The Pirates Are Flawed. They're Also Worth Trying to Fix.

We begin today with a tweet from Josh Yohe, who does an excellent job covering the Pittsburgh Penguins for The Athletic. I like Josh, and have always been cordial with him, which is why I also feel fine describing him as a long-suffering, deeply-scarred Pirates fan. Which is how you get defeatist posts like this.

The Pirates are flawed. Every team not named the Dodgers is, in one way or another. Even the Brewers, a complete wagon of a team, have their issues: How much can Jacob Misiorowski's arm handle? Will their "put it in play" approach work in the playoffs? Can a team that is literally dead-last in baseball in home runs thrive in the postseason, when stringing together multi-hit rallies tends to be tougher?

That's just one example of what I'm talking about. There are, of course, many others. I say this not to minimize the Pirates' issues, but to illustrate that even teams with much better records aren't perfect.

Here are the Pirates' main problems: Their bullpen has maybe two reliable pitchers (it might be three, if Carmen Mlodzinski was actually willing to be used like a regular bullpen arm), they cannot hit left-handed pitching to save their lives, and they can't really play defense.

Admittedly, those are real problems! The bullpen has blown 19 saves this year, while successfully saving just 21 games. That somehow isn't close to the highest blown save number in the league, but it's terrible nonetheless.

The issues with left-handed pitching, especially left-handed starters, are even more frustrating, primarily because the lineup is full of otherwise good hitters. The numbers from Baseball Reference don't lie. Go look for yourself and be horrified.

Yeah, a .669 OPS against lefty starters isn't going to cut it. Unfortunately, guess what every team in the playoff chase - which is about 22 teams, give or take - would like to add? You guessed it, a right-handed bat!

Finally, the defense. It is...what it is. Sorry, can't help you there. At least not until Konnor Griffin comes back, Jared Triolo gets to be what he should be, which is a late-inning super-utility glove guy, and...actually, you know what? I'm not going to try and spew sunshine about that. The defense is pretty bad, even on its best day.

However, none of those flaws are fatal, because these Pirates have one exceptionally redemptive quality: They absolutely mash right-handed pitching.

There is nothing fluky about it. Throw a righty against this team, and chances are, you are going to get pulverized. No amount of injuries has been able to derail that train. The Pirates' team OPS against righty starters is .791. Against all righties, .780.

They are a team full of Nick Gonzaleses and Ryan O'Hearns against righties. That's where their numbers slot in, more or less. You probably do not need me to tell you that Gonzales and O'Hearn are both very good offensive players this year.

The win-loss numbers reflect the disparity. The Pirates are essentially two different teams: The 1962 New York Mets against lefties, and the 1998 New York Yankees against righties. Don Kelly's troops are 9-23 against lefty starters, 46-31 against righties.

Honestly, this probably sums up the dynamic the best:

The previous stat is the best argument for trying to help this team, by the way. Seventy-one percent of the Pirates games have been against right-handed starters. You can figure that the last 53 games of the season will follow a similar trend. Just because this team hasn't put together a 10-2 tear doesn't mean that they can't.

They should also get even healthier in the next 10 to 14 days. Oneil Cruz can come back from the 60-day injured list on August 7th. Spencer Horwitz should be back too, though trying to predict a player's recovery from a concussion is hardly an exact science. Cruz was in the midst of a career year when he went on the IL, and he was mashing lefties, and Horwitz might be the best pure hitter in the entire lineup.

Griffin, who was also coming into his own, ought to be back sometime in September, and if the Pirates are still in it, could be the kind of difference-maker that pushes them over the top.

This is a team that deserves action, not caution. Ben Cherington should aggressively seek bullpen help, preferably multiple arms, and if there's a chance to take a flier on a right-handed bat, even one that plays sparingly, he should be making serious inquiries.

Fortunately, Cherington seems to understand the assignment. Speaking with reporters this past Sunday, he said, "I believe Major League seasons, each one is precious. If you're in the middle of one and have a chance, you should do everything you can to give that team a chance."

It was the most direct statement of intention I've ever heard him make. He's usually a guy who specializes in using a lot of words to say nothing. Seems that he realizes that an offense like this, particularly for a franchise like the Pirates, doesn't come around often.

Just because the prospect pool looks better than it has in years, and this team's future seems brighter than it has been, doesn't mean that you punt on this year because you think it's beyond fixing. Stop me if you've heard this before, but there are no guarantees any of these prospects pan out. There might be a work stoppage in 2027. The controllable hitters that are slugging right now might regress.

This is a baseball team that right now is worse than their record. My buddy Pythagoras realizes this - the Bucs are 58-51 according to Baseball Reference's Pythagorean record - which means that they're probably more legit than not.

Even in the team's run from 2013-15, when they were objectively good, I couldn't shake the thought that they were probably playing a little above their heads. That sounds crazy to say about teams that won 94, 88 and 98 games, but it is how I felt. I have the opposite vibe about this year's team. If they could ever get themselves fully untracked, I think you'd be looking at a very dangerous group.

Two middle relief arms could go a long way towards helping that. They probably won't cost a ton, either. They typically never do, because everyone waits out the sellers and then those teams take whatever they can get rather than hold on to otherwise useless assets.

The 2026 Pirates might be frustrating, but that doesn't mean they're fatally flawed. Quite the contrary, actually. They sock dingers and play Earl Weaver Ball, and when it's on, it is fun as hell to watch. Even though they couldn't finish the job, just seeing them run down the Diamondbacks after trailing 6-0 through seven innings was a thrill.

It's hard to say this with conviction, because they can be maddening to watch, but this edition of the Pirates can win a playoff series and maybe more, provided they get there. That alone makes them a team worth fixing, and not one that should sit on its hands and do nothing. There are no guarantees for 2027 and beyond, and Ben Cherington would be wise to remember that.