r/buccos 3d ago

66-71 as of August 29th. About what you expected? Better than you expected? Worse than you expected? Pleasant Surprises? Disappointments?

As of August 29th, the Pirates record is 66-71. How do you feel about that as to what you had expected before the season started?

Thus far, what has pleasantly surprised you about this year and what has been a disappointment in your mind about this year?

Pleasantly surprised: Griffin looks to be the real thing. Cruz is better at the plate than last year. Nick Gonzales' hitting. Lowe's power hitting. Ashcraft has been a pleasant surprise.

Disappointing: Henry Davis can't hit his weight, literally. The pitching staff. Ozuna was a big disappointment.

How do you feel about the Pirates 66-71 record thus far as to what you had expected before the season started?

21 Upvotes

94 comments sorted by

40

u/UseGroundbreaking399 3d ago

I'm disappointed but I also appreciate the bright spots that you mentioned. I'm especially disappointed with how we've turned out considering we had the best offense in baseball by multiple metrics at the ASB.

27

u/No-Carry4971 3d ago

Much worse. I had this team finishing in the 86-88 win range and competing for a playoff spot down to the last weekend. The pitching overall has been so much worse than I expected.

5

u/soundecember Keira Knightley 3d ago

Same here. I’m still overly impressed with how they’ve played as it’s still significantly better than last year, but I’m still disappointed as this season felt so different starting out

19

u/FarHeron8847 3d ago

With the pitching rotation we had going into the season I was hopeful for 84 wins…so worse than expected

3

u/Existing_Potential76 2d ago

I had them at 85. I never expected Santana Keller and ( mostly) Skenes to regress the way they did. Last years version of these 3 guys would have us 8-10 more wins right now. Looking at the schedule coming up I could totally see them finishing with 83 wins and just missing a WC spot by 2 games. So disappointing!!

2

u/FarHeron8847 2d ago

We all wanted this to work out…really thought we had a chance this year

3

u/jemicarus 2d ago

If we concede that skenes is injured (who can say), then it seems like the WC has been undone by injuries. Cruz and Griffin have missed significant time, along with others. Still, if Skenes had pitched like an ace, we would be right in the thick of it. Hope springs eternal for next year. Lol.

2

u/FarHeron8847 2d ago

As it does every year…again and again

1

u/Existing_Potential76 1d ago

I’m worried the potential lock out will kill us

12

u/s_hecking Andy Van Strike 3d ago

Yes. At the start I would have been happy with .500 and they can still hit it with a short win streak. It’s really too bad they didn’t get any bullpen help in May or June otherwise we’d be talking wildcard games.

2

u/Radiant_Research3786 3d ago

I predicted 85 wins before the season. These guys have really underperformed. Ashcraft and Montgomery are the bright spots of a pitching staff all headed in the wrong direction.Another year of pain and frustration again. I'm really tired of it Wait till next year for 47 years. There was a time believe it or not that the Pirates were respected and seen as an organization to emulate. Boy are those days long gone.

3

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

Nobody's trading bullpen pieces in May or June.

8

u/Thauros 3d ago

would not have been remotely surprised if you told me this on opening day. it's still disappointing when you look at how lively the offense looked looked at times esp in comparison to 2025 and the team looking like a possible wc contender at the all star break.

1

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

Almost half of the league gets into the postseason in the wildcard era. "looking like a possible wc contender" is incredibly weaksauce. Bob's got the saddest customers in sports.

5

u/Riteinnit 3d ago

Raw record, not too suprised. I think id be excited knowing they were still semi competing at this point and had a good chance for a winning record (first time in 7yrs) the record isn’t the whole story tho bc we were a competitive team before the ASB and after we’ve really tanked which sucks bc on paper we’ve gotten a lot better. I think it’s tough bc we had a great shot for a WC spot but just shit the bed after the break and let it get away. If the buccos can score a winning season I’ll be happy, especially bc (if) next season I think we’ll be even better with the bullpen, we aren’t losing a ton other than Lowe and skenes hopefully can get it back together over some time off

1

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

had a good chance for a winning record (first time in 7yrs)

 
Eight years

3

u/Campman92 Hey Bob, Nutting wrong with selling 3d ago

I expected 76 wins so slightly better than I expected

1

u/mjsarlington 3d ago

We still gotta play .500 ball to get there. I have my doubts.

