As we’ve talked about this offseason, it seems like more teams have jumped into the tank-and-rebuild cycle than ever before. For the most part, the good teams are going for it and the bad teams are actively making themselves worse to get better in the future.
The Pirates seemed like one of the few teams caught in the middle, much like the White Sox were a year ago. After three straight Wild Card berths from 2013-15 (and one win), they’ve experienced two sub-.500 finishes, with widespread complaints that ownership didn’t spend the money necessary to supplement the talented young core. Now, with no easy path to contention, the Pirates decided to trade two of their star players for prospects…
