Talking Baseball: Vol. 23

The Pittsburgh Pirates managed to get worse. Plus some thoughts on the MVP races, Shohei Ohtani pitching in relief and whether or not the Milwaukee Brewers can win it all this season.

If the Pittsburgh Pirates were a normal professional sports franchise it would not be hard to look at them this season, even with their current record and standing at the bottom of the National League Central standings, and find a lot of reasons to be excited about next season. You SHOULD be optimistic about some things.

• They have the best pitcher in baseball — and one of the best overall players in baseball — in Paul Skenes, whose career is off to an historic start that has been unmatched by pretty much every pitcher in the modern era of the sport. He is two years into his career and has already started two All-Star Games, has won the National League Rookie of the Year award and is likely to add a National League Cy Young Award to his resume in a few weeks. He leads the National League in Wins Above Replacement and will probably see his name show up on a few MVP ballots somewhere. The numbers are comically dominant. He might already be the best pitcher in the history of the franchise.

• The pitching staff as a whole has been very good. As of Thursday they are ninth in Major League Baseball in runs against per game and fifth in the National League, well ahead of several teams that are not only still competing for a playoff spot, but actually GOING to the playoffs, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays. It is a playoff caliber pitching staff. Right now. Today. As it is currently constructed.

• They also have two of the five-best prospects in baseball in infielder Konnor Griffin and pitcher Bubba Chandler, both of whom are knocking on the door of the Major Leagues. Chandler is already in the majors and holding his own. He figures to be a regular part of the rotation next season with Skenes, Mitch Keller and, hopefully, at some point, Jared Jones. They have more than enough starting pitching options to piece together a formidable staff. Griffin, meanwhile, is legitimately the BEST prospect in baseball and is absolutely humiliating Double-A pitching at the age of 19. I would give him a couple of games in the majors at the end of this season. He will be in the Majors at some point next season. If they were a serious franchise they would not rule out the possibility of him starting the season in the Major Leagues if he earns it in spring training.

All of those things should be seen as positives. Because, in theory, they are.

Invest some money this offseason and sign a bat or two. Swing a trade involving some of your pitching depth and land a bat.

Put together a competent lineup, or, hell, a good lineup, and seriously compete for a playoff spot.

It’s doable.

It SHOULD be doable.

It’s all right there on the table for them.

The problem is they should have done all of those things before THIS season.

And they did none of them.

All they did was trade Luis Ortiz for Spencer Horwitz and sign a couple of one-year veteran stopgaps, fielded one of the worst offenses in baseball, and watched as the one potential impact-talent they have among position players (Oneil Cruz) horribly regressed to the point where it’s worth questioning if he’s ever going to figure it out here. I think he will figure it out, but it might be with his next team. This is what the Pirates do.

It’s those realities that make it impossible to have even a sliver of optimism about the 2026 season.

What evidence is there to suggest Bob Nutting will invest money in the franchise? Every indication is that the budget and payroll for next season will be similar to this season, if not lower.

What evidence is there to suggest that even if the budget did increase that they have the people in positions of power to adequately spend it? If Ben Cherington returns as general manager there would be zero evidence for that.

The man has been a general manager for 10 seasons in Major League Baseball with the both the Pirates and Boston Red Sox. Here are where his teams finished with their divisions and in Major League Baseball league wide:

• 2012: Last place in the American League East and 24th out of 30 in Major League Baseball.

• 2013: First place in the American League East and 1st out of 30 in the Majors.

• 2014: Last place in the American League East and 25th out of 30 in the Majors.

• 2015: Last place in the American League East and 19th out of 30 in the Majors.

• 2020: Last place in the National League Central and 30th out of 30 in the Majors.

• 2021: Last place in the National League Central and 27th out of 30 in the Majors.

• 2022: Last place in the National League Central and 28th out of 30 in the Majors.

• 2023: Fourth place in the National League Central and 22nd out of 30 in the Majors.

• 2024: Fourth place in the National League Central and 23rd out of 30 in the Majors.

• 2025: Last place in the National League Central and 27th out of 30 in the Majors (as of now).

I am going to need some sort of documentary on that 2013 Boston Red Sox team that not only had the best record in baseball, but also won the World Series. Pennants fly forever, but given the rest of his track record as a GM in both a big market/big budget team and a small market/small budget team that is a pretty clear outlier in his career. In the nine other seasons with both Boston and Pittsburgh he has literally fielded nothing but some of the worst teams in baseball.

During his time with the Pirates he has lost pretty much every major trade he has made, the best position players he has acquired are probably limited to Joey Bart and Tommy Pham, and while the farm system has produced some solid pitchers, the position players are a travesty. Henry Davis is looking like one of the worst No. 1 overall picks ever. The current leader in Wins Above Replacement among position players this season is Jared Triolo. Every young prospect that has come through the system has regressed the closer they get to the majors, and completely flat-lined when they get to the majors. The only possible exception to that is Nick Gonzales, who is still a very below average Major League Baseball player.

Will Griffin ever reach his potential here? Or is he such a freak of a player like Skenes that not even this management team and franchise can mess him up?

Even if they move on from Cherington, what evidence is there to suggest that Nutting would hire the right person or give THEM the resources they need?

There is not much.

It’s a brutal situation.

I feel worse about the Pirates now than I did at any point in the run of 20 consecutive losing seasons, and in some ways the presence of players like Skenes, Chandler and Griffin is what makes it worse. I know they have a chance to be stars. Or perhaps even superstars. Skenes already is. Despite that, I already know how it is going to end with them. They will not win here. They will not be here for very long. Or long enough. The sand is already running out of the hourglass in regards to Skenes, and they’ve already wasted two of his seasons.

There’s just so much more that they need in terms of offense to even get close to a serious level for contention. The only player on the roster with an OPS+ over 100 (100 being a league average hitter) is Horwitz at 107. That’s it.

Playoff teams typically have at least five or six guys over 100 and at least a couple over 120. Usually at least one in the 130-140 range or above.

The Pirates have nothing like that.

I think it is reasonable to expect that Bryan Reynolds is better next season.

Maybe Cruz realizes his potential.

Maybe Griffin comes up and is a star.

But those are some big ifs and maybes, and even then it’s probably not enough.

They have the likely Cy Young Award winner for a full season, an above average pitching staff and are going to win fewer games than they did the previous two years. The whole thing is unacceptable. It is all hopeless.

But enough about them. Let’s talk some more baseball stuff, including the increasingly boring MVP debates and whether or not the Milwaukee Brewers can win it all this season. I respect them. I am jealous of them. But I have some doubts.

The MVP discussions are boring — because they are over