The Pittsburgh Pirates are clearly in the middle of their rebuilding process and do not have a time frame to return to relevance. There are a couple of pieces that could make a difference and be part of the future core, but the Pirates are still far away from contending. Nonetheless, one would have imagined that they would want to see whether or not their young players can be what they need sooner rather than later.
But not the PIrates. Who needs Oneil Cruz at the major league level just yet? Especially when Cole Tucker, better known as Vanessa Hudgens’ boyfriend, can be a part of the lineup?
Pittsburgh Pirates send Oneil Cruz back to Triple-A
Cruz may well be one of the Pirates’ top prospects, but his time has not quite come. He is being sent down to Triple-A, a move that is being viewed under the lens of service time manipulation. However, as the consensus top 100 prospect has just eight games of experience above Double-A, there may be an actual baseball reason for the move aside from waiting two and a half weeks to get that extra year of team control.
The problem is that Cruz has been one of the better players on the Pirates in spring training. He has five hits, including two homers, in his 15 plate appearances. Cruz also homered in his two games in the majors last year. While there may be some concerns about his strikeout rate, he is not that far away.
But Cruz is not likely to bring fans into the stadium at this point. To be fair, neither are likely starting shortstop Kevin Newman or utility man Cole Tucker. But Tucker could, by proxy, lead to people coming in to the stadium due to his relationship with Hudgens.
She is easily a bigger star than anyone on the Pirates. The possibility that she could be at the ballpark to root on Tucker, and maybe the rest of the team, could bring some people to the ballpark. Clearly, they would not be there for the product on the field, but rather to see Hudgens.
Let’s face it – Bob Nutting has not exactly displayed much of an interest in winning ballgames. He would rather pocket as much money as possible than spend to build a competitive roster. If that means keeping a mediocre role player because a movie star might come to the ballpark, then that will be the case.
If the Pittsburgh Pirates wanted to win, Oneil Cruz would be the Opening Day shortstop. Instead, Vanessa Hudgens’ boyfriend continues to have a role.