The Worst Franchise In All Of Sports

The Worst Franchise In All Of Sports

What if I told you that right now there’s an MLB team that is refusing to spend money? Former players have said that the Pirates are comfortable being mediocre. This comes, of course, with having the lowest payroll in baseball nearly every single year. Pirates owner Bob Nutting is so hated that fans are actually flying airplanes in Pittsburgh with signs that say, “Sell the team.” They’ve opened a website telling him to sell the team. There are billboards across Pittsburgh for him to sell the team. There are ads on cars telling him to, you guessed it, sell the team. The fan base has raised thousands of dollars to afford funding for their anti- bobnuting movement. And this isn’t even the worst of it. At the Pirates FanFest, they chanted to sell the team. The Pirates were selling expired sodas. And to top it all off, they misspelled the name of Andrew McCutchen, their most beloved player. Hell, a staff member has fought a fan on video this year. A drunk underage fan nearly died at a Pirates game after falling out of his seat. This organization is indeed cursed, ladies and gentlemen. The last time they won a playoff game, Vine still existed. The PlayStation 4 wasn’t released. The iPhone 5 was brand new and Mariana Rivera was still in the league. They are currently on the longest playoff drought in the National League and everybody knows it. So, who should hold the most blame for the downfall of their once great franchise? Is it their owner? Or is it Ben Cherington, their general manager’s incompetence that has held them back from being a true contender? Imagine you had six years to rebuild the Pirates. You had drafted nine players in the first round and failed with nearly every one of those draft picks. Because that’s the job Ben Cherington has done. Just two players remain from their 2019 team. Nearly everyone has been traded and almost every trade has been a disaster. Not to mention, they’re currently wasting the best pitcher on the planet, Paul Skins. They have the worst offense in baseball. They may have to enter yet another rebuild. Their 2025 trade deadline at the end of July showed that they do not intend on winning anytime soon. Everyone is confused. But one thing is clear. Pirates fans are fed up. As someone who’s lived in Pittsburgh for almost 7 years now, I know how frustrated everyone is. I mean, they’re going on their 29th losing season in 33 years. And I’m here to explain how the Pirates rebuild failed, where it started, and if they will be able to win again anytime soon. The Pirates new leadership is in place. The team formerly introduced Ben Cherington as its new general manager today. And Cherington comes to Pittsburgh with an extensive resume, one that includes a World Series championship. Cherington had helped draft the likes of two MVPs, Dustin Pedroya and Mookie Betts. But the Pirates were a completely different team than anything he had ever been a part of with their low budget presenting a unique problem. Before he got the job, they had traded the likes of Garrett Cole, Tyler Glasnau, and Andrew McCutchen. With those trades, they were able to get starting pitching talent with Joe Musgrove and outfield talent in Brian Reynolds. In 2019, Reynolds was actually their best young hitter with over a 300 batting average. Over at first base, slugger Josh Bell hit over 30 home runs. Lastly, starting pitcher Mitch Keller had just come up to the big league roster, and if their development succeeded, he could help lead their pitching rotation. However, the overall roster Cherington inherited featured little to no talent. For the few veteran guys that they did have, they weren’t going to be sticking around. The first significant move in this new front office was hiring manager Derek Shelton over a guy who went on to be a successful manager with the Royals. Cherington’s first major trade was sending star outfielder Starling Marte to the Oakland A’s in return for top prospect Leo Pguero. Cherington talked highly of him, saying he does a bunch of things that good major league players when they were 19 did and were excited about that. In June, Ben Sherington ran his very first draft with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He first selected infield prospect Nick Gonzalez as seventh overall. In the second round, he took pitchers Carmen Majinsky and righty Jared Jones. They were key pieces, which we’ll get back into later. As 2020 went along, the flaws of this team really showed. They had two former top picks, Cole Tucker, who mainly played at center field, and Kevin Newman, who played the infield. Arguably, their worst infielder was third baseman and shortstop Eric Gonzalez. Another disaster was rightfielder Gregory Palano, who was far beyond his prime. He couldn’t stay healthy, couldn’t throw, and could no longer hit. It is no surprise that this team had zero chance at a postseason. In fact, there was little to no hope until September when the Pirates number two prospect, Key Brian Hayes, was called up. He immediately flashed his insane defense at third base and made a statement as the best player on the 2020 Pirates. Two-1 base hit ball game. Hebron Hayes praises the Johnny Roger. His first career walk-off in 2021. The team was expected to lose a lot of games. Cherington stupidly traded Josh Bell after a down year. In return, they got one of the Nationals top pitching prospects, Will Crowe. The one other major move he made this off season was sending starting pitcher Joe Musgrove to the Padres’s. Their return was headlined by pitcher David Bennar and catcher Andy Rodriguez. Their final move was trading yet another pitcher away, Jameson Tyion, to the New York Yankees. Tyion was actually a star in Pittsburgh before encountering his second elbow injury, prompting them to trade him. They received several prospects with the most notable being pitchers Rowani Contrarus, Miguel Yahare, alongside hitter Canon Smith Nigba. In free agency, Cherington made just one signing, starting pitcher Tyler Anderson. By opening day, fans unsurprisingly weren’t very excited, but that was at least about to change. In KBrian Haye’s very first at bat, he hit a home run into left field, giving the Pirates life. Yet just one at bat later, he suffered a wrist injury, putting him onto the IIL for at least 10 days. Their season only went downhill from here. The Pirates were 39 and 64. They were prepared to trade away some of the only talent they had left. For starters, bullpen arm Clay Holmes was traded to the Yankees. He wasn’t very good with the Pirates, but the Yankees saw serious potential in his arm. In return for Holmes, the Pirates got back infielders Hoy Park and Diego Castillo. It was a bad trade, but this was just the beginning. You see, there were a lot of trade rumors regarding second baseman Adam Frasier. Adam had a 324 batting average, but was 29 years old and perfect trade bait. So, the Pirates made their second deal with the Padres’s, sending Adam Frasier there in return for Tuca Marano and outfielder Jack Swinsky. They didn’t stop there. They wanted to get rid of their new acquisition, Tyler Anderson, who was pitching better than almost every pirate. After a failed trade fell apart with the Phillies, Tyler Anderson was sent to the Seattle Mariners in return for two lousy prospects that had never made an impact. Arguably their most interesting trade was regarding a reliever by the name of Austin Davis who sucked on the Pirates. Yet they were able to trade him to Boston and land Michael Chavis. Chavis is a former first round pick by Ben Cherington when he was with the Red Sox, but outside of just one season had yet to really ever produce. If it worked out, he could become their long-term option at first base. Their final trade was sending their best reliever, Richard Rodriguez, to the Atlanta Braves in return for minor league pitcher Bryce Wilson. This marked an end for their trade deadline and set them on pace to lose over 100 games. At least the Pirates had momentum with their new prospects at the trade deadline. And also, they had just finished an insane MLB draft. Pittsburgh had the number one overall pick, and the world was wondering who they would take. Would it be the top shortstop in the MLB draft, Marcelo Meyer? Would it be a top pitcher like Jackson Job or Jack Lighter? Well, on draft day, everyone figured that out. With the first pick of the 2021 MLB draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates select Henry Davis, a catcher from the University of Louisville. They took Henry Davis, a catcher that not many people had on their radar. He was known to be better at hitting than he was catching. In rounds two and four, they drafted more players that would become crucial to their rebuild. Those were pitchers Anthony Solomdo and Bubba Chandler. Around this same exact time, the Pirates called up infielder Rulfo Castro. Not many knew who he was, but in his first five hits, they were all home runs. He was breaking records. But beyond those five homers, he struggled to make anything for himself. but he’d certainly at least be a piece that they could work on. In the outfield, the Pirates were going in a completely different direction, moving