By Christian Graves
The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t been a playoff team since 2015 and have been continually mediocre for most of their history. In both 2021 and 2022, Pittsburgh lost over 100 games and were understandably one of the worst teams in the league. I can imagine it’s been extremely rough to be a fan of this team during the 21st century and also for much of their recent history. While the Pirates do have five world series wins under their belt (the most recent of which was in 1979), within the last fifty years there has been minimal traction made in the playoffs.
In 2013, glimmers of playoff hope formed in the PNC park clubhouse as the Pirates finished with a 94-68 record, making it to the NLDS. Andrew McCutchen was making waves that year as he smashed his way to win the NL MVP honors, with a slash line of .317/.404/.508. Despite having a loaded rotation with big names like Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton, as well as an above average starting lineup with Starling Marte and Pedro Álvarez, the Cardinals were able to snuff out the Bucs in that series en route to a world series appearance.
It has been a long time since the Pirates were a relevant team. This year will likely result in more sub .500 baseball. Even with big names emerging like O’Neill Cruz and Ke’Bryan Hayes, and continued production from Bryan Reynolds, it just doesn’t seem to be enough for them to truly make a big enough turn around in 2023. This offseason, the Bucs have brought on Ji-Man Choi, Austin Hedges, Carlos Santana, Rich Hill, and most notably, Andrew McCutchen. It truly is great to see Cutch back in a Bucs uniform, preparing for his farewell tour. It will be interesting to see if he is able to recreate his infamous production from his early years in Pittsburgh. I personally would love to see another Albert Pujols level redemption story, and I could see McCutchen doing something similar with his old team. He is extremely close to some big milestones in his career, with career hit #2000, 300 home runs, 400 doubles, 1000 walks, and 2000 games played all right on the horizon for him to potentially reach in 2023. As long as he stays healthy, it is entirely possible for him to reach all of them next year. It will be a fun story to follow as the season progresses.
Another notable signing this winter was 42 year old Rich Hill, who is entering his 19th season in the MLB. He’s been a rock solid starter for all of his career in the bigs, and despite his age, will likely be effective again in 2023. This by no means is an earth shattering move, and their rotation is well below league average, a veteran presence in Rich Hill is always a good thing to have in the clubhouse.
I believe that the signings and improvements made in the offseason will be enough to creep them ahead of an atrocious Cincinnati Reds team, but it truly isn’t going to be enough to make waves in the Central division. I predict they will finish fourth, only slightly ahead of the Reds and way behind the Cardinals and Brewers. It will be interesting to watch the continued development of the young stars in their lineup and how they interact with seasoned veterans like McCutchen. I’m excited to see what this team can bring to the table in 2023 and I hope the baseball world is too!
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