Adrift On The Allegheny
Pirates Sailing Different Course
By John E. Sacco

Only the names on the back of the uniforms seem to change for the Pirates.

The losing, poor decisions and bad luck seem constant.

Now, after a most difficult April, the Pirates are faced with yet another losing season – their 13th in succession.

They are joined currently by NL Central Division partner Milwaukee at 12 consecutive losing seasons. Detroit and Kansas City have been nearly as futile in the past dozen years.

The problem for these four teams in addition to low payroll – although that has changed in the past two seasons for the Tigers – is poor personnel decisions and trades that went awry.

The Pirates, in particular, have had a run of bad trades, fruitless drafts and an inability to develop their own talent.

Under General Manager Dave Littlefield, who took over a miserable situation in mid-season 2001, the organization has tried to piece together teams by adding low-priced, veteran free agents to supplement the starting lineup. The tact changed a bit last season when a number of rookies made the 25-man roster out of spring training. But this season, the Pirates went back to their system of adding starters through free agency – a la catcher Benito Santiago – and through trades, dealing off pricey backstop Jason Kendall and eventually ending up with pitcher Mark Redman and outfielder Matt Lawton.

Whatever the Pirates have tried hasn’t seemed to work.

And it has left a number of people wondering if they actually brought their best 25 men to Pittsburgh when the season opened, as most observers felt starting pitcher Zach Duke, catcher Ryan Doumit and outfielder Chris Duffy performed better than others who made the Opening Day roster.

The Pirates had their reasons for returning those three to the minors, citing a lack of experience above the Class AA level by all three – and the fact that their major league service time would begin, meaning their date for being arbitration-eligible would come sooner than the team would prefer.

Other low payroll teams, though, seem to be more confident in the ability of their younger players, and more adept at getting them ready for the majors.

TRADE WINS

Oakland has been outstanding in bringing quality talent to its big-league team when trading off high-priced veterans.

The Athletics averaged 97 victories over the past five seasons, qualifying for the post-season four times – largely on the arms of the Big Three (Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito). Now, Oakland is relying on the New Three – Danny Haren, Joe Blanton and Dan Meyer, although Meyer failed to make the team out of spring training. Haren and Blanton toil behind No. 1 and No. 2 starters Zito and Rich Harden – another Oakland organization product.

The New Three entered this season with six major league wins between them – all belonging to Haren.

As’ General Manager Billy Beane traded Hudson to Atlanta and brought Meyer as part of the package. He dealt Mulder to St. Louis and received Haren as part of that transaction.

Neither deal would have been consummated without either being included. Beane also added a quality set-up man in Kiko Calero.

That is where a large difference can be seen between Oakland and Pittsburgh. When the A’s have traded marquee players, specifically pitchers, they have received top-notch major league ready prospects in return.

Some think Haren is destined for greatness. Meyer was considered Atlanta’s minor-league pitching jewel.

The Pirates, in turn, traded Aramis Ramirez to the Cubs and pitcher Kris Benson to the Mets and have just reserve infielder Bobby Hill and non-productive third baseman Ty Wigginton to show for it at the major league level.

Poor trades, or ones made under financial duress, continue to sting the Pirates. Jason Schmidt was jettisoned to San Francisco, where he has developed into one of the top five pitchers in the league. All the Pirates had left from that deal is underachieving and inconsistent pitcher Ryan Vogelsong.

They traded promising minor-league pitcher Chris Young and others to Montreal for Matt Herges a few years back. Herges was released in spring training before a deadline that would have forced the Pirates to pay his entire salary that season.

He went on to lead San Francisco in saves in 2004. Young is a member of Texas’ starting rotation this year.

Credit Littlefield for prying Oliver Perez and Jason Bay from San Diego in the Brian Giles trade. Despite a poor April, hopes are still high regarding Perez.

Those kinds of deals have been too few for the Pirates.

DOWN ON THE FARM

And unlike the Twins, who have done a tremendous job developing their own talent, the Pirates have swung and missed time and again with the likes of Chad Hermansen, J.J. Davis and Benson. A number of pitchers, including Bobby Bradley, Sean Burnett and John Van Benschoten – all No. 1 picks – have suffered arm or elbow injuries that required major surgery and hindered their progress.

Minnesota, on the other hand, continues to add talent to its big-league roster through its system. During spring training, the Twins released power-hitting outfielder Michael Restovich. He was a player who was said to be highly sought after at last season’s trading deadline. The Pirates were said to be interested in him as part of a deal for Benson. Minnesota just did not have room for Restovich.

But the Twins’ rise is in the face of a difficult financial situation.

Each year, their lack of resources causes them to not retain important players.

In recent years they have lost David Ortiz, an integral part of Boston’s World Series championship team in 2004, relievers Eddie Guardardo and LaTroy Hawkins, starter Eric Milton and this past off-season the left side of their infield, third baseman Corey Koskie and shortstop Christian Guzman.

PERFECT MODEL

But it seems the Twins – the three-time defending champions of the AL Central – always have someone to step in, or they add the needed piece through a trade.

Last year, Joe Nathan was brought in from San Francisco and became a premier closer. They traded Milton to Philadelphia for Carlos Silva, who won 14 games and logged more than 200 innings. They also traded for outfielder Shannon Stewart, who became a large part of the offense.

“Every year is the same,” Minnesota Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We come in and we have things we have to fill. We have to find people every year. Last year it was the bullpen. This year we were looking for the whole left side of our infield…It’s not like we can just go out on the market and just buy a guy and he’s locked in. That doesn’t happen.

“That’s where we’re at. You can sit here and worry about it, or you can let these guys go play and see what happens. That’s what we do.”

While Oakland grounds almost all of its player procurement on statistics, Minnesota does it the old-fashioned way. The Twins and GM Terry Ryan lean on their scouts to help make a decision.

Alan Baird, Kansas City’s GM, said no team does a better job of summer coverage, of scouting and digging, than the Twins. He said Minnesota’s commitment during the summer in terms of signability and developing relationships, all the way through, makes it a model organization.

The former small-market model was Cleveland.

The Indians built a strong team in the 1990s by taking advantage of their new ballpark – Jacobs Field – and signing their young players to long-term contracts. While they got close a couple of times, the Indians never claimed the World Series title and eventually tore the team apart.

They have rebuilt by developing their own players and adding pieces that make sense.

While they contended for a good part of 2004, they fell apart in mid-August and did not recover. Cleveland was a trendy pick to win the AL Central this season but their April was not what pundits expected.

Nonetheless, the Indians continue to build from within and look to be on the right course again.

As for the Pirates, the ship seems like it continues to sink so far away from contention that it may never float that way again.

John E. Sacco has covered the Pirates and major league baseball for PSR since 1998.