Maybe they knew it was going to be bad.

Maybe they knew they were in for a “rebuild” without ever saying that seemingly nasty word in public.

But nobody signed up for this.

Not general manager Ben Cherington.

Not manager Derek Shelton.

Not even bench coach and Butler native Don Kelly.

Through 49 games of this shortened major league baseball season, the Pittsburgh Pirates were 15-34. It took a complete-game pitching effort by Steven Brault — resulting in a 5-1 win over St. Louis Thursday night — to even get them to that point.

Brault's victory pulled him into a tie as the winningest pitcher in the Pirates' starting rotation this season. He has one win.

No other Pirate starter had more entering Friday's doubleheader against the Cardinals.

The Bucs would have to go 5-6 over their final 11 games to finish at 20-40 and a robust winning percentage of .333.

Ouch.

Their leading hitter over a full season this year is catcher Jacob Stallings. He's hitting .269. He is in the lineup for his defense.

Outfielder Gregory Polanco began Friday's play with a .146 batting average. He's struck out 57 times this year while walking only nine.

He is on pace to produce the lowest batting average by a Pirate non-pitcher in a season since Michael Jordan — not the Michael Jordan — hit .130 during a season in the 1890's.

Through the Pirates' first 49 games, no player on the team had amassed as many as 20 RBI.

OK, you get the picture.

This is real bad.

The question is how to fix it and how long will the repair job take?

Ke'Bryan Hayes has been stellar since he joined the big club, hitting .313 in 48 at bats. He's known for his defense as well.

Problem is, there's not much in the Pirates' minior league system coming up with him. The organization's best prospects are in Class A ball, meaning it remains questionable whether they're ever going to make it as big leaguers.

As far as assets to trade in exchange for promising young talent? The Pirates don't have much there, either.

The reality, Pirate fans, is to be patient. Really, really patient.

Even if Cherington and Shelton turn out to be great hires as masterful baseball minds with an effective plan in place, that plan is going to take a while.

A long while.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle