It seems like the Pittsburgh Pirates are hiring way too many coaches

The Pittsburgh Pirates formally introduced Matt Hague as their new Major League hitting coach Thursday with an inordinate amount of fanfare – three separate posts on the team's X account, multiple stories on the team's official website and a media availability via Zoom.

With all due respect to Hague, a former Pirates draft pick who was most recently the assistant hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays, he is... the hitting coach. He's not the manager, and he's not a high-profile alumnus. And it's not like the Pirates have any world-class hitters he'll be working with in his new role.

Which brings us to our main topic of discussion: Why are the Pirates making such a big to-do over their recent coaching and front office hires, when none of them are incredibly high-ranking?

Perhaps it's just because it's the offseason, and the news cycle is slow. But knowing how this organization operates, it seems much more likely that it's because they think that surrounding their new hires with positive PR will create the illusion that real progress is being made toward becoming a contender when, in fact, those new hires are the only moves of note that they'll be making this offseason.

It seems like the Pittsburgh Pirates are hiring way too many coaches

A quick glance at the coaching staff directory on the Pirates' team site reveals that the club has 14 different coaches at the MLB level. That's not even including Brent Strom, who has reportedly been hired by the club as an assistant pitching coach. The 2024 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, by comparison, have nine. The New York Yankees, whom they defeated to win the World Series title, have 11.

How can Pirates skipper Derek Shelton be expected to manage a team when he has to manage a staff of 14 coaches? If the organization is going to make so many coaching hires, perhaps more of those hires should be at the minor-league level so they can actually draft and develop prospects into MLB-caliber talent by the time they get to Pittsburgh.

Bloating the coaching staff isn't going to distract Pirates fans from the fact that they don't have any elite players to coach – and that's where the organization should be focused on making some real personnel upgrade

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