Who's the worst team in Pittsburgh?

[Mad City Mike]

Five days ago, most would have said the Pens, having bought into yet another winter of lying by the Pirates. Not no more. It's only 4 games in, but we can see that the rot that is that franchise is stinking as loud as ever. Where to start?

1. Our bullpen is the strength of our team.

Lie. You have no closer. You have given up 11 runs in as many innings. This is shaping up jsut like 2003, when they said the same thing but the bullpen imploded.

2. Joe Randa is an upgrade at third base.

Lie. Just look at his stats compared to Sanchez last year. Why they didn't go after Cory Koskie when the Jays were giving him away defies belief.

3. Jeromy Burnitz is an upgrade in right field.

Lie. he is just a much older version of Craig Wilson.

4. Jim Tracy is a better manager than LloydMcClendon.

Lie. They have lost four straight close games. These are the games in which managers make a difference. This is also the guy who thinks Victor Friggin Santos should start the second game just because he's right handed. I have seen Santos' act out here the last few years and he is simply not a major league pitcher. Heaven forbid we lose him back to the Royals. The world as we know it would end.

Sorry, but this franchise is as messed up as it always was. It makes me laugh that they respond to Littlebrain's contract extension by going out and losing 4 straight. Pretty fitting, don't you think?

[Kicksave]

You make some good comments but to say that Jim Tracy isn't as good as Lloyd McClendon as a manager is a complete and utter joke.

[Mad City Mike]

You make some good comments but to say that Jim Tracy isn't as good as Lloyd McClendon as a manager is a complete and utter joke.

Okay, tell me what is dumber, Mac thinking Tike Redman could hit third or Tracy putting Victor Santos out there the second game of the season?

It really raised my eyebrows the way he mangled the sixth inning in the opener. He let Perez hit with the sacks full, but in the bottom of the inning took him out because he was tired after throwing maybe 10 more pitches. Then he replaced Torres with Marte, which allows Yost to bring up his best PH, Jeff Cirrillo. Now which matchup would you rather have, Torres vs Gabe Gross or Marte (who isn't even in game shape yet) vs Cirrillo. I think it's obvious to everyone but Tracy that he made the wrong move there.

[MrKnowNothing]

Yeah, but we're four games into the season. Baseball is a marathon, and history overwhelmingly indicates that Tracy >>> McClendon.

I don't understand why people even care much about the Pirates. You've gotta know that they are going to suck, no matter what. I still call myself a fan, but I don't have any intense feelings one way or the other, because all you are going to do is waste your time.

[ExPatriatePen]

... all you are going to do is waste your time.

Amen.

Living in NY the fans up here are already talking about the upcoming off-season and who'll they'll be able to steal from other ball clubs - And we're still in the first week of the season.

If that doesn't tell you how screwed up MLB is, nothing will.

[Daniel]

If that doesn't tell you how screwed up MLB is, nothing will.

While I don't necessarily disagree with the "mlb is screwed up" conclusion, I do disagree with the attitude that stealing free agents it what is hurting the sport.

Look at the past WS winners, other than the Red Sox, the last what 6 WS winners were homegrown teams. Arizona, Anaheim, Florida, ChiSox. The Yankees quit winning when they quit depending on homegrown talent.

I think the problem is that teams like the Pirates don't want to have a tightly run organization and continue to whine about economics while the Brewers and Twins are building good teams.

[Goalie]

1. Our bullpen is the strength of our team.

Lie. You have no closer. You have given up 11 runs in as many innings. This is shaping up jsut like 2003, when they said the same thing but the bullpen imploded.

2. Joe Randa is an upgrade at third base.

Lie. Just look at his stats compared to Sanchez last year. Why they didn't go after Cory Koskie when the Jays were giving him away defies belief.

3. Jeromy Burnitz is an upgrade in right field.

Lie. he is just a much older version of Craig Wilson.

4. Jim Tracy is a better manager than LloydMcClendon.

Lie. They have lost four straight close games. These are the games in which managers make a difference. This is also the guy who thinks Victor Friggin Santos should start the second game just because he's right handed. I have seen Santos' act out here the last few years and he is simply not a major league pitcher. Heaven forbid we lose him back to the Royals. The world as we know it would end.

The only reason Santos is on the team is because of his Rule 5 status. Dejan has said it on a few occassions on the radio and in print that Tracy has responded to the questions about Santos with that response. Now I would have just let Santos go, Rule 5 or not but that is why he is on the team. Also who cares if he starts the opener, second, third or whatever. It makes no difference. It splits up the lefties, who also happen to be the three best pitchers on the staff, and avoids having Duke and Malholm back to back who are similar pitchers.

Gonzalez is the closer and I would really like to let him attempt to close a few games before saying the Pirates do not have one. Gonzalez has been very good as a reliever I think he at least deserves the chance to close games before we declare him incapable of doing it.

Randa is an upgrade at 3rd in my opinion and at worst it makes the infield depth stronger as a whole. I like Sanchez as a backup guy who can pinch hit a lot more than as an everday starter. Randa makes the Pirates a deeper team at worst.

I would have called Burnitz a left handed version of Craig Wilson but older works too. Burnitz has to be a better right fielder than Wilson too by default.

Tracy is a better manager than McClendon. He probably mishandled the Perez situation but then again Perez has as many clutch RBI hits as anyone else on the team so maybe he felt he was his best option at the plate in the top of the inning.

Its not Tracy's fault that the bullpen is terrible, he has used all of them and they have all burned him in the late innings. Like it or not the bullpen has to carry this team because the starters have so much inexperience its only natural there are going to be ups and downs with them.

[Kicksave]

Santos is the #2 for a few reasons.

1) You don't want to have Duke, Snell, Mahalom as your #2.

and, most importantly...

2) With this pitching rotation, it ends up that Duke is pitching the opener at PNC Park next week.