Talking Baseball: Vol. 13

The Pittsburgh Pirates need an intervention, or something.

Things were looking promising for the Pittsburgh Pirates through the end of July.

They had just taken two out of three games from a Houston Astros team that was one of the hottest teams in baseball at the time, they were three games over .500, in the middle of an 18-game stretch where they were 13-5, and had pulled to within a game of a Wild Card spot.

Even more, they were actually BUYERS at the trade deadline.

Sure, they might have half-assed that buying and traded for the lesser of the two Miami outfielders that was traded (Bryan De La Cruz instead of Jazz Chisholm) and not really added a difference-maker, but they did something.

In all honesty, the vibes and feelings around the team were probably as good as they have been since their most recent playoff appearance during the 2015 season when the team won 98 games. The stage seemed to be set for at least an interesting month of August and perhaps a push into September.

And then the real Pirates showed up.

They have proceeded to go 7-18 over the month of August, including the most recent embarrassment that was a three-game sweep at the hands of the Chicago Cubs that saw them give up 41 runs, including 14 in a game where they blew a 10-3 lead in a game that Paul Skenes started.

It would be unbelievable if it wasn’t so expected.

Every good vibe and piece of excitement that was built up throughout July was just thrown into a trash compactor and then set on fire. The difference in atmosphere in PNC Park between some of those July games against Philadelphia and St. Louis, compared to the atmosphere on Monday night against the Cubs, could not have been a bigger 180.

The buzz was gone. The excitement turned into apathy. It wasn’t even frustration because everybody just seemed used to it and ready for it.

It is also not just any one single aspect of the team that has failed to produce that apathy.

It has been the bullpen. It has been the once reliable starting pitching. It has been the offense. It has been the manager. It has just been everything. It’s all junk at this point, outside of a handful of bright spots in Cruz, Reynolds and Skenes.

It is also the type of collapse that should lead to sweeping changes throughout the organization. You can not go forward with these same people in charge with this little progress.

Let’s start with manager Derek Shelton, who might actually be the least of the problems.