PITTSBURGH — The Houston Astros delivered a shock to the baseball world last week when they relieved general manager Dana Brown of his duties.

Brown, who was hired prior to the 2023 season, built a pair of division winners. The Astros boasted a .536 win percentage with him at the helm and were 65-66 but still tied for first place in the AL West at the time of his firing.

But the Astros had a standard that wasn’t being met. And for that organization, standards — especially ones that are stated publicly — mean something.

Brown wasn’t getting the job done. It was time to move on, time to start searching for someone who could do better.

The Pirates would be wise to follow Astros owner Jim Crane’s playbook.

“Our goal is to win in 2026 and to make the playoffs. Period. Full stop.”

That’s what Pirates president Travis Williams told reporters following the end of his team’s dreadful 2025 campaign. The franchise had just suffered through a spring and summer of endless humiliation.

Williams promised things would be better this year. And while they are compared to 2025, it’s still not good enough. That standard has not been met.

The 2026 Pirates are not making the playoffs. Period. Full stop.

Please spare me the rare examples of September magic.

I, too, am aware of the 2007 Colorado Rockies, the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals and even last year’s Cleveland Guardians.

The Pirates still have the opportunity to emulate that type of run down this final stretch. But if Brown didn’t have the opportunity to see things through in Houston, why should anyone with any form of responsibility deserve such grace here in Pittsburgh?

They set the bar for this season and are nowhere close to reaching it heading into the final month. They will enter September below .500. The time has come — it’s actually well beyond time — for people to be held accountable.

This season is Ben Cherington’s seventh as the Pirates’ general manager. Most of his assistant GMs have been around equally as long, if not longer. The club is currently on pace to miss the playoffs for the 11th straight year.

That’s simply unacceptable.

There are just three other teams that have failed to reach the postseason since Cherington was hired ahead of the 2020 season: the Rockies, Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals. The Nationals won the World Series in 2019. The other two are among the biggest laughing stocks in baseball, right alongside the Pirates.

We’ve seen numerous franchises go through an entire rebuild over the past seven years. The Pirates have tried to do the same but can’t figure it out.

I’m not suggesting that firing Cherington fixes everything. There are others who deserve just as much, if not more blame, starting with the man at the very top.

But Bob Nutting isn’t going to fire himself, so the next best option is replacing those who are directly beneath him.

I struggle to find much justification for retaining the bulk of the Pirates’ high-ranking officials. Williams and Cherington are the obvious candidates, but they aren’t the only ones who should be fired.

Those on the baseball operations staff who somehow survived the previous regime change shouldn’t be so lucky this time around. Others who arrived with Cherington have got to go, too. Manger Don Kelly and his assistant coaches also shouldn’t escape blame for the plight of the Pirates.

The last seven years have been a complete failure. Nutting has undoubtedly made everyone’s job much harder, but the Pirates have reached the postseason under previous leaders he’s employed. This group, as a collective, has lowered the bar.

The Pirates need to clean house, and that cleaning should begin before this season concludes.

A lockout is on the horizon. There’s no telling what this year’s offseason and the 2027 season will look like. The Pirates have some talent on the roster. There’s absolutely something to build around here in Pittsburgh.

To give credit where it is due, Cherington’s front office has drafted well in recent years. Paul Skenes is an ace and franchise centerpiece. Whenever he’s gone, top prospect Seth Hernandez could be a capable replacement. Konnor Griffin looks to be a future star and can be here for the near entirety of his 20s.

Spencer Horwitz, Ryan O’Hearn and Jake Mangum have been quality acquisitions. Add in the likes of Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler, and the Pirates actually have a solid core overall.

But they need to hire the right folks to turn it into a winner, and they can’t afford to waste any time.

Waiting is how this mess started in the first place.

Nutting took too long to fire Cherington’s predecessor, Neal Huntington, in 2019. That delayed decision threw the entire 2019-20 offseason out of whack. Then a global pandemic ensued, which was obviously out of anyone’s control, but that further complicated everything.

The looming lockout could absolutely create similar chaos for MLB teams.

This is far from the most ideal winter for anyone in baseball to be hiring. A lockout could prevent some within the organization from being on the same page. While I wouldn’t put it past Nutting to make the same mistake again, he has to recognize the similarities here, right?

The Astros have the right approach. Why sit around and wait, especially under these current circumstances? Nutting should know who will and won’t be back next year. Those without a future in this franchise should no longer be a part of the present.

The drive toward better results in 2027 should start now.

Period. Full stop.

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