I'd like to know who Matt Kemp pissed off in San Diego to get exiled to the Braves.

Someone want to take stab at explaining what the Pirates are trying to do?

artie_fufkin wrote:

Someone want to take stab at explaining what the Pirates are trying to do?

Preparing for the future while trying to maintain a chance of winning this season.

They get 2 years of control over Hutchinson for 1 year of Liriano and save a lot of money.  They traded 2 months of Melancon for 11 years of control over 2 lefties who both throw 100.  They also get a year of control over Bastardo that they didn't have with Niese.

It looks a little bi-polar, but given their financial constraints, it makes sense.

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

Someone want to take stab at explaining what the Pirates are trying to do?

Preparing for the future while trying to maintain a chance of winning this season.

They get 2 years of control over Hutchinson for 1 year of Liriano and save a lot of money.  They traded 2 months of Melancon for 11 years of control over 2 lefties who both throw 100.  They also get a year of control over Bastardo that they didn't have with Niese.

It looks a little bi-polar, but given their financial constraints, it makes sense.

I guess so. You can only go so far with kids who haven't hit arbitration, cheap veterans and Andrew McCutchen.
At some point, the small market excuse becomes a little hollow. Pittsburgh is the 27th biggest metropolitan area in the country with 1.7 million people. St. Louis is 20th with 2.1 million. There's a difference, but one that's not wide enough to explain why the Pirates are have been ninth in the league in attendance in the last three years, and the Cardinals have been second.

Pittsburgh fans care more about the Steelers than St. Louis fans ever cared about the Rams.  I also doubt that the Pirates have anywhere near the out-of-town pull that the Cardinals have.  It still amazes me when I leave my office at lunch and see visitors wandering around downtown St. Louis trying to figure out what to do with themselves until the game begins later that evening.

Also, if you look at the past few seasons, they really haven't been much more than what you described.  They have a top of the rotation pitcher in Gerrit Cole, and 3 potential superstars in the outfield (though McCutcheon has been bad this season).  When they've been successful, it's been because they received better than expected pitching from guys like AJ Burnett, Liriano and Edison Volquez.

I wonder how much they miss Neal Walker.  For whatever reason, he always struck me as kind of a "heart and soul" type of player for that team.

artie_fufkin wrote:

"I've never been to Pissburgh, but St. Louis is supposedly Paris by comparison. A few years ago, Trip Advisor or one of those on-line travel websites ranked all 30 cities with major league baseball teams, taking everything into account from the ballpark to the sightseeing opportunities to bars to overall ambiance of the city.
In the Pittsburgh eval, PNC Park got a 10, and everything else got a 1. Apparently, the only things to do in the entire city are watch sports and gripe about Neil O'Donnell.
 

LOL, Can't agree, but it helps to have a brother who's lived there for 20 years to show a person around. Having been to St Louis just once, and confined to downtown, my only lasting impression is that the panhandlers were nearly inescapable.