Gift Wrapped

Gift Ngoepe is the first-ever African-born MLB player, and he's made his debut in this 2017 season.

So that is ONE good thing that's happened so far to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Look, I was expecting a drop-off...but not like this. It's just people named Josh and pitchers that are doing well. That's about it. Josh Bell, Josh Harrison, Gerrit Cole, Ivan Nova, pre-diagnosis Jameson Taillon, Tony Watson. That is basically it.

It's very sad, because when I saw these guys last year, this was a team that was only a few steps away from competing again. Now, thanks to the steroids-related loss of Starling Marte, the complete implosion of the starting lineup, and just some lazy moves, this team's gone even deeper into the ground, and made things even sadder for someone like Gift Ngoepe, who's just trying to make it in the bigs for his country. It's hard to do well for your own merits when your team's tanking.

I want the Pirates to be awesome, like usual, but there's so much they've done to THEMSELVES that's getting in the way. I'll just have to watch them struggle, which is sad.

Coming Tonight: Taking over as top-starter for Jered Weaver...and doing a pretty nice job so far.