OnlyBucs

241106060D3406060D0A06630 wrote: The sooner they're up, the sooner they're out.  We hang onto the Polancos and Doumits of the world.  That's why we've had the awful record over the past 20 years.
I think that's the key. The Pirates are always reluctant to start the clock on a prospect because they are never ready to compete. They keep waiting for a miracle to make their noncompetitive team competitive and justify bringing up a prospect who could help while using up some of his control.




I think you're right....but, missing 50% of the equation.



Yinzers focus on the left side- entry; rarely focusing in the right side.



Been that way since before Barry Bonds.  Maybe as far back as Parker.



Inexperience might get you to the playoffs.  It will never win the World Series.  If it has, then prove me wrong.



Only once in the past 20 years has the Pirates roster been older than the champion.  That was one of the years when the Giants won.  And, it wasn't by much.



Why is that?



Because experience and salary are related.


________

Exactly, the future never gets here in Pittsburgh. That's why I only care about whats happening right now. I will worry about the future in the future.

5C697E7E754C7E7E75727E1B0 wrote: The sooner they're up, the sooner they're out.  We hang onto the Polancos and Doumits of the world.  That's why we've had the awful record over the past 20 years.
I think that's the key. The Pirates are always reluctant to start the clock on a prospect because they are never ready to compete. They keep waiting for a miracle to make their noncompetitive team competitive and justify bringing up a prospect who could help while using up some of his control.




I think you're right....but, missing 50% of the equation.



Yinzers focus on the left side- entry; rarely focusing in the right side.



Been that way since before Barry Bonds.  Maybe as far back as Parker.



Inexperience might get you to the playoffs.  It will never win the World Series.  If it has, then prove me wrong.



Only once in the past 20 years has the Pirates roster been older than the champion.  That was one of the years when the Giants won.  And, it wasn't by much.



Why is that?



Because experience and salary are related.


Exactly. It's literally a no win situation. An endless cycle of losing. They won't pay for experience to improve the team so they only want to use prospects and castoffs. But they don't want to promote the prospects to a hopeless MLB roster and waste years of control when their refusal to pay for proven, productive players results in a never ending hopeless roster. There's no strategy to create a roster sufficiently competitive to justify starting the clock on prospects by promoting them. Eventually, they can no longer justify keeping them in the minors and have to start the clock anyway while they play for a hopeless team until they get traded to avoid significant payroll increases or merely to get more prospects for them before they can joyfully move to a real MLB team via free agency.



The 2013-15 teams started increasing the payroll to get to at least hailing distance (about 75%) of the MLB average payroll. The result was 3 competitive teams culminating in the 2nd best record in MLB in 2015. But when he saw the price of competing, Nutting blew it all up and the 98 wins in 2015 became 78 in 2016 as the payroll and talent level has plummeted ever since.

In the 9th inning Joe Block had to explain what the game of "pepper" was after Wehner referenced it. Block always thinks his audience has no knowledge of baseball or baseball history and he has to explain everything to us. He tries to make every broadcast a clinic on the game of baseball and constantly enlists his color man to explain every nuance of the simplest occurrences in the game. And whenever the color man references a famous player from past decades Block always has to give us a quick thumbnail sketch of the player as if his audience has no clue who they are talking about. Block has never understood that the people who care enough to watch and listen already know baseball and are more interested in that game than in Block's never ending attempts to educate us about the obvious. Maybe tomorrow he can provide photos of players playing pepper so we can fully understand. ::)

446964757263743437060 wrote: The sooner they're up, the sooner they're out.  We hang onto the Polancos and Doumits of the world.  That's why we've had the awful record over the past 20 years.
I think that's the key. The Pirates are always reluctant to start the clock on a prospect because they are never ready to compete. They keep waiting for a miracle to make their noncompetitive team competitive and justify bringing up a prospect who could help while using up some of his control.




I think you're right....but, missing 50% of the equation.



Yinzers focus on the left side- entry; rarely focusing in the right side.



Been that way since before Barry Bonds.  Maybe as far back as Parker.



Inexperience might get you to the playoffs.  It will never win the World Series.  If it has, then prove me wrong.



Only once in the past 20 years has the Pirates roster been older than the champion.  That was one of the years when the Giants won.  And, it wasn't by much.



Why is that?



Because experience and salary are related.


Exactly. It's literally a no win situation. An endless cycle of losing. They won't pay for experience to improve the team so they only want to use prospects and castoffs. But they don't want to promote the prospects to a hopeless MLB roster and waste years of control when their refusal to pay for proven, productive players results in a never ending hopeless roster. There's no strategy to create a roster sufficiently competitive to justify starting the clock on prospects by promoting them. Eventually, they can no longer justify keeping them in the minors and have to start the clock anyway while they play for a hopeless team until they get traded to avoid significant payroll increases or merely to get more prospects for them before they can joyfully move to a real MLB team via free agency. 



The 2013-15 teams started increasing the payroll to get to at least hailing distance (about 75%) of the MLB average payroll. The result was 3 competitive teams culminating in the 2nd best record in MLB in 2015. But when he saw the price of competing, Nutting blew it all up and the 98 wins in 2015 became 78 in 2016 as the payroll and talent level has plummeted ever since. 


The McCutchen Experience lit the wick of the dynamite stick to this franchise, though no one will acknowldge it other than me. 



We all celebrated when Andrew signed his (team-friendly) pre-arb extension, and rightly so.  We commended the team for doing it.  Shed predicted- correctly- that there was no way on earth that BOB was going to live out the end of that deal (because Cutch would have been due $14 million.)  People jumped on him for writing it.   



Look at what transpired.



About 18 months before that contract ran out, Cutch had "problems," but he was still easily the second-best Pirate (behind Marte, The Doper.)



The bad-mouthing began. 



Cutch wanted to stay with the Pirates- imagine that.  Didn't matter.  Bye.



Other players- far less talented- see that happen to a guy like Andrew McCutchen, and it sent the message that they knew all along.  Pittsburgh's just a stop on the road. Every man for himself.



If that happens to the best Pirates player to step on a field since Barry Bonds, it's going to happen to any player who becomes the best since Andrew McCutchen.



Kids smart enough to get into Vanderbilt, their agents, and their loved ones have seen this movie time and time again....What About BOB?