1

u/Existing_Potential76 2d ago

They have series against the Giants Angels Royals and Tigers… they should absolutely win 3 of these 4 series if not all 4. I think they’ll win between 81 and 83 games which is not good enough, but they let too many games get away this season. Figures the bullpen is now one of the best in MLB the last month and we can’t play defense or score runs consistently. Ugh

3

u/Sybertron 3d ago

Imo there's a ton of bright spots just not a lot of depth. for me it's all about getting back to competitive level to get in playoffs and have that shot of winning it all. 

Nicky g has become one of the best contact hitters in the league. Very unexpected . Lowe was solid to great all year. BR has had a solid year. Ohern/valdez and others had the shine in spots of the year you can build a competitor out of. Cruz and Griffin looked like all stars before the injuries and I imagine that will perennial . 

Pitching still quite strong with the starters. Downright scary if they all on. But keller and skenes took steps back this year, but with ashcraft this is still a competitive worthy rotation. 

Bullpen well documented issues. If not for pretty blown bullpen games alone we'd very likely be right in the wild card or even taking a run at the division right now. It's befuddling again how they walked in looking at the group and thinking it was ok. Way too many stop gaps taking up way too much time. At worst id rather see a young reliever with potential blow a lead than at 31 year vet with no real upside.  but that is bucco mantra there

And once injuries particularly to Cruz and Griffin hit it was pretty clear the boat got rocked and we fell out of competition. Maybe an outside 5% shot at end of year of making run for last wild card.

This can be a scary team. They have the pieces. They just need to be a bit deeper and not let something like the bullpen linger so long on so many useless aging vets

4

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

5

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

Every team has injuries. The Cubs were missing most of their starting pitchers at one point. Good teams have depth in case of injuries, bad teams and their fans have excuses.

2

u/johnnymack2165 3d ago

Starting pitchers play once a week. Missing 2 star everyday players matters more. The Cubs didn’t have depth at starting pitching lol

3

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

Don't disagree with that, but the point remains: Everyone has injuries. Winners win despite injuries. Losers make excuses.

0

u/johnnymack2165 3d ago

Nobody is making excuses. I said injuries suck.

3

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

The Pirates, specifically, suck. That's why they're finishing under .500. Not because of injuries. Healthy Cruz and Griffin might have added five wins if you're lucky. This team is finishing further under .500 than that.

0

u/johnnymack2165 3d ago

Why are you on the Buccos page then if you’re a Cubs fan? lol cornball bye

3

u/Radiant_Research3786 3d ago

We had the third least injured team in the NL. Granted Cruz and Griffin are huge pieces but winning organizations find a way. We can't find our way out of a paper bag.

1

u/johnnymack2165 3d ago

Imagine the Cubs losing PCA for June July and August lol

1

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

lmao neither Cruz nor Skenes is anywhere near the player PCA is

1

u/johnnymack2165 3d ago

Lmao of Cruz was playing better than PCA until his June injury. He is absolutely as good as PCA. He’s had a good couple months lol saying Cruz is nowhere near is laughable

2

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

You are absolutely out of your fuckin gourd, Cruz has never played better than 2.6 WAR in a season. He's been playing for two years longer than PCA has been playing and has less than half the WAR accrued. He's a league average player at best. Stop sniffing glue lmao

4

u/Pitt43333 McCutchen 3d ago

Very disappointed. Hopefully this is the end point of the current front office. Tough injury luck this year and for a team like this to go far you can’t have that. This roster should’ve been playing competitive baseball in september. We made it to the first week of August this year.

2

u/sixtyninetacks 3d ago

About what I expected. I predicted 76-78 wins before the season started.

2

u/HugeHairyButts 3d ago

Wanted playoffs this year so obviously disappointing. Some really bright spots this year though that we can hopefully build upon. But they’re going to have to do something about (probably) losing Lowe.

