Thanks a lot, guys.
This week’s column was going to be a scathing look at the reign of futility that has dogged Pittsburgh’s National League franchise for the better part of two decades. Pittsburgh, perhaps more than any other franchise in baseball, exemplifies the loser’s mentality that some small-market teams have exhibited since the 1994 work stoppage.
The team is cheap, the front office is clueless and the scouting department could find a lump of coal in a room full of diamonds. The destruction of this once-proud franchise is a sad and shameful indictment of baseball under Bud Selig’s regime, where ownership incompetence is encouraged as long as you have a taxpayer-funded stadium and stick to the slot recommendations.
The Mets were supposed to storm through a half-empty PNC Park this week, take at least three out of four games from the Pirates and depart for the nation’s capital as a first-place team.
Then the Pirates went out and slapped them silly.
JJ Putz’s latest meltdown on Monday was followed by yet another power outage by the Mets’ offense on Tuesday. A day of rain allowed the Mets to skip Tim Redding’s spot in the rotation, but yesterday’s 11-6 drubbing nevertheless completed the unlikeliest of sweeps for the Pirates.
No need to start printing those playoff tickets just yet.
Championship teams don’t often get swept by bottom feeders that go so far as to trade their best position player before the first day of summer. On Wednesday, the Pirates traded Nate McLouth, the team’s lone All-Star last year, to the Atlanta Braves for three prospects. They did this less than four months after signing McLouth to a three-year extension with a club option that bought out his first year of free agency.
How does a team with a payroll less than $50 million dump the salary of a player making only $2 million this season? When winning is not a priority and pride is only a theoretical concept to a team’s owners, anything can happen.
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