Twelve games? Feels more like 100 when you consider all we’ve seen thus far from the Pirates:
• The frustration-filled home opener — a plane circling PNC Park exhorting Bob Nutting to sell the team, the chants to do the same, vociferous boos and fans really letting the Pirates owner hear it as he walked up the rotunda.
• Removing a tribute to Roberto Clemente and the ensuing fallout before the Pirates admitted they screwed up and said it would return.
• Sending their two-time All-Star closer (David Bednar) to Triple-A Indianapolis and moving the eighth-inning guy (Colin Holderman) to the fifth because they had a combined ERA of 14.40 with six walks in five innings.
• Four games ending in walk-off fashion, three during that disastrous opening series in Miami.
• MLB debuts from two guys (Thomas Harrington and Tsung-Che Cheng) who did not break camp with the team, the first one of those a starting pitcher who earned a save in the big leagues before notching his first win.
• A friends-and-family crowd Monday against the Cardinals that illustrated the size of the hill the Pirates must climb.
• The entire Bucco brick mess.
It’s been a lot — and it hasn’t been particularly fun.
The Pirates’ team batting average, OPS and ERA all ranked 24th or worse in MLB prior to Tuesday’s game. They had struck out 106 times, second most of any club, and suffered four of their seven losses in walk-off fashion.
What I’ve seen, though, tells me a few different things.
First and perhaps most obvious: It’s getting ugly with ownership.
Remember August 2022, when Mt. Lebanon native Colin Witte posed for an awkward picture with Nutting wearing a “Sell the Team” T-shirt? Feels like a G-rated movie at this point.
In so many ways, this should be viewed as a make-or-break year for the Pirates.
For general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton and the need to win now.
Also in a larger sense, when it comes to the ongoing push for Nutting to sell and the growing vitriol among fans. After the home opener unfolded the way it did, what will PNC Park feel like by May if nothing changes?
Paul Skenes, Tommy Pham and Andrew Heaney took the heat out of a hot kitchen at various points of the season, but the Pirates will obviously need a lot more from everyone to steady their season.
The same as it was back in 2013-15, when fans were also frustrated with the owner and questioned the former regime, things changed when those playing the game defied expectations. When the Pirates experienced a bunch of crazy, unexpected outcomes — but in a positive way.
What does that mean realistically?
That their situation, despite a start I’m not sure could have possibly been worse, hasn’t changed.
Feel however you want about Nutting, Cherington and Shelton — and I’ve heard from plenty of you who are less than thrilled — but for the Pirates to find success in 2025, their best players need to be their best players.
Same as in spring training, nobody expects the Pirates to have a top-10 offense. But it can obviously improve upon what we’ve seen thus far.
It’s also true that it remains difficult to get an accurate statistical handle on this group because of the small sample size.
Prior to Tuesday, the Pirates were actually tied for 17th in runs scored (40) thanks to scoring 13 times combined between Sunday and Monday. They also had a .265 average and .777 OPS with runners in scoring position, which ranked 10th.
The batting average and OPS are concerning, absolutely, but there have been some notable player improvements — Oneil Cruz making better swing decisions, Ke’Bryan Hayes’ health and Isiah Kiner-Falefa producing a .343 average.
At the same time, there’s obviously more that must happen.
Bryan Reynolds started Tuesday’s game with a .182 average, .529 OPS and a triceps issue, relegating him to designated hitter duty. Jack Suwinski, who looked poised for a breakout in spring, sat at just .143 with 11 strikeouts in 21 at-bats. Pham scuffled to start and was hitting just .121.
They need Joey Bart to continue what he did Monday, Cruz to slug more than .362 and Andrew McCutchen to keep doing what he’s been doing.
Pitching-wise, there was plenty of talk about the improved depth, yet here we sit with Jared Jones and Johan Oviedo — two key pieces — sidelined for lengthy stretches with elbow and lat issues, respectively.
Pittsburgh’s pitching staff, a potential strength, has produced a 4.89 ERA (24th) thus far. If you can believe it, the bullpen has actually been better (4.64, 20th) than the starters (5.08, 22nd). But obviously that doesn’t apply the right amount of weighted context for all of the blown leads we’ve seen.
For the lousy start to be forgotten, it’ll take Skenes being Skenes, more of what we saw Sunday from Heaney and less of how Mitch Keller struggled in the home opener, giving up seven earned runs and six free passes in 3⅔ innings.
They obviously need to cut out the ugly stuff — Ji Hwan Bae’s baserunning adventures, Cruz struggling defensively in center field, a variety of other fundamental miscues — but despite the myriad issues, not a ton has changed.
The Pirates need to get elite starting pitching, their bullpen needs to protect leads, they need to neither run into nor give away outs and their offense has to provide enough to tie it all together.
At that point, maybe we can move past some of the ugliness we’ve seen thus far.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and @JMackeyPG on X.
First Published: April 8, 2025, 6:45 p.m.
Updated: April 9, 2025, 1:38 p.m.
