AS the 2005 season enters its final stages, the Pirates are rapidly sinking toward what could be baseball’s worst won-loss record other than Kansas City. If there’s one certainty for Bucs’ fans, it’s that the spin, which is the only real talent the team’s management possesses, will come fast and furiously. We’ll hear all about how difficult it is to win games when a team is breaking in young players. The team’s unofficial slogan since the 100-loss fiasco of 2001 has been, “Young = Losing, Veteran = Winning.” But how much truth is there to the Bucco Mantra?

by Wilbur Miller

SOME of the discussions here recently led me to think about the reasons for the Pirates’ plight over the past 13 years. Much of the discussion centers, of course, on bad decisions at the GM level, because as fans that’s what we notice: trades, free agent signings and the like. When you’re a Pirate fan, these moves can take on added significance, because they’ve been so bad most of the time. Most baseball fans probably don’t even know what the Rule 5 draft is, but I’ll bet virtually all more-than-casual Pirate fans do.