Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call: Parting Shots and Heartfelt Goodbyes

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

Goodbye Gerrit!

Former Pittsburgh Pirate, Gerrit Cole was introduced as a member of the Houston Astros yesterday. I’ve always loved introductory press conferences. There is something so exciting about seeing a player in his new uniform. It also gives the player a chance to say hello to his new fan base or say goodbye to his old one. Gerrit Cole decided to use his platform to take a few shots at his former organization. Cole said:

“It’s refreshing to come to an environment where the team is willing to continually put resources into the club and continue to move forward and try to provide the best possible product for its fans.”

The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t been the most popular team in town recently and Gerrit Cole’s comments are going to add fuel to the fire. Even during the playoff years of 2013-2015, fans accused the Pirates’ management of not doing enough to win. They never “went for it.” It seems that Gerrit Cole shares that sentiment. The Pittsburgh Pirates and specifically Bob Nutting deserve this criticism.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had opportunities to add at three straight trade deadlines and opted to make mostly minor deals. The defense of that was, the team was opting to keep their core prospects instead of selling the farm to add a major piece for one run. This would then give them a chance at runs for years and not just one shot. Well, it’s 2018 and the Pirates seem pretty far away from another postseason appearance. The team clearly made the wrong move not going for it when they had the chance. The window is firmly shut. The team likely will rebuild and have a chance to be good in a few years but for fans that wanted the team to capitalize on their championship potential, this has to be super frustrating.

 #ThankYouCutch

I am not going to pretend this portion of the Wake-Up Call is anything other than a heartfelt goodbye. Gerrit Cole’s trade was understandable and didn’t garner much of an emotional response. However, the trade of Andrew McCutchen was all emotions.

Andrew McCutchen was more than just a baseball player to the city of Pittsburgh. He was the heart and face of the Pittsburgh Pirates. I remember when the team drafted McCutchen in 2005, there was some cynicism because draft picks tended to not work out for the Pirates during those years. McCutchen was the Pirates top prospects from 2005 until 2009 when he was called up to the Big Leagues. To say he lived up to the hype would be an understatement.

I am not going to recap McCutchen’s time with the Pirates because you all know what he accomplished both on and off the field. I am just going to say, it’s going to be surreal and sad to see him wearing another team’s uniform. We all wanted him to be this generation’s Roberto Clemente or Willie Stargell but it wasn’t meant to be. McCutchen will play for at least one other team in his career and it will always feel wrong. San Francisco Giants outfielder, Andrew McCutchen feels as weird as Seattle Seahawk, Franco Harris or New York Met, Willie Mayes. However, no matter what other uniform McCutchen wears in his career, he will always be a Pittsburgh icon. Here’s to you, Cutch. Best of luck in 2018 and beyond.

Baseball talk on the web

MLB collusion, explained

Yankees’ bullpen could be best of all time

With no MLB offer, Ichiro might return to Japan