Pirates vs. Brewers

The Pirates just completed a three game series in Milwaukee where they were swept by the Brewers.  The scores of those three games:

• 7-1
• 14-0
• 12-5

And here's the thing:  None of those games were as close as the scores indicated.  The differences between the two teams were so obvious, and so glaring as to be positively embarrassing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but, of course we all know by now that Bob Nutting is incapable of being embarrassed.  Milwaukee is so much better, and so far ahead of the Pirates, it's like having the Alabama football team going up against a good WPIAL high school team.

Take a look at the Pirate box score from that 14-0 loss on Tuesday night:

Look  at those 6-7-8 slots - Suwinski/Triolo/Davis - in the line-up.  And Jared Triolo and Jack Suwinski are, it is being reported, guys that the Pirates "want to take a look at" as they prepare for 2026.  Like we don't already know who they are.   As my friend Dan asked me after golf on Monday, "Is there another team in all of MLB who would have Jack Suwinski on there roster?"  Don't think so.

On the bright side, in that 14-0 loss last night, the Bucs played true Sheltie-ball by having a position player, Triolo, pitch in the ninth inning, and tough guy skipper Don "Donnie" Kelly was ejected for the fifth time since he became manager in May.  Yep, Kelly takes no shit!

On another related matter, this screen shot from Pirates Announcer Greg Brown's Twitter feed was posted on Facebook yesterday on a Pirates fans group page:

Presumably, Brownie had a straight face when he posted that. Oh, and for those of you who didn't know the meaning of the word "shill", well, now you know.

What The Pirates Did At The Deadline

What, me worry?

Here you go, a summary of the moves all in one convenient spreadsheet that Bucco GM Ben Cherrington made to improve our Pittsburgh Pirates at the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline.

GONE	ACQUIRED
Adam Frazier to Royals	Cam Devanney, 28, INF
Ke’Bryan Hayes to Reds	Taylor Rodgers, 34, P
	Sammy Stafura, 20, INF
	Jeter Martinez, 19, P
Taylor Rodgers to Mariners	Ivan Brethowr, 22, OF
Bailey Falter to Royals	Evan Sisk, 27, P
	Callan Moss, 21, 1B
David Bednar to Yankees	Rafael Flores, 24, C
	Edgleen Perez, 19, C
	Brian Sanchez, 21, OF

My comments:

Taylor Rodgers gets traded the day after they acquire him.  I wonder if he will one day show up and play in the Pirates Alumni Golf Outing?

Perhaps Devanney, who was immediately sent to Indianapolis, will be called up to be a spare infielder now that Hayes is gone, and maybe Sisk will be on the team this year to replace Falter and/or Bednar.  Other than those two nondescript players, not  a single person acquired will help the Pirates this season, but since they are going nowhere anyway, so what?

None of the other players acquired figure to help the Pirates in 2025 (see above comment), and given the ages of guys like Stafura, Martinez, Perez, and Sanchez, they probably won't be in Pittsburgh until 2027 or 2028.  In other words, GMBC has brought in what the Pirates value the most: PROSPECTS, none of whom ever seem to pan out once they get into the Pirates system.

While I realize that there is no hope for 2025, to trade Bednar, perhaps their most effective player and certainly one of their most popular ones, and not get somebody, anybody who can contribute to the major league team now, today is irresponsible and ridiculous.  I mean, throw the fans a goddam bone once in awhile, willya?

But, hey, maybe Jeter Martinez will turn out to pitch like Pedro Martinez, maybe Callan Moss will play first and hit home runs like Jim Thome, and maybe Edgleen Perez will be the next Johnny Bench, well, then those 2030 Pirates will be a force with which to be reckoned in major league baseball.  Of course, if that happens, those guys will soon be plucked away by the Dodgers, Yankees, or Mets anyway.

Oh, and great quote from Mark Madden yesterday (and I can't believe that I am quoting Mark Madden).  People are talking about how the Pirates have "freed up money" in dumping Hayes and his contract to the Reds.  In a league with no salary cap, Double M stated, there is no "freeing up" of money.  The money that would have gone to Hayes goes right back into Bob Nutting's pockets.  He, Nutting, has given us no reason to believe otherwise based upon his track record. 

PIRATES FEVER. CATCH IT!!

