The 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly



Pride. Passion. LOSING. Pittsburgh Pirates.


I was driving to work today and was thinking about the simple fact that the Pittsburgh Pirates were 16 games ABOVE .500 at one point this season and were in contention for the NL Central crown.  Now, on September 15th, the Pirates are one game BELOW .500 and the Reds are about to clinch the NL Central crown and have already locked up a playoff spot.  Not to mention that on ESPN Radio this morning they reported that Dusty Baker could be on the hot seat after this season since he doesn't have a contract extension in place.  Did I mention the Reds are one of the more consistent teams in the NL and have already locked up the NL Central theoretically?  I would had to see if half of the Pirates team played for the Reds organization, or if Clint Hurdle actually managed the team....they would be shown the door so fast it would make their head spin! 

Let me back up a little bit.  As a fan that saw this collapse coming immediately after the all-star break, I feel that you can break this entire season down to the slogan I included in the title of the post reads - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.  The Pirates started this season off slow, but quickly got hot in May, June, and part of July...ahhh those were the GOOD times.  It was part way through July that they started losing more series, errors started to add up, and J-Mac triggered the downward spiral of the pitching staff, and the sweetness of the season started to turn sour.  The fan base entered the BAD part of the season.  Similar to Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber "Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber...you do something like this..." except the Pirates didn't "TOTALLY REDEEM THEMSELVES", instead, they plummeted like a falling star.  We are now experiencing the UGLY.  It can't get much worse for the Pirates and their fans at this point in time.  Some are suggesting that it comes down to experience with winning...the Pirates certainly struggle with that.  Take a look at the tweet below from a follower of the show.  Shocking statistics.

@bngblitz @joestarkey1 @buzzsawpgh the last 2 seasons since the high winning watermarks the pirates are 30-70, 19-43 in 2011, 11-27 in 2012.
— Mike (@BuccoMike) September 20, 2012

You can make the last statistic 11-28 after the loss yesterday to the Brewers.  I posed the question on Twitter (Follow me - @BnGBlitz) this morning to Pirates fans asking them what they think the Buccos biggest problem is - Pitching, Hitting, or Fielding.  It was a resounding response to Pitching as the main problem.  One person even stated that when a team scores 5 or more runs, you should be able to win the game.  I agree with that 100%, but if you follow this team you know there are a great deal of games that they don't score 2 runs, let alone 5. 

This team has alot of question marks headed into this offseason.  I see alot of changes at positions like SS, C, 1B, and maybe even a position like 3B...not to mention P.  The biggest problem with this is that the Pirates aren't going to go out and actually PAY to get a quality fielder/hitter.  They thrive on picking up players like Rod Barajas and Clint Barmes who are simply band-aids over a gushing problem.  They sign Erik Bedard thinking they can make lemonade out of lemons...it doesn't always work.  With them not willing to spend the cash, then they will rely on young talent to get them through the next season.  There is some debate on how good the Pirates' farm system is, but the fact of the matter is are they going to rely on untested players to get them to the next level?  I don't think so, but one thing I can say is that its time to start talking about next year, because the end of this year has been as ugly as they come...