Pirates' spending overrated

By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Thursday, August 19, 2010

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington was waiting on the line Tuesday morning, about to do a radio interview, when he heard a report saying his team had spent around $10 million on the draft.

Huntington quickly corrected the report. The figure was closer to $12 million.

"I say that," Huntington explained, "because (team owner) Bob Nutting takes a beating in this town for being cheap."

Really? I hadn't heard.

Second-round draft pick Stetson Allie is greeted by Pirates reliever Evan Meek Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park. "Hopefully it will be two years or three years before I make my major league debut," Allie said. "But if it happens quicker, I'd be even more excited."

Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review

I have, however, heard plenty of people publicly congratulate Huntington over the past few days, and I'm not sure why. The man was merely doing his job when he signed top picks Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie, among others.

An alternative outcome might have had folks wondering if Huntington should be relieved of his command for dereliction of duty.

I also heard Huntington publicly thank Nutting for providing the resources to sign those players. No need to thank him. The team payroll has shrunk by about $13 million over the past three years, to $35 million at the beginning of the season, lowest in the majors.

That isn't the worst strategy if you're launching a complete rebuild, but if you're not spending on major-leaguers, you better be spending on the draft and the international market.

Don't be misled by the company line, aimed at critics who rip the Pirates for their puny payroll. It goes something like this: We've spent $31 million on the draft over the past three years, more than any team in baseball.

That sounds great. It also merits a two-word response:

So what?

The draft is just one means of procuring prospects. It encompasses only players from the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, which leaves an entire world of young baseball players available to the highest bidders.

So before you get too excited about the $12 million the Pirates spent on this year's draft, consider that the Boston Red Sox committed $12.55 million to two international prospects in the past 11 months — 19-year-old Cuban shortstop Jose Iglesias and 23-year-old Cuban catcher Adalberto Ibarra.

Or consider this: The Central Division-leading Cincinnati Reds — situated in a Pittsburgh-sized market — recently committed more in a signing bonus to one prospect than the Pirates spent on all their players in this year's draft.

That's right, Cincinnati lavished 21-year-old Cuban fireballer Aroldis Chapman with a $16.5 million signing bonus as part of a six-year, $30.25 million contract.

That is real money, even if it's spread out over more than a decade. And don't think it came at the expense of the Reds doing well in the draft or spending at the big-league level. Their payroll is better than $70 million. One of their best starters — until a recent slump — was last year's first-round pick, Mike Leake.

The Pirates, too, have increased their international budget. Reports say they are hot on the trail of 16-year-old Mexican pitching prospect Luis Heredia, who will command at least $2 million. Good for them. But as with the draft, securing such players is nothing more than the cost of doing business, not cause for champagne toasts and rounds of self-congratulatory high-fives.

The Pirates have been so comically inept, so badly under-funded and so ridiculously cheap for so long that doing what is necessary and obvious apparently comes off as extraordinary to some.

Which brings us to the FSN telecast of the Pirates-Marlins game Tuesday. How symbolic that at the precise moment Huntington was accepting congratulations in the broadcast booth, Zach Duke was getting his brains beaten in.

Huntington kept talking. The massacre kept progressing. The game was nothing more than background music as the GM spoke of teenagers who might arrive sometime in, what, 2015?

Don't get me wrong. I love the fact that the Pirates got the two best arms in the draft. I have defended this regime's decision to start from scratch. I like the plan. It's just that we won't be able to judge the execution of said plan for a few years yet.

Until we see if Huntington & Co. were right on most of their key prospects — and until we see if Nutting will ever make a significant commitment on the big-league level — I'm going to keep my party hat in the closet.