ST. LOUIS -- It’s been an interesting start to the baseball season in Pittsburgh. Sure, the Pirates’ place at the bottom of the standings shouldn’t be much of a surprise. But, overall, things have undeniably gone better than expected through the first 40 games of the season.
Things are starting to get back to normal in the world. And with that has brought the start of the minor-league season. Since Ben Cherington was hired in Nov. 2019, the Pirates have sold off four regulars -- Starling Marte, Joe Musgrove, Josh Bell and Jameson Taillon -- for a haul of 13 noteworthy prospects.
Before those minor leaguers got their season going, it was difficult to not check the out-of-town box scores for those names, in addition to others like Tyler Glasnow, Gerrit Cole and others that were once members of the Pirates.
Oftentimes, the comments on this website, especially when things go wrong for the Pirates, are references to what some former Pirate is doing for their new club. But now that the city is actually seeing the fruits of Cherington’s fire sale play actual minor league games, is it time to cut the nonsense and stop ghost hunting?
Taillon has a 5.40 ERA with a 1-3 record for the Yankees. The four -- yeah, four -- players that the Pirates acquired for him already look like they’re worth the investment.
Miguel Yajure pitched five one-hit innings in a spot start for the big-league club Friday. Roansy Contreras ranks seventh among all minor league pitchers with 22 strikeouts through his first two outings. Maikol Escotto has 12 hits through his first 34 at-bats (.354) for Bradenton. And Canaan Smith-Njigba is batting .300 with two homers and nine RBIs for Altoona.
The Taillon trade looks like a winner. But even if it wasn’t, the time has come for the fan base to leave the past in the past, and understand what the heck is going on here.
YOUR TURN: Will the ghosts of Pirates past continue to haunt you as the team continues to rebuild?
