Perrotto: Many Factors Why Pirates Ready to Sink Underwater
The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to avoid an ignominious milestone in their last game before the All-Star break. They will not be able to dodge it much longer.
By eking out a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday in Minneapolis, the Pirates raised their all-time franchise record to 10,878-10,877.
No need for a passing grade in trigonometry to understand that leaves the Pirates one game above .500. And no need to have a crystal ball to determine the Pirates will soon fall under .500, considering they have a 39-58 record this season going into Friday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox at PNC Park.
Dropping below .500 doesn’t seem like a big deal, especially considering that losing is a way of life for the Pirates. They have had just four winning seasons in the last 32 years, with all four concentrated within five years from 2013 to 2017.
Yet it is a big deal. The Pirates haven’t been under .500 as a franchise since 1903.
1903!
How long ago was 1903? The Pirates played in the first World Series that year, losing to the Boston Americans.
How did the Pirates reach this point after 122 years?
The reason everyone wants to hear is Bob Nutting. It’s an easy excuse, and there’s no question that the Pirates’ owner has played a significant role in the decline.
However, it didn’t start with Nutting.
Several factors have contributed to the Pirates’ lack of success, dating back to the advent of free agency in 1976. The small-market Pirates were able to keep pace with the large-market franchises for a while, including a World Series win in 1979, their last appearance in the Fall Classic.
However, as the disparity in team payrolls continued to grow with the increased player salaries, the Pirates had a hard time keeping up.
The Pirates didn’t reach the postseason in the 1980s before winning three straight division titles from 1990-92. However, the Pirates never reached the World Series in any of the three years and had to tear apart their team, letting star players Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Doug Drabek leave as free agents due to financial constraints.
Then came the infamous string of 20 consecutive losing seasons from 1993-2012, the longest streak in the history of major North American professional sports. It finally ended with three straight National League Wild Card Game appearances from 2013-15.
However, the Pirates haven’t been close to reaching the postseason since then. They will need a miracle finish – 42-23, to be exact – to be a .500 team this year.
The financial landscape of Major League Baseball has undoubtedly contributed to the Pirates’ downfall, as the franchise has had short-pocketed ownership, ranging from the Galbreath family to the public-private consortium that prevented the team from relocating in 1986, to Kevin McClatchy.
Does Nutting have the money to afford a larger payroll? Some say he does, and others say he doesn’t. I don’t have access to his bank accounts.
However, Nutting’s calm, calculated demeanor leads fans to believe he does not care about winning. It could be perception. It could be reality. He strikes me like MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in that neither seems to truly love baseball.
It also wouldn’t be accurate to state that payroll disparity is the only reason the Pirates find themselves on the precipice of falling below .500.
The Pirates have made numerous poor decisions over the last 30-plus years—a whole lot.
They’ve often hired the wrong people to man top-level jobs in baseball operations. They’ve made many poor trades, and their record in amateur drafts has been inconsistent.
There is a long list of mistakes that it would take all day to recount. I might be saving that for a book.
Add it all together, and here are the Pirates, the franchise with five World Series titles and the franchise of Wagner, Waner, Clemente, and Stargell.
A franchise ready to do baseball’s equivalent of sinking underwater.
How sad.