The present is bleak and so is the future

[Draftnik]

The present is bleak and so is the future

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06141/691972-194.stm

Leyland deserves better ownership than the McClatchy-G. Ogden Nutting group. He's working with a better general manager, Dave Dombrowski. He has better players

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06141/691853-87.stm


These guys sound like a couple of jilted lovers. Their Pirate loving hearts are broken.

ESPN wants to show games that people watch so their ratings are higher and they get more $$$ for their commercials. Why in the world would anybody be interested in watching the Pirates over the Yankees?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06141/691981-150.stm

[Goalie]

The present is bleak and so is the future

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06141/691972-194.stm

Leyland deserves better ownership than the McClatchy-G. Ogden Nutting group. He's working with a better general manager, Dave Dombrowski. He has better players

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06141/691853-87.stm


These guys sound like a couple of jilted lovers. Their Pirate loving hearts are broken.

ESPN wants to show games that people watch so their ratings are higher and they get more $$$ for their commercials. Why in the world would anybody be interested in watching the Pirates over the Yankees?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06141/691981-150.stm

Smizik cracks me up because as he said he was supportive of the moves from the beginning. The Burnitz move was a bad one because they Burnitz in the form of Craig Wilson. As Tim Benz pointed out this morning on the radio though Littlefield has wanted Burnitz for years and he finally got him. As I type this Burnitz comes up with a big two out hit to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

I thought the Randa move was okay, for me it gave the Pirates better depth and a better bench. I would not have handed him the 3B job like they did. I think though it would have been a better move to decide Bautista was going to be here all year and use him at 3B, CF or wherever depending on how Sanchez played but thats a different story.

I liked the Casey move, it gave the Pirates a quality major league bat to protect Bay, granted he does not hit a lot of home runs but he does hit for a high average. (Since 1999 he has only been under .310 twice, one time hitting .291 and .261 in 2002 when he only played 120 games).

What makes all the moves dubious is that in some way they block a younger player the Pirates should be either trying to develop or just finding out if they can play a full season. I think it would have been a lot easier to see the direction of this team if Eldred was playing 1B, Wilson in right and Bautista/Sanchez at 3B. The real question that should be asked is why the Pirates continue to bring in aging veterans instead of finding out about the talent in their system.

Collier's column is just another way to point out how bad the Pirates have been, which I have to give him credit for finding a new way to say it.

Also a real nice job by Ron Cook to skip over the fact that Florida management bought Jim Leyland his world series title.

[Draftnik]

I don't know much about any of the guys the Pirates picked up except to say signing UFAs is usually a bad move in any sport unless the team is a player or 2 away from contending and the UFAs are the final pieces. Raising a budget and spending $$$ for the sake of spending $$$ without spending it wisely is obviously a foolish move in any business.

In general I find it hard to believe that any good player would willingly sign with the Pirates since most good teams spend plenty of $$$ so they would outbid the Pirates and the players would probably take less $$$ to play for a legitimate organIzation.

I get a kick out of how hurt the PG columnists are by the Bucs plight, especially since they praised Littlefield for years as an alleged good MLB mind.

I think the next 6 weeks are huge for the McClatchy group. The MLB media that never thinks about the Pirates will be descending on the city and also doing stories on the Bucs in advance of the All Star game. If the Pirates are still mired in a .333 clip they will get killed by the Pete Gammons of the world, especially when their long term suckdom is juxtaposed against the Steel.

I also think if there is ever a chance the 15K to 20K figure out the only way they will get a better product is to abandon the crap they've been served for 14 years it will be after the All Star game.

[the wicked child]

The thing that amazes me is that Benz and co. have been downright brutal towards Randa (who admittedly sucked when he was playing, but has been out hurt for some time now), while completely ignoring the total disaster that is jeremy Burnitz. He has about 3 clutch hits this eyar and ahs struck out/popped up nearly every other at bat. He also routinely fails to track down fly balls near the wall, often humorously so.

I wasn't aware that Tike Redman was back in the form of a white guy in his 30s.

[HomerPenguin]

Also a real nice job by Ron Cook to skip over the fact that Florida management bought Jim Leyland his world series title.

Don't forget Eric Gregg and the 9-foot wide strike zone he gave Livan Hernandez in game 7 of the ALCS. The last pitch Hernandez threw, which went for a called strike three, has unsuccessfully roamed the planet in search of a strike zone to this day.

Cook has always exhibited a creepy level of man-love for Leyland. Of course he's going to ignore what really happened in Florida.