Turning The Corner
Long Process Continues For Pirates
By Jim Lachimia

If there's something wrong with you, generally people will point it out. Again and again. And the harshest criticism you ever receive usually comes from inside your own home - or in the Pittsburgh Pirates' case, your own hometown.

The Pittsburgh sports media continually - and justifiably - reminds its readers, viewers and listeners that the Pirates have now posted 13 consecutive losing seasons - which ties them with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers for the longest such streak in professional sports.

That's a dubious distinction to be sure, but are the Pirates a "national joke" as more than one local columnist sometimes calls them? Is that how the Pirates are viewed across the country? Or are they looked upon as a franchise that has gotten its house in order and is about to enter a better era?

At least a few members of the national media aren't quite as jaded toward the Pirates as the local media seems to be.

"National joke is an exaggeration," Baseball America Magazine Executive Editor Jim Callis said. "To me, a joke is if you're losing 100 games year after year after year. To me, the Kansas City Royals are a joke right now. The Pirates may not matter a whole lot on the national stage, but I wouldn't call them a joke."

"I think that's too strong. The Pirates are not a national joke," said long-time USA Today baseball writer Mel Antonen. "They've had some problems. They've tried some things that didn't work, and whenever you make a mistake in baseball - particularly at the small market level - it takes awhile to recover. The Pirates are in the process of recovering."

The low point during that 13-year stretch came in 2001, the year PNC Park opened amid much pomp and circumstance, and Pittsburgh finished a very disappointing 62-100. But the Pirates haven't had a season like the 43-119 disaster the Detroit Tigers had in 2003, or the 51-111 catastrophe the Arizona Diamondbacks endured in 2004. Nonetheless, having something in common with the Clippers - even though that team is having a successful 2005-2006 season - isn't desirable for any franchise.

"Yeah, but the Clippers have never won (a championship) and the Pirates have," Fox Sports baseball analyst Jeff Torborg said. "Even in the last several years when the Pirates have struggled, I haven't looked at it like the Clippers' situation. Okay, it's 13 years without a winning season or whatever, but at times the Pirates have played very well over those years."

Last month, at the press conference that unveiled their "We Will" branding campaign, the Pirates proclaimed, "We are turning the corner in all aspects of our organization." Ask the national media if the Pirates are indeed turning the corner - on the field and otherwise - and opinions vary a bit. However, there does seem to be genuine respect for the job that Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield is doing and what new manager Jim Tracy brings to the table.

"It will be interesting to see, but I think they might be a surprise team this year - not just in the division, maybe in the league," Torborg said. "Jim has great respect for Dave and the two of them are going to do a great job together.

"You have young pitching there. That's what's being thought around baseball about the Pirates - 'Watch out for their young pitching.' And then you add Sean Casey and Joe Randa and Jeromy Burnitz - and you start to have something. You've got something special there with Jim Tracy and this coaching staff, and that normally translates into some success."

"The Pirates are looked at as a team that is up and coming because they've cleared out the payroll, they have payroll flexibility, and now it's a matter of developing players," Antonen said. "Can they do it? Yeah, I think they can. But the biggest thing about the Pirates that gives them credibility is that payroll flexibility. Payroll flexibility, and some good-looking prospects coming up."

Virtually everyone knows that the Pirates' last winning season was in 1992 when they posted a 96-66 mark under skipper Jim Leyland and then lost to Atlanta in that memorable seven-game National League Championship Series. Since then, the Braves have not only finished above .500 every year, they've won their division every year.

Atlanta GM John Schuerholz is a stately gentleman who chooses his words carefully. So naturally, he was somewhat reluctant to comment on the stark contrast in what has happened to the Braves and the Pirates since they met in that 1992 playoff series. However, he did say: "There was a time when Pittsburgh was just a dynamo in the baseball world. Pittsburgh was once regarded as one of the very top towns in our industry. I'd love to see that happen again. Dave Littlefield and his staff are working hard to build back the franchise, and if that happens, it's going to be a great circumstance for the city. If the Pirates can get themselves into a position where they can contend again and get into a playoff a time or two - I think it's possible that it could be like Pittsburgh used to be."

During a recent interview on KDKA Radio, Buster Olney, the senior baseball writer for ESPN - The Magazine, cited the Pirates' young pitching - led by Zach Duke and Paul Maholm - as the main reason optimism can be justified in Pittsburgh.

"The Pirates could be the rabbit that we're talking about in May and June this year because of their young pitching," he said. "They have a chance to make an impact, especially early in the year. I don't think they're a contender, but they're an interesting team."

Callis' assessment of where the Pirates stand entering the 2006 season was not quite as charitable. He's not as convinced as others that the Pirates have turned the corner.

"With the big league team, I don't think anyone is expecting them to contend this year, and you have to be pretty optimistic to see them contending in two or three years," Callis said. "They had some nice pitchers break through a little bit last year, but still offensively, it looks like they need a lot of help. To me, they look like a team that will win in the neighborhood of 75 to 77 games for the next couple of years. They are improving some, but they still have a lot of work to do."

Nowadays society is very much "what have you done for me lately?" Antonen believes what gets lost sometimes is that just because a certain plan doesn't work, doesn't mean it was idiotic or ill conceived.

"If a certain plan doesn't work out, it doesn't work out," he said. "It doesn't mean somebody is an idiot or they don't know what they're doing. Now are there incompetent general managers? Yeah, I suppose there are. But there are more plans that don't work than do work. The media and the fans have lost the ability to be patient. Everybody wants to win now. And they're forgetting the fun of building a team and watching it grow."