The talk is out there.

Are the Pittsburgh Pirates actually trying to lose?

Personally, I don’t buy that premise for a second. There is not much to gain by intentionally losing.

Get the No. 1 overall pick in the amateur draft? Not that big a deal in baseball. No matter when a team picks in the first round, it will get a highly-talented player. Development is the key from there.

And the Pirates have been less than stellar in the player development area.

But the team is certainly presenting a good argument for those who do believe the Pirates are ‘tanking.’

Adam Frazier has already been picked off first base twice this season — while not even looking to steal a base.

Jacob Stallings — not fleet of foot by anyone’s imagination — was inexplicably sent home by third base coach Joey Cora while approaching third on a single with no outs in the top of the 10th inning of a game at Wrigley Field.

Again, there were no outs.

Again, we’re talking Jacob Stallings.

The throw was up the third base line. The throw had a lot of air underneath it as well. Stallings was still out by 20 feet.

No one can defend that move. No one.

Manager Derek Shelton has been utilizing multiple lineups and playing people at different positions. Colin Moran has been at first base more than third. Cole Tucker is an outfielder now.

Pitchers have been dropping like flies with injuries and the ones who are healthy have been used in strange ways. Steven Brault pitched three perfect innings last Sunday against the Cubs, throwing only 35 pitches, and was pulled.

Really?

Miguel Del Pozo, a rookie with absolutely no track record of success, was called upon in relief to quell a Minnesota Twins’ rally that cut a 4-0 Pirate lead to 4-3. He promptly walked three guys and threw a wild pitch.

Really?

Brault, Geoff Hartlieb, JT Brubaker and Sam Howard combined for 16.2 scoreless innings in the Pirates’ first nine games. The rest of the staff?

Not so good.

Joe Musgrove is supposed to be the ace this year. He is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA and has allowed four home runs in 14 innings. Pirate pitching walked 58 batters in 96 innings.

Ouch.

Shall we talk hitting?

Phil Evans, a rookie, led the team with 11 hits and a .393 batting average through 11 games. No one else had reached double-digit hits.

Power bat Josh Bell was hitting .171 with one homer and two RBI before a three-hit game Wednesday. Kevin Newman and Bryan Reynolds — .300 hitters last year — were hitting .188 and .147, respectively.

Free agent signee Jarrod Dyson was hitting .083, Gregory Polanco .063.

It hasn’t been pretty, folks.

The team batting average was .194 through 11 games.

Obviously, it’s not going to be that bad by season’s end, short season as this may be.

But we do have to face facts.

The 2020 Pirates aren’t trying to lose. But they’re not worried about winning, either.

This looks to be a bad, bad team. One of the club’s worst ever?

Time will tell.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle