MILWAUKEE -- Not that anyone would want to follow it, but if these 2022 Pirates ever fabricated a firm template for how their games go ... man, I'll bet it'd look a lot like what was witnessed here Wednesday afternoon at American Family Field:
• Surprisingly OK starting pitching
• Worst offense in franchise history
• Defense regressing beyond recognition
• Endless retreads in relief
• Shower well, rinse, repeat
Zach Thompson's struggled most of the summer, but he found out he'd start upon reporting to the stadium and somehow put up four emphatic zeros. Errors by Oneil Cruz and Ke'Bryan Hayes, plus two other defensive mishaps that were fairly deemed singles, handed the home team more than it'd been earning. The only bat that made any noise came on a Ben Gamel solo home run. And for the climax came a bunch of waiver claims and cash-considerations acquisitions to tilt the score further.
Then the hot water: Brewers 6, Pirates 1
If we've seen it once we've seen it ... right, 81 times now. A loss shy of a third consecutive losing -- no, catastrophic -- record under Ben Cherington/Derek Shelton, given that they're now 119-223 for a don't-call-it-winning percentage of .347.
Only other time the once-proud Pittsburgh Baseball Club had three consecutive seasons of sub.-400 ball?
That'd be 1952-55, when there were four.
Only other full season in which they had a team batting average as low as the ongoing .219?
That'd be ... uh, 19-oh-never.
Or 18-oh-never for anyone wanting to really ride the horse-and-buggy wayback machine. Even the infamous 1890 Pittsburg Alleghenys, a dozen-plus part-time coal miners who authored one of the lowest winning percentages in the history of organized sport at 23-113 ... even they managed to bat .230!
Behold the mega-mustachioed offensive juggernaut ...
OOTP DEVELOPMENTS
The 1890 Pittsburg Alleghenys at Exposition Park on what's now the North Side.
... and picture that compared to the current crop. For every Phenomenal Smith, a Yu Chang. For every Peek-a-boo Veech, a Yoshi Tsutsugo. For every strikeout ... well, more strikeouts. Way more.
I'm having fun, obviously, but it's embarrassing. Or at least it should be.
It's not just the 49-81 overall record but also the 10-27 free fall since the All-Star break, the five whole wins in the just-completed August, the 96 times in 130 games that the starter couldn't pitch six innings, the .980 fielding percentage that's now last in the National League, the two series sweeps ... in THREE YEARS!
But hey, on the bright side, it's almost over. Another month, and that's that.
So, in that spirit, allow me, please, to put forth five totally unsolicited, unwanted tips on how, in all seriousness, the Pirates could make the most of September, right through to the Oct. 5 regular-season finale against the Cardinals that'll attract at least a few of the athletes' loved ones to PNC Park.
In ascending order:
GETTY
Zach Thompson pitches in the first inning Wednesday in Milwaukee.
5. FIND ANOTHER STARTER
It's been the Year of Mitch Keller, which is wonderful.
But it's also become the Year of Tyler Beede, which stops being wonderful after about 1 2/3 innings.
As mentioned above, the starters have been surprising, and that's to the credit of all concerned, including Oscar Marin. I'd criticized the latter in his first two years, but anyone navigating apparent breakthroughs for both Keller and JT Brubaker, in addition to the straightening-out of since-departed Jose Quintana, deserves any praise.
More's needed, though, and that's where management needs to knock off the Beede nonsense, send Bryse Wilson back to Indianapolis -- or Atlanta, for that matter -- and focus far more on Thompson, Miguel Yajure and anyone else who'd have a shot at filling out the room.
There were times on this day that Thompson looked dominant, and he'd tell me afterward it was due to renewed confidence in his cutter that'd been effective earlier this year, then crossing up Milwaukee batters with the curve. Graft onto that mid-90s heat, his 6-foot-7 frame and the downward plane, and it was promising.
"It was an effective mix," as he'd say.
Yajure's got some of the more dynamic offspeed stuff at any level of the system, and he'd been flashing a Jameson Taillon-looking curve in Indy before being recalled on this day. Maybe just as important, given his injury history, he had mid-90s heat, too, and I hadn't seen that from him ... ever?
"I felt strong," he told me, though adding that his pitches didn't have the "finish" he'd been enjoying in Indy.
Next time?
"Next time."
More of these guys. Fewer of the forfeit starts.
4. FIX THE FUNDAMENTALS
Who'd raise an eyebrow if Shelton and his coaches transformed most of their pregame prep sessions from advance work to ... you know, more infield, more baserunning, etc.
There isn't much that can resonate from a September to a spring, but fundamentals are an evergreen focus, and this manager's oversight of the defense plunging from one of baseball's best in 2021, by some metrics, to where it's at now ... it's probably the single most damning event of his tenure to date.
And no, the great plays don't compensate. If anything, inconsistency's an even uglier look.
It's not OK, in other words, for Ke'Bryan Hayes to do this ...
... in the same game he does this:
"Took my eye off the ball as I was going to the bag," he'd explain to me afterward.
It's beyond bizarre that he remains Major League Baseball's leader in Defensive Runs Saved, with 17, while also having committed 12 errors.
Similarly, with Oneil Cruz, it's not OK to do this ...
... in the same game he does this:
I've asked Shelton more than once, and again on this trip, if there's an extra step or anything else amiss with how Cruz sets himself before errors on what should be the easiest throws he makes. And both times, the answer came back well shy of anything technical.
"It's like there are times when he's just got too much time," Shelton replied this time.
That might be correct. But Cherington often preaches how development can't end once a player arrives in the majors, and only the results count.
3. GET HAYES/REYNOLDS RIGHT.
Not to pick on Hayes with back-to-back entries -- this team's got slightly bigger issues -- but he and Reynolds are the team's top two position players ... in theory more than reality at the moment. And that can't hold true for anything about the collective's short-term future to feel worthwhile.
If that's the only upbeat development out of September for this team, it'd be nice.
Through June 3, Hayes looked like a bargain fresh off signing the eight-year, $70 million contract on opening weekend in St. Louis, batting .295 with a .379 on-base percentage that all but buried the one home run he had to that point. But since then, he batted .198 in June, .213 in July, .227 in August ... with 20 RBIs over those 67 games.
The only thing softer than his hands in the field's been his contact at the plate. In this series, he'd go 0 for 9 with a walk and barely a ball out of the infield.
"The goal's to finish strong, for sure," he'd reply when I asked about September.
Reynolds, conversely, dug himself a .212 ditch through the first two months, then erupted in June to slash .333/.379/.610 with eight home runs. It looked like he was all the way back. But a strained oblique in early July cost him that tear and two ensuing weeks. And since returning, he's been ... eh, .252 with six home runs and 17 RBIs.
He's still the team's top hitter in every way, but that'd be damning almost anyone with faint praise.
"Need another June," he'd joke with me on this trip.
Or maybe he wasn't joking.
Cruz is fun. He's the candy store. These two are musts.
2. STOP THE STUPIDITY
Sorry, but I can't come up with a more apt term for continuing to house -- and occasionally play -- all these accumulated rejects in their late 20s, ahead of players who've got at least a prayer at being part of what's to come.
I don't care about the active roster's needs. I definitely don't care about the 40-man. And I couldn't care less about Indy, Altoona or any other level.
If there's a time to find out about Rodolfo Castro, Jack Suwinski, Tucupita Marcano, Diego Castillo, Travis Swaggerty or anyone else in their age/experience range, this is it. Even more so than spring training. Watching them sit -- again on this day -- while the likes of Greg Allen are stealing plate appearances ... I can't even convey my stance on this while keeping it clean.
Put it this way: The only thing that'd get Josh VanMeter DFAd at this stage would be if he snapped a selfie with Bob Nutting sporting a 'SELL THE TEAM' tee.
No, this isn't about playing the kids for the fans' entertainment purposes, which shouldn't be a priority to anyone. It's about doing the right thing on the pure-baseball front toward being that much more ready for 2023.
And on that note ...
1. COMMIT TO 2023
Quit concocting reasons why 2023 has to be yet another punt year.
It can't be one.
Once more with gusto: Pittsburgh ain't St. Petersburg. We've had the franchise for 136 years. Even the people who pretend not to care can't shut up about how much they don't care. That means management isn't free to treat baseball ops like some perpetual petri-dish experiment. The expectations ought to be that payroll's back up at $100 million where it belongs, that real players are acquired to replace all the waiver projects and, above all, that actual winning occurs on the understandably longer road to actual contention.
Attempting to rationalize anything else, as they're wont to do inside 115 Federal, is energy that could be better expended on a plan to support the youngsters already here. To start succeeding now, not if/when the Altoona cavalry comes. Because it can be done. There's enough here that augmenting with even an A.J. Burnett here or a Russell Martin there would be huge.
Heck, the 1891 Alleghenys more than doubled their win total over the previous season's debacle -- from 23 to 55 -- and it couldn't be called Phenomenal since he'd moved on to Philly by then.
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Fifth inning at American Family Field, Milwaukee, Wednesday afternoon.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 15-day injured list: RHP David Bednar (back), RHP Colin Holderman (right shoulder), LHP Dillon Peters (left elbow)
• 60-day injured list: RHP Yerry De Los Santos (lat), OF Canaan Njigba-Smith (wrist), RHP Blake Cederlind (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Oneil Cruz, SS
2. Kevin Newman, 2B
3. Bryan Reynolds, DH
4. Ben Gamel, RF
5. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
6. Tucupita Marcano, LF
7. Michael Chavis, 1B
8. Greg Allen, CF
9. Jason Delay, C
And for Craig Counsell's Brewers:
1. Christian Yelich, LF
2. Willy Adames, SS
3. Rowdy Tellez, DH
4. Hunter Renfroe, RF
5. Kolten Wong, 2B
6. Keston Hiura, 1B
7. Luis Urías, 3B
8. Omar Narvaez, C
9. Tyrone Taylor, CF
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates are off Thursday, then have the Blue Jays in for the weekend. Two anthems 'n' at.
Thanks for reading my baseball stuff. This'll be my final road trip of 2022. Time to put full focus on football.
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