The 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates So Far…
A couple years ago, I made it a point to start following baseball again for the first time in a long time, and I figured I would adopt the Pittsburgh Pirates as my team moving forward; seeing as I’m a Steelers obsessive and all. I, now, find myself both financially and (somewhat) emotionally tied to this baseball team, seemingly, just in time to watch it burn to the ground.
At the time of this writing, the Pittsburgh Pirates sit at the bottom of the NL Central with a 32-48 record, nearly ten games behind the fourth seeded Reds. I will say, since firing Derek Shelton back in May, the Pirates have been a more competitive team. The team was 12-26 at the time of his firing, and since moving to Don Kelly as manager, they’ve managed to hover near .500 with a 20-22 record. All year long, they’ve been a TOUGH team to hit against, even tougher under DK, but the fact is on most days, the bats are nearly nonexistent.
The Pirates moved on from hitting coach Andy Haines following the 2024 season and hired Matt Hague to be his replacement. While the move was initially met with optimism by most, that has mostly fizzled away, and the Pirates are batting worse than they were last season. The Pirates finished last season 24th in the league in runs with 665 (4.1 per game), and currently rank dead last this season with 257 runs (stat through 79 games for 3.25 runs per game). Those numbers are bad, and they paint an unfortunate picture for Matt Hague, but the truth is that team brass just isn’t serious about fielding a competitive team right now. This season, the Buccos are 22nd in total payroll at just over $89M. Matt Hague could be the best hitting coach in the world, and I’m still not sure he’d be able to fix the Pirates' woes this year.
To add to the disappointment of the Pirates’ offense so far this year, they also lost Jared Jones to injury after he had surgery to repair damage to his right UCL last month. Last season, while the world watched and waited for Paul Skenes to make his debut, Jones stepped in early in the season and was extremely impressive, adding to the excitement surrounding the future of the squad; specifically their pitching. He’ll turn his attention to rehab and we’ll continue to follow guys Bailey Falter, Paul Skenes, and Bubba Chandler.
This stat (via @OptaSTATS on twitter/x) really encapsulates what 2025 has been like for Pirates fans. It is, of course, a travesty that the Pirates are fumbling a cy-young-quality year from a guy in his second year in the league like this. But, bullpen meltdowns or 0 run support (or both) have been the talking points following nearly every Skenes start in 2025, and it’s just a damn shame. With a limited knowledge of baseball and it’s history(or contemporary for that matter), I liken what the environment that Paul Skenes has found himself in to that of Victor Wembanyama his first two years with the Spurs; A unicorn in his sport whose team needs to maximize the window they have while the players are still cheap. Both teams are failing right now, but at least Spurs fans have hope. Until Bob Nutting puts his money up and attempts to put a competitive product on the field (and trust me “product” is exactly how he’s viewing it), it seems that Buccos fans are going to live in constant fear that Skenes is going to play out his contract, then head out for greener pastures. A generational talent wasted. Let’s hope we’re all wrong.
It sucks that the Pirates squander most of Paul Skenes’ starts, but his play on the field is still as dazzling as ever, and he’s not the only Pirate that has provided some excitement this season. Oneil Cruz has been our lead off guy for most of the year, and he has been awesome in that role. His 13 home runs lead the team, and several of those have opened up some low scoring games to get the Buccos’ offense going. His effort has, certainly, been questionable at times, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the spark he has been for us in moments this season.
Andrew McCutchen also gave fans a reason to smile, last week, when he smoked a three-run blast against the Marlins. That home run, his 241st as a Pirate, moved him up to third all-time in franchise history in home runs, passing the legendary Roberto Clemente. The more accolades like this that we see out of him, the more defined his case for the Hall of Fame becomes. The No. 22 figures to be the tenth number retired by the Buccos whenever he calls it quits. Cutch is an interesting case for me, because he’s actually been in the majors long enough that I remember him from when I stopped watching baseball years ago. He’s one of the few players in the league that I have a familiarity with that spans beyond recent memory, and it’s awesome to now be a part of the fan base that will watch him ride into the sunset as a Pirates legend.
Besides some cool, individual performances and accolades, the Pirates’ 2025 season has been a dumpster fire. I figure even those that came into the season with the most modest of expectations are still disgusted with what has taken place so far. For me personally, I find solace in the fact that the Pirates lack of talent and spending is a national talking point, and that the city of Pittsburgh is not taking it easy on Bob Nutting. I don’t care how thick he thinks his skin is…he’s not going to get badgered by crazed fans for the rest of his life. He will start spending or he will sell if I had to guess. The question now becomes…when? With the lull in football news for the next six-or-so weeks, maybe I’ll have more to say about it here soon.
Follow me on twitter/x: @jay_newm
