If 2015 feels like a long time ago, for Pittsburgh Pirates fans it must feel like a lifetime. Pittsburgh won 98 games that season and made it to the playoffs for the third consecutive time, the Pirates were Baseball America’s organization of the year, Travis Sawchik wrote a book called “Big Data Baseball” about how the Pirates revolutionized the analytic and their system. led. ranch was pretty solid, led by Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and Josh Bell.
Glasnow and Meadows traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018 in a very wild trade for Chris Archer, the Pirates plummeted to 93 losses in 2019 and then finished with the worst record in the majors in 2020. Now Bell has also disappeared, traded to the Nationals for pitchers Wil Crowe, who debuted in the majors in 2020, and Eddy Yean, a 19-year old who pitched in the rookie league in 2018.