In 2016 Huntington famously let slip the phrase "bridge year" with regard to management's view of that season. Given that definition I would like to ask NH today if he's satisfied with where that bridge has led this franchise.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
2018
Moderators: SammyKhalifa, Doc, Bobster
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dogknot17@yahoo.co
2018
1632262E2B470 wrote: In 2016 Huntington famously let slip the phrase "bridge year" with regard to management's view of that season. Given that definition I would like to ask NH today if he's satisfied with where that bridge has led this franchise.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
2018
4C474F4346475C191F685149404747064B47280 wrote: In 2016 Huntington famously let slip the phrase "bridge year" with regard to management's view of that season. Given that definition I would like to ask NH today if he's satisfied with where that bridge has led this franchise.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Here is link to article on Neal talking about this (which makes it sound worse than bridge year in hind sight)
http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1075 ... huntington
The word I used was misconstrued this offseason, that this is the ‘bridge year,' ” Huntington said. “[highlight]There was never an intent that this meant we were taking a step back or we were willing to take a step back.[/highlight]
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Here is link to article on Neal talking about this (which makes it sound worse than bridge year in hind sight)
http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1075 ... huntington
The word I used was misconstrued this offseason, that this is the ‘bridge year,' ” Huntington said. “[highlight]There was never an intent that this meant we were taking a step back or we were willing to take a step back.[/highlight]
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dogknot17@yahoo.co
2018
577170677161120 wrote: In 2016 Huntington famously let slip the phrase "bridge year" with regard to management's view of that season. Given that definition I would like to ask NH today if he's satisfied with where that bridge has led this franchise.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Here is link to article on Neal talking about this (which makes it sound worse than bridge year in hind sight)
http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1075 ... huntington
The word I used was misconstrued this offseason, that this is the ‘bridge year,' ” Huntington said. “[highlight]There was never an intent that this meant we were taking a step back or we were willing to take a step back.[/highlight]
Right. He didn't say bridge "year". He said a bridge to the new players, like I mentioned. It was twisted by the fans and media as "bridge year". He never said that and had to explain it further.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Here is link to article on Neal talking about this (which makes it sound worse than bridge year in hind sight)
http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1075 ... huntington
The word I used was misconstrued this offseason, that this is the ‘bridge year,' ” Huntington said. “[highlight]There was never an intent that this meant we were taking a step back or we were willing to take a step back.[/highlight]
Right. He didn't say bridge "year". He said a bridge to the new players, like I mentioned. It was twisted by the fans and media as "bridge year". He never said that and had to explain it further.
2018
2D262E2227263D787E093028212626672A26490 wrote: In 2016 Huntington famously let slip the phrase "bridge year" with regard to management's view of that season. Given that definition I would like to ask NH today if he's satisfied with where that bridge has led this franchise.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Here is link to article on Neal talking about this (which makes it sound worse than bridge year in hind sight)
http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1075 ... huntington
The word I used was misconstrued this offseason, that this is the ‘bridge year,' ” Huntington said. “[highlight]There was never an intent that this meant we were taking a step back or we were willing to take a step back.[/highlight]
Right. He didn't say bridge "year". He said a bridge to the new players, like I mentioned. It was twisted by the fans and media as "bridge year". He never said that and had to explain it further.
absolutely right, but he says that they were not trying to take a step back and it turns out they took a huge step back. That says to me that he screwed up and this year compounds it.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Here is link to article on Neal talking about this (which makes it sound worse than bridge year in hind sight)
http://triblive.com/sports/pirates/1075 ... huntington
The word I used was misconstrued this offseason, that this is the ‘bridge year,' ” Huntington said. “[highlight]There was never an intent that this meant we were taking a step back or we were willing to take a step back.[/highlight]
Right. He didn't say bridge "year". He said a bridge to the new players, like I mentioned. It was twisted by the fans and media as "bridge year". He never said that and had to explain it further.
absolutely right, but he says that they were not trying to take a step back and it turns out they took a huge step back. That says to me that he screwed up and this year compounds it.
