3 changes the Pittsburgh Pirates need to make ASAP as spiral takes hold

The Pittsburgh Pirates' season has quickly gone off the rails. After heading into August as a potential Wild Card and even division contender, the Pirates have now lost 10 in a row (and 12 of their last 13) and are staring down the barrel of yet another late-season collapse.

They need to make some changes, and fast. It's better if they come as soon as possible, whether that be next week, or at the end of the season. But these should take hold for the 2025 season.

Fire Derek Shelton

At the end of last season, the Pirates were on an upward trend. They finished with 76 wins, the most since 2018, and played above .500 baseball throughout their final 67 games despite only having two real starting pitchers. The minimum expectation set upon the Pirates and manager Derek Shelton was at least a .500 record, if not better. Given what he's had to work with, that should have been an attainable goal.

Improving by six wins should not have been difficult. Jared Jones and Paul Skenes were projected to be major factors. Oneil Cruz would return to the lineup as well. The Pirates have had a handful of pleasant surprises as well, like Joey Bart being a valuable contributor and both Kyle Nicolas and Bailey Falter breaking out.

Now, of course, nobody expected David Bednar to be this bad; Dauri Moreta or Ryan Borucki to be lost for most or all of this season; or for Johan Oviedo and Endy Rodriguez to undergo Tommy John surgery in December, but these things shouldn't completely sink a team below what they accomplished last year, especially considering the other positives.

There has been a lot of mismanagement when it comes to how Shelton has utilized the bullpen, formulated lineups, and handled the overall roster construction. If Shelton plays his cards just a little better, they might still be around .500, if not above .500. 

Fire Andy Haines

A large portion of the Pirates' struggles this year can be chalked up to their offense not producing. They are bottom five in team OPS, wOBA, and wRC+ while ranking 23rd in total runs scored. If the Pirates' offense was only average this year, they would have won a lot more games.

The main culprit of all of this is the Pirates' hitting coach, Andy Haines. Haines has overseen the Pirates' offense for three seasons. Over those three years, the Pirates have been a bottom-five hitting team per OPS, wOBA, wRC+, and runs scored. While the Pirates were still rebuilding when Haines was brought on in 2022, there were bigger issues at hand.

First is that the Pirates have seen multiple players take huge steps down from 2023. Jack Suwinski, Michael A. Taylor, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Edward Olivares, and Jared Triolo each had a wRC+ of 95 or higher. The lowest was Taylor at 95, and the highest was Triolo at 118. Hayes (101), Olivares (104), and Suwinski (112) each fell in between. None have a wRC+ above 75 in 2024, and Olivares was DFA'd.

Many of the Pirates' former top prospects have struggled to make any impact in the Major Leagues. Henry Davis was the first overall pick in 2021. He has a .948 OPS, .419 wOBA, and 148 wRC+ throughout his minor league career. So far, throughout his Major League career, Davis has a .611 OPS, .27 wOBA, and 68 wRC+. Ji Hwan Bae, another former top prospect who had a .304 batting average and 126 wRC+ in the minors, has just a .235 BA and 69 wRC+ in the big leagues. The aforementioned Triolo was consistently a good hitter throughout the minor leagues, with his lowest single-season wRC+ clocking in at 110.

On top of that, the Pirates have had multiple players seek help for their hitting beyond Haines and found success elsewhere. Oneil Cruz went to a personal hitting coach in 2022 before turning things around in August. Ke'Bryan Hayes had a huge summer in 2023 after working with Jon Nunnally. This year, Rowdy Tellez rebounded from a horrible April and May to become one of the Pirates' better hitters after turning to longtime friend Dee Brown for help.

A couple of players not having good years, or a prospect not living up to their potential happens to every team. But to have almost every single batter either not perform or fail to make the transition from the minor leagues to the Major Leagues is a serious problem. Firing Andy Haines at least attempts to address this issue.

Play the young guns

At this point in the year, the Pirates should be putting some of their rental veterans on waivers. Show Yasmani Grandal and Michael A. Taylor the door. It's time for their roster spots to be replaced by some of the young prospects/players who are performing well at Triple-A.

One is Nick Yorke, who has been mashing the baseball at Triple-A. Between the Pirates' and Boston Red Sox's Triple-A teams, Yorke has a .323/.407/.484 in 222 plate appearances. Yorke has struck out just 17.7% of the time alongside a healthy 12.2% walk rate. He has also hit for some pop and has a respectable .161 isolated slugging percentage. Overall, the second baseman/outfielder has a .398 wOBA and 134 wRC+ at Triple-A.

Another deadline pickup, Billy Cook, also deserves a promotion. Like Yorke, Cook has been great at the Triple-A level, batting .280/.372/.507 in 333 plate appearances. Cook has good power with a .227 isolated slugging percentage. He has been more susceptible to strikeouts with a 23.1% K%, but he still has a 10.8% walk rate. Cook has a .385 wOBA and 125 wRC+ combined between the Pirates' and O's Triple-A teams. With how versatile Cook is, he'll find playing time at an almost everyday level.

The Pirates need more pitching, and Mike Burrows could provide that. The right-hander has returned from Tommy John surgery and has looked decent at Triple-A, albeit in a small sample size. The top pitching prospect has thrown 12.1 innings for Indy, only allowing five earned runs, striking out 14 batters, and handing out a single walk. Burrows' velocity is also back up to his pre-Tommy John days. Burrows is also on the 40-man roster, making it even easier to promote him.

These three would be the bare minimum. But the Pirates should also recall Hunter Stratton, and any of Jason Delay, Henry Davis, Jack Suwinski, Alika Williams, and/or Liover Peguero. They should also consider giving either Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington a look down the line.

Things are looking bad at this point of the season. At least try and inject some life into the roster and give everyone a breath of fresh air. The worst-case scenario is that you at least build some confidence and momentum with some of these players toward next year. The best-case scenario is that some or all of them over-perform, and you're right back in the race.