Pittsburgh Pirates - The Covid-19 Years (2020-2029)

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2020

2023

Decade

2021

101

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2022

100

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Titles:

Top Pirates Players of the Twenty Twenties

None

Pitchers:

Ballpark:

David Bednar (5.98) - 21

PNC Park

Mitch Keller (5.14) - 18

Chris Stratton (0.19) - 8

Team Name:

Wil Crowe (0.18) - 7

Pirates

JT Brubaker (0.49) - 7

Richard Rodriguez (1.92) - 7

Owners:

Johan Oviedo (2.77) - 6

Robert Nutting

Chad Kuhl (0.1) - 4

Tyler Anderson (1.41) - 4

General Managers:

Rich Hill (0.5) - 4

Ben Cherington

Chase DeJong (1.54) - 3

Managers:

Catchers:

Derek Shelton

Jacob Stallings (4.01) - 8

Austin Hedges (0) - 0

Hall of Famers:

None

First Basemen:

Michael Chavis (-0.15) - 3

Rookie of the Year:

Yoshi Tsutsugo (-1.16) - 3

None

Carlos Santana (1.6) - 3

MVP

Second Basemen:

None

Adam Frazier (3.77) - 10

Ji-Hwan Bae (-0.3) - 3

Cy Young:

None

ShortStop:

Oneil Cruz (2.39) - 8

No Hitters:

Kevin Newman (1.08) - 6

None

Third Base:

Notable Events:

Ke'Bryan Hayes (12.48) - 23

2020 - Like the movie Awakenings, the Pirates had this tiny window of success

Outfield:

in '13-'15 amidst a sea of failure. Pittsburgh was a horrific 19-41 in '20 as the

Bryan Reynolds (11.8) - 40

failure continued.

Jack Suwinski (3.34) - 13

Connor Joe (0.7) - 7

□ Robert Nutting has been the owner since '07. There have been four winning

Ben Gamel (0.07) - 7

seasons in 14 years. Compared to the previous regime, Nutting is a savior.

Andrew McCutchen (1.5) - 6

However, in the real world, it's no bueno.

Colin Moran (0.45) - 5

Gregory Polanco (-2.37) - 3

□ Ben Cherington, former Red Sox and Blue Jays GM, was hired on in '20 by

the Pirates. Got off to a bad start in '20. Chris Archer deal in '18 sealed previous

Notable Events:

GM Neal Huntington's fate. Bucs gave up Shane Baz, Austin Meadows and

Tyler Glasnow to the Rays for, essentially, nothing.

2024 - I wouldn't be planning on going to the World Series in '24 if I

were a Pirate fan. Not anything in October actually.

□ Derek Shelton was hired as manager in '20

The Bucs will go as far as their pitching will carry them this season.

They have, if all goes well, a potentially solid starting rotation and

2021-2022 - The Pirates go 61-101 and 62-100. This is very bad.

there are a lot of good young arms in the organization to add solid

They don't even bother going thru the motions of changing GM's or managers

bullpen depth behind stud closer David Bedner.

any more.

The Pirates will not be a good offensive team this year.

2023 - There are a handful of major league quality players on the roster coming into the

The Pirates starting rotation has the potential to be much improved this

season. The farm system, with great effort, brings one of them up from time to time.

season. Staff ace Mitch Keller, 28, was 13-9 last season and is one of

And the team never spends to acquire new talent or keep whatever existing top

the better starters in the league. Veteran lefthander Martin Perez, 33,

talent there is. Keller, Bednar, Cruz, Reynolds, Suwinski and Hayes are the

was picked up from World Champions Texas. He was 10-4 last year.

existing quality on the team. That's clearly not enough to contend for anything.

Another veteran lefthander, Marco Gonzalez, 31, was picked up from

Seattle in the offseason. He was a solid starter for the Mariners until

2023 - Pittsburgh tops seventy wins for the first time since 2018 to 76-86.

he went down with an injury last season. If fully healthy, he could be a

They're still not very good and overachieved on their runs totals which would

nice addition to the rotation. The Pirates had the number one overall

have given them a 71-91 mark. Closer David Bednar won the close ones

pick in last year's draft and grabbed righthander Paul Skenes.

for the Pirates which explains their overachieving runs wise.

Skenes dominated at LSU last year and is starting at AAA. He has the

There's a lot of youth on the squad so the Bucs should be trending upward.

potential to move in at the top of the rotation this year.

Twenty two year old righthander Jared Jones, a '20 second round pick

2023 - One thing that shallow-pocketed owner Robert Nutting has finally done is

has high nineties heat and may be ready to do some damage.

start holding onto some of his homegrown talent. OF Bryan Reynolds and 3B Ke'Bryan

Unfortunately, Johan Oviedo, 25, who was a respectable 9-13 last

Hayes on not stars, but they are very good players and Nutting has signed both of

season went down with TJ surgery.

them to long term deals. That's a great step forward for an organization that lives

Closer David Bednar, 29, returns. He is a stud and had 39 saves last year.

from penny to penny.

Veteran lefty Aroldis Chapman, 36, was picked up from the World

Champ Rangers in the offseason. He adds some quality bullpen depth.

There are a number of twenty somethings in the pen who can help turn

the Pirate pen into a real strength this season.

The Pirates offense was below league average, as well, last year.

There are two solid above average big leaguers on the roster in

3B Ke'Bryan Hayes, 27, and OF Brian Reynolds, 29. A sharp dropoff

after them. SS O'Neil Cruz, 25, broke his leg last year after a productive

rookie season. He is 6'7" which is probably not a good thing for a shortstop.

OF Jack Suwinski, 25, has good power, but K's half the time. No bueno.

First overall pick in the '21 draft, C Henry Davis is talented but raw.

After that, you are really crossing your fingers that anybody emerges as

any good. 2B Ji Hwan Bae, 24; SS Tucupita Marcano, 24; 1B Llover

Peguero, 24; and 2B Termarr Johnson, 20, are all young and unproven.