If you would have told me I would be typing this when I released my previous blog back on July 31st, I would have thought that you were playing some sick, twisted joke on me. But, no, no, this is very real. Since then, the Pittsburgh Pirates have played 17 games. They have lost 14 of them. 7 of the losses by 1 run. Before this past Friday, they had lost 10 straight. Today, on August 19, they are officially in last place in the NL Central and 7.5 games out of the NL Wild Card race.
Angry, sad, shocked, confused, are some of the words to describe the way that I have felt over the past couple weeks, but at this point I really have no more words to say. I feel like I’m almost going through a breakup. Not to mention the fashion that they are losing the games. Gut punch after gut punch, then the eventual KO. I could go through every managerial mistake, bullpen blowups, pitching disasters, defensive miscues, offensive disappearances, but this blog would be 15 pages long. I also think I may throw my computer monitor out of the window in front of me.
Whoever you want to point fingers at whether it is Derek Shelton, Ben Cherington, Bob Nutting, the players, I think we can all agree that SOMETHING has to change. MLB.com just released their farm system rankings for this year and the Pirates landed at 20th. Granted Paul Skenes and Jared Jones are not included in that, but we are in year 5 of the rebuild. YEAR 5. Their highest ranked prospect is RHP Bubba Chandler who is at #41 of MLB’s top 100 prospects. Their highest ranked position player prospect is a kid who they drafted just last month out of high school, Konnor Griffin, who lands at #55. Another note, Dejan Kovacevic of DK Pittsburgh Sports wrote in an article the other day, “…while the Pirates rank fourth in the majors in hitter strikeouts, Class AA Altoona leads its league in Ks, Class A Greensboro’s second, and Class A Bradenton’s first.” (Here is the link if you would like to read the whole thing: https://www.
I could go on and on about this team, but then I might have to start going on blood pressure medication and I don’t want to do that.
Let’s Go Bucs. I guess.
Jarrett