The Pittsburgh Pirates

We're well-into another Pirates campaign and it looks like our Buccos are headed for an 18th straight losing season.

The Pirates have shown some promise at times this year, but when they've been bad (20-0, 17-3) they've been really bad. Pitching was supposed to be a strength of sorts, but really, other than the back-end of the bullpen, the pitching has been very disappointing. They seem to want to justify the Charlie Morton acquisition by trotting him out there every 5th day even though he's 1-7 with a 9 point something ERA. Starting pitcher Brad Lincoln, their 2006 number 1 draft choice, has moved up the minor league system pretty well since he recovered from Tommy John surgery and right now is in Triple A Indianapolis. Morton has great stuff, but baseball history is filled with horrible pitchers with great stuff. I say switch Lincoln with Morton and see what happens.

Lincoln is doing pretty well in Indy. I know he had major reconstructive surgery, but it's been four seasons since they drafted him. It's time to see what he can do. And moving away from pitching, Neil Walker, their number one pick from 2004 is still trying to break into the big leagues six years into his professional career. I know they've switched positions on him more than once, and right now he's trying to learn 2nd base, but he's 24 years old. Let's get him to the big leagues. It's not like the Pirates have a plethora of middle-infield prospects in their farm-system. Even if he has some growing pains trying to adapt to major league pitching while learning a new position, so what?

It's not like wins and losses matter that much this year. It's all about player-development. I want to see the Pirates improve, but I want them to do it with guys that they drafted or prospects that they traded for. Maybe these guys aren't ready, but a number one draft choice shouldn't spend five or six years learning in the minor leagues. I know baseball is a hard sport to grasp, but you're never going to know if you're ready for the Majors unless you play in the Majors. Charlie Morton clearly isn't ready right now, so why is he here? Maybe he'll be ready later, but that experiment needs to be put on the shelf. If ever there was someone who needed more seasoning in the minors, it's him.

I know this isn't the most well-written blog I've ever put together, and I'm rambling a bit, but after 17 years, a person gets frustrated.

The Pirates have had 17 straight losing seasons. Everyone knows this. And during those 17 years, they've drafted in the top ten pretty much every year. How many top-end, all-star players did they draft and develop? One that I can really think of: Jason Kendall. And the guy was good, and an all-star, but he wasn't great. He wasn't a franchise player.

Kendall was one of the few players the Pirates decided to sign to a lucrative, long-term deal and they over-paid for him. The Pirates often get criticized for not spending enough, and one of the few times they did spend to keep a player in Pittsburgh, he really didn't live up to his contract. Eventually, he was traded away for next-to-nothing because other teams didn't want to take on his salary.

Jason Kendall was one of the few bright spots to come out of the Pirates farm system in a 17-year span. That's pretty pathetic.

There are many things pathetic about the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they're a pretty easy target for jokes and the wrath of fans and sports media personalities, but I believe the Pirates are finally on the right track towards some success.

I know that might sound crazy, but I think it's true. I believe the main problem the Pirates had for most of their 17 losing seasons was the unwillingness to totally rebuild. They would say they had a five-year plan, but a five-year plan is hard to execute with a roster littered with 30-something has-beens like Derek Belle and Jeremy Burnitz.

The management always seemed to go half-way with their plan. They wouldn't fully commit. I guess they had to justify PNC park and wanted to appeal to the fans' eagerness to see the team finish over .500. Bad strategy. Sometimes, what the fans want isn't always what's best for the franchise.

They suffered through two pretty ineffective general managers in Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield.

I truly believe the Pirates wanted to win all those years, but I also truly believe they didn't know what they were doing.

Now that owner Bob Nutting has put some good baseball people in charge (President Frank Coonely and General Manager Neal Huntington) I can see some things starting to happen.

The minor league system was pathetic under Littlefield's watch. I have no earthly idea why a team with so many high draft picks could have such a barren farm system, but that was the case when Huntington took over.

I kind of feel bad for the current front office of the Pirates because no matter what they do, people will be critical of them. But at least they're trying to execute the right plan. It might not work, but it's the only way they can go about it.

People were livid when they traded Jason Bay and Xavier Nady a couple of years ago. With Bay, Nady and Nate Mclouth, the Pirates had the most productive outfield in the Majors in 2008.

And when Huntington traded away Mclouth, along with Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson, the Pirates fans all but gave up.

