Somebody is 7 games out now

Man, that was fast!

Just think if they still played doubleheaders.

So essentially Cliff Lee left the Pirates payroll on the table to sign with the Phillies

I am not sure that MLB needs a "salary cap" as much as a "salary floor".

At least he is honest

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the following two quotes from Pirates general manager, Neal Huntington at yesterday's news conference to introduce top draft pick Jameson Taillon.

"We're not going to add a No. 1 starter in free agency."

"We're not going to add a true, major league power bat in free agency."

Hmmm.

And the Pirates have fans why?

I bet Jameson is probably already looking forward to free agency.

The Pirates picked up Chan Ho Park?!

Ummmmm why?

Yeah why?

Did Obama enlist "Brownie" to work on the Gulf oil spill?

Did they bring in William Hung to sing the National Anthem at that State Dinner?

Would you commission a work of art from Mike Tyson?

"No" of course to any of that!

Because only idiots do things like that!

There is absolutely NOBODY at AAA they would like to take a look at?

Then why have a AAA team?

They are 23 games out. What do they have to lose?

Pirate Pride

According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated, in last night's 20-0 loss to the Brewers, in the ninth inning and down 16-0, the Pirates pulled their infield in with runners on base.

Well, last year the Pirates led the National League with the fewest errors (73) and if anybody could have stopped the Brewers there, it was the Pirates.

Never say die.

Pirate Pride.

The goal is to lose with dignity

Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com recently had a sit down with Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates. Here is just one question and answer:

MLB.com: What are your expectations for 2010 from both a team perspective and an individual one?

McCutchen: From a team perspective, it will be more just being ready to play every day and basically preparing yourself right now to be able to play a full season and do what we need to do to win games. We want to be able to say we got beat and not that we lost. That's the biggest thing for us as a team.

And the Pirates have fans why?

You get what you pay for, dont'cha know?

Yahoo Sports reports that Pirates principal owner Bob Nutting and president Frank Coonelly addressed the team Tuesday before the first full-squad workout of spring training. These are the same Pirates who severely slashed payroll last year by seemingly trading away any player with any value and the same Pirates who will begin the 2010 season with a $35 million payroll; the lowest in the majors.

"The expectation level has been raised," Coonelly said. "We believe this team can be the one that turns this franchise around. And instead of being concerned about subtractions from the team, this is a core which we can add."

This reminds me of a short story.

As a very young man, I delivered pizzas for a national pizza chain that shall remain nameless. It was pretty good money for someone working their way through school and most of my money came from tips from customers as opposed to the rather low hourly wage. In all, a pretty good deal for me. The company frankly was cheap and not very accommodating to it's employees and I could go on and on about that but I won't. Anyway, I kept my nose clean, delivered pizzas and stayed out of people's way for the most part.

One day, without any notice a manager walked up to me, shook my hand, "congratulated" me, and told me that I had just been "promoted" to crew chief which entailed additional responsibilities inside the store (which would have taken me away from deliveries) all for a 25 cents an hour wage increase. I am serious. This really happened.

I told this manager very nicely that I was going to continue delivering pizzas like before (knowing that if he fired me, I would just go down the street to the next store) and that they could do whatever with my pay but I would not accept anything less than I was making up until then. He got frustrated that I would not accept a position with much more responsibility that paid much less than my present position and he finally just said I was "not very ambitious" and he walked away.

Like those Pirate players with their boss, I kind of pitied and hated him at the same time.

You can't get something for nothing.

It just doesn't work that way

Chuck Finder of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Pirates have hired Dr. Bernie Holliday who is a "mental-conditioning coordinator".

Holliday said that he would bring teaching techniques such as workshops, simulations, on-field exercise, videos and MP3 audios personalized to each player, attention-control technology and biofeedback analysis. Further the techniques cover a variety of mental skill sets from adaptation to analysis, from energy management to establishment of a purpose, from preparation to perseverance, from self-awareness to self-regulation.

Oh brother! Who signed off on this?!

Hello Pirates! It's just little ole' me but this is how you build a winning team and just off the top of my head:

1. Get good players.
2. Get a good manager.
3. Teach* the players hitting.
4. Teach them fielding.
5. Teach them throwing.
6. Teach them baserunning.
7. Demand that the players play hard.
8. Probably other stuff too.

There are no shortcuts!

You can't cut payroll drastically and them throw a little money at a guy like this and hope it will all even out.

No way, no how.

I don't care what this guy told you in that PowerPoint presentation.

DO. NOT. CARE.

*By teach, I mean refine their already considerable skills.

The Pirates are going to be great next year!

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Pirates are interested in the following free agents:

Xavier Nady (Lost season in 2009 due to injury)
Rick Ankiel (11 home runs, 38 rbis, .231 batting average in 2009)
Bobby Crosby (8 home runs, 31 rbis, .223 batting average in 2009)*
Ron Villone (40 year old middle reliever)

This from a team that received $35 million in revenue sharing from the league last year but had a $25 million payroll at the end of the year after unloading all of their decent players.

And the Pirates have fans why?

*He could provide "protection" for Ankiel in the batting order. I get it.

Why did they trade for him?

Now that the Pirates have traded for infielder, Akinori Iwamura from the Rays, Iwamura who makes $4.85 million a year becomes the highest paid player on the Pirates.

That salary just cannot be acceptable to the Pirates.

I suspect that he will get traded shortly for prospects and maybe a bag of baseballs.

If I was Iwamura, I would not even look for an apartment. I wouldn't waste the security deposit.

How important is defense? Apparently, not very.

Want proof?

The Pirates led the majors with only 73 errors.

Well, I am sure that Pirates fans are SO relieved

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Wednesday that they will not be raising ticket prices in 2010.

As if they could.

In other news, the Florida Marlins, Detroit Lions and LA Clippers are also not raising ticket prices next year.

Funny how that works.