on from Gregory Palano. By the end of the year, they had only two competent players and hitter Brian Reynolds and relief pitcher David Bennar, who they acquired months ago for Joe Musgrove. But even with the success of Bednar, Musgrove became an elite pitcher with the Padres’s, better than he had ever been. So, I’ll deem that trade a failure in 2021, but it could change down the line. The other trade they made before the season was Josh Bell. Bell hit 27 home runs, which is more than any player on the Pirates. Will Crowe, the pitcher they received for Bell, had a 548 erra, making this trade also another failure. And as for how Klay Holmes was pitching for the Yankees, he was a superstar, becoming their closer not long after being acquired. I deem this trade a failure, but the two prospects in that deal had yet to be called up, so I’ll be fair and wait. During the off season, they came to an agreement for a cheap designated hitter, Daniel Vogelback, and veteran starting pitcher, Jose Canana. If they turned out good enough, they could potentially extend him or later trade him for valuable prospects. They actually signed a plunder of free agents who turned out to be horrible, roughly four of them, so I won’t even mention them. But arguably their biggest decision was trading away their gold glove catcher Jacob Stallings in return landing MLB pitcher Zack Thompson along with prospects Kyle Nicholas and Connor Scott. Replacing their gold glove catcher was former gold glover Roberto Perez. One thing was clear, the Pirates were about to be a completely different team in 2022. Many top prospects were soon making their mark onto the big league roster. The day of the Pirates home opener, they lost, but they were bered with amazing news after the game. For the first time in the Ben Sharington era, an important player was extended. Key Brian Hayes, their third baseman with the best glove in baseball, was staying around. At the time, his 8-year, $70 million contract, was the highest in Pirates history. Bob Nutting opened his wallet for a change. Everyone wondered why, but he later explained it saying this. Realized that our greatest success came when we had a core of young players that we believed in and that we were really committed to. Brian Hayes is one of those players. Uh it’s time for us as an organization to put a stake in the ground. Overall, through his first 16 games, they were eight and eight and playing better baseball than they had in years. Though this would seemingly fall apart as the months progressed. Their new catcher, Roberto Perez, suffered a left hamstring injury, putting him out of play for the rest of 2022. Also, fans were growing restless for the Pirates to call up top prospect O’Neal Cruz. In the minor leagues, he had a 310 batting average, 17 home runs, and 19 stolen bases. The kid was a 6’6 shortstop, had an unbelievable arm, unbelievable power, and could easily become a piece in the starting lineup. Instead of calling him up, the Pirates chose Hoy Park and Diego Castillo to man the middle infield. Both of whom came from the Clay Home Strade and had a lot to prove. Yet through June, Castillo wasn’t even batting 200. Park hadn’t played quite enough, so I’ll wait to judge him. Enough was enough though and the Pirates made the wise decision to finally call up their top prospect O’Neal Cruz who in his 2020 debut delivered. Three runs batted in on an absolute missile. Hit the ball real hard line to the center field. He ripped it and look at this ball go to the wall. O’Neal Cruz. Around this same time, we were seeing the breakout of pitcher Rowani Contrarus, who had just become a full-time big leager. He was dominating the competition with strikeout after strikeout and seemed to be the future of the Pirates rotation. Rowanzi had a 97 mph fastball and a haunting curveball. Fans began celebrating every time he was scheduled to pitch by saying, “Happy Rowani Day” to all who celebrate. Even the pirate social media joined in on the trend. Months later, they were prepared for the MLB draft where they picked at fourth overall. With the fourth pick in the 2022 MLB draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates select Tamar Johnson, a short stop from Maize High School in Atlanta, Georgia. After selecting high schooler Tamar Johnson, they took pitcher Thomas Harrington a little bit later and then pitcher Hunter Barco with this MLB draft. And with the trade deadline they were about to have, their minor league team was about to be loaded. The first veteran player to go was DH Daniel Vogelback in order to acquire a young reliever who showed flashes in Connor