Shirt Pocket Notes

 Pirates

When last we wrote of the Pittsburgh Pirates, they were just completing a nine game road trip leading up to the All-Star Break, a road trip wherein they complied a scintillating record of 1-8.  Rested and refreshed from their four day vacation, they began the nominal second half of the season by losing three straight games at home to the Chicago While Sox, one of the few teams in MLB who just might be worse than they are.  Baseball being the funny game that it is, they them swept three games from the Detroit Tigers, a team that at the start of that series had the best record in all of MLB.  Go figure.  There then followed an off day and then a home game last night against the Diamondbacks where they lost 1-0 in eleven innings while amassing the grand total of one (1) hit over the course of those eleven innings.

Bucco skipper Don "Donnie" Kelly came up with the quote of the year in his post game presser:  "You're not going to win many games when you only get one hit."

Yep.

Don "Donnie" Kelly

Master of Understatement

All that awaits the Buccos now is to see who will be traded at the July 31 trade deadline, where the Pirates will definitely be sellers.  Adam Frazier has already been traded to the Royals for, are you ready for this?, a 28 year old middle infielder who was immediately assigned to Indianapolis.  I can't remember his name and can't be bothered to look it up, because, really, is it ever going to really matter?

My predictions as to who will NOT be on the team after July 31:  Mitch Keller and David Bednar for sure.  Dennis Santana probably be a 75% chance of getting traded., and 50% chance that Brian Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes will also be gone.  Spare parts like Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham, and Andrew Heaney also most likely will be dealt.

The question is, will GMBC be likely to get good or even decent value for quality guys like Keller, Bednar, and Reynolds?  His track record for the last six years on this front has been.....not good.

Steelers

In what is close to a High Holy Day in The Burgh, the Steelers opened training camp at St. Vincent College in Latrobe this week. The big news of the week, though was signing T.J.Watt to a contract extension that will make him the highest paid non-quarterback in League history (a mark that will probably stand until Jerry Jones signs Micah Parsons to a new contract sometime before the season opens).  So, Aaron Rodgers has signed on to be the QB, Watt is under contract, and the media has now turned to their next favorite topic:  How hot should the seat upon which Mike Tomlin's ass rests be?  Seems the guys with the microphones and keyboards just can't wait to see Tomlin get fired.

The Rodgers signing got all of the press over the off-season but moves acquiring DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey, and Jonnu Smith combined with the rookies that were drafted in April would make it seem that this will be an interesting season for the Steelers.  My expectations were not high for the 2025 season for Rooney U, but they have ramped up a bit after the Rodgers signing and the Fitzpatrick-for-Ramsey-and-Smith trade.  It all hinges on what Rodgers has left in the tank.  If he can play at a level of, say, 75% of his prime, I'll sign up for that today.

In other Steelers news, the team announced today the 2025 Inductees into their Hall of Honor: Ben Roethlisberger, Maurice Pouncey, and Joey Porter.

Certainly can't argue with any of those choices.

Jeopardy

It has been a fun three weeks or so watching Scott Riccardi steamroll his way through 16 consecutive wins on Jeopardy and earnings of over $455,000 during his 16 game streak, the tenth longest in Jeopardy history.  All of this made it all the more confounding when Riccardi lost last night by answering a relatively easy Final Jeopardy question incorrectly.  "Who was William Randolph Hearst?" was the correct response, and Riccardi guessed "Howard Hughes".  Unbelievable.

I am thinking that we have not seen the last of Scott Riccardi as Jeopardy rolls out their various "tournaments" involving past champs.

Oneil Cruz, The Home Run Derby, and the Pirates at the All-Star Break

The Pirates Oneil Cruz, despite being eliminated in the semi-finals of Major League Baseball's Dunk Contest Home Run Derby, made quite an impression in the event last night.  The Post-Gazette made a huge deal of it this morning, and it is all over social media that not only did Cruz hit 34 HOME RUNS in the contest, he also hit THE LONGEST HOME RUN (513 FEET), and NINE OF THE TEN LONGEST HOME RUNS, and THE TOP FIVE LONGEST HOME RUNS in the contest.  Can you just imagine how Greg Brown and Joe Block will be slobbering all over this when the Pirates return to action on Friday?

Yes, I watched the HRD, and yes, I was rooting for Cruz, and yes, it was fun to see the rockets that were launched by Cruz and all of the other participants.  However, let's keep this in perspective here:  this was a glorified batting practice session, albeit one with the added pressure a time clock and a $1 million prize to the winner.  It also brings into perspective the conundrum that is Oneil Cruz.  He does have prodigious power, he is very fast, but he strikes out a lot, is not a very good hitter, and he is a disaster defensively, and he tends to loaf sometimes (although maybe he won't loaf anymore since Don "Donnie" Kelly recently benched him for two whole innings for not running out a ground ball).

