30 Teams In 30 Days: I Just Can't Trust The Pittsburgh Pirates

I feel like there might be some people who think that my placement of the Pirates on this ranking is a little bit too harsh. They weren’t terrible last year. A big part of that was they got off to a tremendously hot start and then crashed back down to earth over the last four months, but typically a team was 76 wins is one that you could look at and think presumably could get over the hump the next season. I just don’t feel that way about the Pittsburgh Pirates. The same formula continues for them. They have a mediocre season at best. They sign a few past their prime free agents. In this case, it was Aroldis Chapman, and then claim that they were going to be competitive the next season. It really stinks because Pittsburgh is such a great baseball baseball town, and that team has so much history but their ownership continues to bog them down. I feel like what they were after April last season is more in line with the team we’re going to see in 2024. 

What sucks is that I can’t even say that the future is super bright in Pittsburgh, either. Yes, they have some pieces in their farm system, with Paul Skenes being the prime piece, but they had pieces in their farm system over a decade ago, and the farthest they ever got was the NLDS. At the end of the day, you can load up on as many good prospects as you want, but eventually, you’re going to have to spend some money, and the Pirates have shown zero ability to do that. It’ll be exceptionally disappointing this year because if there was ever a year where I could see an 85-win ball club winning the National League Central, I could see it being 2024. Had the Pirates been a little bit more active in free agency, I feel like they could’ve made some noise in this division, but for the time being, I continue not to trust them.