PHOTO BY DAVE DICELLO
The beauty of baseball is eventually you know the outcome, one way or the other, because teams can’t fake their way through 162 games.
The beauty of this year’s Pirates, their lone saving grace, as it turns out, is they didn’t need nearly that many games to reveal themselves.
Through the first 107 the Bucs were masquerading as a contender at 55-52 and well within reach of a playoff spot no less an authority than owner Bob Nutting had publicly characterized as “attainable.”
They even added at the trade deadline, implying that they were actually trying this time.
Then came a stretch that saw the Bucs drop 14 of 17, including 10 in a row from Aug. 4-14.
After that, the thought of reaching the postseason was laughable.
At least they can stop wasting everyone’s time as Steelers season beckons.
Wait ’til next year.
This year went off the rails honestly, because of poor performance, poor coaching and poor general managing, a trifecta of ineptitude.
The poor play wasn’t entirely attributable to a lack of talent reflective of a low payroll. David Bednar, a two-time All-Star and at one time one of the game’s better closers, imploded when the Pirates needed him most.
Wednesday’s latest late-inning collapse, when the Bucs somehow turned a 10-3, seventh-inning lead into a 14-10 loss to Chicago, included Bednar blowing another save by allowing five earned runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Bednar’s 6.32 ERA is on Bednar, not Nutting.
The ship also sank because of the Bucs’ inability to play the type of sound, fundamental skill level that baseball teams of limited talent due to minimal investment have to play if they hope to overachieve. The examples are as numerous as the throws Pirates’ outfielders make to the wrong base.
Wednesday certainly had its share, including first baseman Connor Joe inexplicably failing to turn a double play that would have stopped the Cubs’ six-run, ninth-inning rally before it got started.
Other unforgivable gaffes of recent vintage stand out even for these Bad News Bucs.
Allowing two runs to score on the same wild pitch on Aug. 24 (a 10-2 loss to the Reds), surrendering eight stolen bases on eight attempts on Monday night (an 18-8 loss to the Cubs), and striking out a combined 43 times while being swept at home by the Padres (Aug. 6-8) qualify as such.
All of that, ultimately, is on manager Derek Shelton.
Recent reinforcements from Class AAA Indianapolis, meanwhile, include Billy McKinney and Brady Feigl.
McKinney, an outfielder/first baseman who celebrated his 30th birthday shortly after joining the Pirates, is a former first-round pick of the A’s (2013). He played previously albeit briefly for the Yankees, Blue Jays, Brewers, Mets, Dodgers, A’s and Yankees again, and dragged a career batting average of .209 through 311 Major League games with him to Pittsburgh.
Feigl, a left-handed pitcher, made his Major League debut on Monday night at 33 years and 243 days old.
After allowing seven hits and six earned runs in 1.2 innings, Feigl was designated for assignment on Tuesday at 33 years, 244 days old.
Next.
Call-ups such as that make the likes of Jake Woodford and Alika Williams seem like Major Leaguers, almost.
All of that is on General Manager Ben Cherington.
The fiasco that is switching Oneil Cruz from shortstop to centerfield is on everyone.
The Pirates haven’t mangled the handling of a prized prospect this badly since they played former first-overall selection Henry Davis in the outfield last season and then switched him back to catcher this season.
If it wasn’t so incredibly difficult they’d probably switch him to first base.
Can’t anyone here play this game?
At least they still have Paul Skenes (for perhaps as many as three more seasons after this one).
But when Skenes is only allowed to throw 82 pitches through five innings, it inhibits rather than enhances the Pirates’ chances for victory.
Skenes is one of the best prospects the Pirates have ever had.
He might yet win National League Rookie of the Year.
And still the Pirates will have to go 15-14 the rest of the way once they resume play on Friday night in Cleveland to better last season’s disappointing 76-86 finish.
They’re 7-19 since 55-52 and coming off, in the estimation of SportsNet Pittsburgh play-by-play man Greg Brown, “One of the worst losses in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates.”
He might not have been exaggerating.
Shelton didn’t appear to be when he acknowledged on SportsNet Pittsburgh, “I don’t know that I’ve been as pissed as I am right now.”
The Pirates hadn’t blown a seven-run, seventh-inning lead at home since 1961, so such a reaction is understandable.
They hadn’t ever allowed 41 runs in a three-game series at home before the Cubs came to town.
They have now.
We can wait around until the end of the season to see how this ultimately plays out if we must, but we already know who and what the Pirates are:
Not good enough.
Not by a long shot.
Again.
Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.
Categories: Mike Prisuta’s Sports Section
Tags: Pittsburgh Pirates
