The Pittsburgh Pirates have to be one of the most frustrating MLB franchises in recent memory.
Since finishing 2015 with a solid 98-64 record, they have done nothing but lose ever since, except for a mediocre 82-79 finish in 2018.
It seems that they have been rebuilding forever.
good to see that the Cubs rebuild lasted 4 months while the Pirates are on year 7 https://t.co/jeEHHWBnvd
— 🥇 (@SteeloCity) December 2, 2021
They can’t break the cycle, mainly, because of these three reasons.
3. Low Payrolls
We have seen, rather recently, that there may be ways for MLB teams to compete with low payrolls.
The Tampa Bay Rays do it every year, Cleveland did it in the mid-2010s peaking in 2017, and so on.
However, those franchises also have top front offices and usually make sound baseball decisions.
The same can’t be said about the Pirates.
Another problem is that there isn’t enough investment on the roster, to at least try to be competitive.
If a team doesn’t develop players, fans could at least expect some mild interest in actually spending money to be good.
That hasn’t happened.
The Pirates’ projected 2022 payroll is just $34.4 million so far, ranking 28th out of 30 teams.
This past season, they were also 28th, at $54.3 million.
Even the Tampa Bay Rays invest heavily every once in a while, as they proved this year by extending Wander Franco and signing Corey Kluber.
2. Poor Player Development
The Pirates’ deficiencies when it comes to player development are evident if we see the success some players have had after leaving Pittsburgh.
They let Charlie Morton leave the organization in 2015, and he broke out big-time with the Houston Astros in 2017.
They traded Gerrit Cole to the Astros, too, and he turned into a beast.
Tyler Glasnow’s progress was stagnant, and the Tampa Bay Rays revived his career.
The same could be said about Austin Meadows, who went to Tampa in the same transaction.
More recently, they couldn’t “rescue” Gregory Polanco, although injuries also had something to do with his struggles.
For a couple of years now, Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to help star prospect Mitch Keller take the next step.
There are several more examples to illustrate a deeper problem in the organization.
They made some hires in the last two years hoping to change the situation.
It’s going to take some time changing the public perception.
Gerrit Cole
Tyler Glasnow
Charlie Morton
Joe Musgrove
Jameson TaillonSurely the Pirates will keep this rotation!
— Brad Wieck Enthusiast 🎄 (@NickyTwoStrikez) October 8, 2021
1. They Constantly Trade Their Best Players When They Are Closing In On Free Agency
Perhaps the main reason why the Pirates can’t break the cycle in which they currently are is because they fail to field a competitive team and then trade their best players when they approach free agency.
It happened with Joe Musgrove before last season, with Cole in 2019, and with many more players.
The organization seems to be expecting at least a few of their prospect and homegrown players to pan out at the same time to open a tiny “contention window”, but since they are so bad at developing their own stars and finding unearthed gems, it hasn’t happened.
Right now, Bryan Reynolds is the star of the team, with 5.5 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in 2021.
There is already trade chatter around the center fielder.
With four seasons remaining of cheap team control, a trade is unlikely to happen right now.
Ask again in a couple of years, though.
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