A Bad Sign

I don't mean to continue piling on, but you know it's bad when your team's General Manager feels the need to make an official statement on the team's official website to sell you on a trade he's made.  That's like your boss sending out a company wide newsletter to try and sell you on the idea that getting rid of lunch breaks, coffee machines, and toilet paper is good for the company.

What I found particularly funny was this:

"Charlie Morton is a power right-handed starting pitcher with upside, who should be ready to help us this year in Pittsburgh. In fact, in his first outing for our Triple-A affiliate, he tossed seven scoreless innings, giving up only four hits while striking out seven. Jeff Locke is an intriguing young left handed starter with the frame, athleticism and stuff to become a quality major league starting pitcher. Gorkys Hernandez is a dynamic athlete who has the speed and potential to become an above average everyday major league outfielder. It is worth noting that these three players were rumored to be sought by the Padres when they were talking to the Braves about trading former Cy Young award winner Jake Peavy."

The phrases that immediately stand out to me are upside, intriguing, quality, and above average.  They stand out to me because they don't fit in; all of them are qualifiers, and pretty much every time you hear them come from the mouth of a sports General Manager they're trying to sell you on something that isn't worth buying.  When you trade an All-Star, a 5-tool player who, aside from being your best player, is the backbone of your team, you shouldn't have to use such tangible hypotheticals to try and sell your fans on once again trading away their star.  But he (Huntington) saves the best (err, worst) part of the paragraph for last when he tries to convince you that the three players he just got, they were good enough to land a Cy Young winner in Jake Peavy, but the Braves couldn't bring themselves to give them away in that trade; that they were waiting on this one like this to come around instead.  Yeah.  Sure.  Do you think it's closer to the truth that the Padres laughed at the offer/deal question, at any offer the Braves sent them without the inclusion of Tommy Hanson in it, and that's why Jake Peavy is still a Padres pitcher and not on the Braves?  Huntington reminds me of that guy from the movie Office Space who came up with the "Jump To Conclusions" mat, and despite being told "That's the worst idea I've ever heard" is still convinced its the greatest thing ever; his million dollar moneymaking idea.  Three horrible trades within the past year later, Huntington is still trying to sell the idea that taking the ugly girl to the prom is the way to go.  "It's not what she looks like; it's what she could look like with a little work."  Yeah.  Sure.  That old saying, "If it looks like (insert word here), and smells like (insert word here), then chances are it's (insert word here)", that about sums Huntington's actions the way I see it.  That dude from Office Space, he got "lucky"; while backing out of his driveway, seconds after trying to kill himself, he gets railed by a speeding driver and receives a fat insurance settlement because of it.  He was able to make his "Jump To Conclusions" prototype, and of course, it was just as stupid as it sounded to everyone but him; no, to him it's the greatest thing ever.  It's too bad that Pirates fans have grown so accustomed to buying that every time their team sells off anything worth keeping, they're left with yet another "Jump To Conclusions" mat as their reward.