The Pirates' principal problem, offensively, is that they haven't got the faintest clue what they're doing either in terms of instruction or acquisition.
Or both.
So yeah, just that.
What's worse, I'd posit, the only public, palpable stance they've taken on that problem is to prioritize protecting the people and the processes they've put in place over their individual players and over ... you know, winning. They'll talk about slumps that spread through the lineup. They'll talk about a struggle. They'll talk about how so-and-so's scuffling. But there's never, ever, ever a mention of Ben Cherington's belief in a passive approach at the plate, nor of Derek Shelton's history as a big-league hitting coach, nor or Andy Haines' ongoing history as a twice-failed hitting coach.
And so, on this Friday at PNC Park, which began with 2021 MLB Draft No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis' demotion to Class AAA Indianapolis after slashing a scary-for-anyone .162/.280/.206, then unfolded by nightfall into yet another flat-line, four-hit output in the 3-2 loss to the last-place Rockies ... I decided up in the press box, probably around the fourth or fifth inning, that I was done asking about the players.
They're always comfortable talking about the players. What the players need to do. How the players need to respond.
Shelton would say in the afternoon of Davis, for example, "I think the big thing is, offensively, there's adjustments that have to be made. I think that there's adjustments that the major-league game has showed him that need to be made. ... The thing that we know about Henry is he's probably one of the hardest workers I've ever been around at the major-league level, and he's going to go down there with a task and work on it."
Yep. Go get 'em, Henry.
Nothing about how every other young hitter, including plenty with universally acclaimed pedigree, gets thrown back down soon after coming into contact with the Pirates.
I asked Shelton if all of this is the players' fault and, if it isn't -- as I knew he'd answer that it isn't -- what's being done or even discussed regarding a change in hitting instruction or philosophy:
“No," he'd respond to the first part, then proceed, "There’s a lot of work going on. We’re going through a tough stretch right now. We just have to keep working and build ourselves out of it.”
There was seven seconds, then a glance around the room as if to seek the next question.
But if I'd asked about a player?
And this "tough stretch" that he'd reference, I'll have to presume that's a stretch of four-plus seasons now in which the Pirates rank dead-last in the majors in runs. Which, granted, is a tough stretch and a half, huh?
I like the man. I really do. Always have. But that's a laughable lack of accountability within the broader context that none of Cherington, Shelton, Haines or anyone associated with this front office all the way up to Travis Williams have come within a figurative solar system of succeeding here. At anything. Their cumulative record's 232-346, they've never finished above fourth in a five-team division and, not at all insignificantly, their minor-league system, which gets falsely inflated in some eyes for the simple reason that Paul Skenes exists, currently has a Class AA affiliate in Altoona that's lost 14 games in a row with a lineup built of a bunch of .180-something banjos.
It's carrying over to Termarr Johnson now, too. He's the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 draft, he slugged 18 home runs last season, he banged the ball all over creation in spring training, and now he's batting .197 for Class A Greensboro with one home run and three extra-base hits through 97 plate appearances ... but hey, he's got those 17 walks!
It's Year 5 for this leadership, and they act as if their general waste doesn't stink.
It does.
Imagine feeling self-assured in the people or the process, in the instruction or the acquisition, of this lineup that Shelton sent out in front of 20,646 paying Pittsburghers:
MLB
Look at those averages. It's early May. It's Year 5.
Imagine feeling like you're right and everyone else is wrong when 37 plate appearances brought another 12 strikeouts, including at least one by every name in that lineup, three of which looked -- and I do mean looked -- like this:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) May 4, 2024
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) May 4, 2024
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) May 4, 2024
Imagine that those 37 plate appearances brought four total hits, lowering the team's batting average to .224 overall, .197 over these past 22 games in which they've gone 5-17.
Imagine that Colorado's lucky starter, Cal Quantrill, lugged a 5.34 ERA onto this mound, only to come within four outs of a freaking shutout. He'd settle for 7 2/3 scoreless innings, three hits allowed and nine strikeouts.
Imagine that the Rockies won for just the eighth time in 32 games, still stuck to the National League's worst record.
Imagine that, in the series that immediately preceded this one out in Oakland, the almost equally awful Athletics swept and slammed the Pirates by an aggregate 14-3.
My friends, a soul infinitely wiser than any of us once pontificated that the first step in addressing any problem is to acknowledge it. They aren't doing that. Cherington isn't doing it. Shelton isn't doing it. No one is. They're all about the slump, the struggle, the scuffle ... and then sending someone back to Indy.
Oh, and they'll bring up a lack of hitting with runners in scoring position. For real. Even though they know -- and I mean they know -- that doesn't matter in the slightest to a team that's batting .197 overall through a 22-game span. The vague concept of clutch-iness as a skill has been blown up by the advanced analytics community a billion times over, and with cause. It's being cited as low-hanging fruit aimed at those who casually follow baseball, and that's disingenuous bordering on deceitful.
Haines was quoted as saying the following this week in Oakland in an interview with MLB.com, regarding the Pirates' offense: “We have to cash in on those opportunities if we want to win. There’s no prize for just getting ‘em out there and saying, ‘Good job.’ This is dog eat dog.”
He doesn't believe that's even 0.1% of what ails the offense. Neither does Cherington. Neither does Shelton. None of them believe that failure in the clutch supersedes just plain old failure. In this game, the Pirates went 1 for 4 with runners in scoring position. They know -- and, again, I mean they know -- that the focal point's always on the number who reach, not the number who magically unearth their inner Derek Jeter.
I could go on. I'm done. I'm bored.
I spent part of the seventh inning setting up this pretty cool pano of some ominous clouds collecting over Downtown ...
DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS
... then almost fell asleep at my seat, I swear.
Wake me up when anyone in this operation can explain how Neil Walker, who rolled out of the womb able to put bat to ball, is paid by the team to be up in the broadcast booth teaching us about hitting.
