Okay, when we started this blog, I knew that I would end up using it as my own personal space for ranting about the Pittsburgh Pirates. Well, I tried to hold off as long as possible, but here we go. I will save up and make this a weekly thing instead of boring all 2 readers on a daily basis. If you don't care in any way, shape, or form about Pittsburgh, just ignore me.
Before I begin...yes, if you're keeping score at home, I'm a Missouri Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates (and Portland Trailblazers) fan, and I'm a Democrat. How I haven't withdrawn myself from all access to the outside world and/or gone on a killing spree, I'm not too sure. Seriously, where's the fun in any of that, other than once a decade coming back from 3-1 down in your conference's championship series, only to blow a big lead on the road (Pirates in '92, Blazers in '00)? But alas, I will continue to say that in some way, loving these teams builds toughness. Or something like that.
So. Pirates. Let's commence...
This offseason, I actually felt bad for GM Dave Littlefield for about five minutes. For roughly the last six months of the '05 season (in other words, the entire '05 season) he talked and talked about how ownership was going to give him money to spend in '06, and things were going to change. $47 million payroll, here we come, baby. Combined with the fact that a lot of rookies (pitchers Zach Duke and Paul Maholm, CF Chris Duffy, C Ryan Doumit) all hit the ground running in their rookie debuts, that made expectations pretty high. Duke with a 1.94 ERA...Maholm with a 2.08 ERA...Duffy with a .341 BA...and you're telling me we have $15 million to spend? Let's roll!
Then teams began signing free agents. B.J. Ryan got almost $10 million/year for having one good season as a reliever. Kyle Farnsworth got $5+ million/year...and he's Kyle Farnsworth. A.J. Burnett broke the bank for showing potential once every 4-5 starts and getting hurt a lot. Spending was out of control once again...it was the early-'00s all over again (think Chan Ho Park and Darren Dreifort).
And suddenly Dave Littlefield was in a predicament. Even though the smartest thing to do at that point would have been to pocket the cash, let the young'ins take their lumps in '06, and go crazy for '07, a) he had promised to spend money and couldn't let the fans down (talk about a bad PR move), and b) ownership wanted to pretend that things were headed in the right direction since they were hosting the All-Star game and all. So he spent money on names people would recognize. On Joe Randa, even though Freddie Sanchez (already in their system, much cheaper, and about 6-8 years Randa's junior) was probably better at 3B. On Jeromy Burnitz, even though Craig Wilson (already in their system, much cheaper, and about 6-8 years Burnitz' junior) was probably better at RF. A righty/lefty Wilson/Burnitz platoon in RF had promise, but new manager Jim Tracy (an uninspiring choice in his on right) said no, Burnitz is the starter no matter what. They traded for Sean Casey, a 6'4/225 singles hitter and double-play machine. They signed 184-year old Roberto Hernandez to replace 127-year old Jose Mesa. And that was that. A $15 million payroll increase that did nothing but take away AB's from Sanchez and C. Wilson and increase the 25-man roster's average age by about 12 years.
So how are things going? Well, let's just say that when the most positive thing to take away from your home opener is Batman ripping your team's ownership, things aren't what we would call 'good'. And while they're better than a 1-7 record would suggest (they had the tying run on base or at the plate in the 9th in each of their first six games...and managed to lose all six), they're not good.
- The new pitching coach (Colborn) has tinkered with just about every pitcher's delivery, which might work out okay in the long-term, but it's getting them shellacked right now.
- One pitcher has below a 4.50 ERA...and that's the aforementioned 184-year old Hernandez.
- The bullpen, supposedly the team's biggest strength, has an ERA of 6.31 (just slightly worse than the starters' 6.25).
- Duffy came back from an injury with a gigantic hole in his swing. Instead of batting .341 again, he's batting .143 with 11 K's in 28 AB's...not exactly what you're looking for in a leadoff hitter. Nate McLouth, the other alternative in CF, is batting .154.
- Casey is on pace for grounding into 61 double-plays (the major league record is 36).
- Randa is batting .222 (while Sanchez is batting .500 and has more hits in half the AB's).
- Burnitz, a lefty, has started five games against left-handed starters...while Craig Wilson, a righty, rots on the bench.
- The catchers are a combined 4-for-29 (.138 BA) and are allowing what seems like a passed ball an inning.
- Oh, and Chris Shelton, who the Pirates lost to the Tigers via Rule 5 draft (right after saying he was the best pure hitter in their organization, they left him unprotected because they wanted to sign Reggie Sanders for one whole season), is batting .536 with 5 HR's so far in Detroit. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
Anyway, all of this information is being given primarily to set the stage for future rants. It's not like I expected this team to contend in the first place. 1-6 is a bit harsh, but it's not that surprising. What was surprising, though, was this: after the disappointing offseason, the Pirates celebrated Opening Day by giving Littlefield a contract extension. Seriously. Rewarding failure with job security...it's the American way. The Pirates won 67 games last year...all of 5 more wins than they had when the last GM was fired in 2001. An average of a 1-game improvement per year. The message to the fans: "Stay with us! We'll be competitive by 2038!"
...and meanwhile, Mark Cuban sits in the background, saying he'd snatch up the Pirates immediately (and probably double the payroll) if they were for sale...but they're not. Just one more tease for the fans, I guess.
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