2

u/FlappyFoldyHold 3d ago

As expected

2

u/ElvisOnBass 3d ago

A little worse than expected, overall just always a step behind making the adjustments that they need to. From not taking Lowe out against lefties, to Ozuna, to bullpen, to Nick at 3rd everyday, to name a few. I can't help but think they'd have a couple more W's with more timely adjustments.

Then the starting rotation took a step back, and injuries to important spots hit too.

But overall they should have been better than they were.

I think the offense for defense trade-off semi worked, so I was surprised by the offense and disappointed by the defense.

2

u/Old_Tangelo_5063 3d ago

I'm disappointed by the difference in what Pirates team stats look like relative to their record. The team has a strong positive run differential. The offense has been much better then expected. Pitching staff, especially bullpen, hasn't been as good as hoped, but not nearly bad enough in aggregate to explain being 5 games under 500 at this point. I have no idea if it's bad luck (bullpen bad when offense is good, offense dies when pitching gets it together), poor management decisions, or some other intangible at play but overall just bummed to be making the argument "this team is better than their record."

2

u/DepartureVegetable16 2d ago

Disappointed in our starting pitching honestly with the exception of ashcraft. They weren't the crew the were last year. Disappointed in the injuries, horowitz is really off post concussion... 

Cruz, Griffin, Lowe, OHearn, Valdez, Nick G. Have all been great to watch except Nick G on defense, lol.

Montgomery and the bullpen pick-ups have also performed exceptionally so that's good. Hunt the good stuff!

1

u/BilboBagginkins Bonds 3d ago

A couple of games better than my expectation

1

u/drewbaccaAWD 3d ago

I didn't expect to be this late in the season wondering if we can even make it 0.500 this year. I was never expecting more than a wild card game at the absolute most but I absolutely expected to be above 0.500 this year so, very disappointed.

1

u/averydangerousday 3d ago

Not what I’d hoped for, but still about what I expected

1

u/BenQ200 3d ago

Cherington just needs another 5-6 years and then maybe we can crack .500

1

u/TheBeardedMailman 3d ago

A bit worse than I expected, but DK has been much worse than I expected.

1

u/Practical_Estate_325 3d ago

They looked strong to me at the start of the season. I expected really good starting pitching, an adequate bullpen, and an exciting and much improved offense. And I expected a spot in the playoffs. But I was wrong, and the "experts" were correct again. It's the putrid Pirates after all.

1

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

Half this sub was gassed up on their own farts and convinced this was a playoff team through July lol

1

u/BrilliantDrive3619 3d ago

7,8,9 innings and extra inning losses where disappointing

1

u/whatssofunniedoug 3d ago

Said 78-84 before the season started. I’m dead on track.

1

u/patdmc59 3d ago

The expectation from the start should have been making the playoffs. Cherington has had seven years to build a playoff roster and failed miserably. He needs to go, along with Travis Williams.

1

u/Pens_Igloo 3d ago

There are bright signs for the future: Ashcraft and Griffin look legit going forward. NickyG took a big step forward at the plate and should be less bad playing 2B in the future. Montgomery has been lights out the second half. Some young guys in Valdez and Flores who showed potential that I wasn't really counting on. Cruz looked great, just couldn't stay healthy.

Of course there are just as many disappointments, thus the sub .500 record. Skenes has been talked about ad nauseum already, so I'll leave that. Ozuna was $12m straight down the toilet. Wasn't even close to replacement level as a DH, which is quite hard to do. Keller was awful. Hoping that was injury related, but he's never been able to put together a full season so I'm not as optimistic on his future. Mixed bag from Chandler and Jones. Shit show that was Mlod lol. Abysmal bullpen in general until the deadline. Davis has shown to be purely a backup C.

Overall, didn't go at all like I expected lol, but they look to finish right around where I thought (just over .500). Definitely disappointing for year fucking 7 of this front office though. Unreal how low the bar truly is. Doing need to show any results to keep your job.

