August Woes: The Pirates are Sinking Fast and Looking for Answers
Heading into the 2021 season, we all knew that the Pittsburgh Pirates would once again be one of the worst teams in all of baseball. After finishing 19-41 the year before, the Pirates traded Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, and Joe Musgrove as General Manager Ben Cherington does his best to rebuild a farm system that was ranked near the bottom of the league last season. He has done wonders for the system so far, raising them to a top-5 farm system in the MLB, but many of those prospects won't be ready for a couple of seasons. With no depth in Triple-A, the Major League team is suffering big time. They have no reinforcements for struggling players and are left with having to grab players off the waiver wire and hoping that they turn out.
On July 31st, the Pirates were bad but they still sat at 40-64, and you thought there would be a shot at them not losing 100 games. At that point, they had to go 23-36 to avoid losing 100 games, and honestly, at that point, it looked doable. However, as we stand on August 19th, the Pirates have gone 2-16 in the month of August dropping their record to a more dismal looking 42-79. If they want to avoid 100 losses now, they will have to go 21-20. They have not played better than .500 ball since April, and there looks to be no chance of them starting to now. Whether it be a lack of talent or the fact that the team has thrown in the towel already in 2021, the Pirates are looking for some hope to turn them around. Today, we look at what has gone wrong in April and whether or not there is anything to look at as a positive as the Pirates head into 2022.
Free Falling in August
As we stated before, the Pirates have been really bad in the month of August, and it has begun to take a toll. In total, they have lost 22 of their last 28 games, and it has been a combination of hitting, pitching, and relief that has sunk the ship. If we look at the team stats for the month of August, the Pirates rank 30th in the MLB in Batting Average (.207) and 27th in team ERA (6.37). During this five-game losing streak, the Pirates have failed to score more than three runs in a game, and have been outscored 23-5 by both the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The pitching has been just as bad, posting a dismal 5.41 ERA over their last seven games. One of the big problems is that the young stars on this team aren't adjusting after other teams have started to figure them out.
On the offensive side, the biggest letdown to this point has been infielder Ke'Bryan Hayes. After bursting onto the scene last year, Hayes has dealt with injuries all season and when he has been in the lineup he hasn't been that strong. In 245 at-bats this season, Hayes is hitting just .253 with five home runs and 25 RBI. Some of his offensive struggles are due to the wrist injury, but others are because the league has adjusted to him. On the pitching side of things, JT Brubaker has gone from breakout guy to struggling pitcher. After pitching to a 2.58 ERA in the middle of May, things have gone downhill as of late. Over his last three starts, he has a 13.50 ERA in 14.0 innings of work. He has allowed five earned runs or more each time out and just looks gassed on the mound. He has gone from 47.1 innings of work last year to 116.1 innings this season, and that jump is beginning to take a toll on him.
The other thing that has been a problem is something you don't see on the stat sheet, the players look defeated. Now, that's not to say that they aren't trying, but it seems like they are defeated before they even take the field. When I played football in high school and college, our coach would tell us to give the opposing team that "here we go again" feeling by scoring early. It seems to me that the Pirates have had this feeling since the calendar flipped to August. With the Pirates being behind in so many games, this sense of "here we go again" not only affects the fans but the players as well. The difference is that a fan can turn off the game while a player has to stick through it. The Pirates have to find a way out of that "woe is me" rutt, and that means bringing the clubhouse together and finding a way through this.
Looking For Signs of Hope
The one thing that all Pirates fans are looking for over this final month of the season is something positive to hold on to. Even though there has been an overwhelming amount of bad this season, there have also been some positives to look at. While the pitching staff has been mostly disappointing, even guys like JT Brubaker and Wil Crowe have had stretches where they looked like they were coming around. As a whole, many of these guys will be a placeholder for the next generation coming up in the Minor Leagues. Guys like Quin Priester and Roansy Contreras have been the guys to watch in the Minor Leagues, and their success has fans excited.
However, at the Major League level, the thing that Pirates fans are holding onto is Bryan Reynolds' breaking out. While Adam Frazier was leading the NL Batting title race, Reynolds was right up there with him. He is currently hitting .306 with 21 home runs and 72 RBI. While he won't be in the running for the MVP award, it is very possible that he earns the first Gold Glove of his career. After starting the year as a left fielder, Bryan Reynolds handled the transition to centerfield as well as you can. He was a centerfielder all throughout the Minor Leagues and showed he is more than capable of playing the position every day at the Big League level.
The big thing to remember is that the Pirates are in a rebuild and things will get better. In 2010, the Pirates looked like they hit rock bottom but three years later they were able to make the playoffs for three straight seasons. This year's team looks to have essentially hit rock bottom and is trying to turn things around for the future. The thing that will separate this team from the last is whether or not Bob Nutting and Ben Cherington will make the moves necessary to improve the team. If they are, this could be an exciting team to watch for years to come, and if not this will just be a re-hashing of what we have seen before. Things look pretty grim now, but hopefully brighter things are on the horizon and we can get back to playoff baseball again.
The Pittsburgh Pirates (42-79) are off today but return to action tomorrow night when they take on the St. Louis Cardinals (61-58) tomorrow at 8:15 pm. Mitch Keller (3-10) continued his comeback from the Minor Leagues for the Pirates against Miles Mikolas (0-0, 2.25) for the Cardinals. You can watch the game live on AT&T Sportsnet or listen on 93.7 The Fan.
Its so sad to see that the Pirates are in last place, I hate to see them lose,,, but theyre my team,, I hear all the fans in the LA stadium rooting for their team,, doing so well,, but,, on the other hand, Im a diehard Pirates fan,, I can root for my team too, just as loud from my couch.. Not to say that I dont hope that theyll get a win,, every fan hopes that at the beginning of a game,, Heres hoping for a better year next year for my team!!!
ReplyDelete