Let me first say congratulations the New York Yankees for winning the World Series. Second, allow me to congratulate the Philadelphia Phillies fans for becoming the new Red Sox fans. It was about thirty seconds after the game ended and facebook status updates started popping up saying things like this: “The Yankees bought themselves another title!”
Yes, of course they did. They have the money, therefore they get to spend it on whichever players they want. Is it fair to the small market teams? Probably not, but it is the system we have, and until something changes, why fault them for doing this? Also, if you are a Phillies (or Red Sox) fan, do not cry about them spending money.
Where did the Phillies rank in payroll? Were they down in the bottom with the Pirates and Marlins? Nope, not even close, they were seventh (only a mere $705,000 from the sixth place Angels–and $10,000,000 ahead of the eighth place Astros). The beloved underdogs of the east, Red Sox, were fourth.
If the Phillies decide to go out and spend another $100 million in the off-season, will Phillies fans be up in arms about this? Probably not. Hell, if Bill Gates buys the Pirates and says he wants to spend $300 million a year to win championships, I’ll orgasm onto my Lucky Charms and eat it up. I just threw up a little thinking about that…not the winning part, eating my own jizz.
Baseball season is officially over, and I am sad now (unfortunately for the Pirates it ended back in June). Football and hockey are great, March Madness is fun for the gambling, but nothing is as exciting as baseball season…
The baseball season is over (which is sad), but now comes the most exciting part for us Buccos fans. And it already started with the acquisition of Akinori Iwamura. Yes that’s right sports fans, the Pirates actually traded away a young, cheap relief pitcher that we had the rights to for a few more years, to acquire a veteran player that fills a bunch of needs. Now I already know how Pirate fans are going to spin this. They will be upset that we will be paying close to $5 million for a player with little to no power, doesn’t steal many bases and is coming off of major knee surgery. But let me tell you why it was indeed a good move. First, they upgraded their defense by leaps and bounds. Now just look at the up the middle defense for the Pirates (which I believe is the most important part). Ronny Cedeno, Iwamura, and McCutchen. All three are above average to great defensively. All due respect to Delwyn Young since he worked so hard at improving his defense, but he improved from very bad to slightly below average. And now we can use him in his best role as a spot starter/pinch hitter (which he can be one of the better role players in the NL). Secondly, since Freddie Sanchez is gone, we now have a legitimate #2 hitter (and Freddie hit 3 more than 2). He doesn’t strike out much, works the counts, decent average and can place the ball on the left side of the field to move Cutch if he gets on. He is the only player on the team now that has those qualities. And one more thing, he comes from a team that knew how to win. Many people say the “knowing how to win aspect is a myth, but I don’t see that at all. This team needs a new attitude and he hopefully will contribute to that. It may not make much of a difference in the ’10 season, but if Pirate’s fans can make him feel welcome and management can get him to sign a 2 or 3 year contract, just think what the Pirate’s line up can be in 2012:
1. McCutchen, CF (He’s a star!)
2. Iwamura, 2B
3. Pedro Alvarez, 3B (about as much of a can’t miss prospect that I’ve seen in the Pirate’s organization since maybe Bonds)
4. Garret Jones (Jonezilla), 1B (I’m not sold on him yet, but my fingers are crossed that last year was no fluke”
5. Lastings Millege, LF (I’m a big believer in this man. If his attitude is the same as when he came over last year, he can be a special player. And did anyone notice that this supposed attitude with a body was the only player that ran 100% on every ball he hit last year, including routine plays)
6. Jose Tabata, RF (Has showed no signs in the minors of not being a decent major leaguer)
7. Tony Sanchez, C (Last year’s top draft pick who tore up offensively in his first year in Class A ball. Also, much better defense that Doumit thus completing that up the middle defense I talked about earlier. And having Doumit as a lefty, to spell the right handed Sanchez can’t be bad either.)
8. Ronny Cedeno, SS (Perfect spot for him. Good defensively. Has power to produce some runs from the bottom of the order. Any manager in the league would take a guy with the capability to hit 15 to 20 home runs in the 8th spot even if he’ll probably only bat .250 to .260.)