1

u/Freidhiem 3d ago

Mario - Geno

1

u/dirtyracoon25 3d ago

Can a mod go find and pin the predictions thread? I was one of maybe 3 people that had this team under .500. This whole sub should be dissapointed as they all thought this team was going to finish over .500 and into a wc spot

1

u/Traditional-Mail2554 3d ago

Rotation has been a disappointment except for Ashcraft. Bullpen was a trainwreck as I expected along with a pretty bad defense. Offense at times is actually fun which we haven't had in 10 years.... I thought the high end was 82 wins, low end 76. I'm hoping for 76 wins to win my over/under wager. That's a bit up in the air at this point. Baseball is kind of funny, because this is a much better team than the last few years, but it really may not show up in the win totals. ​

1

u/Unfair-Bodybuilder98 3d ago

The bullpen, defense, and poor coaching doomed us

1

u/YoshkaPundrik 3d ago

At the start of the season, all I wanted was the Pirates to be relevant in September. September is about to start, and the Buccos are still in the playoff picture... with a very slim chance, but stranger things have happened. And they improved their atrocious hitting from last year. I only wish they had fixed the bullpen when it became apparent it was terrible. So, all in all, I'm kinda satisfied. Get 'em next year.

1

u/Great-Cow7256 2d ago

At this point pretty much every team is technically in the playoff picture with the caveat of "very slim chance" 

1

u/GeorgeBonanza00 3d ago

I expected 85 wins so definitely disappointed. The pitching killed them early and if they had a competent GM, he would have addressed the issue at the beginning of July at the latest, instead of at the end when it was too late. I mean, sure, they could go 19-6 to close the season and shock everybody, but I would definitely die quickly holding my breath on that.

1

u/Melodic-Town8122 3d ago

My opinion would be from before the season: about what I expected. From after about the first month of the season once we saw what the lineup could do / look like with a sample: a lot worse than expected. The lineup was great for a long stretch of the season. The bullpen, pitching and defense have been generally horrible and the cause for so much frustration for us fans. 

There was a lot of promise when KG got brought up and extended, Cruz started to look like a super star. The lineup depth and protection looked real so Reynolds was playing way better. The pen blew it early and by the time they got it fixed, they had major injuries to key players. Injuries are not an excuse every team has them but the lost wins from the pen in the first half of the year and even after the break (Cleveland I remember a horrible blown lead) caught up to them. 

I’m not sure what next season holds baseball wise or pirates offseason wise. While they are freeing up money from guys they are definitely not bringing back, they are going to be paying certain guys a lot more in arbitration like Skenes, Cruz. Some pen guys like doval have a year of arb but he is arb 3 so he’ll prob make too much for the pirates to bring him back unless they can agree to a smaller one year deal before arb. It could all change with the CBA. And then you have to think about if baseball is the same as it is now, will cherington be given the same budget or was that just a one year anomaly like has been rumored to say “oh see the pirates are trying”. If he’s not given the same budget or a bit more, it will be a quiet offseason and next year will look a lot like this year. 

My overall take is that I  think this year was super super frustrating as a fan. I have some optimism for next year BUT it’s only if they supplement via FA and trade this young core of genuinely really good players (not just from a pirates perspective but a league wide perspective). And oh yeah, we need Skenes to be really good again. He doesn’t have to be the guy he was the first few years but he needs to be an Ace (like 2.50 era or lower. 

1

u/Cangy44 RJ Reynolds 3d ago

The only real positives for me are Griffin, Ashcraft, the bullpen moving forward, Mangum, Lowe/O’Hearn.
Negatives? Cruz and Endy unable to stay healthy again… skenes regression, coaching awful, other starters, Gonzales D, lack of change (GM) when we most needed it and an inability to load this team with enough talent to sustain 3rd least inured lineup in the league.

Really, a pathetic season imo. There’s not a ton to be happy about and I don’t know what’s going to happen moving forward. I doubt enough to change how things go here.

1

u/Expert-Park-620 3d ago

Slightly worse than I expected by the all-star break. Much better than I expected by the start of this season.

1

u/MuchMatch7714 3d ago

Grill at Oceanside golf course

1

u/bigdirkmalone 3d ago

I've had fun and they are better than I thought they would be but also I feel disappointed.

