(Publisher’s Note: This “Dummies” guide is offered to baseball fans who will, at the very least, continue making the occasional trip to PNC Park and watching the televised ballgames only because Pirates ownership must believe that’s what we are — dummies.)
Introduction
“They’re goin’ suck,” is the easy call, and yup, that’s what most baseball fans of the Pirates are thinking already. Considering all the usual signs, who can blame them when salary dumps are far more frequent than roster-bolstering additions?
The question, unfortunately, for most of us is not if this rag-tag team will finish above .500, but instead how far above 100 losses will prove to be the reality. Spring training sure hasn’t offered much hope what with the ballclub collecting a 2-8-1 record heading into today’s split-squad games against the Phillies and Braves.
The fan base does not know new manager Derek Shelton, and it’s apparent the front office people don’t know three players on the 40-man roster since headshots do not appear in the team’s online site, and that includes alleged closer Keone Kela.
Does the Payroll Matter?
Um, yup it does, especially at this time.
For most baseball fans these days, looking at the bottom line represents Step No. 1 to this process, and that is because the expenditures reveal the owner’s commitment to winning. That’s not good news for fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it’s a fact.
Since the Nutting family of Wheeling, owners of the local newspapers and a plethora more across the state and country bought into the franchise in February 1996, the Pirates have posted only four winning seasons. From 2013-2015, they at least qualified for a National League Wild Card Game and lost one division series to the Cardinals, and in 2018, somehow, a depleted Pittsburgh ball club registered an 82-80 record.
But last season? Not so much. Although the Bucs completed the first half with a 44-45 mark and were a game out of first place, a 25-48 second half, including an 8-18 record in July, erased the chance for anything good but promised anger and angst from a frustrated fan base forced to witness a 69-93, last-place season while the ball club was outscored by 153 runs.
In 1997, the Pirates dumped down to a $9.5 million team payroll (yes, for 25 players), but it was a season dubbed the “Freak Show” because Jason Kendall, Tony Womack, and Al Martin led the club to a second-place finish with 79-83 mark.
Heading into the 2020 campaign, the Pirates’ payroll again is at baseball’s bottom at about $60 million, but is a “Freak Show” encore possible?
Who’s on the Roster?
Josh Bell, Brian Reynolds, Colin Moran, Adam Frazier, Kevin Newman, and Gregory Polanco are the names of position players fans recall along with pitchers Trevor Williams, Chris Archer, and Joe Musgrove. The marketing team will promote outfielder Jarod Dyson, too, because of his speed, but with a career .247 batting average in 10 seasons, it appears he’s a quick out, too.
The rest of the players now attending spring training are reclamation-player projects or alleged prospects from a farm system depleted by terrible transactions orchestrated by former general manager Neal Huntington. New GM Ben Cherington did have success in Boston, but with the Red Sox he had the luxury of, well, money to spend to win instead of the fake-and-make approach in Pittsburgh.
Bell will be paid $4.9 million this season after a breakout year with a career-best .277 batting average with 37 doubles and 37 homers, so yes, he’ll likely be the next player to be exported for cheaper bodies. The switch-hitting Reynolds paced the Pirates with a .314 average in 129 games in his rookie season, so if you are looking to buy a cheap jersey at Walmart, he’s your best bet because he’ll remain under team (ownership) control for two more years before becoming eligible for arbitration.
Polanco? His big-league career is on the line in 2020 after he missed 206 games the past three seasons because of injuries, so the No. 1 question about the right fielder is, “How long can he stay on the field?” His 2020 salary is $8.6 million, and that is scheduled to increase to $11.6 million in 2021, so if he starts this season hot at the plate and not a complete disaster in the outfield, he could precede Bell on the trading block.
This season will be do-or-die on the mound for Musgrove and Williams, two right-handed hurlers who have shown both brilliance and befuddlement on the hill. Musgrove posted an 11-12 mound mark with 4.44 ERA in 31 starts and 178.1 innings, and Williams was 7-9 with a much-too-high 5.38 ERA in 26 starts and 145.2 innings. If the Pirates are going to be respectable at least, it’s these two starters who must give the ball club a chance to win when it’s their turn in the rotation.
Is It Big-League Baseball or Bush League?
Unfortunately for the fan base, the Bucs have become far too similar to the Washington Wild Things and the Wheeling Nailers, and that means the rosters are without a single player pleased to be playing where he is right now. All the members of the Wild Things wish to be noticed by a pro scout so they can hightail it out of “Little Worshington” to greener pastures, and hockey in Wheeling is all about development with a promotion to the AHL with the next step to the show.
See, here’s the thing: The five-time world champ Pittsburgh Pirates are supposed to be THE SHOW, but I’m willing to wager the players pray to follow Andrew McCutchen, Gerrit Cole, and Starling Marte straight out of the ‘Burgh. It is true, each of these players wishes to secure financial security for life by playing a game for 10-or-so seasons, but it is also true that winning makes it fun, and the misery of losing causes clubhouse brawls (Felipe Vasquez vs. Steven Brault), misguided terminations (Clint Hurdle), and dress codes that somehow allow banning critical apparel that expresses (“Spend Nutting Win Nutting”) fan frustration.
Conclusion
Miracles do happen (right, Al Michaels?), but at this time the average player payroll in the majors in 2020 will be about $130 million (with the Yankees spending $220 million) and the Pirates’ payroll, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, won’t even be half that amount. That means the marathon that is a 162-game schedule could feel everlasting until, of course, the NFL preseason begins in August.
