 they put him in the wrong position. They should have put him in right field. Why would you put a player with defensive issues in one of the most important defensive positions on the field. The Padres put Fernando Tatis Jr. in right field and he thrived. Despite the mishandling Cruz had a decent year at the plate. He was 15 % better at the plate than your average major league hitter with an OPS+ of 115. He started this year in centerfield and has generally struggled. He got off to a decent start at the plate until the Pirates made another bad move. They decided to bat him lead off. Essentially he has not been the same since. His OPS+ this year is 91. If the Pirates ever wake up which is unlikely they will move him to right field. They did the same thing with Jack Suwinski, putting him in the lead off spot last year. They tried to make both players into Kyle Schwarber. They did not have enough sense to realize there will only be one Kyle Schwarber. That is how special he is. The other disappointing player is Henry Davis. Davis looks terrible at the plate. I look him up on You Tube. He was one of the best college hitters in the country when he played for Louisville. When he hit at Louisville there were 2 distinct differences in his batting stance. His stance was more open than it is now by about 6 inches. His stance was wider than what it is now. You would think someone would just tell him to go back to that. He could not do any worse. Do the Pirates know there is such a thing as You Tube?
The Pirates make even worse decisions when they bring someone up from the minors. The Pirates’ bats have not performed well. If a player is called up and he is swinging a hot bat in AAA, you should put him in the lineup. That’s what you would think. It never happened. Nick Solak was hitting over .350 and had an OBP of well over .400 when he was called up on May 16th. He was sent back down on June 3rd. The Pirates played 17 games in that span. He played in 4 games. He has not been heard from since, even though his current slash line is .328/.411/.494. I know he is 30 years old, but come on, give him a legitimate shot. What have you got to lose? Matt Gorski was up for 20 games; he played in 15 games, but one he did not bat in. In another game, he batted once. He only had 3 or more at-bats in 8 games. Liover Peguero was brought up earlier this year on May 2. The Pirates played 9 games. He appeared in 4 games, getting to bat 9 times. Billy Cook was up for a brief time and went 2 for 6, never to be seen again. Cam Devanney is getting playing time; however, he played most of the year at shortstop at AAA. The Pirates put him at 3rd base. Nick York played 6 games at 1st base out of the 103 games he played for Indianapolis. He has been at first base 6 out of the 13 games he has played for the Pirates. I do not know how much this affects a player’s hitting. However, playing young players at positions that are not their main positions can’t help. Another thing that does not help a player develop is not letting him face the same-side pitcher. Especially this time of year, the Pirates, have nothing to play for. Not allowing Oneil Cruz, Jack Suwinski, and Spencer Horwitz to hit against left-handed pitching about 90% of the time is not helping these players at all. Oneil Cruz, before the Pirates messed him up, was hitting left-handed pitching well in the last half of 2024. How can you expect players to improve and get better if you never put them in a position to get better? You would think the Pirate organization would want their young players to succeed. Maybe it just seems like they don’t.
Then there is the case of Tommy Pham. Pham was our “big” free-agent signing. He got off to a horrible start. He was fitted with some special contacts because of some strange corneal condition he has. Once he could see, he went on a six-week tear. He was one of the best hitters in baseball at the trade deadline. The other appealing factor about Pham is he has great playoff numbers. He has had 136 plate appearances in the playoffs with a slash line of .315/.331/.492. He has hit 6 homers and driven in 12 runs during the postseason. It is hard to believe that there was not one of the contenders that was interested in him. Then on the last weekend where a player could be eligible for the playoffs, the Pirates waived Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He was picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays. IKF is headed for the playoffs. The Pirates could have done the same thing with Tommy Pham. Instead, they pretty much said you’re not playing in the postseason. I do not think this went unnoticed by Mr. Pham. Since that weekend, Pham has a slash line of .145/.277/.255. The Pirates were fine getting nothing for IKF. Now he has a legitimate chance of playing in the World Series. In my view, the Pirates are telling Pham, “screw you, buddy,” for having such a bad opening 2 and a half months of the season. It shows that the Pirates are being run by very small people. Let’s hope they are not around by October 1.
We have only 9 games to go. Three at home and then 6 on the road. Don’t expect to see much improvement down this stretch. Ninety-plus losses seem like a given. Hopefully, the Pirates will find someone to manage and develop players. With just an average offense, this team should be able to make the playoffs. That, to me, is not a tall order. It is just that this regime is so incompetent. They will have the worst offense in baseball this year by a wide margin. Somebody please find some bats. We have the pitching staff. I feel there will be hope if there is a proper house cleaning at the end of the season. With this owner I am not too sure this will happen.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 