(Editor's Note: Knowing that I was going to be doing a post with thoughts on both the Pirates and the Steelers, I searched for a photo that would combine both teams, maybe duel logos. However, it's hard to find such an image that didn't also feature the Penguins logo, so none of them work. Instead, I found this photo of an old Sports Illustrated cover that embodies the halcyon days of both franchises.)
Ahhh, the good old days!
Let's start with the Pirates.
At the Old Guy Breakfast this past Thursday, pal Brian O'Neill, a certified baseball geek, postulated that the Pirates seem to be playing better since Don "Donnie" Kelly became manager. Objectively, this can be said to be true. Not sure of the exact date that Derek Shelton was cashiered, but since May 9, the Pirates are 10-11 under Kelly. Like I said, improvement, albeit in a small sample size.
Anyway, Brian went on to say that even certain things that have happened over the last three weeks (Henry Davis starting to hit, Tommy Pham getting banished to the bench, and the continued Good to Very Good to Excellent starting pitching) Brian postulated that it might be feasible that that the Pirates could go the rest of the season playing at or very close to .500 ball, give or take a few games. Since we are close enough to the exact one-third mark of the season, I have decided to track Brian's assertion, and I am going to begin with that 54 game mark, the exact one-third pole of the season.
- At that point, the team's record was 19-35, on pace for a 57-105 season. Lousy.
- Should the Pirates play .500 baseball over the final two-thirds of the season, that would mean that they would go 54-54 in those games, and finish the season with a record of 73-89. Still lousy and three games worse than last season, but quite a turnaround since Sheltie was pink-slipped.
- For what it is worth, in games 55 through 59, the team is 3-2 and today sits at 22-37, a percentage that would produce a 60-102 record over the course of the season.
All due respect to Brother O'Neill, but I don't think that this team as it is currently constituted will come close to playing at a .500 level, but I am going to track how they do perform over the course of these final 108 games of the season. If nothing else, tracking such a pursuit will provide some level of interest in following the Pirates through the remainder of this woebegone season.
Oh, and speaking of the team as it is "currently constituted", we keep hearing about the wonderful things Bubba Chandler, the Pirates Number One Prospect and the "Number Four Overall Prospect in all of MLB", is doing at Triple-A Indianapolis this season, so why in the Hell isn't he pitching in Pittsburgh RIGHT NOW?
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Now to the Steelers, and that means discussing the matter that has made this franchise the laughingstock of the pro football world this off season: the so far fruitless pursuit of Aaron Rogers to be their stop gap quarterback in 2025. This weird dance has lasted through the initial rush of free agency, through the Draft, through voluntary mini-camps, and OTA's and Rodgers remains unsigned and the Steelers look more and more like the pathetic school nerd trying to get up the nerve to ask the pretty girl, or any girl for that matter, to the spring dance.
I can't help but believe that were Dan Rooney still alive and running the team, Rodgers would have been told to shit or get off the pot long ago. As it stands now, if Rodgers decides NOT to sign with the Steelers, or even play at all, the Steelers are going to look like bumbling fools for having danced this dance so long.
According to those who purport to be in the know, the Steelers long game here is to build up "draft capital" so as to be able to put themselves into the position to draft a franchise quarterback - the Next Bradshaw or the Next Big Ben - in 2026, when more such athletes will be available in the draft class. That's fine, but you have a season to play in 2025, and right now Mason Rudolph is sitting in the #1 spot on the depth chart. Would the team be better with a 41 year old Rodgers at the helm than Rudoplph? Probably, but only marginally so in my opinion, and given the circus atmosphere and Rodgers' general weirdness that would surround the team with Aaron Rogers here, well, I think that I would rather go 7-10 or 8-9 with Rudolph than 9-8 or 10-7 with A-a-ron.
I'm with Terry Bradshaw on this one. Let Rodgers go to California and chew on bark, and that is my.....
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