Perrotto: Why WTNY When Pirates Can Get Started This Year?

The Pittsburgh Pirates began wearing a patch on the sleeves of their uniform advertising the Sheetz convenience store chain in June.

It is quite fitting for a team in the western side of Pennsylvania. It’s fair to say anybody who roots for the Pirates has likely made a Sheetz run.

While traditionalists don’t like the idea of advertising on uniforms, it’s the reality of professional sports in the 2020s. Every team is looking to generate every dollar it can.

I hate it. You probably hate it. But our opinions don’t count on that matter.

However, I think the Pirates could balance the Sheetz ad by wearing a patch on the opposite sleeve of their jerseys. It could read “WTNY.”

WTNY?

Wait ‘til next year.

That’s been the prevailing cry of Pirates’ fans for more than three decades.

While the fans wait, ownership and management continually kick the can down the road. They talk about learning years at the major-league level and the treasure trove of prospects making their way through the farm system.

But each season always ends the same way. The Pirates have had 27 losing seasons in the last 31 years and their chances of making it 28 of 32 are increasing by the hour.

Two weeks ago, the Pirates were in the thick of the pennant race as they began a six-game homestand, just 2.5 games out of the third National League wild card. The Pirates seemed like they had a shot to reach the postseason for the first time since 2015, especially considering the mediocre state of the NL.

Now, the Pirates’ playoff hopes are all but mathematically gone. They’ve lost 10 consecutive games to set an unofficial record for the shortest time spent in a pennant race.

The Pirates are 7.5 games away from the last wild card and have five teams to jump over to get there. My odds of walking on the moon are better.

The losing streak has been disheartening and soul-sucking while filled with plenty of bad baseball. That leaves the question of whether the Pirates can salvage anything from the last 42 games of the season, a stretch that begins Friday night with the opener of a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park.

They can if they start thinking about next year this year. The Pirates should spend the remainder of 2024 determining who might help them be better in 2025.

For starters, manager Derek Shelton needs to start taking at-bats away from Yasmani Grandal, Rowdy Tellez, Michael A. Taylor and Connor Joe. They are good pros but not part of the future.

Conversely, the Pirates need to call Henry Davis, Jack Suwinski and Liover Peguero up from Triple-A Indianapolis and try to determine once and for all if any of them will be impact players in the big leagues.

Another thing the Pirates need to do is to turn the final six weeks of the season into an instructional league setting for Oneil Cruz. Everyone knows that Cruz has jaw-dropping talent and I’m not of the persuasion – unlike some misguided fans – that the Pirates should move on from him.

However, the Pirates should start experimenting with Cruz playing other positions besides shortstop. His 23 errors and minus-7 defensive runs saved suggest Cruz is unlikely to be a long-term fixture at the position.

The Pirates would be wise to give Cruz some starts at both corner infield positions and all three outfield spots to see how well he handles them and if he fits in at one of those five positions.

It would at least make the rest of a suddenly lost season interesting. And the Pirates wouldn’t have to wear a WTNY patch.