Holderman. Days later, starting pitcher Joseé Canana, who had been a very good player for them, was traded to the Cardinals for Johanno. By the end of 2022, O’Neal Cruz was clear and away the best rookie hitter on the Pirates. At one point, he even broke the Statcast record for the hardest hitball ever recorded. But as for the rest of the rookies, an outfielder I haven’t mentioned, Cal Mitchell, was 20% worse than the average big leager. Boy Park was 18% worse, and Castillo was 23% worse. The development system of Ben Sherington and Derek Shelton was evidently failing in front of Pittsburgh’s very eyes. Veteran Zack Thompson, who they had for one season and struggled, was traded away to the Blue Jays for scraps. Even infielder Michael Chavis, who they thought they could fix, failed to reclaim his potential and was let go after 2022. However, certain players showed at least some promise. Despite rookie Jack Suinsky, who they acquired in the Clay Holmes trade struggling to hit for even an average of 200, he had at least 19 homers with promising power in his bat. Rulfo Castro, on the other hand, had a slightly below average statline and looked like a total idiot when this happened. Rulo Castro hustles into third and slides in safely, but as it happened, Castro’s cell phone fell out of his back pocket. Players phones were falling out of their pockets. They lost over 100 games. This was Ben Cherington’s Pittsburgh Pirates, and it only continued to look even worse. Miguel Yahare, who they got in the tyone trade, was horrible in 12 appearances with an eight erra and even got released after the season. Even KBrian Hayes, who earned a huge contract extension, was 12% worse offensively than the average hitter. Still, there seemed to be a few bright spots right now with Brian Reynolds, O’Neal Cruz, David Bednar, Rowani Contrarus, and finally Mitch Keller. Mitch had struggled badly in the past, but assumed the role in 2022 as their best starting pitcher. For the bullpen, David Bennar was electric in every moment he went out there to close a game. Top prospects like number one overall pick Henry Davis were ready to be called up into the big leagues. But from the get-go of the off season, the Pirates were in danger of losing their best hitter, Brian Reynolds. He reportedly requested a trade due to a quote difference of opinion regarding his worth as a player. In other words, the Pirates didn’t want to pay him what he was actually worth. Let’s not forget he had just hit a career-high 27 homers and was practically irreplaceable in their lineup. This was something they’d have to deal with as soon as possible. But in the meantime, Free Agency had just begun for the Buckos, and they were about to make a signing every fan loved. long-term Pittsburgh Pirates and one of the best pirates in franchise history. Andrew McCutchen back with the Pirates on a one-year deal. Andrew McCutchen was back in the black and gold for the first time in 6 years. Keep in mind, when McCutchen was traded to the Giants, their return was Brian Reynolds. Now, they were both on the same team. They had a clear objective this off season, and that was basically to dumpster dive for players who could potentially do some damage. Pittsburgh wound up with two first baseman and DH’s, Carlos Santana, Gman Choy, plus catcher Austin Hedges, pitchers Vince Velasquez, and Rich Hill. Ultimately, their final move was getting Connor Joe from the Rockies to be their right fielder. With top prospects on the horizon like catcher Henry Davis and pitcher Quinn Pier, the veterans could now serve as mentors. We were entering year four of this regime, and everything could be coming together as they enter 2023. But I will note that they 1,000% lost the Clay Holmes trade as they released both Huay Park and Diego Castillo. As for Njigba, he was one of the top prospects they got back for Jameson Tyion. And Nigbba had an exceptional spring training with a 333 batting average. Both he and Jack Suinsky were unproven question marks. The infield on the other hand seemed better, but didn’t have a true second baseman. It would vary between Rodulfo Castro and the speedy prospect Hiwan Bay. And maybe the Pirates had finally found a winning roster. [Music] The Pirates had the best record in the National League. All of a sudden, McCutchen, Sinsky, Joe, and Reynolds were hitting unbelievably well. They stole more bases in baseball than any other team. Ben Harington had potentially built a contender that Pittsburgh was looking for. With the vision clearly paying off, Derek Shelton was given a contract extension to stay in Pittsburgh. Despite the criticism