Which Way Is Up?
Posted by Matthew Whipps on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 12:57 am
I know this happened last week but I need to address it as it is still bugging me. It’s horrible that I even have to ask this question of a pro sports team’s GM, but does Neal Huntington know the difference between up and down? I ask this because either:
a.) he thinks his explanations are working and believes his team’s fan base is stupid or
b.) he believes his explanations which means he is stupid.
It has to be one or the other. It can’t be anything else. It can’t be.
The abused Pirates’ fan base took yet another beating this past week as their closest thing to a superstar was traded away for yet another bundle of mediocre prospects. Face of the franchise Nate McLouth was sent packing for Atlanta in which the Pirates received Gorkys Hernandez (the best of the bunch), Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke in a move that made Pittsburgh take yet another giant leap backwards. Again they went down and not up like you would like your franchise to do at least once within an almost two decade stretch.
So why is it that this can continue? The Bucs’ organization has once again pissed of both its fans and players which has been going on for far, far too long. How depressing must it be to be a die hard Pirates fan? Every time they are able to develop a good player, he gets shipped off for thirty cents on the dollar and the whole ugly cycle begins again.
Over the past few seasons they have traded away an All-Star cast for an outfield with Xavier Nady, Jason Bay and McLouth all finding new homes with players by the name of Andy LaRoche (who has been an injured mess), Jeff Karstens (at very best a number five starter), Brandon Moss (mid-level outfielder who is a dime a dozen), Jose Tabata (see LaRoche, Andy) and another six guys who you could throw a rock into a crowd and hit someone just as valuable. Basically they haven’t received even one player who has potential to be an ace or a big time slugger or even a future leader of the club.
It boils down to this: what do Bucs fans have to look forward to? After all, it’s just a matter of time before Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez are traded off to the Cubs, Red Sox or Yankees so why even become attached to them? What the Pirates front office doesn’t seem to realize is that they have one of the most beautiful stadiums in all of baseball and if they want to make money at some point, they need to have players for the fans to get excited about. Then they will come and pay $25 for parking, $120 for tickets, $50 on concessions and $190 for their favorite player’s authentic jersey.
Do you see a future where anyone would be running out to spend almost $200 on a Jeff Karstens jersey?
Oh, to be a Pittsburgh native and a long time resident…..AND a baseball fan. Thankfully we have the Extra Innings package and are able to watch Major League baseball, rather than being stuck watching the Pirates and listening to the inane ramblings of their third-rate announcers who usually speak for the team’s front office. The company line is stale after 16 years.
My ten yr old has jerseys from the Rays, the Rangers, the Indians, theRed Sox and next week we will be at the corner of Clark and Addison where we’ll grab a Cubs shirt. But who really wants to wear a Pirates jersey?
You ask “It boils down to this: what do Bucs fans have to look forward to?”. McCutcheon will be fun to watch, and perhaps Alvarez too. But most fun is WINNING. Fans usually have great affection for winners. It is fun looking forward to winning….
See and that’s my point. Residents of Pittsburgh can’t even cheer for the home team and it’s not safe to raise your kids as fans!
I’m sorry my first post back with BDD had to be negative, but it is something that just eats at me. I hate to see a team not only not try, but consistently make a team worse. Unless they are the Yankees or White Sox.