At one point this season, the Pittsburgh Pirates were 12-11.

No one around here was buying it at the time — with good reason. The Bucs entered this weekend’s series at Atlanta with a 17-25 record, losing 14 of 19 since sneaking above .500.

Losing isn’t new to this franchise in recent times, of course. The Pirates did endure a North American professional sports record of 20 consecutive losing campaigns from 1993 through 2012, after all.

But even those lean years were different from now.

The Pirates still had some star players — or at least someone Pittsburgh baseball fans enjoyed going to the ballpark to watch.

Granted, the 2021 Pirates have had injuries to key players already, but other than local product David Bednar, there isn’t much on this roster to look forward to watching at PNC Park.

Here is a lineup I’ve put together consisting of players on the Pirate roster at some point during that 20-year drought, just to show there was some solid talent to see during that lean period:

Jermaine Allensworth, center field — A decent hitter with speed who could cover ground in the outfield and steal bases.

Freddy Sanchez, second base — The guy won a league batting title with the Pirates and was a consistent .300 hitter.

Aramis Ramirez, third base — Solid hitter with excellent power ... before he was, well, given away to the Cubs.

Brian Giles, left field — Consistently hit 30-plus homers and had 100-RBI seasons while hitting .300 and was one of the best hitters in the National League for a while.

Adam LaRoche, first base — Always good for 20-plus homers, 80-plus RBI and was a slick fielder. He had his detractors, but Pirate fans would certainly take him now.

Jason Kendall, catcher — He is among baseball’s all-time leaders in games caught and overcame a horrifying ankle injury to produce a solid, lengthy career and a few all-star seasons.

Jose Guillen, right field — Traded away while still in his youth, this guy may have had the strongest outfield arm in franchise history, rivaled only by Roberto Clemente.

Jack Wilson, shortstop — He hit .308 with 200 hits one year and gave the Pirates a dependable, and at times flashy, glove on defense.

Starting rotation — Jon Lieber, Francisco Cordova, Jason Schmidt, Todd Ritchie, Kris Benson and Ian Snell. They all had their moments here.

Closer — Mike Williams. He often made it exciting, but he rarely blew a save for a number of seasons.

The current Pirates simply don’t have any players like this.

A rebuild is understandable and you clearly have to start someplace.

K’Bryan Hayes may be that somebnody to watch when he comes back from injury.

As for anybody else?

Good luck with that search.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle