The list of names is as long as it is disheartening: Tommy Pham, Rowdy Tellez, Bryan De La Cruz, Edward Olivares. Add to it the injured Spencer Horwitz and the invisible Alexander Canario. This is the parade of recent offensive acquisitions under General Manager Ben Cherington, a collection of players acquired via free agency, trades, and waiver claims, all meant to plug the gaping holes in the Pirates’ lineup.
They have almost all failed.
This consistent, predictable pattern is not bad luck or coincidence. It is the starkest evidence yet that the organization has become a graveyard for hitters. It’s a place where major league bats are acquired only to see their production further wither and die. The question is no longer if an acquisition will fail, but why this organization is incapable of making one succeed.
A Roster of Regrets
The evidence of this trend is overwhelming. Players like Pham, Frazier, Horwitz, Tellez, De La Cruz, Olivares, etc. were brought in to provide some offense and/or veteran stability and instead have offered little to no offensive value. Pham struggled mightily for two months before a change in contact lenses made him serviceable. Horwitz arrived with a nagging injury and has yet to look like the player he was in Toronto or the minors. Even the successes are transient. Adam Frazier was a decent addition, but has already been flipped. Carlos Santana was a productive rental, but he was just that—a rental.
This pattern reveals the inability to identify players who can produce within their system, and the inability to create a system where players can produce. And the result is a constant, exhausting churn of low-impact players who serve as little more than placeholders on the path to another losing season.
A Tale of Two GMs
This dynamic does not exist in a vacuum. While the Pirates flounder, other teams in similarly sized markets with low payrolls have been more successful in rebuilding. The Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers have built exciting, competitive rosters in a shorter timeframe and with similar financial constraints.
The success of the Brewers serves as a particularly painful rebuke. Before the Pirates hired Ben Cherington, the other finalist for the GM position was Milwaukee’s Matt Arnold. We are now witnessing a real-time, sliding-doors moment for the franchise. While Arnold has skillfully navigated a smaller market to build a perennial contender, Cherington has overseen a period of frustrating stagnation in Pittsburgh. The argument that Cherington is hamstrung by payroll is rendered moot by the success of his direct contemporary.
The Root of the Problem
So what is the fundamental issue? Is it luck? Are the Pirates destined to stink? No. The sample size of failed acquisitions is now far too large to be a statistical anomaly.
The source of this problem is the organization’s overarching offensive philosophy. It is a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach that actively suppresses the talent it is supposed to cultivate. It prizes a passive method that has consistently failed to generate power or score runs, and it is applied to every player, regardless of their individual skills or track record. Hitters do not come to Pittsburgh and suddenly forget how to hit. They are brought into a system that prevents them from succeeding.
This is a conclusion based on years of evidence. As we approach another trade deadline, the concern is not who the Pirates will acquire. It is why the fan base should have any faith that the result will be any different. When the organization itself is the problem, no single player can be the solution.