I'll admit, I wasn't too thrilled with the Mclouth trade to Atlanta. The Pirates just signed him to a three year deal, and coming off an all-star season in '08, he looked to be one of the building blocks for Pittsburgh. Who did the Pirates get back for him? Charlie Morton and his 9 point something ERA. Yep, that was the key player in the deal. Mclouth sure would look good in left field right now with Andrew Mccutchen in center and Garrett Jones in right. But not every trade is going to work. If every trade the Pirates made was a home run (pun intended) no team would ever want to deal with them. And as I said, the jury is still out on Morton. He may develop into that ace of the staff the Pirates so desperately need.

Speaking of Mccutchen, I believe he's the best thing to happen to the Pirates since Barry Bonds. Yes, that's right, I said that. You can hate Bonds all you want, but he was one of the best players to ever put on a Pirates uniform.

Andrew Mccutchen is the kind of player who can do it all: hit for average, hit for some power, run, field, and throw. He's the kind of guy you build a franchise around. Dare I say, he's the Pirates Sidney Crosby?

He does everything right. He says all the right things, and he has star written all over him.

Pedro Alvarez is another prospect the Pirates and fans are just praying will reach his full potential. He seems to be that power hitter they've been lacking since Bonds left. He's still toiling away in Triple A, but he should be up to the big leagues before the year is out.

Back to those trades that enraged fans, people have been getting on Huntington for the Bay and Nady deals because of the minimal return thus far. Well, the keys to those deals are Jose Tabata, the outfield prospect acquired from the Yankees, and Brian Morris, the pitcher acquired from the Dodgers.

If those two players become all-stars at the big league level, then the deals were worth it.

I know Bay, Nady, Mclouth, Sanchez and Wilson were all good players, but they still finished in last place with them. They still struggled as an organization with them. But they were pieces that Huntington could use to restock their farm system and that's what he did. If it doesn't work, he'll probably be out of a job, but it's the only thing he could do because it was the only hand he could play.

I think there is a reason for optimism if you're a long-suffering Pirates fan. I know nobody wants to be patient, but think of it as having an illness for many years and going to doctor after doctor without being properly treated. When you finally find a doctor that knows how to treat you, it might not be very pleasant at first, but eventually, you start to feel better.

Now, onto something that really irks me. I get sick of hearing people bash the Pirates and act like there isn't something truly wrong with the whole system. I pointed out how inept the Pirates management has been over the years, but what about the system?

The Pirates plan might actually work someday, but the one thing that people have turned a blind eye to is the horrible financial system in MLB and the lack of a salary cap. It's funny, back in the early-to-mid 90's, right when the salaries in MLB were first starting to sky-rocket out of control, media members and fans talked about the need for a cap. And I believed them. I thought it would eventually happen. Pirates announcer and former Pirates' pitcher, Bob Walk even said that players were very close to crossing the picket line back in '94 during the strike/lock-out and if the owners had stuck to their guns just a few more weeks, we might actually have that cap today. Of course, we don't and baseball is in the state it's in right now.

I pray that the Pirates will eventually get it together and field a competitive team. Maybe even one good enough to make it to the postseason, just like the Twins and the Rays in recent years. Heck, the Florida Marlins won two World Series in this financial climate.

Yeah, the Twins have been competitive and have won a lot over the past five year or so. They even signed their big time free agent to a huge contract. But I want to see what happens when Minnesota starts losing other free agents because they can't afford to keep them. I want to see if Minnesota can survive a down-period, because there will be one.

As I said earlier, the Marlins have won two titles since '97 but they had to gut their team after each one, and people wonder why the fans don't care in that city. I don't blame them one bit. How can they have any emotional attachment to a group of players that are disbanded after a year or two? Will they even have any World Series reunions years from now? If the circus comes to town, people are curious and come out to see it, but once it leaves, nobody cares anymore. That's how it was in Florida on two occasions.

Tampa is just the latest example. They are winning now, but how long will it last? People are pointing to them as the model franchise for Pittsburgh to follow, but let's see what happens when the big boys come after their free agents. Will they be able to pony up some cash? My money says no. Will they be able to restock their farm system? Maybe.

This is what MLB is telling us as fans of small-market clubs: If your geographically challenged team can be almost perfect at player-acquisition and development, they might be able to compete for a year or two, maybe three, but after that, it's back to the end of the line for ten years until you do it all over again.

It's just not fair that a team can gain a competitive advantage based on the size of its tv market. If it was the model way to run a professional sports league, MLB wouldn't be the only one of the big four doing it this way. It's a joke, and as much as the Pirates get criticized, MLB deserves just as much criticism.