Pirates' division rival just stole their thunder with the move Pittsburgh should've made

The move to bring Bubba Chandler up to Pittsburgh is far overdue, and it is mind boggling that the promotion hasn't happened yet. Even though the Pirates don't necessarily need starting pitching, Chandler deserves to be in the big leagues and gives the team their best chance to win. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh waited too long; the Brewers just stole the thunder in the NL Central by promoting their star pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski.

Chandler is the second highest-ranked prospect in baseball, while Misiorowski is the 68th, according to MLB Pipeline. There is a lot of hype around this promotion, but not nearly as much as there would be for Chandler. The Brewers now took this opportunity to set the stage for this highly anticipated debut.

The Pirates have had plenty of opportunties to bring up their top prospect, but he still sits down in Triple-A. On the season, Chandler has generated a 2.49 ERA with a 2.93 FIP and a 12.43 K/9. Instead they have promoted other prospects such as Braxton Ashcraft and Mike Burrows. Both have been solid, but they aren't Chandler.

In comparison, Misiorowski has posted a 2.13 ERA with a 3.39 FIP and 11.37 K/9 this season. Based on these three indicators, Chandler is overall the better arm having the better season, justifying how much higher ranked he is.

Pirates' failure to bring up Bubba Chandler hurts even worse after Brewers call up their top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski

Now all the excitement is on the Brewers stud rookie, who will make his major league debut on Thursday. Misiorowski is definitely very talented, but this promotion just shows how badly the Pirates have managed their top prospect.

It seems that he is still in Triple-A because the Pirates fear losing a year of service on him. If he wins the Rookie of the Year award, he will be assigned a year of service, exactly what happened to Paul Skenes after he won it.

Although the money-pinching Pirates aren't wrong for wanting to maximize their opportunity with a high-upside prospect that could help long term, they aren't maximizing their star who has already proven he has what it takes to win in Skenes.

Regardless of what Chandler can bring, complementing Skenes with another star is how the team should attack this short window with one of the best players in the league. They are objectively wasting their chance in Jared Jones' absence.

The way the Pirates have managed Chandler has been a big swing and a miss. Other teams have brought up their top prospects within the last month, but the Pirates continue to let their own stay in Triple-A. Maybe if Misiorowski does well enough, it'll pressure Pittsburgh to promote Chandler, but it likely won't make a difference.