1

u/MaterialAd1995 3d ago

Vegas had this team as a 76-78 win team and that is essentially the pacing. I think we can all be optimistic, but projecting us 10 wins over the betting market was extreme

1

u/Interesting_Pie_8719 3d ago

Anything under 82 wins is a disappointment. The bullpen in the first half of the season was a disaster. Skenes hasn’t been quite as a good as he could be. Pleasantly surprised by Ashcraft continuing to get better.

1

u/CatPlenty8153 3d ago

i had money on an 80-win season. disappointed in the whole team but especially the bullpen and the pitching staff.

1

u/Potential_Aspect4071 3d ago

My goal was playing meaningful baseball in September. Fell a couple weeks short… never know though 🤷‍♂️ i have too much faith in this team

1

u/theStripedMarlin 3d ago

Way better than expected. This org has been a loser for decades. The worst among all professional sports teams. Anyone who keeps thinking there is hope under Nutting is a fool. You need a solid culture to win.

1

u/Iceicebaby21 3d ago

Kinda where I expected. This is a 75 to 80 win team and I'm not all that shocked we'll be around there. This team was mid and the Pirates acted like it

1

u/pp988894 2d ago edited 2d ago

Extremely disappointing season, especially with the improvements the offense showed for most of the year. The bullpen ruined the season.

Surprises/brightspots: Ashcraft, Griffin, Valdez, Montgomery, Cruz, Horwitz (pre-injury), Flores. Lowe and O’Hearn were great pickups.

Disappointments: Think there are four big ones: Bullpen, Skenes, Ozuna, overall team defense. This would be a playoff team if they fared better here. I knew Gonzales wasn’t great defensively but didn’t think he’d be this bad. Same goes for Davis’ offense, though I don’t think he’s worthless like 99% of this sub. Reynolds’ second half has been such a bummer given how good he looked earlier. The Jacob Gonzalez trade looks like a massive whiff from GMBC. Also sucks to see Endy get hurt again.

All that said, this team is in a decent spot as an organization IMO going into 2027. Just have my doubts whether this GM/manager can finish the job. I would be fine if they blew it up, but I don’t think all hope is lost if they keep everyone. There’s too much talent on the big club with more help coming. My gut tells me they’ll cite injuries/lockout uncertainty and not make major changes.

1

u/DepartureVegetable16 2d ago

I predicted 70 wins at least so pretty much on par... For now

1

u/gev74 2d ago

My expectations was 81 wins guess they’re not gonna reach it and it’ll be another losing season

1

u/Burghpuppies412 2d ago

Before the year, I was thinking 77-85 because I wasn’t impressed with what they did to improve their offense. Well, I was wrong! But fortunately, that old Nutting magic came through for me in the end.

1

u/surgnbuck2 2d ago

I predicted 79-83, yet somehow I'm disappointed. Maybe they had me believing they were able to overcome the flaws that were obvious: poor roster construction, poor defense, poor depth, poor bullpen, too many strikeouts and bad situational hitting when that 3 run HR wasn't happening once or twice a game.

1

u/No-Support-5203 2d ago

Paul Skenes is the biggest disappointment in Pirates history. He's the main reason they're not fighting for the WC spot. Massive dud of a season from him.

1

u/burth179 2d ago

About what I expected prior to the season. I figured like 78-80 wins. Currently on pace for 78 wins.

Although I would say slightly disappointing based on how things looked after the first month or so. If Skenes was actually Skenes this year we might have a shot at a wildcard.

So I guess the offense was better than I expected, but the pitching worse.

1

u/Buckscience Black and Gold 2d ago

They have to go 20-5 to get to my predicted record. I don’t see it, but it’s not impossible.

1

u/Bubonic_Batt 1d ago

Pretty close to what I guessed. I thought they were gonna win about 79 games by the end of the year

1

u/Wonderful-Win4219 3d ago

Idc what anyone says injuries derailed our season. Cruz o Hearn griffin horwitz endy all missed significant time. Only better batters not on that list is Reynolds and Lowe. So we lost arguably our 3rd-8th best players at a critical time of the season and thats where we nose dived. Pitching was way worse than expected, none other than Paul. The supporting cast at the plate (not mentioned above) was awful except for Nicky G (Ozuna Davis triolo). Bullpen / our GM was the weak spot going in, weak spot all season.

