Who Deserves Blame for Pirates Collapse? (+)
After hanging around the postseason picture for much of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ chances of returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2015 are all but dead.
As recently as July 30, the Pirates were tied for second place in the National League Central and were within two games of a wild card spot.
Fast forward just over two weeks and the Pirates reside in the cellar of the division and are seven games out in the wild card race with the fourth-worst record in the National League at 56-63.
As it stands, the Pirates are on pace to match their 76-86 record from last year. That’s a grim statement considering this is the fifth year of the rebuild and the fact that there was a legitimate chance at the return of ‘Buctober’ since the now 37-year-old Andrew McCutchen was a 28-year-old All-Star.
Instead, the Pirates are headed towards their sixth-straight losing season and their 28th since the last division title in 1992.
Who deserves the blame?
Ben Cherington
Yes, owner Bob Nutting is at fault, but that could be a whole separate story that everyone is aware of. In order to save time, we’ll start with the general manager.
Cherington was hired prior to the start of the 2020 season after Neal Huntington was let go after the Pirates had a disastrous second half in 2019. Once he took the reigns, Cherington started salvaging the present with an eye towards the future.
Five years later, the future still has not arrived. It looked like the Pirates were poised to take a step forward this year after a 14-game improvement from 2022-23. They did take a step, at least until the most recent stretch of dropping nine-straight and 11 of 12 games overall.
Still in contention at the end of July, Cherington and the Pirates bought at the trade deadline for the first time under his watch. Jalen Beeks has pitched well out of the bullpen. Isiah Kiner-Falefa has done some good things but has underperformed at the plate. Bryan De La Cruz has a .353 OPS and minus-two defensive runs saved in 10 games.
Looking back to the offseason, the Pirates had a middling winter that consisted of modest one-year deals and smaller-scale trades. Again, Nutting is partially to blame there.
McCutchen still has it. Aroldis Chapman has been a prominent member of the Pirates’ bullpen. Marco Gonzales is out for the season after a total of seven starts. Martín Pérez struggled and was dealt to the Padres at the deadline. Rowdy Tellez brushed off a horrendous first couple of months to being a still-below average but somewhat serviceable first baseman. Yasmani Grandal and Michael A. Taylor have bother underperformed. Edward Olivares was outrighted to Indianapolis.
Considering how small the Pirates’ margin of error is, there needs to be a much better track record when making acquisitions.
Derek Shelton
I’m a firm believer in managers don’t influence as many games as they get blamed for. But still, managers are not absolved by any means during a down turn.
It was tough to gauge Shelton’s abilities as a manager during his first few seasons considering the lack of talent on the roster. At the end of last year — and carried over into this year — it looked like Shelton had his club on the right track.
It doesn’t look like that anymore.
At least some of the blame of the Pirates’ August collapse has to fall on the manager. He’s the captain of the ship and the one who sets the tone in the clubhouse. One thing Shelton has to do more is hold players accountable for lapses and miscues, even more so during stretches like this.
In Shelton’s defense, he’s still not working with a great hand, but a 274-391 record through five seasons is a much longer leash than most managers in today’s era receive.
On the Field
Two areas in particular have been big reasons as to why the Pirates are where they are — the bullpen and the offense.
Entering the season, it looked like the bullpen was going to be the main strength of the team, but it hasn’t been. Two-time All-Star David Bednar started slow, regained his form but has struggled down the stretch. Colin Holderman had been the best arm out of the bullpen for much of the season but started to get knocked around down the stretch before he was placed on the injured list.
As a complete unit, Pirates’ relievers have combined for a 4.34 ERA — 25th in the league.
The offense, meanwhile, ranks 24th with a .235 batting average, 26th with a .302 on-base and 27th in both slugging percentage (.371) and OPS (.673).
Parting Thoughts
Considering this kind of tailspin, it doesn’t come down to one person. The roster is an imperfect one but one that showed they are capable of being a threat. Yes, player have to perform, but that’s on the GM and the manager.
Unless the Pirates have a miraculous turnaround over the final seven weeks of the season, someone or some people are going to need to be held accountable.
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