Pittsburgh Pirates Wake-Up Call – What are these Pirates?

In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were entering a stretch of games that started back on July 19th where they played teams out of the playoff standings until August 12th. Back then, the Pirates were two games above .500, and sitting outside of the Wild Card race, looking to make up some ground and take advantage of an easy stretch. The non-waiver trade deadline was also about two weeks away, and the team could add pieces if it began to make a playoff push.

Since that point, the Pirates are 8-9, and currently sit one game above .500, still on the outside of the playoffs looking in. Neal Huntington and the front office’s actions on the August 2nd deadline day reflected those of a .500 team, as they added a starter, but also shed some salary while trading away players. Now, we on the outside look at this Pirates team and don’t know what to expect. They are still within striking distance of the second Wild Card spot, and there’s still the waiver trade deadline to add to the team, but is this really a team that can compete in the playoffs even if they make it?

Huntington certainly believes that. He’s of the belief that once a team makes the playoffs, anything can happen. And per Adam Berry of MLB.com, Huntington and his team are monitoring the waiver trade market, which is a bit more complicated and tougher to acquire players through than the earlier non-waiver deadline. The Pirates have added quality pieces through this market before, though, as we saw Marlon Byrd acquired off waivers from the Mets in 2013, and he had an immediate impact for the Pirates in their push to the postseason. But the Pirates also traded away Arquimedes Caminero via this process over the weekend, so what is truly the front office’s mindset?

I won’t be the first to say that the Pirates’ moves over the past month have been head-scratching to say the least. However, I’m also not someone that says the Pirates aren’t good this year and they should just throw in the towel. They have the talent to make some noise in these next two months, although it might not seem like it now. In 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals were 10.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves on August 25th, and ended up one game up on the Braves in the final Wild Card standings. From there, the Cardinals catapulted to a World Series championship. So don’t give up on the Pirates just yet.

After this upcoming series against the Padres, the Pirates play 12 straight games against teams fighting for the playoffs, so the easy schedule immediately flips to a tough one. Maybe after those series we’ll finally know what Pirates team this truly is.

Baseball Talk from Around the Web

• Jonah Keri of CBS Sports gives his take on Alex Rodriguez, especially on how A-Rod needs to have his accomplishments as a player balanced with the negatives of his performance-enhancing drug use.
• Adam Eaton is having a tremendous year, and it’s largely because of his defense. Jeff Sullivan gives a breakdown of Eaton’s fantastic year here.
• And Bill Bear of NBC Sports looks at who the next players in the league might be to reach the 3,000-hit club, which Ichiro Suzuki joined this past weekend (hint: one Pirate is mentioned…).

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