In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
Normally, this space is light on commentary. We here at PBD use the Daily Wake Up Call space as a primer for Pittsburgh Pirates fans to get ready for their baseball day ahead.
After yesterday’s listless offensive display – against the Cincinnati Reds relievers in particular – I wanted to editorialize a bit here today.
If you are reading this, then it is a probable assumption that you are a Pirates fan or, at the very least, an interested observer. If you are the former, it is very likely that you are placing blame for the team’s middling first month and change on a variety of parties.
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Many place the team’s failures – or, if not failures, frequent bouts of ineptitude – solely at the foot of team ownership or, more to the point, ownership’s budget.
Some will place it on the general manager and his baseball ops department. Some will even drill down specifically and identify supposed problems in the team’s drafting or performance in the trade market.
Others place the blame on the manager in the dugout. They will point to his lineup whims and bullpen usage to back their claims.
I am here today to tell you that at some point, and that point is swiftly approaching if it has not arrived already, you will have to blame the players.
Seriously, Blame The Players
I do not stand before you today to place the blame solely at the feet of the men who take the field for the Pittsburgh Pirates each game. To be sure, everything and everyone I listed above has a hand in the team’s start.
Yet many came into this 2017 baseball season believing that the Pirates had a talented roster. There were holes, to be sure, but there was talent nonetheless. There was established talent. There were burgeoning talents. There was talent looking to bring that ability back out on display, and there was talent that was readily apparent, primed to take that much ballyhooed “step forward.”
To this point, what has that talent wrought? A 12-16 record, with a 3-1 series loss to the Cincinnati Reds stuck fresh in the hearts and minds of fans who somehow talked themselves into feeling optimistic after a 11-13 opening month.
“Their schedule was brutal. Getting out of it at 11-13 is pretty remarkable.”
“With the players they are missing right now, it’s a wonder they aren’t much worse off.”
All of that is true of course, but it too masks the truth. The players that have taken the field regularly – specifically, the tent poles that form this team’s run creation – are under-performing to a high degree, if they are on the field at all.
After seeing the Pirates’ offense look absolutely inept more often than not, it was this tweet from the Post Gazette’s Adam Bittner that galvanized this conclusion for me.
https://twitter.com/fugimaster24/status/860231135456112641
Pittsburgh Pirates fans, pay attention to his last sentence.
When you are looking to assign blame or find reason for the club’s underwhelming beginning to a pivotal season, start the conversation by looking at the players.
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