JG and the Sunshine Band
Let's review. When the season began, the Pirates had some extra money to spend, and the talk was that the bright young pitching prospects (Zach Duke, Paul Maholm, Oliver Perez), the promising and established position holdovers (Jason Bay, Jose Castillo, Jack Wilson, Craig Wilson), and the veteran newcomers (Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa) would help the team to avoid a 14th straight losing season.
In Florida, the talk was that the latest demolition of the team and payroll, which left the team with a pitifully inadequate roster, would lead to an historically bad season. Why, no one but Miguel Batista and Dontrelle Willis was left from a team that won the World Series just three years ago. How could they possibly compete?The Pirates went out and hired a manager whom they believed had a proven track record and would help them get out of their decade-plus-long funk: Jim Tracy. The Marlins managed to convince experience-free Joe Girardi to take on the lost cause that was to be the Marlins.
Well, following the Marlins' 4-1 victory over the Pirates tonight, which evened the series at 1-1 (the Pirates picked up a victory in the series opener on Thursday), the Marlins are 43-52; the Pirates are 35-63. Paul Maholm, tonight's Buccos starter, turned in a typical performance (six innings, four runs, three earned) and fell to 3-9. His opponent, rookie Scott Olsen, went 6 2/3, innings gave up an unearned run, struck out 11, raised his record to 8-4, and lowered his ERA to 4.01, a full run less than Maholm's.
So which team is rebuilding? The Marlins, because the term with that team means something: building again. The Pirates don't rebuild, because there is nothing to build from. The Marlins, on the other hand, have torn down a World Series team once (1997) before creating a new one (2003), and now they have defied expectations once again, in building from the ashes a team whose record the Pirates would gladly take.
The discussions in the Post Gazette Q&A recently made much of the commentary of various All-Stars that the Pirates shouldn't blame their relatively low payroll for their difficulties. Various readers and the team's beat writer bemoaned the unfairness of the MLB economic systems. All well and good. Obviously, another $100 million would help this club. Or is it obvious? I'd like to see the evidence that the Pirates would spend any extra money they might magically be granted wisely -- or spend it at all -- which is exactly the big-market clubs' argument against revenue sharing: why should they spread their money around to ineptly run clubs?
The fact is, the Pirates are a poorly managed franchise that has failed since 1992 to get the maximum of the players they've had (with 1997 being one possible exception) . Don't forget, they were a small-market club in 1990, when they surprised the world by beating out the supposedly superior big-market Mets.I'm tired of hearing about the inequities of the system. Sorry, MLB isn't the NFL and it isn't the NBA, and it's pointless to bemoan the fact that it isn't. Somehow, despite the incredible unfairness of Major League Baseball, an unprecedented number of teams have playoff aspirations in 2006. The Pirates aren't even close to being one of them. Whose fault is that?
The true fallacy of the defeatist attitudes of that segment of fans is that they seem to believe that a team's success is measured only by playoff seasons. There is another segment of us who have been complaining about the Pirates for years, but aren't even asking for championships. We're only asking for teams that aren't out of it by July 15 or earlier. We're asking for teams that can develop talent and make the most of the skills of the players that take the field. We're asking for a team that can COMPETE.
The Pirates do justice to the words of the immortal Walter Winchell, who said, "Nothing recedes like success." Jeez, the Great Depression only lasted 12 years. If the recession-bound Pirates ran the economy, the U.S. might be competing with South Yemen in the economic development category.
Yo, Jim Tracy, Dave Littlefield, et al. Joe Girardi has a crap payroll, young players and a disinterestd fan base. He also has a team that can hang. What's your excuse?
posted by the buccin' ear at 9:38 PM
5 Comments:
At the time, before Jim Tracy was hired, I wanted them to hire Joe Girardi, although I knew they weren't going to. I had heard him in interviews, and he seemed like a sharp baseball guy. Plus, he was coming from a winning organization. However, he didn't fit the Pirates' criteria; i.e., a manager with major-league experience; e.g., Jim Tracy.
On a side note, how about Jose Castillo's imitation of a croquet wicket? His defense is way over-rated. That was his 13th error of the season, and his range is limited, at best.
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Girardi was a question mark for me. I was hoping they'd pursue Leyland. But when it seemed to be kind of a two horse race between Tracy and Ken Macha, I favored Macha.
One thing's for sure...it didn't take long for this to become a "what if" session again.
To Steeltown Mike:
Mike, I got your comment on the what-might-have-been signing of Tracy. I don't disagree that Girardi was hardly a slam-dunk, and your point on Macha's ability to do more with way less than Tracy had in LA is spot on.
In your post on your blog today, you comment that you see nothing wrong with Jose Bautista playing CF. I've argued for another chance for Chris Duffy there for two reasons, neither of which is that I think Bautista is bad in CF.
First, I think the Pirates bungled their handling of Duffy's career thus far. Tracy began the season by messing around with his swing, and he had a terrible April, which of course led to his personal crisis. I'm not blaming all of that on Tracy, but neither do I think that Duffy has played his way out of a position with the Pirates. He's an outstanding defensive player and could also provide some leadoff spark if he can learn to utilize his speed and thus improve his OBP.
Secondly, I like to see players at their natural position, and Bautista's is 3B. I had a recent post on this, so I won't bother to rehash, but a return of Duffy could free up JB to move to third.
On one final note, trading for Ryan Shealy makes sense to me precisely because the Rockies badly need middle relief, and the Pirates have some. He's a good bat, and about 10 years younger and several million dollars cheaper than Casey, who is a good guy, but deserves better than what he is getting on this awful team.
All that said, you're right that if the deal doesn't make sense, don't do it.
To bern1:
Castillo reminds me of Ronnie Belliard, whom I watched closely for the season he played in Colorado.
Belliard made some of the greatest plays at second base I have ever seen. But he also made some of the worst, and I always had the feeling his mind was drifting somewhere on the edge of the game being played. He also had surprising pop in his bat, but was capable of ridiculous at bats and mindless plays in the field. Sound like anyone we know?
Because of this, I believe, as I said before, that a trade for Castillo (assuming what the team would get in return would fill a genuine need) would be a good move.
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