PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – There were times recently you can think of Pittsburgh fans booing their own at home. The most recent, Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada who not only was booed at Acrisure Stadium, there were chants during Penguins games for him to leave.
It was to a point during the game on Thursday afternoon where it felt like the Pirates tried to hide announcing Rowdy Tellez’s name under other music at PNC Park. It’s become that bad for the Pirates 29-year-old first baseman.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton came as close as he has to a public display of frustration with Tellez after the game on Thursday with a stern ‘I think they need to be better’ after being asked about his first baseman’s at bats.
The Pirates have given the free agent they signed to a one-year, $3.2 million dollar contract every opportunity. It’s May 23 and Tellez has hits in four of this month’s games. The left-handed hitter has 1 RBI the entire month and his slugging is .154.
Tellez has played in 45 games this season. He has 120 at bats. He has one home run and a .467 OPS. When have they seen enough?
Asked about where they are in terms of patience with Tellez, Shelton, who is left to answer for the franchise, said this.
“Patience-wise I think he has to be better,” Shelton said after a 7-6 loss in which Tellez went 0 for 4 with 4 runners left on base. “That's where it comes down to. He's gotta have better at-bats.”
Can’t he at least have those better at bats in AAA? You’ve sent a pair of former number one picks down to the minors to work on their game. You just sent down Jack Suwinski, who hit 26 home runs for you last year so he could work on his game.
Why not Tellez?
It’s not like there is a chance he won’t clear waivers and he could also work on all of it in AAA. Maybe he finds it and returns to help the major league club. If he doesn’t, at least he’s not struggling in Pittsburgh.
I know Jake Lamb is 33-years-old, but he is hitting .350 in AAA. Maybe that translates, maybe it doesn’t. What is the fear at this point?
Fans are coming to the ballpark excited to see Paul Skenes and Jared Jones and are leaving upset about Tellez, and the bullpen. They boo because they notice a team with upper-level MLB starting pitching potential. They expect more, Skenes and Jones deserve more.
You’ve made a couple of tough decisions with Henry Davis, Suwinski and Quinn Priester. This one isn’t tough and needs to be made.