Shelton had received in years past, the team was winning. And in the midst of it all, they got the best news they had seen in years. Switch hitting outfielder Brian Reynolds agreed to an 8-year extension worth more than $16 million. Reynolds was staying in Pittsburgh for the long run. And this was the most momentum this team had seen in years. Yet somehow all of it was about to die in the matter of days. Their record went from being 20 and 8 to 22 and 20 after an abysmal stretch of games. There were just too many players struggling on this roster, especially considering that back in early April, shortstop O’Neal Cruz suffered a fractured left ankle after awkwardly sliding into home plate in a collision. This meant that the rookies had to step up and many were unable to. Ewan Bay was struggling. Candace meant the Jigba was not an MLB player and this Pirates developmental system was failing. Their only hope left was number one overall pick Henry Davis who was demolishing the minor leagues. So in June, we saw the call up of catcher Henry Davis and former firstrounder Nick Gonzalez. A month later, we saw infielder Andy Rodriguez get the call up as well. And another player, Leo Ver Paguero, another top prospect, also got a chance at the big league level. Lastly, number four prospect Quinn Pier was being called up to make his debut as a starting pitcher. All of Pittsburgh’s Avengers were here. What would happen? Well, they wouldn’t stop losing. Every single one of their new young players were significantly below league average. And in the middle of Andy Rodriguez struggling, he suffered a torn UCL that would keep him out for the next year and a half. At the trade deadline, Pittsburgh sent Gman Choy and Rich Hill to the Padres’s in return for three prospects. That would never make a difference. By the way, as useless as this trade deadline was, I really did like one trade, which was sending infielder Rodo Caster to the Phillies to acquire lefty arm Bailey Falter. Only some of the players Sharington acquired were actually doing well and that includes the likes of reliever Colin Holderman, David Bnar, and hitter Jack Suinsky. Suinsky was rather controversial. Despite having 26 home runs, he had historically low batting averages and high strikeout rates. Players acquired by Cherington that would be released is Smith Nigba and Will Crowe. The Pirates had released a point to where if they didn’t see progress in 2024, Bob Nutting would likely start over and hire a brand new front office. Cherington’s job was riding on yet another number one overall pick, one that would hopefully shine, unlike Henry Davis did. The number one overall pick ended up being LSU phenomenon pitcher Paul Skins. From the day he was drafted, he seemed as if he was a generational draft prospect. The other pitcher Cherington needed to do well was Jared Jones, who was from his first draft class back in 2020. But first, they had an off season where they looked to achieve multiple goals. To replace some of the starting pitching they had lost, they signed Martine Perez and Marco Gonzalez. They brought in power-hitting first baseman Rowdy Tles, defensive catcher Yasmani Grandal, and center fielder Michael A. Taylor. By far their best signing was hard throwing lefty reliever Chapman. and I just made a video on them, so go check it out. All of these deals were only for one year, but played a significant role in everything. No matter what, tension was growing between this fan base as they set up four billboards across Pittsburgh telling nothing to sell the team. There was even a fan who took a picture with the Pirates owner and on his shirt, it told him to sell the team. Mid picture, he looked at it with his weird eyebrows. Clearly that fan upset him with his eyebrows because he responded by spending big money to extend star pitcher Mitch Keller. With that momentum, the Pirates started 2024 off redhot, getting 5-0 and then working their record to 11 and five. One of their best hitters was catcher Joey Bart, who was splitting with Yasmani Grandal. Bart was acquired from the Giants and looked very comfortable in the batters box. As for their starting pitching, they were winning because of rookie Jared Jones. He was on fire to start his rookie season and struck him out looking toughest outs of any Pirate. The former Pirate Josh Bell. He struck him out. What a start. He’s got nine strikeouts. He has struck out Bell each of the three times he has come to the plate. He was without a doubt an early rookie of the year contender, but this hype would slowly die down as the team once again began to lose. The man being blamed for the losing was Ben Sherington because he was holding number one overall pick down in the minor leagues. Skins was clearly ready. He could help them win games immediately. But instead, we were getting into miday and he was still not up. Skins had a 0.99 ERA in 27 innings, striking out 47 batters. He was banging on the door to be called up, even going on ESPN for the Pat McAfee Show. Honest, guys, you you know just about as well as I do uh when I’m going up. So, you know, we know more than you do about this particular ownership. Yeah. You know, and it’s changing. It’s changing from what we’ve been told, which is good. It took until May 11th, but we finally got the news we had been waiting for. He was being called up. In Paul SK’s MLB debut, he struck out seven Cubs. Skins quickly became a fan favorite. By July 23rd, he had a 193RA and was arguably the best pitcher in baseball already. At the trade deadline, for the first time in the Cherington era, the Pirates had more wins than they did losses with a record of 55 and 52. The thing they needed the most was outfield production. Despite Brian Reynolds 835 OPS, the rest of the group was absolutely terrible. Critics of Jack Sowinsky were correct as he was sent down into the minor leagues. Michael A. Taylor, on the other hand, came as advertised, amazing defensively, but couldn’t hit to save his life. Others included Connor Joe who was absolutely below average and Shash Palasios who had been on a few teams with no notable experience. He was awful. So Cherington made a trade. We have a deal. The Buckos looking for a little bit of pop in their outfield. They find a trade partner with the Marlins and they’ve acquired Brian Dea Cruz. De La Cruz, the power hitter was making his way to the Buckos. Shortly after they traded for utility infielder Isaiah Kinder Falafa who ended up becoming their shorts stop. O’Neal Cruz permanently moved into center field. As for what Ker Falefa brought to the team, he was versatile defensively and had a 290 batting average in Toronto. It also helps that Cherington moved off of pitcher Martin Perez, sending him to the Padres’s in return for a prospect. They still weren’t satisfied with the roster and their last move at the MLB level was adding depth outfielder Billy Cook. Now the question remained, would this team make the playoffs and how would they perform? [Music] They had fallen off the rails. The Pirates were no longer in contention and they could blame Ben Sherington. De la Cruz hit just three home runs as a pirate before hitting free agency. Ker Falefo would be back but was 35% below league average offensively. Yes, even though he had drafted the MLB rookie of the year and Sai Young contender Cherington had failed again. Luckily, we had seen careerhigh production out of Mitch Keller and a solid rookie year from Jared Jones. As they approached the end of the season, Nutting and Cherington were about to make a stupid decision. Rowdy Tles, their starting first baseman, had a $200 signing bonus on the last day of 2024. And to prevent him from getting what he rightfully earned, they released him, causing national headlines everywhere. There’s one organization in the city I grew up that has been awful at baseball for a long time. Now, the Pittsburgh Pirates are basically tempting the universe and the baseball gods to continue to ruin four more at bats. He gets a $200,000 bonus. And the Pirates go, you know what? Let’s actually send this guy down. You’re done. Obviously, this type of move disincentivizes veterans from signing with a team like the Pirates. It makes them look cheap because they are. The team that thousands had grown up loving simply because they were born here was awful. Remember when they spent money on Key Brian Hayes? Well, his bat was one of the worst in baseball. That weakness outweighed the strength of his defense. Derek Shelton had the worst record through a 5-year period of any manager in MLB’s 122-year existence. The only reason anyone still had a job is because they hit on Paul Skins and Jared Jones. Fans protested outside the stadium. A police officer approached and he asked the protesters if he could get a Selda team shirt himself. In 2025, it was their last chance, their final opportunity. Thanks to a user by the name of Joe. Here is a ton of data that shows just how bad that they have been over their last five seasons. In total, the Pirates statistically won 15 trades, tied in 10 of their trades, and lost 23 of them. They acquired 67 players, traded away 54 players, and somehow the players the Pirates got brought them just nine wins. Whereas the players they traded away