Photo Courtesy of fansided.com
Sticking to the recent theme of complaining about the Pirates, another trade deadline passed and again Pirates fans watch as time passes and nothing happens. In a year when it is tough to tell what the Pirates are even midway through the season. The Pirates are in limbo. They fluctuate between a team that shows signs of being competitive and a team that really cannot seem to get out of their own way. They struggle to gain ground and when they do get hot they immediately cool down before they have reached the position they need to be in. The Pirates players, fans and the city have all been done a disservice by the club management. Neal Huntington has shown himself to be spineless and gun shy. He is spineless because he refuses to challenge the status quo or try to break loose from the financial strapping of the Pirates selfish owner. The Pirates made no moves. They sent Tony Watson packing in return for prospects. Those words; “in return for prospects” strike nerves with many Pittsburgh baseball fans. Those words mean another year of failure. They mean building towards the future which never seems to arrive. They stand for names that most of us will never ever hear from again. They mean a probable wasted investment in unproven talent. These words hurt more than anything. They hurt because we always hear the same story and it never gets better.
General Manager Neal Huntington essentially decided in the time leading up to Monday’s trade deadline that this team did not need to add anything significant. He determined that while the division this year has been bad and the Pirates are hovering around .500 that nothing needed to be added to this struggling team. A team, whose starting third baseman is stranded halfway across the globe in Korea because he cannot get a visa to come to the United States. Yet, in their minds, this team does not need to improve. The management is satisfied with this mediocre first leg of the season and believes that this team is adequate as it is currently constituted. If this level of performance is considered adequate, then clearly the front office does not have their ears to the ground. They fail to recognize that their attendance has dropped by nearly 4,000 fans on average and TV viewership is way down.
The Pirates do not understand that fans in this city will not accept mediocrity. That is not to say that the people of Pittsburgh are fair weather fans or only support winners, but the fan base has grown weary of the same old same every year. They are tired of the ownership that does not seem to care. There is a growing feeling that the team is not even trying to win. The relationship between the fan and the club is strained. Instead of trying to extend the olive branch to Pirates fans, the organization seems to just try to frustrate them even more. Dangling the few bright stars in the ballpark as trade bait and repeatedly striking out without even swinging when they have opportunities to make the Major League club better. This has been going on for years. Selling their best players for prospects for the future that never comes. When I was little, I watched as the revolving doors for my favorite player would spin as players like Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Joel Hanrahan and Gerrit Cole get their marching orders in a trade for what ultimately results in players whose names you will not ever hear of again instead of players to be named later. Then we are forced to watch other players leave without even reasonable attempts to resign them from the club.
This year the Pirates were content with trading away relief pitcher Tony Watson and made a deal to bring back utility player Sean Rodriguez who departed at the end of last season. As big of a SeanRod fan as I am, that is not enough to acquit the owner at all. Not even close. Fans just want to see the Pirates try as much as they do to support this team. It is hard to see world class organizations like the Penguins and Steelers who find ways to win championships. They treat their players with respect and make the fans a priority. The Pirates make the fans a priority only to get them into the ballpark because the product on the field is certainly sub par. They offer dozens of promotions and events to draw fans to PNC Park that other organizations do not need to do. The Boston Red Sox or other teams do not have to have a t-shirt giveaway once a week just to draw a crowd or host a fireworks night or a Sunday block party on Federal Street because the Red Sox are committed to winning and draw a crowd for the team on the field. My frustration has boiled over. I have no desire to go to the ballpark anymore. I refuse to support an owner who does not care and his general manager who only sees success in the minor leagues as the true measure of a GM. Pirates fans should do the same. We cannot continue to go out to the ballpark every night to see a team that is not properly equipped.
The Pirates have some good, even great players, but there are holes in the lineup that have not been filled in years. The Ownership has never done anything to push this team over the top and lead them deep into the playoffs. Even if they do not succeed, I will be perfectly satisfied that they tried to get better and wanted to win. This team may not win this year but they could at least try to reach the playoffs by winning their weak division this year. They should have tried to take advantage of the struggles of the Cardinals and World Series Winning Cubs. I try to look forward for the Pirates with hope, but it is tough to be optimistic with around 50 games left and a team that did not get much better since the first two thirds of the season.
