The Pittsburgh Pirates (48-69) have been a complete embarrassment in the second-half of the MLB season. Pittsburgh's record in the second-half of the season is just 4-24. They were just a couple of games back of a wild card spot in the National League heading into the All-Star Break.
Now, they are 15.5 games back of first place in the National League Central of the Chicago Cubs for first place.
The Pirates continue to invent new ways to lost. They have lost eight straight games, including a 11-9 loss on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals on the road after Pittsburgh had a 7-4 lead at one point before Lane Thomas hit a grand slam to give St. Louis the lead in the seventh-inning for good.
The Pittsburgh Pirates must head in a new direction after the season is over. Pittsburgh must fire General Manager Neal Huntington, others in the front office, Manager Clint Hurdle and his coaching staff, and they also have to fire a ton of scouts.
The Pirates have had poor player development.
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Even though MLB.com has Pittsburgh ranked as the 15th best farm system in baseball, it seems to be a lot worst than that.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have right-handed pitcher Mitch Keller in the Top 100 prospects in all of baseball (28th overall), third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes (39th overall), and shortstop O'Neil Cruz (62nd overall). Other than that, they don't have much bright spots in the system.
Pittsburgh's Triple- Affiliate is 58-60, their Double-A affiliate is 59-60, and their High-A affiliate is 63-54. That isn't terrible, but the farm system needs an upgrade.
They should have traded reliever Felipe Rivero at the trade deadline, but they didn't.
While the Pirates have the chance, they should find trade suitors in the off season for Josh Bell and Starling Marte as well and this franchise needs to start from scratch.
The Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the St. Louis Cardinals will be around competing for playoff spots for the next few seasons. The Cincinnati Reds are getting a lot better as well and they are turning the corner.
There are no signs that the Pittsburgh Pirates are turning the corner. They will be the worst team in that division for the next few years so why not just rebuild and start over already?
Who could be some potential replacements for Neal Huntington at the end of the season?
The first potential replacement could be Chaim Bloom. He is currently the Tampa Bay Rays Vice President of Baseball Operations. Bloom has drafted well recently with Tampa Bay and he was one of the favorites to be the New York Mets new general manager last offseason.
The second potential replacement could be Josh Byrnes. He is currently the Los Angeles Dodgers Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations. Los Angeles has drafted well over the years. Byrnes was in the front office before with the San Diego Padres.
The third potential replacement could be Brandon Taubman. He was just promoted to the Assistant General Manager role in the front office for the Houston Astros within the past season. Houston has been a very well ran organization over the past several years. Mike Elias was in the Astros front office for the past several years before he became the general manager with the Baltimore Orioles.
The fourth potential replacement could be Chris Antonetti. He is currently the President of Baseball Operations with the Cleveland Indians. Cleveland has one of the better farm systems in baseball and they have developed a winning culture over the past few years.
It also has looked like as if the Pittsburgh Pirates have already quit on the season. They are the second worst team in the National League and Pittsburgh only has a four-game lead on the Miami Marlins. The Pirates would have the sixth overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft if the season ended right now.
