Pittsburgh Pirates: Should Oscar Marin be on the Hot Seat?

The Pittsburgh Pirates recently fired their hitting coach.  Should their pitching coach go next?

In what was somewhat of an “out-of-no-where” move, the Pittsburgh Pirates let go of hitting coach Rick Eckstein.  Eckstein had served as the Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coach since the offseason of 2018-2019.  This of course means that he was also hired by Neal Huntington’s regime and was one of the few staff members that were kept under the new leadership.

Regardless of who Eckstein was hired under, his job was on the line because the team simply did not see much progress offensively this year. At the end of the day, the results are what matters, and Eckstein was not getting those results.  This holds true for the veterans and younger players that fans expect to see more from.

So, if the Pittsburgh Pirates are currently considering staff changes, should Oscar Marin also be on the hot seat?  After all, the pitching has been a glaring issue with this team for the past 5 years or so.  Whether it has been not developing young arms or getting enough out of them when they are here, something needs to change on the mound.

At one point it was an easy excuse to say that the pitching was struggling because of injuries and inconsistencies from the previous regime.  However, nothing has changed much in terms of the results from Ray Searage and Oscar Marin. Currently, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 1 of 3 teams to have an overall ERA north of 5.  They are also bottom 5 in walks allowed and batting average against.

One of the biggest disappointments under Searage was Tyler Glasnow, the same can now be said for Oscar Marin and Mitch Keller.  There was a lot of hope that Keller would turn into the Buc’s ace.  As of now, he is battling for a roster spot.  Keller has not been good under Marin. Whether that is on Keller or Marin is hard to say. One thing is for, there is enough evidence of other pitchers not taking steps forward under Marin.

So should the team consider moving on from Marin?  For me, the answer is yes.  With him failing to get some of the current young arms to take steps forward he cannot be the person overseeing the future wave of pitchers.  He has nothing to show for his first 2 years in the Organization and probably has seen more pitchers fail than succeed at this point.

One hold-up could be the main difference between Marin and Eckstein.  Marin was hired by Derek Shelton and Ben Cherington, Eckstein was not.  While we may not see much progress on the mound, Marin very well may be doing what the Front Office is asking of him.  So should Marin be fired? Potentially, but at this point, it may not be as likely as the Eckstein move.