The Pittsburgh Pirates were once among baseball’s gold standard of franchises.
They lost the first ever World Series. A parade of greats from Honus Wagner to Roberto Clemente donned the black, gold, and white and scooped up five World Series wins along the way, including over the favored Yankees in 1960.
These days, the Pirates aren’t even lovable losers. They’re basically a glorified farm team for MLB’s 29 other squads. The Yankees have done business with Pittsburgh often, most recently trading prospects for Jameson Taillon.
Otherwise, the Pirates don’t prioritize winning anymore. Former Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington runs their bare-minimum player development playbook.