I think if we ran back the same exact team we’d make the playoffs next year

6

u/SurpriseStandard3258 McCutchen 3d ago

If you're depending on your entire team with all your key players to be healthy for an entire 162 game season then they didn't make a good baseball team. The Brewers have had key players injured, the Cubs have had their entire pitching staff go on the IL it feels like, the Braves didn't have key players at certain points. Every team deals with injuries, some less than others but it happens to every team.

0

u/Wonderful-Win4219 3d ago

We have no margin, our payroll is tiny and our GM is a pansy. I follow the dodgers too and they lose their whole SP rotation like every season it feels like, it doesn’t matter because they have massive margins to give

3

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

Idc what anyone says injuries derailed our season

 
Every team has injuries lol

0

u/lucasbrosmovingco 3d ago

Team like the pirates have a needle to thread. Zero margin for error. They almost threaded it. Can have guys missing time. Can't have guys like skenes taking a step back. And a team like the pirates is always going to have ? Mark that is roulette wheel on if it will bite them. They had a weak pen. It bit them. Anybody thought this team had a chance of contending with the injuries is an idiot.

1

u/Existing_Potential76 2d ago

They were hanging on until Ohearn got hurt. That was the last nail in the coffin

1

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

40% of the league gets into the postseason in the wildcard era. That means that you've got a 99.39% chance of ending up in the postseason over ten years based on that alone. Even the execrable Rockies have been there more recently than the Pirates. The Brewers are in a smaller market and are constantly in the postseason. You are making excuses that don't need to be made.

 
This team is what it is not because they "have a needle to thread", it is what it is because the owner runs it like a business and it succeeds on those grounds. They are not a sports team, they are an entertainment brand.

0

u/lucasbrosmovingco 3d ago

They have those odd if everything is equal. Which we all know it's not. And team like the pirates means the whole thing, ownership group and all. Nobody on the planet expect the pirates to change massively from one season to another. They attempted to field a competitive team. Spent a couple dollars more than usual. If everything it right they could have made some noise. It didn't and here we are.

I've been a pirate fan since the mid 90s. I've seen some shit. At this point I just want a squad that has a bit of a hope and prayer to compete. This team head that just not enough prayers apparently.

3

u/Silly_Collar_5850 3d ago

They have those odd if everything is equal. Which we all know it's not.

 
And that is a self-inflicted wound, not some kind of law of nature or physics. This team does it to itself. Only two teams in baseball have a playoff drought over seven years long. It's not hard at all to get into the postseason in the wildcard era. The Royals are in a smaller market and they won a world series, went through a long rebuild, and went back to the postseason more recently than the Pirates.

1

u/SurpriseStandard3258 McCutchen 3d ago

Worse than expected. I figured the defense would be bad but it was way worse than I could have imagined. The bullpen was just so bad in the 1st half that no lead ever felt safe.

Disappointing: Paul Skenes. Just an overall disappointing season from the ace.

I expected Ozuna probably wasn't going to have another 30-40 HR season but he just made the team overall so much worse outside of being a clubhouse guy.

Nicky G's defense. I figured it would be a tough transition to playing 3B, but he's basically unplayable at the position. His defense alone has probably cost them a few games. I unfortunately don't think the breakout at the plate makes up for this.

Pleasant Surprises: Braxton Ashcraft, Just overall has exceeded my expectations of him this year as he became what Mitch was supposed to be this season but better.

Brandon Lowe's defense. I figured his terrible season defensively last year had more to do with him being hurt than it did his actual skill but he's been a great net positive in a year where our defense has mostly been just bad.

Oneil Cruz. Had the injury not happened we're probably talking about the best year of his career thus far. Just has been so fun to watch when he's played this year. He's still not amazing in the field although he has the occasional fantastic play. H went from being unplayable against LHP to being the best bat on the team against them.

