Now that the acrid smoke of the Pirates 4-0 “Wildcard” defeat at at the hands of the Chicago Cubs has begun to “dissipate,” (it still is not completely gone) I really want to have a talk with “yinz” readers. Due to health and personal reasons in 2015 I missed a slew of Pirate home games. I actually covered about 50% of the Bucs at home in 2015.
First of all, Pittsburgh and the entire western Pennsylvania region should applaud the Pirates for advancing to the 2015 MLB postseason, especially in light of the all of the injuries that the Pittsburgh squad was forced to overcome just to qualify for a home “Wildcard” game. That being said; the window for a championship is not opening wider. In my opinion the window of opportunity is losing at a sure and steady pace and there may be unseen and developing economic forces that may cause it to close even faster.
The fans of the region are happy for past few seasons that the Pirates have finished above the .500 mark but soon and very soon as some of my Christian friends might say, “folkses” are going become weary at getting close but no cigar. The time for finding a comfortable baseball position for infielder Pedro Alvarez is past.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has done everything possible to make the “Alvarez experiment” amicable for the Pirates management, players, fans and Pedro Alvarez himself but for the good of the Pittsburgh Pirates 2016 season and for the Pirates to even have a remote chance of reaching a World Series, let alone winning one, the team must sever ties with the beleaguered Alvarez, even if it means losing a few dollars as a result of cutting the umbilical cord with the troubled star.
There is only one position in MLB that would more than likely provide a comfort zone for the team and possibly suit Mr. Alvarez and that position is the “designated hitter.” However, with the inconsistent cold and hot offensive streaks of Mr. Alvarez almost always being a part of the scenario, even that position may be questionable.
By the way, for those of you who may be interested, the Pittsburgh Pirates ply their trade in the MLB National League and there is no “designated hitter.” It appears as though the “father of baseball” Abner Doubleday, intended for every man in the lineup to have to “bat” for himself. As far as I am concerned, that is the way it should have remained.
Just look at the numbers for right fielder Gregory Polanco.
According to baseball-reference.com Polanco; “Signed thru 2015, 1 yr/$525k. Service time (01/2015) Arbitration Eligible in 2018. Becomes a free Agent in 2021.” The Pirates utilized the services of one of the best, if not the best right fielder in professional baseball for peanuts.
Pedro Alvarez is a fan favorite in Pittsburgh but the Pirates management should be far more concerned about an athlete’s performance on the field than a player’s marketability. As my southern brother “Foghorn Leghorn” might say: “I say there, I say there might be a few cannonballs coming from the lower deck of the Pirate ship as the result of a full scale player rebellion if Alvarez plays another flawed and inconsistent season as a Pittsburgh Pirate.
Aramis Ramirez left the Milwaukee Brewers after the season’s halfway mark in 2015 to rejoin the Pittsburgh Pirates with the hope of winning a championship with the club with which he made his MLB debut but it didn’t happen. In 2014 Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett underperformed as a member of the underachieving Philadelphia Phillies. Burnett was signed to a 1 year deal in 2015 at $8.5M. However like Aramis Ramirez, he too chose to take “less money” returning to the Pirates in 2015, over performing while helping the Pirates into the NL MLB post season for the third consecutive year.
Both Ramirez and Burnett have ridden off into the sunset of their careers. Will the Pirates of 2016 ride off into a blaze of glory or will they again fight, 162 battles just to lose the final conflict. Has Wildcard competition become the Pirates “Waterloo?” No one can no longer tell the fans to “eat cake.” Every so often ya have to throw a steak on the grill.
(The source for this article was baseball-reference.com)
Aubrey Bruce can be reached at; abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412.583.6741.
He is also a contributing columnist for urbanmediatoday.com Follow him on Twitter@ultrascribe
