Official Game Thread - 4/1 - Bucs @ Rays

[bucs607179]

And yet another waste of a season. They could have at least given us a month.

[Surgnbuck]

And yet another waste of a season. They could have at least given us a month.

They'll sweep some playoff team that has no chance to move in the seedings in September.

The saddest part of it all, it's six years in, and it isn't that it needs blown up again, it's that it never was blown up.

[Wildwoodcoach]

Surg, can you get your money back?

[Bobster]

So I'm sick, and just laying in bed with the television on, and it's amazing that Joe Block does not call the game. He rarely calls a pitch, he rarely mentions counts, score, outs, etc.

It's like him and Walk are two guys at the park, watching the game in the stands and just shooting the breeze with each other.

Exactly! That's always been my complaint about Block. Doesn't matter which analyst he's paired with, it's just 2 guys talking while a game's going on below them. The alternative is to have Greg Brown laughing through every game with the camera on him every inning. Makes me wonder what the producers of the broadcast are thinking. Is there a deliberate effort to distract the viewers from what's happening in the game? I think when fans get fed up with the game, they turn it off. I don't think they keep on watching just to listen to Block's conversations or to watch Brown laugh. When my appointment as Emperor of the Universe comes through (paperwork still pending), my first action will be to fire the producers, fire Block and read the riot act to Brown.

[Bobster]

I wonder how long before we hear about a "closed door meeting" or a "players only meeting"?

A lot of people in this organization need to be shown that door.

[Doc]

If play continues through April like it has during this first week, look for Reynolds and Keller to be traded as soon as Cherington can find buyers. Hayes will be available, too, if the right circumstance arises. There's no way Nutting will want to continue paying those guys during a 100+ loss season and besides, all of them will be distant memories by the time the Pirates are competitive again anyway, if ever under the current system.

[Bobster]

the plan must be to suck and suck badly to set up the Yankees. Yep, that makes sense, get the Yankees over confident and then crush them at PNC Park!

The Bucs are just playing at another level. No MLB team can be this bad without doing it on purpose.

This has been my opinion for the past couple of years. The management of this organization can't possibly be this incompetent year after year. There are ample opportunities to improve the club every year, through the draft or player acquisition but, with a few exceptions, an above average player is rarely playing in Pittsburgh. It has to be on purpose.

It's on purpose to the extent that they won't pay for productive players. Forget about good FAs. Nutting won't pay them and they don't want to play for the lowly Pirates anyway. FAs are limited to the Tommy Phams and Adam Fraziers of the world who have reached the point in their careers where playing for a bad team is better than not playing at all. Trades have to be for utility men looking for a chance to play more regularly or for second or third tier prospects. Team won't give up their top prospects. Pitchers are expensive so the Pirates look to acquire those trying to bounce back from injuries or bad seasons who are just glad to find a team willing to give them a chance.

And then there's the development process. It seems flawed from top to bottom. Are prospects scouted properly? If they are, then are they being developed properly? Why do they seem to fail until going to another organization? Why do they never seem to improve at the major league level? Bad coaching? Do good scouts, good minor league instructors and good coaches not want to work for this organization? Or does the guy in charge of hiring them (Cherington) not know a good one from a bad one?

I don't think they want to be a bad team. But they are plagued by an owner who doesn't care hiring an GM whose gross incompetence is combined with being financially hamstrung. It's a minor league operation in a major league environment.

[Doc]

the plan must be to suck and suck badly to set up the Yankees. Yep, that makes sense, get the Yankees over confident and then crush them at PNC Park!

The Bucs are just playing at another level. No MLB team can be this bad without doing it on purpose.

This has been my opinion for the past couple of years. The management of this organization can't possibly be this incompetent year after year. There are ample opportunities to improve the club every year, through the draft or player acquisition but, with a few exceptions, an above average player is rarely playing in Pittsburgh. It has to be on purpose.

It's on purpose to the extent that they won't pay for productive players. Forget about good FAs. Nutting won't pay them and they don't want to play for the lowly Pirates anyway. FAs are limited to the Tommy Phams and Adam Fraziers of the world who have reached the point in their careers where playing for a bad team is better than not playing at all. Trades have to be for utility men looking for a chance to play more regularly or for second or third tier prospects. Team won't give up their top prospects. Pitchers are expensive so the Pirates look to acquire those trying to bounce back from injuries or bad seasons who are just glad to find a team willing to give them a chance.

And then there's the development process. It seems flawed from top to bottom. Are prospects scouted properly? If they are, then are they being developed properly? Why do they seem to fail until going to another organization? Why do they never seem to improve at the major league level? Bad coaching? Do good scouts, good minor league instructors and good coaches not want to work for this organization? Or does the guy in charge of hiring them (Cherington) not know a good one from a bad one?

I don't think they want to be a bad team. But they are plagued by an owner who doesn't care hiring an GM whose gross incompetence is combined with being financially hamstrung. It's a minor league operation in a major league environment.

Right. The owner doesn't want good players here because they're too expensive, running counter to his plan of keeping costs to a minimum. That also explains the low payroll he assigns to his GM. In addition, hiring an incompetent GM leads to hiring incompetent Front Office and field staffs. Creating a work environment that leads to losing on the field turns away all but the worst free agents who are available each year, and also has good players throughout the league put the Pirates in their contracts as a team they won't permit a trade to.

Nutting knows exactly what it takes to build a loser year after year, all while remaining profitable. We've witnessed it eight of the past nine years, and now working on a 10th. What frosts me is that the other owners not only permit it, they help him do it.

[Bobster]

What frosts me is that the other owners not only permit it, they help him do it.

It's to their benefit that one of their opponents doesn't really try. That's not to say the players don't try. But the organization is run in such a way that no effort is made to be a team that is a worthy opponent.

[bucs607179]

I can see the Bucs unloading early this season. Sure hope Reynolds gets to play on a real ML team.