PHOTO BY DAVE DICELLO

For a couple of days, at least, the Pirates were stars in Atlanta.

It was fun while it lasted.

Oneil Cruz hitting bombs as only he sometimes can in the Home Run Derby. Paul Skenes dominating for an inning as Skenes almost always does in the All-Star Game. Even last year’s No. 1 pick, Konnor Griffin, got into the act with an appearance in the All-Star Futures Game.

Alas, it’s back to reality.

And the reality is: the Pirates are a disaster.

Just a year ago at this time there was actual hope. The 2024 Pirates hit the All-Star break having swept the White Sox, having won six of seven and having climbed back to .500 at 48-48. They were 6.5 games behind NL Central Division-leading Milwaukee, 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot and they had Skenes, who had made his debut on May 11 and had won his first six decisions (the Bucs were 8-3 in Skenes’ first 11 Major League starts).

A year later, the team that will resume play by hosting the White Sox on Friday night is coming off a 1-8 road trip that dropped the overall record to 39-58. The Pirates are 18.5 games behind the division-leading Cubs, 13.5 games out of a Wild Card spot and they’ve somehow lost 11 of Skenes’ 20 starts (he took a personal record of 4-8 despite a 2.01 ERA to the mound on Tuesday night in Atlanta).

The remarkable aspect of this year’s collapse is the Bucs actually still have commodities that could/would help contenders as the July 31 trade deadline approaches.

Mitch Keller, Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes would be three of those.

All are under club control for multiple campaigns (Keller through 2028, Hayes through 2030 and Reynolds through 2031) and all are signed to contracts that are pricey by Pirates’ standards but fall in the club-friendly category for teams that actually are willing to commit the resources necessary to win.

The Pirates can use all three to acquire the bats they sorely lack.

And the bats they should be seeking are either young Major League players with more potential than an established track record or Class AAA prospects that either have their path to the big leagues blocked or are ready to pop.

Keller, Reynolds and Hayes, potentially, can get them, or at least get the Pirates close enough that a throw-in or two can seal the deals the Pirates can’t afford not to make. If it takes closer David Bednar, veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, outfielder Tommy Pham or left starter Andrew Heaney as a sweetener, so be it.

A loaded pitching staff this season wasn’t nearly enough.

And there’s more where that came from, theoretically, within the organization.

So the Bucs have a chance, believe it or not, to do what they should have done last offseason to cobble together a Major League offense.

They certainly aren’t going to sign such players in free agency.

The path from here is obvious enough that even the Pirates seem to get it. And Wednesday’s trade of Adam Frazier fit the aforementioned profile — sort of. The return for sending Frazier to Kansas City was shortstop Cam Devanney, who is a questionable prospect at 28 but nonetheless hit 18 home runs this season in Class AAA.

If you can get that for Frazier, a rental player, you can get better players than that for players with contractual terms well beyond this season.

All the Pirates have to do now is go and get them.

The only real argument against the trade-what-can-be-traded approach is it would be Ben Cherington doing the trading.

The way Cherington has generally managed during his first six seasons in charge, there may not be a seventh.

But he’s here now and opportunity is knocking.

It’s a seller’s market.

So sell.

What have they got to lose?

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.