That’s a lineup to be reckoned with and it almost seems like everyone fits perfectly into the stereotypical hitter for their spot in the lineup.
Along with a pitching staff that will have Brad Lincoln as the ace (if things continue on the path he is going) and Zach Duke and Ross Olhendorf looking like good 2 to 5 pitchers, They are two pitchers and a bullpen away from being a team to be reckoned with!
**Disclaimer – Yes I know that a lot of stuff have to go right, but can you honestly say that there has been this much cause for optimism since October 14, 1992?**
Sigh. Yes there has been this much cause for optimism every year since 1992, because everyone looks for absolutely anything they can spin into positives. You mentioned a potentially decent lineup, but what about pitching? Do you seriously see Lincoln, or anyone stepping up into a #1 starter role? Even with Texas’ offense they couldn’t make the playoffs, you really think this lineup could compete with theirs??
Believing the Pirates will soon be a playoff team has basically, to me, become equivalent to believe in God. I don’t believe in either, but I’m not going to put people down who do. If you are not going to be rational about this, fine, I don’t fault you for ‘having faith’ and hope for the future. In my eyes, when you die you die, and in terms of baseball, the Pirates died in 1992 and will not be resurrected.
I don’t leave the possibility of some miracle happening to give me faith, and I still try to live my life to a certain moral standard that is similar to that of Christians (just in case), and in turn, I will continue to keep tabs on the Buccos, because, you never know for sure, right?
P.S. I can’t really compare going to baseball games with going to church, because church doesn’t have nachos. Or does it now? It has been a while…
Wow, I love dichotomy of Pirates fans. Either uber-optimists or extreme-pessimists…
churches should have nachos. then they would have real meaning. and that meaning would emerge from the nacho.
Would it kill them to put a soda machine and a nacho stand, maybe a soft serve in the lobby? They wonder why less and less people go to church every year*…
* made up statistic
they do have nachos and soda in the nfl. people pray there all the time. pray and dance. its pentecostal i guess. maybe its mormon. do they dance?
Yes I do think Lincoln can be a good starter. Possible the best name that I forgot to mention is Tim Alderson. Great acquisition from the Giants. Duke, when he has his stuff, is really good. Ohlendorf looks good.
Whatever. I am now a St. Louis Cardinals fan.
j/k – Thinking about following blogs of another team daily and paying to watch them makes me want to vomit. I am not even exaggerating…
However, is it time for me to start admitting Brad Lincoln and Tim Alderson will be future Cy Young winners? Sigh…Either will be lucky to ever have an ERA under 4.50 in the majors.
Rudy Owens though? Maybe we have something there…if only he can replicate what he did in Single A in AA, then again in AAA, then again in the pros. It is likely, right?
DJ, if you want to discuss the Pirates more I would recommend our group blog at http://theyummypancake.blogspot.com/
Yes I am plugging my partially owned blog.
Dan, Lincoln and Alderson are number 2 or 3 starters at best.
The problem right now is that we do not have a dominate pitcher in any level. Owens is close.
Duke always has the same stuff, which isn’t much. The reason he did much better this year is because we improved the outfield defense. Replacing Bay/Nady/McLouth with Nyjer-Milledge/Moss-Jones/McCutchen helped all the Pirates pitchers (unless you do not believe in defensive metrics, then this is a wasted breath). Go check out WHYGAVS, Pat posted about this yesterday.
Offord, I think you are wrong about Lincoln, he could be a fine starter, maybe even under 4.00. A Cy Young guy? Probably not, but a winner? Sure
Well from now on I’m going to be pessimistic on any Pirates’ players’ chances and hope to be pleasantly surprised, rather than vice versa. I spent too many years expecting too much…
Once spring training rolls around, however, who knows how I’ll be thinking. Hell, I might be clamoring for Dinesh Patel in the starting rotation. For now, color me jaded, which I think is probably bluish.