U mad, bro?: Pittsburgh fans lathered up over Mike Tomlin contract talk, Pirates trade rumors, City Connect uniforms
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Since last week’s “U mad, bro?” posted, we saw the Pittsburgh Pirates’ losing streak peak at 10 games. There’s talk of Mike Tomlin getting a contract extension from the Steelers even though he hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016. And two of the Pirates’ top players were mentioned in trade rumors.
Oh, and the Pirates released new uniforms that look like they were passed-over options for the Springfield Isotopes in a lost episode of “The Simpsons.”
Needless to say, there was no June swoon for this week’s “U mad, bro?” post to wrap up the month.
Let’s start with a tweet about the Pirates from a guy who seems to have a pretty good handle on Pittsburgh fandom.
@TimBenzPGH we have reached peak Pirate Fan dilemma. On the one hand, fans want all of BC's draft picks called up. On the other hand the GM needs to be fired. So I think we just settle on blaming the hitting coach.
— defnotthe1 (@defnotthe12) June 26, 2023
Well, sure, David. There’s no offensive coordinator in baseball. What else are we supposed to do?
A different David emailed about Mike Tomlin.
“A quote from Bill Parcells … ‘You are what your record says you are.’ Period.”
Agreed, David. Now which of Tomlin’s records are we talking about? Regular season or postseason?
And are we talking about from 2007-11? Or 2012-22?
Because those options end with very different “periods.”
Mike hates the Pirates’ City Connect uniforms.
Nice slow pitch beer league softball unis
— Mike Petrosky (@MikePetrosky5) June 26, 2023
Poor Nick Gonzales. Every time he sees a picture of himself hitting his first homer, he’s going to have to double check to make sure it wasn’t a photo from an Arizona fall beer league or something.
Steve has an opinion about Jon Morosi’s recent trade reports surrounding Andrew McCutchen and Mitch Keller.
“This guy is basing his statements on what he would do or think if he were in the Pirates front office. Like anyone else’s trade opinions, there’s no fact or source to any of it. He’s speculating to get a reaction, and everyone is catering to it. He’s even implicating teams that are interested in these trades that have no idea what he’s talking about.
Why does he get any benefit of the doubt versus any other fan with a Twitter account? Is that the perks of being a Harvard grad with a degree in environmental science and public policy? Getting to work for MLB.com and be an ‘insider?’
Neither of these trades are anything hard to imagine the Pirates doing. It’s really just low hanging fruit to look at a downward spiraling team and see who would likely be interested in their best, most easily tradable players.”
Eh, that’s only part true, Steve.
Yes, by his own admission, Morosi was essentially just playing matchmaker on the Baltimore connection to Keller.
But, based on how he put out his info on McCutchen and the Rangers, it was something he heard, followed up and got confirmed through (I’m assuming) someone with Texas. Because none of it seems to be coming from Pittsburgh.
Regardless, my bigger takeaway is that — after a 20-8 start to the season — the national perception of the Pirates is that they are in sell mode.
Again.
And since that has been the case for most of the past three decades, I’m so over it. Aren’t you?
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Chuck emailed me about the idea of a Keller trade as well. He’s not on board.
”That ‘sell our best pitcher’ approach started before Taillon, Cole, Musgrove…They’ve been pulling this (garbage) since the mid 90’s with Neagle then Schmidt, Benson …and I’m sure more than that. Most of those guys had at least a couple of good years after they left. And anyone they traded didn’t get much in return, which is the trouble with prospects in general…they’re just prospects.
At least they kept Doug Drabek though, LOL!”
Ha ha! LOL indeed, Chuck, you nailed it! (((Psst! OK, who wants to break the news to him that they didn’t actually keep Doug Drabek???)))
Finally, Chad emailed me during the Pirates’ recent 10-game losing streak.
“It’s simple: You get what you pay for. And the Pirates are akin to Stroh’s beer.”
Chad, I find that comparison extremely unfair … to Stroh’s.
In my experience, Stroh’s has resulted in many more positive “drafts” than the Pirates have over the past 30 years.
Hey oh!