The Pittsburgh Pirates have been bitten by Murphy’s Law in 2017
There are some seasons in sports when all the circumstances surrounding a team work in their favor: top players have remained healthy and productive, top prospects have matured into steady contributors, and a secondary player or two have performed at a level higher than expected. Then there are some when it seems like everything is going wrong both on and off the field, whether it be under performing stars, injuries, suspensions or legal issues – or in the worst-case scenario, all of the above.
Instead of getting all the breaks, Murphy’s Law dictates almost every possible outcome.
The latter has become the Pittsburgh Pirates’ reality in 2017. Everything that could go wrong hasn’t gone completely wrong yet, but it seems like it’s only a matter of time before the list gets completely checked off.
Jung Ho Kang’s offseason DUI in South Korea was merely the beginning, followed by Starling Marte’s positive steroid test less than a month into the season. Then came injuries to Adam Frazier, David Freese, Antonio Bastardo and Francisco Cervelli, leaving the Pirates to juggle roster options such as Johnny Barbato, Dovydas Neverauskus, Gift Ngoepe, Danny Ortiz and – in the most extreme of circumstances – single-A catcher John Bormann.
They entered the “all of the above” category Monday when the team announced right-hander Jameson Taillon – who was on his way to becoming a linchpin of the starting rotation for the foreseeable future – had been treated for testicular cancer and will be out indefinitely. Just when you thought each blow suffered by this team could be the knockout punch, another one lands with even greater force than the last, and this latest one might be too hard to shake off. Monday night’s 12-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers looked more like an epitaph than just maybe a bad start on a West coast road trip.
This is an offense that has only two healthy starters (Josh Harrison and Josh Bell) with an on-base plus slugging percentage above .750 and a cleanup hitter in Gregory Polanco who has yet to hit a homerun in 113 plate appearances. They have a record of 12-1 in games where they have scored four or more runs. In the 19 games when they’ve scored less than four, they are 2-17, and in five of those losses, the other team had scored three runs or less, including three straight 2-1 losses in a sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals.
The lineup did have at least some production at the start of the season from Freese to offset the indefinite loss of Kang, but Freese’s hamstring injury ended that possibility before it could really pay off. McCutchen promised a monster year after nearly being traded, losing his position in center field and then getting it back when Marte was suspended for 80 games. But a slash line of .221/.305/.407 barely resembles a compelling episode of “The Wiggles”, much less “Where the Wild Things Are.” When the best slugging percentage amongst available regulars belongs to Harrison (.477), there are problems to be addressed.
Solid Pitching Gets Sold Out
The rotation’s ERA of 3.79 was tenth-best in baseball before Monday night, far more deserving of capable run support, but while it seems like scoring runs (or lack thereof) might be the culprit for a team languishing in last place, the Pirates’ defense has condemned them almost equally. They are tied for the second-most errors in the majors with 27, leading to 20 unearned runs (Andrew McCutchen leads the team in runs scored with 14, just for reference’s sake), and their record is now 5-8 when allowing an unearned run.
Perhaps the most frustrating detail in the macro view of this season is despite all the flaws and uncontrollable circumstances, this season is far from being sunk, at least in the standings. The Pirates maintain a record of 14-18, which would put them at least six games out of first place in any other division in baseball, yet they sit only 3.5 games out in the National League Central. With a slightly better set of circumstances, going from worst to first in a matter of weeks would be a possibility, but instead it is merely a mirage.
When trying to find a solution for what is ailing the Pirates, the easy answer is for key players to be more successful if only by default. History says McCutchen is a .308/.393/.505 hitter in May, so an uptick in offensive output should be expected. Since the trip to Miami at the end of April, Polanco is hitting .313/.436/.500 in his last 10 games despite his season-long home run drought and going hitless in nine at bats against the Reds. One might expect that power outage to be met by an eventual power surge to possibly satisfy the law of averages.
You Have Nothing If Not Your Health
Another challenge will be to get healthy and stay healthy. Both Freese and Frazier are now eligible to come off the disabled list when the team sees fit, and Cervelli avoiding the DL lessens the impact of raiding the 40-man roster for available bodies. But the possibility of rehab assignments has not been fully determined, and what we can expect of them to contribute in the immediate future is anyone’s guess.
The biggest obstacle for this team to overcome, however, is the loss of Taillon. The first go-round of the Trevor Williams in the rotation experiment didn’t go so well (betraying my pleas for Williams to be in the rotation to start the season, but I digress), but the slow, steady improvement of Glasnow shouldn’t be ignored in the interim. Back-to-back quality starts have shed more than 1.5 runs off his ERA (from 7.98 to 6.33) in less than two weeks, which is encouraging, but only the beginning of the road he must continue to follow to realize his potential as a top pitching prospect in the game.
The Pittsburgh Pirates seem to be beset on all sides by things that are both within and outside of their control. Their season is in jeopardy of taking an even further downward turn, and even though there is still time for things to theoretically turn around, one can’t help but wonder if the story of this season is one that was doomed before it ever really got started.
Josh Taylor is an award-winning sports broadcasting personality, currently hosting BUCCO TALK the Pirates’ flagship 93.7 The Fan every Saturday. Josh can also be seen on KDKA and The CW networks
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