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rucker59@gmail.com
2018
5D6F63637745666F6267686F0E0 wrote: in hindsight, everything was going along fine until the Neil Walker trade--which i was okay with and still am in theory (we chose the wrong return). That almost seems a tipping point of sorts. It's been some rough transactions since then, combined with some non-moves. I'd argue that the thinking behind the process has been about the same though (just worse execution of the plan). I'm willing to allow more time but I understand why others aren't.
Right year (between 2015 and 2016) but Walker and poor decisions are only part of the problem. This is the winter when the FO and Nutting broke trust with the fans and this is still resonating through the organization.
Through the end of the 2015 season the Pirates smashed their attendance record for the second year in a row, right at 2.5M. All along the promise was that payroll will increase as the team improves and if the fans responded. 2016 was the obvious year to run for the WS.
Instead, Neil is traded in a bad deal that hurt both the rotation and the lineup. Volgesong was signed to replace AJ. Total payroll remained flat or maybe actually dropped AND Neal went on the Nutting Offensive with his infamous interview on the FAN that "it's easy to spend someone else's money" and "the Pirates will spend like KC when the Pirate fans support the team like the KC fans".
This is when I bailed on the FO - it was offensive to me that he took cheap shots at the fans and used a bald face lie in doing so - in the years 2013 and 14 the Pirates drew ~1M more fans than KC; in the 2015 season (their WS year!) KC drew ~200K more than the Pirates.
Taking shots at the Pirate fans and blaming us for an obvious fundamental change in within the Federal Street offices is where this FO veered off road and nothing has been the same since.
Right year (between 2015 and 2016) but Walker and poor decisions are only part of the problem. This is the winter when the FO and Nutting broke trust with the fans and this is still resonating through the organization.
Through the end of the 2015 season the Pirates smashed their attendance record for the second year in a row, right at 2.5M. All along the promise was that payroll will increase as the team improves and if the fans responded. 2016 was the obvious year to run for the WS.
Instead, Neil is traded in a bad deal that hurt both the rotation and the lineup. Volgesong was signed to replace AJ. Total payroll remained flat or maybe actually dropped AND Neal went on the Nutting Offensive with his infamous interview on the FAN that "it's easy to spend someone else's money" and "the Pirates will spend like KC when the Pirate fans support the team like the KC fans".
This is when I bailed on the FO - it was offensive to me that he took cheap shots at the fans and used a bald face lie in doing so - in the years 2013 and 14 the Pirates drew ~1M more fans than KC; in the 2015 season (their WS year!) KC drew ~200K more than the Pirates.
Taking shots at the Pirate fans and blaming us for an obvious fundamental change in within the Federal Street offices is where this FO veered off road and nothing has been the same since.
2018
3E392F27293E79750C2B212D2520622F23214C0 wrote: in hindsight, everything was going along fine until the Neil Walker trade--which i was okay with and still am in theory (we chose the wrong return). That almost seems a tipping point of sorts. It's been some rough transactions since then, combined with some non-moves. I'd argue that the thinking behind the process has been about the same though (just worse execution of the plan). I'm willing to allow more time but I understand why others aren't.
Right year (between 2015 and 2016) but Walker and poor decisions are only part of the problem. This is the winter when the FO and Nutting broke trust with the fans and this is still resonating through the organization.
Through the end of the 2015 season the Pirates smashed their attendance record for the second year in a row, right at 2.5M. All along the promise was that payroll will increase as the team improves and if the fans responded. 2016 was the obvious year to run for the WS.
Instead, Neil is traded in a bad deal that hurt both the rotation and the lineup. Volgesong was signed to replace AJ. Total payroll remained flat or maybe actually dropped AND Neal went on the Nutting Offensive with his infamous interview on the FAN that "it's easy to spend someone else's money" and "the Pirates will spend like KC when the Pirate fans support the team like the KC fans".
This is when I bailed on the FO - it was offensive to me that he took cheap shots at the fans and used a bald face lie in doing so - in the years 2013 and 14 the Pirates drew ~1M more fans than KC; in the 2015 season (their WS year!) KC drew ~200K more than the Pirates.
Taking shots at the Pirate fans and blaming us for an obvious fundamental change in within the Federal Street offices is where this FO veered off road and nothing has been the same since.
