Madden Monday: Anger over Pirates' decisions a matter of perspective on team's potential

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost two out of three games to the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend. They have played six series this month and have lost five. The only series they didn’t lose was splitting a two-game road trip to Detroit last Tuesday and Wednesday.

The team’s 20-8 start has been whittled down to a 24-22 record. The wilting Buccos are no longer in first place, trailing Milwaukee by a game in the National League Central.

Now Pirates fans are starting to get impatient. The goodwill built up during that great start in April is being frittered away during this awful slide in May. The club is 4-13 this month, with a three-game series against the National League West-leading Texas Rangers starting Monday.

Many who root for the club are second-guessing some moves by management, namely their continuing insistence to keep catching prospects Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez in the minor leagues. Davis is hitting .311 with 10 home runs and an OPS of 1.124 at Altoona (AA). Rodriguez is only hitting .238 with a .736 OPS this year at Indianapolis (AAA). But last year, he was named the Pirates’ minor league Player of the Year and jumped as high as No. 19 overall in Baseball America’s prospect rankings thanks to a season in which he hit .323 with a .997 OPS, 25 homers and 95 RBIs.

Meanwhile, at the big league level behind the plate, Austin Hedges is hitting .167. Jason Delay is at .317, but he is just 3 of 16 this month and has had some issues defensively, including during Sunday’s loss to Arizona (8-3) on some balls in the dirt, and with an error on a throw.

So fans want changes, and they are mad that Mitch Keller was pulled after six innings during Saturday’s start. He left the game up 3-2 after just 84 pitches with no walks allowed and eight strikeouts on the board.

During this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLIVE says we may need to pump the brakes on the hype surrounding the two catching prospects.

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“It amuses me that Rodriguez and Davis have been seen as a cure-all, that this team would be really good if they just called those guys up. And I just don’t see that,” Madden said. “As if we know that two guys who have never had a major league at-bat would come up and provide exactly what the Pirates need. It’s like the bloggers and the fanboys know that these two guys are ready when somehow the organization doesn’t think so.”

Meanwhile, as it relates to the decision to pull Keller on Saturday, Madden said it’s all a matter of perspective.

“That depends where you think this team is right now. If you think this team is going to be battling for a playoff spot, that’s a bad move,” Madden said.

But, he added, if your perspective is that the Pirates are inevitably going to fade and become just a “75-win team,” then maybe the gnashing of teeth over that decision is overblown.

“At the very least, they should’ve let him start the next inning,” Madden continued. “But I don’t see that as this cataclysmic failure by Shelton. If it is erroneous it is slightly so. Again, it depends on where you think the team is and what it can do this year. A lot of Pirates fans want the team to arrive on their timetable, as opposed to how it organically develops — and for that matter how it organically develops with Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez.”

To that point, I see less of a need to push either catching prospect into the majors. But I still would’ve kept Keller out there for one more inning.

In terms of other discussion points in the podcast, Madden and I talk about the Penguins’ general manager search, the NHL playoffs, the Steelers’ quarterback situation and Jim Brown’s place among all-time great multisport athletes.

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden talk Pirates, Penguins and Steelers