We've now reached the point in the season where the Pirates have fallen so far that they're looking to sell at the deadline. Which...makes me sad but is understandable.
The Pirates' ascent was puzzling, because it was an ascent that happened while the team was still at a preliminary development stage, and were still gradually bringing people up and setting pieces into their place. I think the biggest indication that the Pirates at least want to build on this year even if it's not a year that they make October was the fact that, once the lead started slipping, people like Henry Davis, Jared Triolo, Nick Gonzales, Endy Rodriguez, Quinn Priester and Carmen Moldzinski started coming up. If people are gonna be dealt, it's alright if the roster's a little fatty, and it's alright if young people start getting reps. Some of these guys have actually been doing well- Davis is hitting .284, Triolo's hitting .288. For the most part, a lot of them are a little slower getting used to the bigs, but that's understandable for this point in the rebuild.
I think what made the Pirates' lead unsustainable was a combination of two factors. Firstly, a lot of the bigger pieces this team had initially were injury-prone almost immediately. Both Oneil Cruz and J.T. Brubaker were lost causes from the very beginning of the year. Ke'Bryan Hayes has also been injured for stretches of the year, Ji-Man Choi also missed months with injuries [more examples of the Rays magic wearing off the second they leave the team], and both Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen were hurt for weeks this year.
The second factor is that a lot of the people this team was resting on in the first half were unreliable, chiefmost Vince Velasquez. When you're riding high on Vince Velasquez to keep being good, it's never gonna go well. Ask Philly, San Diego and Chicago, he did the same thing there. He fell off and got hurt. Rich Hill did something similar. Colin Holderman, who's never been spectacular, was the top reliever of the first few months, and now he's leveled off, his ERA near 4, his WHIP near 1.5. Several of the people who provided some semblance of consistency for this team in May, like Jason Delay, Rodolfo Castro, Luis Ortiz and Josh Palacios, are now in the minors.
So the Pirates are thinking of going into 'well, that didn't work' mode, and that might mean dealing people. They've made David Bednar available, and while I hope they're able to keep him, Bednar is one of the best closers on the market, and he'd be an excellent relief asset to anyone looking. They might also listen to offers on Carlos Santana, though they'd need to be really confident that Ji-Man Choi can still play first in order for that to happen. The good news is that the Pirates have refused offers on Andrew McCutchen, saying they'd prefer to keep him in Pittsburgh for the rest of the season, which is a classy move. Not sure if that classiness will spread to the team's first ever 2-time All-Star reliever, but...again, I get it.
I do kinda hope the Pirates can improve somewhat, even if I'm not sure if they're a contender anymore. I at least want them to end the year with dignity rather than losing 100 or so games again. I think they have enough working right now to ensure that, but you never know what they'll do in the name of draft picks.
Coming Tomorrow- Speaking of draft picks, he was drafted last year and he's already playing shortstop for a 3rd place team.
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