Can't argue with any of this. I remember those comments. Funny thing ... while KC and Pittsburgh are very similar franchises in many ways, KC recently won a title and was close another time. We, on the other hand ... not nearly as close.
Right year (between 2015 and 2016) but Walker and poor decisions are only part of the problem. This is the winter when the FO and Nutting broke trust with the fans and this is still resonating through the organization.
Through the end of the 2015 season the Pirates smashed their attendance record for the second year in a row, right at 2.5M. All along the promise was that payroll will increase as the team improves and if the fans responded. 2016 was the obvious year to run for the WS.
Instead, Neil is traded in a bad deal that hurt both the rotation and the lineup. Volgesong was signed to replace AJ. Total payroll remained flat or maybe actually dropped AND Neal went on the Nutting Offensive with his infamous interview on the FAN that "it's easy to spend someone else's money" and "the Pirates will spend like KC when the Pirate fans support the team like the KC fans".
This is when I bailed on the FO - it was offensive to me that he took cheap shots at the fans and used a bald face lie in doing so - in the years 2013 and 14 the Pirates drew ~1M more fans than KC; in the 2015 season (their WS year!) KC drew ~200K more than the Pirates.
Taking shots at the Pirate fans and blaming us for an obvious fundamental change in within the Federal Street offices is where this FO veered off road and nothing has been the same since.
Can't argue with any of this. I remember those comments. Funny thing ... while KC and Pittsburgh are very similar franchises in many ways, KC recently won a title and was close another time. We, on the other hand ... not nearly as close.
2018
2E252D2124253E7B7D0A332B2225256429254A0 wrote: In 2016 Huntington famously let slip the phrase "bridge year" with regard to management's view of that season. Given that definition I would like to ask NH today if he's satisfied with where that bridge has led this franchise.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Here's Huntington's quote: “The word I used was misconstrued this offseason, that this is the ‘bridge year,' ” Huntington said. “There was never an intent that this meant we were taking a step back or we were willing to take a step back. That's not what I meant by ‘bridge year.'
He did say 'bridge year' and admits it in the bolded quote. This is his stepping back from, or if you prefer clarification of his use of the term. Whether he made an honest mistake about using the term or not the fact is that 2016 and 2017 are transition years of dishearteningly similar results from a 98 win 2015 to whatever lies ahead in 2018. The moribund consistency of 2016 and 2017 pretty much confirms to me that Huntington was correct; there really isn't any kind of successful bridge building going on here.
Now that the picture for 2017 is nearly complete are we to assume that the 2016 bridge was the bridge to nowhere? Is 2017 another bridge year? If so some of the pillars on that bridge (Marte, Polanco, Cervelli, Kang??) are looking a bit shaky and some others may be washed away (Cutch and Cole) in a flood of financial flexibility.
Other than Bell and Rivero this team is built for 2018 on the hope that 2017 is an anomaly with regard to the majority of the roster and that miraculously things will turn around because of the inherent vicissitudes of the game. Well, good luck with that.
When did he say "bridge year"?
He said he had to bridge the gap between the current team with the newer players, like the young rookies mostly.
Here's Huntington's quote: “The word I used was misconstrued this offseason, that this is the ‘bridge year,' ” Huntington said. “There was never an intent that this meant we were taking a step back or we were willing to take a step back. That's not what I meant by ‘bridge year.'
He did say 'bridge year' and admits it in the bolded quote. This is his stepping back from, or if you prefer clarification of his use of the term. Whether he made an honest mistake about using the term or not the fact is that 2016 and 2017 are transition years of dishearteningly similar results from a 98 win 2015 to whatever lies ahead in 2018. The moribund consistency of 2016 and 2017 pretty much confirms to me that Huntington was correct; there really isn't any kind of successful bridge building going on here.
2018
272C24282D2C377274033A222B2C2C6D202C430 wrote: It was twisted out of context and he had to come back out and clear himself up. Sad. That was when he used "year". But he meant, and you know this, from 2015 to 2016, not 2015 to 2017.
He also said the team was trying to compete in 2016 so he was admitting management failure. Their plan for 2016 imploded.
He also said the team was trying to compete in 2016 so he was admitting management failure. Their plan for 2016 imploded.