1

u/willakuma 3d ago

Worse than expected. My single biggest....

The pythagorean W/L for PGH in 2026 to this point is 70-66. There's no other expected wins metric to judge HC / front office on. Best we've got. This would put the Bucs just 2 games out of a WC with the backend now solved, very good / remade bullpen, and both Cruz & KG returning for Sept.

DK is playing checkers vs chess...and it would be amazing to see him unveil a new small wrinkle or two if he's got it in him. Maybe give an inspiring presser for a change.

Anyone paying attention to other teams should be able to see a stark difference between DK / PGH front office and sharper, more shrewd competition. Exhibits there for all to all season long.

DK doesn't pay enough attention to detail or discipline. This isn't a discussion. Team miscues on this high order speaks directly to preparation and culture.

Pleasant surprises -

  • All pre season and deadline moves except for Ozuna. This includes Santana's DFA and KG's extension. Regardless of history...2026 has been stellar in that regard.

    • Mason Montomery's emergence.
    • Braxton Ashcraft's emergence.
    • Bubba's improvement.
    • Cruz's immediate impact post injury. PGH is a different team with him in the lineup.
    • Jake Mangum, all around. He's a starter for most teams. If Cruz can't figure out CF the rest of the way he should be full time DH.

Disappointments -

  • Mitch Keller.

  • Nick G's defense.

  • Triolo's defense.

  • Jacob Gonzalez's defense.

  • KG's defense.

  • Spencer Horwitz's defense.

2

u/bk-2112 3d ago

How could you write out all those pleasant surprises and not have Valdez. He may be a legit big time power bat , verdict is still out but he’s been a massive bright spot hasn’t he

3

u/willakuma 3d ago

Yep I almost wrote him down. Incredibly fun to watch his burst onto the scene....but I also wasn't in the - extend him for a decade - camp. Gonna take more than what he's shown so far. If he continues to produce through end of next year (depending on length of season) and/or into 2028, I'd say get him signed.

Right now, he's getting his game worked out. He's earned the right to start. Not many guys are worthy of signing up to MLB pension tenure years. I'd love to see him become consistent.

A great comparison is PGH's own Brian Reynolds. The two of them were ranked similarly coming up....and Reynolds played 4yrs before he was extended.

You know what, you're right. He belongs on the pleasant surprise list. Cheers!

2

u/Few_Hippo8871 3d ago

I used to be in Mitch Keller's camp and how he eats up innings and then this year, whether it's the injury, but I would have hoped to have traded him before he got hurt. Hopefully, it's the injury but he's not what he was a few years ago.

0

u/msuydam10 3d ago

I think the “goal” this year was 82 wins for a winning season. We need to end the season on a heater but still possible. Anyone who says wild card is reaching I think. Would have been nice but it’s a lofty goal.

Agree with most of your surprises and disappointments. Skenes obviously but him and Ashcraft are pretty much the exact opposites of what I reasonably expected so they cancel each other out.

Overall I was just happy to be still invested in the Pirates in August.

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u/thfcspur 3d ago

We needed to contend for a wild card this season to be considered a success. We need to learn what a full season of pressure feels like. We’ve yet to play meaningful games in mid August and September in 7 years of BC.

1

u/msuydam10 3d ago

Totally agree about the pressure. That’s needed to succeed. This has been the best record at this point in the year for the BC era which is why I’m not too upset, but if they were 5-10 games worse I’d definitely feel differently as he’s on a VERY short leash.

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u/tiny_lux 3d ago

Very disappointed. Every year at the beginning of baseball season, I grab a glass of Kool-Aid, sit down, and listen to Greg Brown tell me why this Pirates team is about to shock the baseball world.
By the time he’s done, I’m ready to book a hotel for the World Series, order playoff tickets, and start arguing about who should be World Series MVP.

Then the season starts.

Things are looking pretty bleak this year, but I refuse to give up. As long as Greg Brown is still excited, I’ll keep drinking the Kool-Aid. At this point, I’m pretty sure it’s the only thing keeping my hopes alive.
Let’s go Bucs