Sunday, November 19, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
There are bits and pieces of baseball in the newspaper every day, and almost all are nothing but downright discouraging and disheartening to the ever-shrinking band of black-and-gold bleeders who believe the Pirates' day will come.
The Chicago Cubs sign Aramis Ramirez to a five-year, $73 million contract. Wouldn't Rammy, who grew up in the Pirates' organization, look sweet hitting behind Jason Bay? But, of course, that's impossible. As recently as 2003, the Pirates couldn't afford the $6 million Ramirez was due the next season. Although the giveaway of Ramirez was the most spirit-crushing event of the McClatchy-Nutting ownership era, in retrospect, it only jump-started the inevitable. The Pirates cannot afford players the stature of Ramirez.
Those same Cubs, the only team in the National League with a worse record than the Pirates, sign backup catcher Henry Blanco to a two-year, $5.25 million contract. That's chump change for the Cubs, but a major expenditure for the Pirates.
The Central Division champion St. Louis Cardinals sign clearly declining outfielder Jim Edmonds to two-year $19 million contract, vastly more money than the Pirates couldn't afford to pay to keep Ramirez.
On the Pirates' Web site the other day, readers wanted to know about the chances of the club signing veteran pitchers Greg Maddux or Jeff Suppan. Ed Eagle of MLB.com let these bug-eyed optimists down easily, gently informing them there is not even a miniscule chance of the Pirates paying those kinds of salaries or those kinds of players wanting to play for the Pirates.
The Boston Red Sox pay $51.1 million, more than the Pirates' entire payroll, for the rights to negotiate with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. No truth to the rumor the Pirates bid was $850,000.
We could go on and on, and it's enough to pose this question:
Which is the most depressing time of the baseball year in Pittsburgh: The season or the offseason?
Our vote is for the offseason. During the season, the Pirates won 41 percent of their games. That stinks, but at least it meant you almost had a 50-50 chance of them winning if you showed up at PNC Park or tuned them in. Beyond that, it was pleasant to see the development of players such as Freddy Sanchez, Mike Gonzalez, Zach Duke and Chris Duffy.
There are no such plusses in the offseason. Not only are we reminded daily by the news that the Pirates can't compete, when they do sign a player, invariably, it's the wrong signing which raises false hope and costs the team money that could better be spent elsewhere.
This column always has been of the belief there was a small window of opportunity some day for the Pirates. We don't believe that anymore.
One of the reasons is because of the message the ticket-buying public sent to the Pirates last season when 1.86 million purchased tickets to give the team its fifth-highest attendance in history. By their willingness to spend money to watch a 14th consecutive losing season and by showing up in astonishing numbers late in the season, these people told Pirates ownership exactly what it wants to hear:
We don't care how many games you win, just keep the fireworks and the bobbleheads coming.
Those are words Bob Nutting, the team's bottom-lined devoted chairman of the board, loves to hear. It's a message that tells the Pirates they don't have to increase their payroll significantly, just continue with those snazzy promotions.
What this means is there's not only no chance the Pirates will sign a high-profile free agent, but they are not likely to go after such a player in trade. Why should they? They sell tickets without the inconvenience of carrying high-salaried players.
General manager Dave Littlefield will be active in the trade market this offseason, but he's not likely to be dangling some of his best players: Bay, Duke, Sanchez, Gonzalez.
An historical note for Littlefield. What might be the three most important Pirates trades in the past 50 years involved the team trading one of its best players.
After the 1958 season, the Pirates traded right-handed slugger Frank Thomas, coming off a 35-home run, 109-RBI season, for Harvey Haddix, Don Hoak and Smoky Burgess. These three veterans helped turn a contender into a world champion two years later.
In November 1986, the Pirates traded Rick Rhoden, who had won 15 games, and in return got a package that included young Doug Drabek. The Pirates had a top-of-the-rotation ace and future Cy Young winner who would power their three division titles.
In April 1987, the Pirates traded Tony Pena, generally regarded as their best player, for three unproven players, Andy Van Slyke, Mike LaValliere and Mike Dunne. A weak club was on its way to becoming a division champion.
The point is this: You want to get quality players, you have to trade quality players. Jose Castillo and Paul Maholm will not fetch players who can significantly upgrade the Pirates. Jason Bay and Zach Duke, like Frank Thomas, Tony Pena and Rick Rhoden before them, can.
But it's not going to happen. There simply is no pressing need from within the organization for the Pirates to get better. It's all about fireworks and bobbleheads.
(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.)
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