Ke'Bryan Hayes injury sheds light on his massive struggles with Pirates in 2024

The Pittsburgh Pirates have placed third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes on the 10-day injured list with back inflammation. Stop me if you've heard this before.

It's the second time this season and the fifth time in the past three years that Hayes has landed on the IL due to troubles with his back. Last season alone, he missed nearly the entire month of July with two separate stints on the IL. However, a massive regression in his play this season would seem to indicate that Hayes may have been playing through more pain than anyone realized.

Just one year removed from winning a Gold Glove in 2023, Hayes is now in the throes of a career-worst season at the plate, batting .233/.283/.290 with nine doubles, four home runs and 25 RBI through 96 games. His .573 OPS is a career low and nearly 200 points below the .762 OPS he posted in 2023.

Before he landed on the IL Sunday, Hayes was batting .196 in August, including 1 for 24 over the past six games. He also has just 13 extra-base hits in 396 plate appearances. To be fair, offensive struggles have plagued almost the entire Pittsburgh roster, but Hayes' have been even more painful to watch, given his inability to contribute to the club that's paying him $70 million over eight years.

Ke'Bryan Hayes injury sheds light on his massive struggles with Pirates in 2024

Hayes will make $7 million in each of the next three seasons, plus $8 million in 2028 and 2029, and he has a $12 million club option for 2030. That's a lot of money for a perennially cost-conscious team to pay a player whose offensive numbers have been inconsistent at best and consistently bad at worst.

Clearly, Hayes' health has been a factor in his struggles, so he deserves a certain measure of sympathy. But do you know who doesn't deserve sympathy? General manager Ben Cherington and the Pirates front office, who signed him to such a large contract in 2022 when his health problems had already been well documented and should have raised questions about his longevity.

So, how does the club move forward? Pittsburgh could try to trade Hayes this offseason, but his value is probably at an all-time low due to his poor health and abysmal offensive numbers. At this point, it feels like a no-win situation. The Pirates have dug themselves into a deep hole with a player who was once considered to be a future building block for the organization, and they have no one to blame but themselves.

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