Well, that was eye-opening.
I don’t care what the full-season stats show in comparing the Pirates to the Philadelphia Phillies. They’re irrelevant.
The Phillies have heated up like the Pittsburgh spring since their managerial change. They totally outclassed the Pirates over the past three days, sweeping them by a combined score of 23-9.
The Phillies have a better lineup, a better rotation, a better bullpen, better defense and a better bench.
Other than that, the teams are dead even.
This sweep, which included two Phillies comebacks and an epic Pirates bullpen meltdown, was beyond eye-opening. It was alarming.
There is no doubt the Pirates are greatly improved from last season — how could they not be? — but they have several obvious deficiencies:
— The bullpen stinks, which isn’t good in a league where starters (sometimes even Paul Skenes) almost never make it beyond the sixth inning.
— The rotation has two problem spots in Carmen Mlodzinski and Bubba Chandler. Mlodzinski has an ERA near five this month and could be removed from the rotation to make room for Jared Jones.
Chandler’s a candidate for removal, too, with an ERA near six since the beginning of last month. He’s tied for the major-league league lead in walks.
Jones, by the way, is no guaranteed panacea after a year off on account of injury. Let’s also hope Mitch Keller isn’t course-correcting to his usual 4-plus ERA.
— The lineup has serious holes. Henry Davis is now hitting an unfathomable .141. Jared Triolo is overmatched. The bench has often included Billy Cook, Nick Yorke (just demoted) and a non-hitting catcher.
Why is Triolo playing right field? He batted leadoff in a recent game, too. Manager Don Kelly seems to have a way higher opinion of Triolo than is warranted.
— The outfield defense is problematic, although we all agree that trading some defense to gain some offense was a good idea.
It hardly helps that Ryan O’Hearn, one of the team’s best all-around players, is now on the injured list.
Bottom line: If GM Ben Cherington doesn’t make some bold moves, the Pirates will likely be flirting with .500 all season. They could easily miss the playoffs and waste another year of Skenes.
They have a long ways to go to join the NL elite.