OnlyBucs

18312D38353A30656D606C540 wrote: In my opinion the CBA that is being negotiated is going tp play a lot in to what the team does. If a salary floor is agreed to it may force them to spend more money. Who knows if so maybe the present owner will not feel comforable about spending more money and deside to sell to someone else. We can only hope!


That's moot and a poor argument as far as this offseason goes. We could have a billion gajillion dollars to spend, but that doesn't make there magically be good pitchers out there to spend it on.

1D2F23233705262F2227282F4E0 wrote: To be fair, Toronto isn't exactly a small market.


Precisely. Whatever size the market happens to be is irrelevant. A team's revenue is what is important with regard to spending. Toronto may be situated in a large market but their revenue was less than the Pirates revenue in 2016.



As for Arizona, the success or failure of the signing of Greinke is irrelevant for the purposes of NH's quote. The fact is that the Diamondbacks signed a pitcher who was considered a top line pitcher at the time of the signing, and they are a team that had less revenue than the Pirates. NH is being disingenuous when he speaks about the supposed frugal behavior in general of "small market" teams when in fact he's attempting to justify the Pirates unwillingness to spend on payroll with a questionable assumption about other teams.

We can only hope that if that happens, the next owner will not be in the newspaper industry. McClatchy and Nutting don't have deep pockets apparently...



Beat'em Bucs....Bucs Fan in GA

I suggested a year ago that it would have been a great time for Nutting to sell. His legacy would be that of the hero who turned the woeful team into a legitimate contender and he would have gotten out with a huge profit before it became time to increase the payroll the way contenders do when they want to add a key piece or two to an already good team. But now he's seen as the guy who let the team flounder last year rather than increase a very low payroll to add pitching and we're already hearing about a tight budget for next year when we know it will take substantial improvement over a 78-win team to compete with the Cubs and Cards. He's reneged on the previous promise to increase spending when the time was right and is now being seen by many as the tightwad who would rather hold onto money than spend it on the team. And no one is asking him to become a big spender. Just to spend enough to add 1 or 2 key players. But unless he becomes less of a tightwad, his legacy will take an unfortunate down turn. It's too bad because he did a lot for the team. But he just seems unwilling to do any more.

436E63727564733330010 wrote: I suggested a year ago that it would have been a great time for Nutting to sell. His legacy would be that of the hero who turned the woeful team into a legitimate contender and he would have gotten out with a huge profit before it became time to increase the payroll the way contenders do when they want to add a key piece or two to an already good team. But now he's seen as the guy who let the team flounder last year rather than increase a very low payroll to add pitching and we're already hearing about a tight budget for next year when we know it will take substantial improvement over a 78-win team to compete with the Cubs and Cards.  He's reneged on the previous promise to increase spending when the time was right and is now being seen by many as the tightwad who would rather hold onto money than spend it on the team. And no one is asking him to become a big spender. Just to spend enough to add 1 or 2 key players. But unless he becomes less of a tightwad, his legacy will take an unfortunate down turn. It's too bad because he did a lot for the team. But he just seems unwilling to do any more.


At least he spent the money to send IaBucco a bat.



If things go downhill, he could become despised.

If we won`t sign a stud FA pitcher ...We sure as heck need to ramp up the offense while the young arms learn...Try to beat the Cubs/Cards with bats. Hell even when we won 98 we could not beat teams in our Div.....That`s sad .....We just need to press Cards /Cubs and division with offense.

Thats all we can do...Win the division is the 1st step that we have never taken.



That`s Ok ..... So we need to deal Cole for bats, young bats .



The best part of being a Pirate fan for 35 + years .......Is that i pay attention to minor league players and MLB bench players etc.

1F242E25094D0 wrote: If we won`t sign a stud FA pitcher ...We sure as heck need to ramp up the offense while the young arms learn...Try to beat the Cubs/Cards with bats. Hell even when we won 98 we could not beat teams in our Div.....That`s sad .....We just need to press Cards /Cubs and division with offense.

Thats all we can do...Win the division is the 1st step that we have never taken.



That`s Ok ..... So we need to deal Cole for bats, young bats .



The best part of being a Pirate fan for 35 + years .......Is that i pay attention to minor league players and MLB bench players etc.


So, we are going to deal our supposed number one, who has his least trade value since his arrival in the majors, now? You won't get the return you think based on his performances and injuries of 2016.

Among changes the Pirates are considering: Polanco in left field, Marte in CF, McCutchen in RF

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 10, 2016

457E747F53170 wrote: If we won`t sign a stud FA pitcher ...We sure as heck need to ramp up the offense while the young arms learn...Try to beat the Cubs/Cards with bats. Hell even when we won 98 we could not beat teams in our Div.....That`s sad .....We just need to press Cards /Cubs and division with offense.

Thats all we can do...Win the division is the 1st step that we have never taken.



That`s Ok ..... So we need to deal Cole for bats, young bats .



The best part of being a Pirate fan for 35 + years .......Is that i pay attention to minor league players and MLB bench players etc.


Yeah. If we don't ACQUIRE arms I would move to the other side of the market, dangling Cole out there. This might be a good time to get a return considering the market.

02303C3C281A39303D383730510 wrote: If we won`t sign a stud FA pitcher ...We sure as heck need to ramp up the offense while the young arms learn...Try to beat the Cubs/Cards with bats. Hell even when we won 98 we could not beat teams in our Div.....That`s sad .....We just need to press Cards /Cubs and division with offense.

Thats all we can do...Win the division is the 1st step that we have never taken.



That`s Ok ..... So we need to deal Cole for bats, young bats .



The best part of being a Pirate fan for 35 + years .......Is that i pay attention to minor league players and MLB bench players etc.


Yeah.  If we don't ACQUIRE arms I would move to the other side of the market, dangling Cole out there.  This might be a good time to get a return considering the market.


You won't get a good return ... 65 cents on the dollar.