He does hit mammoth home runs more than occasionally, but let's put even that into perspective.  Here are Cruz's stats at the All-Star Break:

Home Runs - 16, tied for 43rd in all of MLB

RBI - 37, tied for 117th in all of MLB

Strike Outs - 116, tied for 3rd in all of MLB

BA - .212, 146th in all of MLB

OPS - .733, 96th in all of MLB

By contrast, the Mariners' Cal "The Big Dumper" Raleigh, the winner of the HRD, currently has 38 HR, 82 RBI, a .259 BA, and an OPS of 1.010.  He is also a Gold Glove catcher.  I include this paragraph not only for comparison purposes, but to also give me a reason to type out the best nickname in all of sports: The Big Dumper.

There is a reason why Cruz, a seemingly one trick pony, was at the Home Run Derby, but is not actually on the All-Star team.  I confess that I am confused in the matter of Oneil Cruz.  There is a mass of talent somewhere in there, but he is very far from being a complete ballplayer.  Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, and Dave Parker he ain't.

Now, as for the Pirates themselves.  What will probably be the high point of the season for them came on July 2 when they defeated the Cardinals 5-0. That was the third straight shutout of the Cards in that series, and it was the team's sixth straight win.  They then departed on a nine game road trip to Seattle, Kansas City, and Minnesota that would lead up the All-Star Break.  Would the team build upon that six game winning streak and create some momentum going into the second half of the season?  We all know that answer.  They lost eight straight games before salvaging a win on the final Sunday of the first half of the season.  They now sit at 39-58 on pace for a 97 loss season.  However, I for one am fully confident that they can pull off 100 losses in this, the sixth year of the Ben Cherrington Regime.

For reasons unknown to many, Cherrington remains the GM of the Pirates, and earlier this week he oversaw the Pirates selections in the MLB entry draft.  The Bucs used their first two picks to select a couple of high school pitchers:

1. Seth Hernandez, 19, RHP

2. Angel Cervantes, 17, RHP

Unless either of these guys are Paul Skenes 2.0, we won't see Hernandez in Pittsburgh until 2029, and it will be the 2030's before Cervantes arrives.

We now await the July 31 trade deadline to see what guys GMBC trades for some other teams' random middle infield prospects.

PIRATES FEVER. CATCH IT!

Travis Williams, Ben Cherrington, Bob Nutting

The Bucco Brain Trust

What, us worry?

The Pirates 35 Games In (21.6% of the Season)

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now played 35 games, or 21/6% of the 2-25 season.

They are 12-23 and on pace to lose 105 games.

The only teams with worse records are the White Sox (on pace for 114 losses), and the Rockies, who are, incredibly, on pace to lose 133 games)..

They have been shut out 6 times, most in MLB.

They rank 26th out of 30 teams in run differential.

They routinely trot out starting line-ups with three, four, or five guys hitting BELOW .200. 

They continue to make boneheaded base running mistakes, the outfielders routinely throw to the wrong base.  Oneil Cruz in CF is making Dave Kingman look like a Gold Glove outfielder by comparison. (For you kids out there, I consider Dave Kingman the worst defensive outfielder I have ever seen.  Many will agree with me.)

A case could be made that their best player is (still) Andrew McCutchen who is now 38 years old.

After falling into a once-in-a-generation pitcher in Paul Skenes, GM Ben Cherington beefed up the team around him this past off season by signing two washed up free agents, Adam Frazier (current BA: .227) and Tommy Pham (..184), and trading for a first baseman named Spencer Horwitz, who showed up in Spring Training needing arm surgery and has yet to play a game

They have a team loaded with utility infielders, but nobody can seem to play short stop.

They have the demeanor and the body language of a team that has flat out given up, four weeks before Memorial Day.

I could go on, but you get the idea.  The biggest question to date is this:  Why are these two guys still employed?

Sheltie and Ben C

We all know that the owner Bob Nutting is a cheapskate money grubber and won't spend money, but other teams with small budgets and cheap owners have been able to compete.  We will stipulate that Nutting deserves the fires of Hell when his time comes, but what about GM Ben Cherington and Manager Derek Shelton? They have been in place for six seasons now and the team is no further along than they were after the 2019 season when the Coonelly/Huntington/Hurdle team went away, and let me remind you that those guys steered the team to the post-season three years in a row before Nutting's penury caused that team to fizzle. 

