Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Ripping PirateFarce
PirateFest would have been more accurately named PirateFarce this year as question & answer sessions were hostile and even sometimes-star outfielder Jason Bay, who has to be wondering when he is going to be traded, questioned the moves made this offseason, especially the notable lack of player acquisitions.
Bay made similar comments last winter, asking for support in the lineup and receiving 1B Adam LaRoche. The Pirates’ new management, however, has made it clear that they do not intend to build at the major league level, letting the current cast of characters achieve what they can while management builds up the minor league system through improved drafting and scouting. This is not a team nor a management team that plans on being successful immediately and if you do not believe that, look at the uninspired hire of John “I can’t speak to press at this time because I haven’t had time to rehearse my script or schedule my debriefing” Russell as manager.
Neal Huntington, Frank Coonelly, and Bob Nutting are claiming that they are somehow starting anew, planning on actually spending money after they have built a solid core. Huntington, however, believes that “it all starts with starting pitching” (sound familiar?), but also rejected overtures from sometimes ace Ian Snell’s agent about a contract extension. Granted, there are viable reasons for not extending a young pitcher such as Snell, who pitches like Hines Ward plays WR: nasty and with a respect complex. Snell needs to be kept angry, needs to learn how to maintain consistency, and needs to show that he can stay healthy. When you are trying to build around pitching, however, and have one young arm who has proven himself successful on the major league level and who wants to sign a long-term contract, that deal should be made.
Huntington is instead discussing extensions with LaRoche and 2B Freddy Sanchez, moves that show that the Pirates are planning to keep the current core of major league position players intact at least over the next three seasons. This could be a reflection of the lack of a farm system beyond Steve Pearce, Andrew McCutchen, and Neil Walker, as the Pirates may want to field a team that sort of resembles a major league team instead of scrubs. This all does not mean that signing these players to extensions is a great option, but they are better players than the potentially terrible replacement level players who could take their roles.
Bay’s point, which Dejean Kojacevic wrote about yesterday, is that the players in Pittsburgh this season do not care about the potential improvements to the minor league system or better scouting/drafting. They, like the fans, want to see winning now. The Pirates and their management are finally realizing their identity as a small market team and are now reveling in it, publicizing how they are planning to do it better than ever before.
These flashy glimmers of propaganda are just more of the same from the Pirates, with nothing but the names and faces spouting the meaningless words changing. More rhetoric, similar weaknesses, and more losing. PirateFest provided no further insights into this team beyond this: they are finally entering the small market curve that they have been behind since the mid-90s. And they want you to think that they are making progress.
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