The Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the bright young stars in all of baseball in ace Paul Skenes. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, the reigning NL Cy Young winner was chased early in his Opening Day start against the New York Mets, getting pulled after only recording two outs and giving up five earned runs.
After posting an ERA of 1.96 in each of his first two seasons, the likelihood is that Skenes will get things back on track soon, and veteran sportswriter Tom Verducci thinks so highly of his talent that he predicted the Pirates to make the postseason as a Wild Card team if they can give Skenes and the pitching staff just average run support.
“I think all they need is just mediocre offense. This pitching staff is loaded. It’s not just Paul Skenes; it’s [Braxton] Ashcraft, it’s [Jared] Jones, it’s a deep bullpen,” Verducci said before the season.
“They will be an 87-win team and go to the postseason,” Verducci added.
However, Pirates owner Bob Nutting has overseen an aggressively cost-controlled roster for years now, an especially head-scratching position for the club to take with a talent like Skenes on the staff. Pittsburgh’s roster building this winter was more in line with a team actually trying to win a pennant, signing Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna while trading with the Tampa Bay Rays to acquire Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum.
Even with the additions, Pirates players will have to bring maximum effort, game in and game out, to have a chance at playing deep into the Fall, which SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcasters Greg Brown and Matt Capps seem well aware of.
On Sunday, center fielder Oneil Cruz fielded a fly-out, looking almost like he wasn’t interested in being on the field, which might have allowed a tag from first from Mets Bretty Baty to tag from first, and the booth called out Cruz’s effort immediately.
“[You] do want to see a little bit more enthusiasm to get the ball in,” Capps said after Cruz lollipopped the ball back into the infield.
“Yeah, Brett Beatty, if he had tagged, he probably is at second base, but he decided not to advance. A little lackadaisical on Cruz’s part not to get the ball in. Ball one,” Brown added.
The Pirates went on to win Sunday’s contest in extra innings, bringing them to 1-2 to start the year, avoiding what would’ve been a brutal three-game deficit in the win column to start the season. Still, with Skenes struggling out of the gate, they certainly can’t afford to give anything other than maximum effort moving forward.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.