The Crystal Ball Same Old Same Old No More

I’m sick of the same old same old when it comes to my beloved Pirates. Just as a point of full disclosure, I have a Pirates jersey with no player name on the back. It’s circa the early 90’s, with the old logo that has the Pirate in the logo still with the three pointed hat. It’s old school. I still sport it to show my allegiances to this historically fantastic team go way back. So like many other Pirate fans, I’ve suffered mightily over the last 15 years.

But I chime in today with a rare baseball entry not to pimp my own Pirate supporting roots, but because I’m sick of the same old same old status quo attitude when it comes to my team.

Usually when I check out the typically asinine team rankings, I skip to the high 20s when looking for a review of the Pirates. If anything, I’m a realist. I know my boys, no matter how hard they try, will be ranked in the lowest percentile of the MLB. I never kid myself, and neither does any other Pirate fan. My dad, who’s been a Bucco fan longer than I’ve been alive which is impressive since he grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, is the same way. Each week we discuss the current state of the Burgh, and while always hopeful and optimistic, we’re still realistic. We know the team does not have the monetary ammunition to compete with the Yankees or Red Sox, but we always hope the raw talent on display could make a surprising run, or at least a stab at the long hoped for over .500 season.

Well, here we are at the beginning of June, and the Pirates are flirting with .500. Not quite as rare as Halley’s Comet, but just as thrilling to us die hards. It may not last; I’ve seen this in the recent past and watched it dissipate faster than ice in the desert. But it still provides hope, especially with the new regime in place that has been working to turn around the losing culture that has taken hold in this storied organization.

So, with this current, if not stellar considering Jerk Sox standards, success rolling I peeped a recent ranking of MLB teams. And wouldn’t you know it, my hometown boys have clawed all the way up to 20th. Considering their history over the past 15 seasons, that’s not too shabby. I felt pretty good about that ranking. Until I read what the jackass who scribbled the article in crayon had to say.

The twit responsible for the drivel stated he was unsure of how the Pirates had pulled within 2 games of .500. So right off the bat he revealed he does about as much research when it comes to baseball as I do when it comes to nuclear physics. If you watched any Pirate game this season, you’d see a sea change in their attitude. They never quit and never say die. They may not have as much talent as the team they face, but they do not let that deter them. They still scrap, claw and scramble for any run, catch, throw or edge they can get. They know they are not the most talented team in the league. But their play may show they are one of the most determined.

The twit goes on to make the obligatory dig saying in not so many words that it is very impressive they’ve achieved this feat considering the fact that they are the Pirates. Sure an annoyingly wicked burn, but a deserved one nonetheless. I’ll concede that; after all, I’ve followed this team even if from the periphery at times for the past 20+ years. I do know the truth behind his statement.

But then he continues into a realm I cannot follow. He states that if the Pirates can continue in this fashion, playing close to .500 ball, they should use it to their advantage. I agree. But his suggestion to this point is to not think about competing but instead trade Jason Bay, Xavier Nady and whomever else from which they can get value. Sell high on their talent, basically, for prospects and future players.

What? Really? Trade the players they’ve trained, nurtured, took an opportunity and chance on for young blood that they can once again train, teach and mold? And what happens in a few years with this new blood? What happens in 2010 or 2011 when these prospects show some promise? Trade them too? Give them up for 50 cents on the dollar as well?

No, no more. None of that. I’m tired of giving away the hints of hope for a better future for magic beans and to seed, again, the few big spending powerhouses of the MLB. Believe me, every time I see Tim Wakefield take the mound for those jerk off Red Sox it burns me to know he learned how to be a major league pitcher in Pittsburgh, but we never were able to see him reach his full potential.

Why the hell should the Pirates, or the Royals Twins or Rockies for that matter, trade their potential present for an uncertain future anymore? Why should we give up on a few good players that could make the next 2-4 years really exciting for the fan bases just to acquire players that MIGHT make the next 4-8 years exciting? Why should we trade away good players that we have taken the time to teach, train and mold only to watch them succeed elsewhere? Why should we, as fans and organizations, settle as being nothing more than a minor league training facility for the likes of the Red Sox, Yankees and the 2-4 other at the moment prominent teams in MLB? No, no more.

I personally am tired of being a training team for the elite 4 teams in MLB. I’m tired of watching good players work their way through our system to the point they become overpriced by MLB standards for the Pirates, only to become high priced great players elsewhere. I’m tired of the me first; pay me now attitude of players, and more pointedly their agents, that care nothing for tradition and only about the green. I’m tired of being a doormat because my team cannot outspend the two biggest jerk bullies on the block.

No, no more. As a fan, I’m putting my foot down to this method of running a team. This attitude of the MLB and this acceptance to everyone who considers themselves a fan such as this twit from SI.com who wrote the article that a lesser team must give up any player it hopes to be good one day in order to stockpile questionable prospects. No, no more. If you want these players, develop them your damn selves. These are ours. You cannot have them. If you want them, give up something of equal or greater value in return. Otherwise, go spend your money on facelifts, therapy or tiddlywinks. I care not.

If the MLB really cared about overcoming the NFL as the nation’s top sport, they’d agree. But I know they don’t, and I can tell they don’t care. If they did, they’d make efforts to make sure old school teams like the Pirates could keep up. Instead, they prefer to pimp yet ANOTHER Yankees/Red Sox series that NO ONE outside of New England and New York gives two hoots about. But for some asinine reason, Bud Selig thinks everyone in the world stops in their tracks whenever the Sox and Yanks play.

Hey Bud, guess what? We DON’T CARE! Is that emphatic enough for you? We want to watch our own teams play, succeed and win. Once you get that through your nerdy, thick skull, you might find a way to turn around this mess called Major League Baseball.

Look, if a current Pirate at the end of his contract would rather chase an insane payday than stick with the team that believed in him from the start, fine let him go. I have no time or patience for someone that values the fleeting dollar over the long term glory of a winning squad. Mind you I don’t blame them. They are merely taking advantage of a climate in which they can benefit financially. The current screwed up economics of baseball reward that sort of attitude. But I’d rather have a team stocked with hungry, if not supernaturally talented, players who would rather be part of something special than cash a check they’d never be able to spend in their life times. Perhaps I’m naïve, or perhaps I just still believe in the dream born from the Elysian Fields once roamed by players of yore. Either way, I prefer my vision of baseball over the twisted Dali-esque scene played out before fans nowadays.

And to the nimrod at SI.com who tows the company line and feels the Pirates, and I’m sure other teams in their financial and talent bracket, should trade in their handful of gems for two mules and a calf, shame on you. How can you call yourself a true baseball fan and support a system that rewards guns for hire and overblown sporting corporations and buries the little guy? That certainly is not the American way in what was once considered the ultimate American sport.