The Intro...
Hello.
I'm a 30-year old Yankees fan. With saying that, if anyone reads this and ever chooses to respond, I expect the usual "$200 million dollars blah blah crap" that comes with being a Yankees fan. It's what those who don't know anything about baseball, or are jealous that the team I choose to root for has more money than the team you choose to root for does, says. Always. The argument is tired. Useless even. So lets get that out of the way before we even start.
Moreover than being a Yankees fan I'm a fan of baseball. I love the game. Everything about it. And no, I don't give one--let alone two--craps about steroids, P.E.D.'s, or any suggested compromise of "the integrity of the game." That argument too is tired. And useless even. So lets get that out of the way before we even start.
I want this to be about baseball. The game. The players. The fans. That's it. Nothing more. So let's start.
My first thought here is about the recent trade the Pirates made with the Braves. How, as a self-respecting Pittsburgh Pirates fan, can you continually except your team forcing the "Let's be patient with this" Kool-Aid down your throat whilst they trade away anybody who is anybody worth rooting for? Have they at least changed the flavor in the past 20 years? I won't regress beyond that current GM's tenure because that isn't, neccesarily, fair, but in the past year they've traded away 3 All-Stars and a top-tier lefty specialist and got what exactly in return? A steaming pile of fillers to, well, fill out their 40-man roster, and "rebuild" their farm system. Well, that's not exactly true either; they've already, less than a year since the trade, removed Craig Hansen from the 40-man roster. But let's take a look at the names they've received in the three trades in question: Andy LaRoche, Bryan Morris, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen (Bay to Red Sux trade), Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, Dan McCutchen, Jose Tabata (Nady/Marte to Yankees trade), Jeff Locke, Charlie Morton, Gorkys Hernandez (McLouth to Braves trade). That's 12 players. And, as a Pirates fan, how many of them had you heard of? Maybe three, and that's assuming that one of them is LaRoche, and only because his brother was already on the team. Jose Tabata and Gorkys Hernandez, the other two names I'm assuming you might have known, were the two "best", or most highly touted prospects in the bunch. And both had quickly fallen from untouchable status within the Yankees and Braves organizations to tradable to the Pirates. There's a reason for that. In total the Pirates received a bunch of pitchers (Karstens, Ohlendorf, McCutchen, Morton, Locke), who on a bad team in a bad division, are, at best, #4 or #5 starters, a light hitting corner infielder (LaRoche), a flop reliever (Hansen), and three non-power hitting OFs (Tabata, Hernandez, Moss) from four teams (Yankees, Red Sux, Dodgers, Braves) who are stacked with high-end prospects and/or already-contributing-on-the-MLB-level youngsters. And these are household names. Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera, Austin Jackson, Justin Masterson, Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, Daniel Bard, Tommy Hanson, Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, James Loney, etc. In three seperate trades, where the Pirates held the position of power (i.e. teams coming to them for their All-Star players), the Pirates couldn't even get one of those mentioned names? Wow. The Cleveland Indians make a trade and get Grady Sizemore AND Cliff Lee in the same deal. The Minnesota Twins make a trade and receive Francisco Liriano, Boof Bosner, AND Joe Nathan in return. The Marlins make a trade and get Anibal Sanchez AND Hanley Ramirez in return. The common theme(s) here. In all three cases All-Star players were traded to contending teams for prospects. And in all three cases, those prospects turned into All-Stars who turned their teams into contenders, if not Playoff teams, within a few years. As for the Pirates, well, they did what they do best; sell high-end commodities at Blue-Light special rates. And to their fans they continue to say, "You have to bear with us here; be patient." Yeah, right. They'll get right on that. You know it's bad when your team sells you that reaching .500 is a good thing. Especially when they do it for like 20 years. If I were a Pirates fan I'd call Shenanigans. And demand that Mark Cuban buys my team.
That's enough for now. Until next time...
I'm a 30-year old Yankees fan. With saying that, if anyone reads this and ever chooses to respond, I expect the usual "$200 million dollars blah blah crap" that comes with being a Yankees fan. It's what those who don't know anything about baseball, or are jealous that the team I choose to root for has more money than the team you choose to root for does, says. Always. The argument is tired. Useless even. So lets get that out of the way before we even start.
Moreover than being a Yankees fan I'm a fan of baseball. I love the game. Everything about it. And no, I don't give one--let alone two--craps about steroids, P.E.D.'s, or any suggested compromise of "the integrity of the game." That argument too is tired. And useless even. So lets get that out of the way before we even start.
I want this to be about baseball. The game. The players. The fans. That's it. Nothing more. So let's start.
My first thought here is about the recent trade the Pirates made with the Braves. How, as a self-respecting Pittsburgh Pirates fan, can you continually except your team forcing the "Let's be patient with this" Kool-Aid down your throat whilst they trade away anybody who is anybody worth rooting for? Have they at least changed the flavor in the past 20 years? I won't regress beyond that current GM's tenure because that isn't, neccesarily, fair, but in the past year they've traded away 3 All-Stars and a top-tier lefty specialist and got what exactly in return? A steaming pile of fillers to, well, fill out their 40-man roster, and "rebuild" their farm system. Well, that's not exactly true either; they've already, less than a year since the trade, removed Craig Hansen from the 40-man roster. But let's take a look at the names they've received in the three trades in question: Andy LaRoche, Bryan Morris, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen (Bay to Red Sux trade), Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, Dan McCutchen, Jose Tabata (Nady/Marte to Yankees trade), Jeff Locke, Charlie Morton, Gorkys Hernandez (McLouth to Braves trade). That's 12 players. And, as a Pirates fan, how many of them had you heard of? Maybe three, and that's assuming that one of them is LaRoche, and only because his brother was already on the team. Jose Tabata and Gorkys Hernandez, the other two names I'm assuming you might have known, were the two "best", or most highly touted prospects in the bunch. And both had quickly fallen from untouchable status within the Yankees and Braves organizations to tradable to the Pirates. There's a reason for that. In total the Pirates received a bunch of pitchers (Karstens, Ohlendorf, McCutchen, Morton, Locke), who on a bad team in a bad division, are, at best, #4 or #5 starters, a light hitting corner infielder (LaRoche), a flop reliever (Hansen), and three non-power hitting OFs (Tabata, Hernandez, Moss) from four teams (Yankees, Red Sux, Dodgers, Braves) who are stacked with high-end prospects and/or already-contributing-on-the-MLB-level youngsters. And these are household names. Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera, Austin Jackson, Justin Masterson, Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, Daniel Bard, Tommy Hanson, Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, James Loney, etc. In three seperate trades, where the Pirates held the position of power (i.e. teams coming to them for their All-Star players), the Pirates couldn't even get one of those mentioned names? Wow. The Cleveland Indians make a trade and get Grady Sizemore AND Cliff Lee in the same deal. The Minnesota Twins make a trade and receive Francisco Liriano, Boof Bosner, AND Joe Nathan in return. The Marlins make a trade and get Anibal Sanchez AND Hanley Ramirez in return. The common theme(s) here. In all three cases All-Star players were traded to contending teams for prospects. And in all three cases, those prospects turned into All-Stars who turned their teams into contenders, if not Playoff teams, within a few years. As for the Pirates, well, they did what they do best; sell high-end commodities at Blue-Light special rates. And to their fans they continue to say, "You have to bear with us here; be patient." Yeah, right. They'll get right on that. You know it's bad when your team sells you that reaching .500 is a good thing. Especially when they do it for like 20 years. If I were a Pirates fan I'd call Shenanigans. And demand that Mark Cuban buys my team.
That's enough for now. Until next time...
Leave a comment