Once I was a baseball fan, but my enthusiasm for the game has taken a number of hits over the years. The game itself has become slower and slower; World Series games are allowed to start at 8:30 pm and frequently end after midnight; the steroid era has taken its toll; and most of all, my preferred team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, are on the verge of setting the all-time MLB record for consecutive losing seasons. That, in itself, is mind-boggling.
Yes, they're a small-market club, and yes, MLB doesn't do nearly enough to keep its small-market clubs economically able to play along with the big-market clubs. But even the other small-market teams around MLB manage to put it together at least once in a while, but not so the Pirates, who continually stink. The pattern has been set ever since 1992, the last time they fielded a winner: they bring up a bunch of youngsters; the youngsters either play well or disappoint; the ones who disappoint leave; the ones who play well are traded for more prospects, and the team stinks again. Lather, rinse, repeat: the Pirates are now on their fourth or fifth "rebuilding project" since 1992.
What they're doing now is aggressively trading guys with the goal in mind of restocking a farm system that's been depleted on talent during the last run of not-so-great baseball. Yes, they're piling in prospects -- not exactly blue-chippers, but they're adding guys who could be decent major leaguers eventually, if the things I'm reading are any guide. But then, it doesn't really matter who they add, because the guys who become good won't be good enough to make the team a contender but they'll be good enough to be trade-bait to other teams. They traded their best offensive player earlier this year (after signing him to a long-term deal last year), and today they swapped out more players for prospects.
So basically, the Pirates are like the Springfield tire-fire on The Simpsons. With the Pirates, the fire sale never ends!
The personal blog of author Kelly Sedinger, chronicling the adventures of one overalls-clad wanderer.
1 comment:
I, too, am a long-suffering Bucco fan. And, while I've become more apathetic to the team, and baseball in general, I just can't seem to pull myself completely away. I still check the scores every day, and catch an occasional game on TV or radio. I think a large part of the problem during the first decade of the losing-season streak was the fact that there truly was terrible management at the helm. The current regime seems to at least have a plan and direction. I believe they are making the effort to build a team around Pedro Alvarez, and are stocking up their farm system to develop talented players for his era, which is still a few years away. The window of opportunity will always be short for any small market team, but the players they are now aquiring will give them a shot in a few years.
Sorry to ramble, but it's hard to find anyone interested enough to discuss the pirates:)
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