The trade deadline has come and gone and we have had time to process. What continues to be a mystery is the Pittsburgh Pirates. The way they operate has to be frustrating for that fan base, but the logic used at the deadline just further puts emphasis on that they do not have a plan.

The Pirates Front Office Continues to Confuse Many

The Pirates to no surprise operate strangely. They don’t like to spend money and don’t really strive to even really compete. It’s almost like they actively don’t try. Worst part is they have the leagues best generational talent in Paul Skenes and even in his second year, we are already talking about who’s going to trade for him. That’s actually sad. Not to mention, three games have been sold out this year and all of them have had chants of “sell the team.” Even worse, Bob Nutting is one of the owners advocating for a salary cap. Gee, I wonder why.

But that’s a convo for a different day because what they did at the deadline was confusing. Not so much for the fact that they sold, but more so how they sold and in the situations that presented themselves. Thankfully, they didn’t trade Mitch Keller, who was in high demand and had many teams interested. If you have any intentions of actually competing, a rotation of Skenes, Keller, a healthy Jared Jones, and Bubba Chandler is a nice place to start. But this team did trade their closer in David Bednar to the Yankees. Sure, they got a nice return for him, but they could’ve gotten more.

The Pirates got the Yankees number 8 prospect (Rafael Flores) and the number 14 prospect (Edgleen Perez) and a Low-A prospect. Worst part? Ben Cherrington said that he had access to players that were ranked higher and simply settled. Why on Earth wouldn’t you get the best possible return?! Like you need all the help you can get, as you are in the basement on the National League and baseball as a whole. That’s puzzling. Funniest part is that the Pirates have acquired numerous prospects over the years from the Yankees. None have really panned out, but that’s not the point. Point is, why not get more and get more good young players to have in your system? Puzzling.

The other part is that they held onto players that will be rentals and players that likely won’t be coming back. You mean to tell me you couldn’t get anything for Tommy Pham or Andrew Heaney? I bet any contending team would love that type of depth on their roster.

Cherrington managed to hold onto those guys simply because “he felt like he didn’t have to trade anyone.” You sure about that?

Those guys are not coming back and you can’t blame them one bit. So instead of getting assets for players that are on expiring deals knowing they aren’t coming back, they stay put. That’s just bad asset management.

The Pirates have to be one of the most frustrating teams to cheer for. They have a generational talent and one of the nicest parks in the league. Sadly, the team has been a disaster and the front office is to blame.

Oh, and they blew a 9-0 lead and lost to the Rockies 17-16. Doesn’t get any lower than that.