ABOUT NINE HOURS LATER

Okay, I was interrupted as I was typing this post this morning and found myself busy with other matters all day until now.  (It is 8:50 PM).  The Pirates are playing the Cardinals in St. Louis and held leads of 2-0 and 3-2, but now trail the Cardinals 6-3 in the seventh inning, so I am figuring to Hell with trying to finish this other than by saying how much I look forward to Sheltie's post-game bon mots where he will say things like :we're just not getting it done" and "we just have to work a little harder"

Like I said, why are GMBC and Sheltie still on the job.

It has already been a long season, and it is only going together longer.

Chiefs and Eagles and Pirates, Oh My!

Nobody asked me but.....

Super Bowl LIX (59) will be played in ten days, and it will feature, in case you hadn't heard, a rematch of Super Bowl LVII (57): Eagles vs. Chiefs.  I heard scuttlebutt on the talk shows earlier this week that this is a boring match-up, that people are tired of the Chiefs, tired of them benefiting from crooked referees, and that they are going to boycott the game and not watch it.  

Okay, I get it that the football world outside of Missouri is afflicted with a case of "Chiefs Fatigue", and I will never presume to tell you what you should or should not watch on television, but if you tell me that a football game that will feature these two guys....

....playing in it will be "boring", well, I do feel confident in saying that you either just don't know or don't like football as it is played in the NFL.

********

As for the officiating, yes, that call of a completed Chiefs pass was probably incorrect, and Josh Allen probably did make a first down on that sneak at midfield (I thought that he did), and no doubt this calls benefited the Chiefs.  What also benefited the Chiefs was the Bills inability to gain two yards not once but twice on two point conversion attempts. That probably  benefited the Chiefs just as much if not more than those disputed calls.

********

Not much was made of Sean McDermott's decision, early in the game, to take a successful PAT conversion off of the board after a KC penalty and go for a two point conversion, which failed.  I thought that was dumb at that point in the game.  Isn't is one of football's hoariest old maxims "never take points off of the board"?

********

After watching tight ends like Travis Kelce, Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert, and, yes, Mark Andrews, I found myself wondering if perhaps Pat Freiermuth just might not the elite tight end that Steelers fans think he is.

********

As of this afternoon, the Chiefs remain a 1.5 point favorite over the Eagles.      I am kinda sorta leaning towards betting on the Eagles with the 1.5, but have we all not learned how foolish it is to bet against Patrick Mahomes?  Back in November, I dd place a $5 wager on the Eagles to win the Super Bowl and that will pay me $37.50 if they win, so I will be rooting for them from that selfish standpoint.  Two weeks ago, I also put $5 on the Chiefs, and that will pay back $15.50, so I'm covered either way.  (Never mind those other wagers made on the Bills, Commandeers, and even the Steelers when they were sitting at 10-3.)

********

Let's shift to baseball and our Pittsburgh Pirates before I close out.

Let's say we are back in the first week of November and the World Series had just concluded.  If someone told you that the Pirates, facing a challenging off-season and in a desperate effort to improve the team, would seek out and then eventually sign Adam Frazier, a former Pirates All-Star, but now a journeyman jabronie.  (If you doubt that statement, Frazier hit .204 with an OPS of .576 in 104 games with the Royals in 2024.)  What would you have said to that?

I would have said that, no, not even the Pirates would be that cheap and/or stupid and/or tone-deaf to their fan base to do something like that.  I would have been wrong, because this week, that is exactly what the Pirates did.  They have added yet another utility player (he can play all infield positions and both corner outfield spots!!!) to a team that is filled with utility players.

He's back!!!

I'm figuring that Frazier probably told them that he would be willing to embarrass himself any number of times and be willing to have Sheltie use him a pitcher in blow out games.

********

I would dearly love to ask any member of the Pirates Brain (?) Trust to tell me why we should have any reason, any reason at all, to expect this team to be better and be able to compete for spot in MLB's watered down post season in 2025.  I would bet that the first thing they would tell you would be "Well, we'll have Paul Skenes for he entire season this year."  

Okay, but what would that mean exactly?  Maybe six to eight additional starts for Skenes and maybe six more wins for the team?  If so, that will jump them from 76 wins to 82.  Just above .500, aka mediocrity.

********

In case you are wondering, the Over/Under for Pirates wins in 2025 is set at 76.5 (per Fan Duel).  Last year the number was 75.5, which the Bucs went over, barely, with 76 wins.  The oddsmakers aren't thinking too much pf the team's prospects for the coming season, and they are usually pretty sharp in setting this O/U numbers.