Why Compete ? Well Why Not ? We Try To But We Can’t ……

I know longer worry about the alleged competitive aspect that there’s said to be within Major League Baseball . OK, so one can subscribe to the fact that over the last few years we’ve seen several different teams win the World Series . While commendable it really doesn’t hide the fact that there’s still something inherently wrong with the game. Not only is it somewhat troubling , it also seems to be of no real importance to the game’s hierarchy. One would’ve thought that it’d be of the utmost importance to the the commissioner , Bud Selig .

Pirates' left fielder Brandon Moss is unable to get to the triple hit by the Milwaukee Brewers' Mike Cameron in a game played at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pa,. The Pirates, however , would go on to win the game 8-7. picture appears courtesy og ap/photo/ Gene J Puskar ..................

When looking at teams such as the Pittsburgh Pirates (42-52) , one sees a team that for all sense and purpose , being competitive is no longer part of it their being , if it ever where there to begin with in the first place. They’ve become a moribund franchise within baseball and are the ‘the laughing stock of the league’ for all sense and purpose. It wasn’t so long ago that the game’s hierarchy were proposing to contract one or two teams within the game of baseball , stating that they weren’t financially viable. The two teams in question at the time were said to be the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays , as they were then known at the time. Nowhere , were the Pittsburgh Pirates mentioned in all of this when the exercise was being considered.

Granted, both Florida franchises were struggling to gain traction as far as attendance went , let alone be competitive. But if anything , they did produce a product on the field in terms of players who were willing to actually play a competitive game of baseball. No one can subscribe to the fact that the Pittsburgh Pirate have actually made the effort to do that at all over the last decade , if not longer ! This is a baseball club that borders on inanity from its upper echelons on down. And when one looks at the standings , other than the San Diego Padres(37-58) and Washington Nationals (28-66) , you won’t find another team comparable when it comes to showing sheer ineptitude within the National League.

The Pirates' Adam La Roche (left) sits in the dugout alongside his brother Andy La Roche during the game played against the Milwaukee Brewers, yesterday. picture appears courtesy of ap/photo/ Gene J Puskar .......................

One can surmise that the Pirates’ struggles are just like that of any other small or mid-market team within the league. But when it becomes repetitive in nature and the same excuse is being constantly used year in , year out to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the teams lack of competitiveness. It surely begins to grate on the minds of the fans of the team and generally for the observers of the game. Not once have I ever heard the likes of ESPN’s analysts Tim Kurkjian or Peter Gammons address this very issue head on. And as knowledgeable and insightful as they both are about the game. I find it somewhat galling that they fail to address it. But their masters if anything, has both them on a tight leash , not wanting to annoy the hierarchy of Major League Baseball with anything openly critical as to how they run the game. Then , so be it !

And the Pirates under the watchful eye of GM Neal Huntington , Team President Frank Coonelly and the team’s manager John Russell have remained anything but relevant. As their struggles have become an ever present thing. Each year we’re told that they’ve got a great ‘farm system’ and that future is very bright for the team. Not wanting to burst their bubble , if that were the case , we would be seeing some semblance of that with regard to there being productivity on the field in terms of their play. Rather than there being the constant upheaval either with the team’s roster and its management strucrture.

Robert Nutting the principal partner in the ownership structure of the Pittsburgh Pirates. picture appears courtesy of afp/photo/ Michael Thompson ..................

Principal partner in the team’s ownership , Robert Nutting seems to be at a loss for words, as to how to explain the team’s ineptitude. But one would guess that as long as they’re said to be getting their part of the league’s luxury tax-sharing revenue , that’s paid out to the small and mid-market teams. Then the lack of success on the field will continue have its financial benefits off the field for the team’s partnership structure. And for the fans of the Pirates they too ,can wallow in the depths of the ineptitude being shown by the organization. Afterall , what would ownership care about them to begin with ? Just as long as they’re prepared to pay to witness the ineptitude on diamond. Then they’ll continue to conjure up and serve up more of the same.

Adam La Roche (right) is seen here alongside Pirates' manager John Russell in the dugout at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. This was prior to the announcement being made that the player was to be traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for two minor league prospects. picture appears courtesy of Pittsbugh Tribune Review/ Christopher Horner ..............

With yesterday’s spectacle of witnessing the team trade away the best player on their roster , in Adam La Roche to the Boston Red Sox in exhange for two minor league prospects in right handed starter Hunter Strickland and shortstop Argenis Diaz. Well , if anything it could be looked upon as being back to the drawing board as the team once again seeks to rebuild. But as alluded to before it’s more of the same old horse-play on the part of the Pirates’ organization.

One would have to go back to the Jim Leyland era when the Pirates had a great deal of resonance within the game. And that was when the team had on its roster Barry ‘Lamarr’ Bonds and Bobby Bonilla . In addition to Bonds and Bonilla on the team’s roster at the time there was also Andy Van Slyke , Jay Bell , Steve Buechele , Mike LaValliere , Sid Bream , Jose Lind , Doug Drabek , John Smiley and Stan Belinda. And consistency was the norm for the team under Jim Leyland, then , as the team’s manager.

The McClatchy / Littlefield reign of the nineties , wherein, the team squandered what little goodwill they had within the city. It has merely brought about an endemic process of systematic changes. The cost-cutting that took place was drastic . Payroll was cut and the team in the form that it took was barely recognizable from their heyday under Jim Leyland. And once the McClatchy family and their partner saw fit to rid themselves of the team. It has to be said, you knew you were in for more of the same. It goes to the old addage …….. the more things on appearance looks to have changed. In effect the more still, things remain unchanged. It is the enigma and the puzzle that the fans of baseball have now come to know as the Pittsburgh Pirates. They’re not about to change for anyone , anytime soon. Despite what they may appear to do , or lead you to believe otherwise.

Pirates' player Ryan Doumit heads for home plate in the game against the Brewers. Inset in the background is the Brewers' pitcher Jeff Suppan. picture appears courtesy of ap/photo/ Gene J Puskar .................

The sad fact for baseball and in particular its fans. It is that whilst we have a hierarchy that’s merely concerned about its image. Rather than what’s best for the game, we will continue to see the likes of Pirates exist marginally on the fringes of the game of baseball. And be there purely as a source for other teams to plunder their roster and to do with as they as please. If you’re not of that belief then look around , just to see what’s indeed happening within the game. Whilst it’s veiwed as , that there’s being nothing wrong. It can’t at all be viewed as being healthy for the future of the game as we know it.