The Final Push

Andrew McCutchen wishes the Pirates had made a big July trade the years they were in contention:

“You’ve got to push. You’ve got to make that second push,” McCutchen said in Scottsdale. “If it was making some moves that needed to be made — one or two — I think that’s something that needed to happen. We had that window. I think we had some key moves that maybe could have been made to make the team a little stronger. But that’s something we didn’t do.

“That’s what playoff teams do, man. Teams that make the pushes. Teams that make the runs. If they feel like they need someone, they go get him. Look at what the Astros did. Shoot, they went and got [Justin] Verlander. They made that rotation a little more powerful. Who’s to say they would have won [the World Series] if they didn’t get him?

“I think sometimes you’ve got to make those moves. You’ve got to take those chances, take those risks. I think that’s what we lacked. But it’s something you learn from. You go from there. You’ve got to have that not-satisfied mentality. But that’s out of my control. I try to do my part, and everyone else tries to do theirs. That’s all you can do.”

The three seasons the Pirates were eliminated in the wild card game, they were 3, 2, and 2 games out of first place in the division. Could they have added two or three wins over the last two months to get themselves into a longer series with a better chance of winning? It’s possible. Maybe the act of trying would have helped.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2F1Kj8L