The State of the Pirates. A season that has mostly been a failure that is nearing its next checkpoint in the form of the trade deadline. What can the organization do to salvage this season? We’ve known that the team would have a limited amount of time with Paul Skenes and so far, they have wasted it. Their plan was to bring in guys they could easily flip at the deadline, almost like they knew they would be bad. Names like Adam Frazier and Tommy Pham were the biggest offseason acquisitions. It seems like Bob Nutting is afraid to fire Ben Cherington because they would be admitting this regime has been an utter failure. Why are they allowing Cherington to run the trade deadline? Is there a real chance he is gone before the season is over? Chris has divorced himself from the idea of the Pirates taking advantage of their time with Skenes.