to other teams brought 32 wins, meaning they gave up way more than they gained. For every trade Sherington made, he gave away on average three wins to the opposing team. Additionally, according to the metric war, which calculates a player’s value based on the number of wins they’re valued at, Jack Suinsky, Connor Joe, Joey Bart, IKF, and Billy Cook are all in the top five position players that Sharington has acquired. Keep in mind, Connor Joe left after 2024. Billy Cook has been in the minor leagues. Sinsky was so bad he has been sent back to the minors multiple times. IKF is terrible, by the way. Also, Henry Davis is a bust when you consider he was the number one overall pick. Leo Pguero has not been able to find a spot on the team at all. Nick Gonzalez wasn’t great at second, but took a stride forward into becoming a decent player. Every single one of their 2024 free agents also would not be on the team. Therefore, they needed a dominant bullpen arm to replace a Chapman and a first baseman to replace Tles. Their hunt for a new first baseman started with Blue Jay’s AAA hitting coach Matt Hey. He provided intel for the Pirates regarding Blue Jays sensation Spencer Horwitz. The Pirates later got Horwitz in a huge trade. He had a 260 batting average, 790 OPS, 12 homers, and walked 42 times with the Blue Jays. Horwitz had team control beyond the year 2030 and could be the long-term solution that Pittsburgh had been seeking for so long. to get him. They sent away former top prospect Luis Ortiz. As both a reliever and a starter, Ortiz pitched a successful 332 Yar. The fact they were willing to trade such a valuable asset made it clear that they wanted to win. Fans expected more moves like this one to follow, but they simply just never came. The only other moves they made before the Pirates Fanfest was resigning Andrew McCutchen and a new reliever in Caleb Ferguson. By the time Pirates Fest rolled around, nobody was holding back. In front of the top management like Derek Shelton and Ben Cherington, fans chanted to sell the team. Pittsburgh was in a fiasco. Their only additions were outfielder Tommy Fam, lefty Andrew Heene, and former pirate Adam Frasier. To make it even better, early before spring training, word came out that Spencer Horwitz would have to miss the start of the season. Cherington traded for him, knowing he couldn’t play at first base for months. To be honest, the lineup looked underwhelming for every player other than McCutchen, Reynolds, Cruz, and Joey Bard. Despite amazing performances from their pitching staff, they simply couldn’t hit. They were two and five to start the season before they got back home to PNC Park. Bob Nutting attended that day, and it was not pretty for him. Can I get a word, Bob? Bob, can I get a word? How was opening day for you? One thing everybody noticed on opening day was that Nutting replaced a tribute to Roberto Clemente with an advertisement. Roberto Clemente Jr. was stunned when he saw what they did. They received so much backlash that they restored the ad almost immediately. Days later, Pat McAfee hosted a huge show in Pittsburgh with a ton of famous guests with one of them being Paul Schell. Bob Nutting even told a reporter, “I am particularly well positioned to help influence changes and the economics of the game.” My question is, why? Why, Bob? You didn’t spend any money. Is that why you’re specifically well positioned to speak on the matter? Their season was falling apart and the Pirates reputation was being dragged down like we had never seen before. First, an underage employee got drunk and fell out of a seat in Rightfield. A fan heckled an employee to the point he attacked the fan and a fight broke out. Tommy Fam was suspended for making a gesture towards a fan. Then on the field, Ski pitched four straight starts, giving up three runs in just one of those games. And guess what? They lost all of those Ski starts for months. No, way longer than months. For years, everybody wanted to see changes. Whether it was manager Derek Shelton or if it was Bob Dutting firing Ben Sharington. And then Pittsburgh finally got real change. Mid-season managerial replacement Derek Shelton fired by the Pirates. Relieved of duties officially, as they say, their bench coach Don Kelly has been named manager. Owner Bob Nutting described the first quarter of the season as frustrating and painful for everyone. And directly after Derrick Shelton was fired, the Pirates began to win. New interim manager Don Kelly brought fire to this young team, something they hadn’t felt in years. No, they still weren’t good. After all, he was inheriting a 12 and 26 