It has been a frustrating 2016 season for the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fan base. With recently nonexistent expectations raised by a couple brief postseason appearances, the Pirates unexpectedly find themselves below .500 after being swept by the Cubs and Brewers. How did the Pirates get here, and what might their short-term future hold?
The Pirates have been one of the game's feel-good stories in recent seasons. It wasn't long ago that they finally broke their seemingly interminable streak of sub-.500 seasons and turned things around to the point that their current losing streak is more than a bit off-putting, though they remain in the race for the second wild-card spot that seemingly no team wants to win.
One of the factors that held the Bucs back during their generation of futility was a relatively low team payroll, and their standing in that regard has changed only modestly. Their Opening Day payroll checked in at just below $100 million ($99.945 million, to be exact), 19th in the majors. Their year-end ranking likely will fall a couple notches, thanks to the money-saving trades of Francisco Liriano and Mark Melancon.
In 2012-15, the Pirates ranked 29th, 25th, 27th and 24th in team payroll, respectively. Over that span, the Rays and Astros were the only other teams to rank 24th or lower each season, and only two other clubs, the Indians and A's, ranked below 20th in each of those four seasons.
The Pirates have a superb and still relatively new ballpark, and their attendance has trended up in recent seasons, but the fact is they will never be near the top of the game's salary rankings. They have flexibility to make a big strategic add if the competitive situation dictates it, but there will never be much margin for error.
It's pretty simple. If the Pittsburgh Pirates wish to be perennial contenders, they have two primary tasks.
1) They must grow their own superstars. This is because they simply are not able to compete for players at the top, or even upper-middle region, of the free-agent market.
2) They must outsmart other clubs in an environment in which everyone is getting smarter. They must be creative, anticipate trends and zig when others are zagging.
Before we look at how the Pirates currently grade out in those two areas, let's take a step back and assess how the Pirates have arrived at the intersection of Contention Street and Mediocrity Avenue.