This year has been nearly a total disaster for the Pirates and may very well cost Hurdle his job. However, they have had a ton of injuries this year. Last year I thought they were really onto something with Jameson Taillon, Trevor Williams, and Joe Musgrove all pitched very well, were under team control for years and were all 26 and under. However, Taillon pretty much missed the entire 2019 season. Williams missed a month with a lat strain and has really struggled since coming back. Also, Gregory Polanco also injured suffered a season ending shoulder injury in June, and Cervelli never played after suffering a concussion in May. Additionally, but for all the turmoil surrounding their bullpen, they have one of the top rookies in the NL in Bryan Reynolds. Kevin Newman also has had a very solid season. Josh Bell started living up to his billing with monster numbers. Really, besides the injuries this year, it was the fact their GM believed they had a wild card run in them last year and traded Glasnow and Meadows for Archer at the deadline when they were just 3.5 games out of the 2nd wild card spot. With Meadows and Glasnow this year the Pirates would probably not be on the mat with a ten count right now. After 9 years, Hurdle will likely wear the jacket for this season, which I personally think is too bad because there aren't too many of the old cantankerous managers like him around the major leagues anymore.