Rebecca Jozwiak | staff writer

As winter draws on, so does the offseason of Major League Baseball. In a time where no games are played, free agent signings keep baseball fanatics entertained: Can the Dodgers deepen their team depth to take home a second consecutive World Series championship? Will the Mets finally re-sign team veteran Pete Alonso after signing Juan Soto to a historically expensive contract? Where will Alex Bregman or Max Scherzer be taking their talents?

For other teams, what seems like the bare minimum is a delicacy. After a lack of offseason activity, avid Pittsburgh Pirates fans looked to the team’s annual PiratesFest. The event, featuring star players and management, spanned two days through Jan. 18 and 19.

Unfortunately, loyal fans found the experience to fall short of their expectations. In a now-deleted clip shared to Instagram, the Pirates social media team showcased a video of famed outfielder Andrew McCutchen happily signing autographs for fans – with his last name on his placard being misspelled.

McCutchen, one of the two major-league free agent signees for the Pirates, made waves in the organization after winning the 2013 National League Most Valuable Player Award and guided the Pirates to three straight postseason appearances. After pit stops in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, San Francisco and the Yankees, McCutchen returned back to Pittsburgh after a five-year hiatus. Now in the later stages of his career, he acts as a de-facto captain for his young teammates.

This poses an important question: Why is a beloved player like McCutchen receiving a misspelled name placard? In an even more bizarre move, how did the snafu go unnoticed by staff to the point that fans had to point it out on social media?

Bob Rocca was one of those in attendance at PiratesFest. Rocca, 60, stated that attendees were divided on the future of the team.

“The ‘true’ Pirates fans are looking forward to the season, and we have expectations that they are going to do what’s best for both the players and the fans,” he said. “…I feel that there is hope in the future for a competitive team.”

In a time of frustration and doubt, one would think the Pirates would work hard to keep their image semi-respectable, but in another Bucs blunder, local fan Bill Kline posted a photo of an expired Mountain Dew soda that he bought at the event onto X.

With the current perception of the team being cheap and mismanaged, small mistakes such as expired soda lead fans toward further dissatisfaction with Pirates – if they cannot be sold non-expired sodas or see a players name misspelled, then how in the world are they to believe that management can do things like get Ke’Bryan Hayes to hit more than 13 extra-base hits or turn Henry Davis into a serviceable MLB player?

In a question-and-answer session with President Travis Williams and GM Ben Cherington, the duo were asked how they felt about people not believing in the team’s ability to win.

After a lengthy answer from Williams, a “sell the team” chant broke out in the crowd, leading SportsNet Pittsburgh play-by-play man Greg Brown to remind attendees to be respectful of Williams’s answers.

Rocca, a Moon Township resident, watched the debacle unfold.

“Greg Brown is a true professional,” Rocca, 60, noted. “He handled the crowd out burst the way it was supposed to be handled. I don’t really think [Cherington and Williams] wake up in the morning and say, ‘How can we mess this up?’ I think they are doing a good job with certain restrictions.”

While they continue to cast doubt on the future of the franchise, fans seem to be growing tired of the idea of hope.

“I think [the Pirates management] invest the time and ‘hope’ that everything works out to their advantage,” Rocca said after his experience at the event. “I feel, as a Pirates fan for over 20 years, that they are going to have to put their money where their mouth is at and increase not only payroll, but development of players in the minors, or a .500 season will be years off.”

With strong arms from Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller, it’s easy for fans to ponder what could happen years down the line in Pittsburgh. If the team chooses to spend and continues to draft sensational young players like Skenes, devout fans like Rocca may finally get to experience another playoff night in Pittsburgh.