The Pittsburgh Pirates shouldn’t solely be consumers on the 2024 MLB commerce deadline (July 30), however they need to be aggressive and set their sights excessive with the intention of touchdown a big bat.
Something lower than that will be a disservice to what the present roster has achieved over the previous couple of weeks and the place it has put itself in.
The Pirates have been one of many hottest groups in baseball over the previous two weeks and opened the second half by taking two out of three video games this weekend from the Philadelphia Phillies, the perfect crew in baseball. They did so whereas utilizing their fourth, fifth and sixth-best beginning pitchers (Luis Ortiz, Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales) and climbed to inside a half-game of a wild-card spot within the Nationwide League playoff race.
They’re now set to start an enormous three-game sequence with the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night time. The Pirates can even have their two greatest beginning pitchers (Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller) going throughout the first two video games of that sequence.
It’s a nice alternative to make a giant assertion that they’re contenders proper now.
Administration could make an identical assertion by getting them some assist.
Not solely have the Pirates gained eight of their previous 10 video games to climb again over .500 for the season, however 5 of these wins have come in opposition to NL playoff contenders (Philadelphia, Milwaukee and the New York Mets).
They’re additionally 32-27 since Skenes made his debut and have performed that with one of many league’s productive offenses in baseball.
They’ve additionally proven all season they will dangle with the massive boys within the NL, proudly owning a 14-12 file in opposition to the Phillies, Braves, Dodgers and Brewers.
By each goal measure (ERA, Wins Above Alternative, strikeouts) the Pirates have among the best beginning pitching rotations within the league with Skenes, Jared Jones, Keller and now the emergence of Ortiz.
They’ve two bonafide bats in Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz.
However they want extra. With just a bit little bit of assist, they may be capable to critically compete this season in a really wide-open NL. A few of the names they’ve been linked to on the commerce deadline embrace Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward and Miami Marlins middle fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. Each gamers can be upgrades over what they’ve, however they need to attempt to set their sights greater and make an announcement with a real blockbuster.
Someone like Chicago’s Luis Robert Jr., Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Oakland’s Brent Rooker ought to all be practical targets. They might not solely considerably improve the roster this season, they’d all have further phrases past this season. Much more, it could go a good distance towards rebuilding belief between administration and a fan base that has misplaced numerous it through the years. There isn’t a higher time to go for it than proper now when the league is large open for the taking.
