“How can you not be romantic about baseball?” is the question Brad Pitt’s version of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane asked his right-hand man, Jonah Hill, in Moneyball. So, how can you not? This is especially the case in Pittsburgh, I would argue, because we’re often left with rosy thoughts about what could be coming down the line. For the Pirates, it’s not always the here and the now — in fact, it almost never is — and that’s how it’ll be again in this piece.
Most estimates are not giving the Pirates competitive credibility until at least 2023, if not later.