team, but they were now showing fight at least. This 45-year-old player, Don Kelly, the Butler, PA native, was 26 and 24 as the manager. His team was playing with gut, playing like something mattered. And if they weren’t, they’d be benched for the poor lack of effort. Maybe, just maybe, they had found something. But over the next few weeks, the Pirates management of course had to continue being embarrassing. Even though they needed a starting pitcher in the rotation all year long, Cherington passed on the possibility of Bubba Chandler being called up. He was a top prospect in baseball. You clearly made a mistake the last time you kept a guy down at Paul Skins. Why not give this kid a chance? Also, the Pirates looked even more embarrassing when Ben Sherington drafted a second round pick who chose to play in UCLA over going to the Pittsburgh Pirates making $2 million as a kid in their early 20s. And the embarrassment continued from a bobblehead shortage debacle that infuriated fans into a bobnuting company that illegally contaminated a lake. By the trade deadline, fans accepted that they were likely doomed. Their highest paid player, Brian Reynolds, went from being a star to being 11% below league average with his bad. Key Brian Hayes, who they also handed that massive extension, was on year number six and still could not hit. He now had four seasons where he hit below a 700 OPS. But fans really didn’t want their star players to be traded, obviously, as they wanted to potentially build for 2026. There were two major rumors regarding starting pitcher Mitch Keller and closing pitcher David Benar. Both were nearly the top prospects at their position available in the trade deadline. One thing Cherington assured is that every move would be made with the intent of winning in 2026 and beyond. As everyone waited for them to do something, they struck a deal. News. This one is a shocker. Key Brian Hayes moving from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Cincinnati Reds. KBrian Hayes was now in Cincinnati. the one place nobody anticipated him being in. Pittsburgh was able to trade his entire contract and his bad back that was always injured in return for roughly nothing. Personally, I’d be happy with the deal if I was a Pirates fan, but I understand many people are not. But little did I know this was just the beginning. Yankees are finalizing the deal to acquire closer David Bednar from the Pirates. Fans were furious on social media. People were mad that their favorite pirate was now gone. Just like they had remembered in years past with the Bell or McCuten trade. Every time that they grew attachment to a player, they left due to a poorly handled Pirates organization. The only notable player in this return was the Yankees number eight prospect, catcher Raphael Flores. Yes, he’s a catcher who has power in his bat, walks a decent bit, and was in Triple A not far from being called up. The deadline got even worse later in the day when fans learned that lefty pitcher Bailey Falter was on his way out. You see, Bailey had a 373 ERA, was their only good lefty, and had three additional years of team control left. That’s not to mention that earlier they had sent away bullpen arm Caleb Ferguson. So, they had no more bullpen, didn’t have a third baseman, no closer, and just wait, it gets even worse. But first, how exactly did any of these moves indicate that they wanted to win in 2026? National reporter Robert Murray said this about their trade deadline. It was horrendous. What were they doing? It felt like an organization that doesn’t have a plan by any means. It was flabbergasting. A big reason that he said it was flabbergasting was because they did not trade any of Andrew Heene, IKF, or Tommy Fam, all of whom had expiring contracts and were blocking young players from making their way onto the big league roster. To their credit, they later called up Bubba Chandler, released Andrew Heene and IKF. Chandler’s MO debut was promising, and it looks like he could be a prominent role moving forward. All they have to look forward to in 2026 is their starting pitching and the number one prospect in all of baseball, hitter Connor Griffin. But I guess it all makes sense. This team is on a path of losing and it starts from the bottom up with Bob Nutting allowing incompetence and Ben Cherington showing that he truly is incapable of running an organization. This team is the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have become the laughing stock of MLB! Ben Cherington and Bob Nutting have ran this team to the ground — but how?

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