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At least Bucs have a plan
Video: Bay trade
GM discusses trade with BoSox
Audio: Wilson on Bay
Wonders who will be around
Audio: Bautista on job loss
Was Pirates' third baseman
Joe Starkey can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7810.
They'd point to Thursday's blockbuster trade, which sent Jason Bay to Boston, Manny Ramirez to Los Angeles and four apparently promising prospects to Pittsburgh, as a large step in the right direction.
A pessimist would say the cheapskate Pirates are never going to escape the sad cycle of trading their best players for suspects and rejects and that 16 years of losing will turn to 25 before you can say, "We Will."
They'd point to yesterday's trade as another large step into a pile of you-know-what.
Me? I'm somewhere in between, leaning toward the optimistic viewpoint.
And I know this much: Signing Bay to a lucrative extension worth more than $10 million annually wasn't going to solve a darn thing.
Bay, who had one year left on his contract, was a tremendous player for most of his time here, one of the more productive outfielders in the National League. Beyond that, he was as classy and humble as any star athlete you'll meet.
One statistic says a lot. Bay left with the fourth-best career slugging percentage (.515) in club history, topped only by Willie Stargell (.529), Ralph Kiner (.567) and Brian Giles (.591).
But it wasn't like Bay was a drawing card. It wasn't like people made pilgrimmages to PNC Park just to watch him play, or that folks will line up with pitch forks outside club offices this morning.
Attendance stinks. The team wasn't very good even with Bay and Xavier Nady forming two-thirds of the most productive outfield in baseball. The Pirates were on pace to lose 87 games when Nady was traded to the Yankees last week.
Frankly, it can't get much worse, unless you consider 95 losses considerably less palatable than 87.
The way I see it, losing a lot the rest of this season and all of next would be a blessing in the form of higher first-round picks. And if fewer people come to the ballpark, how, exactly, would you be able to tell?
The park is half-filled on average. The Pirates have the second-worst attendance (19,491 per game) in the majors. So what if it drops a little.
Meanwhile, the minor-league system is in shambles, and while some have suggested the Pirates did not acquire a cornerstone player in the Bay deal, the verdict on this trade cannot fairly be rendered for at least a few years.
Maybe longer, considering the player with the highest upside might be 21-year-old power pitcher Bryan Morris, who has recovered from Tommy John surgery and is throwing well in Class A. He is a "top-shelf prospect," according to Baseball America.
The others - third baseman Andy LaRoche, outfielder Brandon Moss and right-handed reliever Craig Hansen - all have been considered top prospects at one time or another but have yet to make a mark in the major leagues.
Now, they'll get their chance.
After the Nady trade, I asked general manager Neal Huntington if his plan to build with young talent could be correlated in any way to what the Penguins have done.
"We feel we're moving in that direction," he said. "Obviously, Sidney Crosby and other young players you put into the system are going right into the NHL, so it's a lot easier to have that dramatic turnaround.
"In baseball, it's not quite that easy. That's where depth becomes important. You have to have multiple options and can't be relying on just one or two key pieces."
The next step better be to sign first-round draft pick Pedro Alvarez, no matter the cost, by the Aug. 15 deadline.
At that point, the Pirates can point to Nate McLouth, Ryan Doumit, Alvarez, Andrew McCutchen and whoever emerges from the bevy of recent draft picks and recently acquired prospects as tangible signs of a better future.
Nothing is guaranteed, of course. Huntington might prove every bit as unskilled as his predecessors. Owner Bob Nutting might never spend enough money to field a legitimate contender.
But I'm willing to give this thing a chance.
At least there's a plan.
