The Pittsburgh Pirates may have a spending problem, or lack thereof.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have held one of the longest playoff droughts in Major League Baseball, and it’s no surprise due to the ownership group’s unwillingness to spend on major free agents.
That’s why ESPN insider Bradford Doolittle named the Pirates 26th out of 30 in terms of teams who can win the World Series this year.
State of the franchise: Maddeningly cheap. Yes, cheap. But at least they have the game’s most dynamic young pitcher on board, if only for a few years.
Pivotal statistic: 250. Paul Skenes struck out 170 batters as a rookie in only 133 innings. At 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings, that translates to 223 if he gets to 175 innings. But Skenes was, after all, just a rookie, and we can dream of even more whiffs and even more innings. Are 250 strikeouts a possibility? If Skenes gets to that territory, it would be the most strikeouts by a Pirates hurler since Bob Veale in the mid-1960s.
The only teams with a lesser chance of winning the World Series this year according to Doolittle were the Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox.
The Pirates wouldn’t necessarily be a better team if they spent more, but it would certainly give them a better chance to win, along with more respect around the league.
The Pirates are off today, but they will be back in action for a weekend series at PNC Park to take on Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees.