By Jake, on February 27, 2010, at 10:36 pm | 25 comments
Eight days left in the Pledge Drive to keep the paywall down. You can read about it here and here. So far $428 has been pledged toward our $1,000 goal. Pledges can be made here.
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Traveling tonight so short post.
Q: I usually keep my hopes for the Pirates in check. I fully expect them to lose 100 games this year, if not their usual mid-90s. But I will be paying close attention to their minor- league clubs. .. Truthfully, I think its extremely difficult to build an entire team from within.
Bob Smizik: I think you have the right approach, Nate. Low expectations for this season but increasingly higher ones in the years ahead. The Pirates have placed their bets on the amateur draft. It’s not a perfect way to build a team but it seems the only way they can do it. ..
The picture Smizik paints above shows, imo, one of the main problems the fans have in proper evaluation of the current regime. Simply put, he’s content waiting for higher expectations in the years ahead as we build via the draft. No matter where you go to read about the Bucs and ‘the plan’ that’s the message you are hit with.
The problem with that mindset is that there is no accountability for the last two years. For instance, the Nutting family has refused to infuse any of their own cash since 2007 to prop up our draft position during a full rebuild that Bob Nutting said he is the co-architect of.
One way the Nuttings could have done that is by keeping Jason Bay through his contract years which would have resulted in two additional draft picks in 2010 from Bay walking out the door as a free agent. All things being equal, that would have provided us with the 36th and 57th picks in 2010 for an additional $10M or so paid to Bay.
Obviously that $10M infusion would have ultimately been reduced some from Bay’s market value (ie: suite sales, corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, etc, etc, etc) and then wiped out totally from future value received if just one of the two draft prospects contributed as expected – if the second one was a hit as well, then Nutting would have actually banked a considerable profit. That assumes, of course, that Greg Smith and Neal Huntington properly identified, selected, and signed two solid players.
And perhaps that’s exactly the issue – maybe the Nuttings didn’t trust Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington and his staff enough to ultimately bring them that future profit? Instead of risking those personal funds (which we now know would have been at least been covered from the profit they stated the organization made in 2008 and 2009), they instead chose to dump Bay’s salary off the books.
Now going back to Smizik’s assessment and fan perceptions.. are we really committed to rebuilding through the draft if we haven’t leveraged our draft position opportunities considering 12% of the 2009 Type A free agents (three in Gonzalez, Grabow, and Bay), and two of the Type B (Nady and LaRoche), had been under our control when the new regime took over? By my count, that’s a potential for three additional first round picks or no less than three additional second round picks, plus no less than three first round sandwich picks but could be as high as five.
Imagine that a second.. we could have had no less than eight selections before the 82cd pick overall this year and possibly as many as ten of the first 82. Now THAT’s rebuilding through the draft folks. And we could be supplementing that while rebuilding by bringing in ’better bets’ over the next few years in signing free agents with high Elias ranks and giving them stupid money one-year deals. We couldn’t lose because the value of free agent compensation far exceeds any stupid money paid out unless it’s $10M over true value received.
We’re not rebuilding by the draft – all we’re doing is spending as little as possible to get by.
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Iwamura is evidently not 100% yet. Not that we believe he ever will be during his stay with us, but that’s a story for another day.
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Hilariously posted at Pirateball.com as if mocking Pirates ownership.
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Joe Blanton will pitch against the Bucs in Bradenton when the Phillies come in March 6th. They aren’t wasting any time, although it will be interesting to see how many pitches Blanton actually throws. How ironic is it that Coonelly’s old buds send a right-handed soft tosser over to get lit up. Make sure you place your bets on that game.
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“I feel like the most complete player I’ve ever been. I feel like I can be a threat on both sides of the ball. I’m excited to see what I can do.” — Lastings Milledge as said to MLB.com
I, I, I, I, I, I.. well, at least the I’s have it.
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Nyjer Morgan, the good corporate guy – he learned fast in Pittsburgh. Now he’ saying in Washington that there’s a “vibe” in the clubhouse that he didn’t feel in 2009. You know, like we’re hearing about the Bucs in 2010, and we heard in 2009, and 2008, and 2007, and 2006, and..
You get the idea.
Now I wonder if that vibe he’s feeling is a good vibe, or a bad one because they only have three starters?
By Jake, on January 30, 2010, at 9:45 pm | 19 comments
According to sources on the Penguins side, the meeting happened four months ago at the Penguins’ front-office headquarters in Chatham Center, Uptown. Mr. Lemieux, Mr. Burkle and Mr. Nutting were present, and the intent of the meeting was for the Penguins owners to offer to buy the Pirates. Mr. Burkle made a financial offer. — Post-Gazette; January 30, 2010.
I’m proud to say I broke this story a month ago – I just couldn’t list the buyer to protect my source. Dejan expanded on the news by listing the buyers as well as putting the timeframe together, so kudos to him. That being said, I was told no offer was ever presented to Bob Nutting contrary to Dejan’s report.. simply talking about wanting to buy the team will never get it done.. talk is cheap.
I will tell you that there is a group of extremely powerful individuals who have made themselves available to any group wanting to buy the Pirates. Lemieux and Burkle’s camp were only recently made aware of this group so they did not have the benefit of their help when they talked with Nutting the first time. Whether or not they are serious enough in this endeavor to bring these folks into their camp remains to be seen.
Coonelly reiterated: “What I can tell you: Bob is not interested in selling the team; the team is not for sale. Bob is committed to bringing a championship back to Pittsburgh.”
First of all, Bob is Ogden’s son.. ’nuff said there. And second of all, anybody who believes for one second Bob Nutting gives a rats ass about bringing a championship back to Pittsburgh needs their head examined, imo. I think it’s fair to say the only competitive spirit the Nutting’s have shown the fans since 2003 is in the miser column, not the win column. They have had numerous opportunities to reinvest back into the on-field product starting with keeping Aramis Ramirez and they have shot blanks at every turn.
You don’t take people like the Nuttings out by talking to them. Instead, you make them want to run. One way that could get accomplished is by cutting off their cash cow. In that regard, I’m aware that a group wants/wanted to put up billboards all over town this season with a message something to the effect of don’t buy tickets, and another group has their eye on staging protests for the same purpose. I’d bet there are others I don’t even know about.
I said this the other day, the fan base is one collective pissed off group but, for now, they don’t have enough leadership to bring the Nuttings to their knees. Someone with a household name needs to take the bull by the horns and until that happens, the Nuttings will continue to sit comfortable.
Personally, I don’t think the remaining fans are at the tipping point yet. The players in the system seem to be, but the fans aren’t. If the Bucs lose another 90 games in 2010 with Alvarez, Clement, and Doumit around, that might put the fans over the top. I’m betting Coonelly knows that too so don’t be surprised if you see a series of mid-season moves that might seem a bit shocking if the club is heading towards 90 losses. Their goal will be to try, one last time, to build a hope fire under the fans, as well as to keep the union off their back.
At some point the fans will finally wake up. They always do. I just hope to see it before the Nutting’s slither away.
By Jake, on January 27, 2010, at 2:41 pm | 41 comments
Ninety-hours of hell ended last night with my son waking up at 3 AM sweating profusely – he finally broke the fever. Considering I had nearly every childhood disease, sickness, and flu known to mankind growing up outside Chicago, I thought I had seen it all.. until this. The dang fever wouldn’t subside.. he would ratchet up to 103.6 – 104.0 and I’d give him Motrin which would knock it down only a couple of degrees; three hours later it started climbing over 103 again so I’d give him some Tylenol; two hours later it was back up over 102 so six hours after the first Motrin dose, he’d get another; and it went like this for days. When the 72 hour window passed his pediatrician told me to have faith since he didn’t show any other symptom but I have to tell you, I started intermixing a lot more prayers at that point. I printed out the e-cards some of you sent.. they really helped to brighten his days, thank you. One thing about the Pirate Nation that can never be questioned is our unity.
So I finally had a chance to spend some time reviewing the last week or so of Bucco news and walked away feeling ashamed at the way Bob Nutting exploited the Pirates caravan for the benefit of Seven Springs.
For instance, why would Nutting give his state of the union message at a ski resort instead of at corporate offices on Federal Street? Is snow more important than Roberto Clemente now?
He was mocking the fans, no different from when he mocked the yellow t-shirt protesters on walkout day when he wore his own yellow t-shirt to the park.
Bob Nutting – the jokester. Ha. Ha.
Look at the videocap of Nutting above and tell me what is worse, the wood paneling, the curtains, Nutting’s 70′ish open top button swinger look, the orange-colored seat cushion, or the fact the Post-Gazette didn’t even bother to use a pro videographer for this annual chat? And I won’t even bother to talk about the content of Nutting’s speech because it was as worthless as Nutting’s choice of wood grain wall covering.
What a pathetic collective message sent to the fans by the media and the owner, neither of whom cared enough to put their best foot forward.
We deserve so much more than this brothers and sisters. So much more.
Speaking of nauseating dirty socks, Rob Neyer had the audacity to proclaim the new regime safe from accountability through 2011 as long as they win 70 games before then. What a bozo – we won 67 games with Tike Redman batting third for gosh sakes.. we better win one hell of a lot more with Cutch and Alvarez around. Neyer’s writing style has become so feminine lately.
After choking down the Bob/Dejan/Robbie hour, I moved on to Rocco who was broadcasting live from — you got it — Seven Springs. His broadcast was so borrrrrrriiiiinnngggg, I had to shut it off and walk away three times. Gag me with a spoon (for all you old fart Valley critters out there). I like Rocco but listening to this two-hour broadcast required me to drink. A lot.
Continuing the media reviews of the caravan allowed me wonder why the focus on middle school children.. day, after day, after day. I figured it out – you know damn well what we’re going to hear when the caravan is over — “we had a record turnout” — well, eight forced school assemblies will certainly help accomplish that, huh? Goodness.
The final media word of the week came in a report issued not too long ago telling me that the Pirates are building a copper statute of Maz who will be placed at PNC facing Heinz Field. How fitting for a Nutting project.. cheap tin with the man’s back to PNC and looking across at Steelers HQ.
I hope they place a tear in his eye too.
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McCutchen bulked up this winter. Great, just what I needed to hear as a fan.. another player heading into his sophomore year adding mass the winter before thinking it will help him to last out the next season only to find out in July he’s weaker than he was last September and ends up on the DL. Let’s hope this year the tune plays differently.
Any bets on how many more of these stories we hear this spring? We could be witnessing the start of another 2005 type meltdown.
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One source tells me that a club went after Doumit heavy this winter but every deal offered was turned down as inadequate including a package that included a potential top of the order young pitcher currently in A-ball.
Ouch.
Ouch.
Ouch.
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John Russell said that if the stars align, his 2010 group could ’surprise’ .. who, or what, he didn’t say.
But isn’t it interesting that even Russell thinks it will take the stars to align in order for this roster to do anything that would surprise anybody?
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I keep getting e-mails about Pedro getting moved to first base if LaRoche busts out. Forget it. Pedro comes up at third. End. Of. Story. The when could be delayed by a strong start by LaRoche, but I believe Huntington already has a trade in the wings for LaRoche sometime around June. And Doumit early July. And Maholm later in July. Then Duke at the deadline.
All saving Nutting a shitload of cash while mocking the union.
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If these guys were dressed in black and gold, the message would be spot-on:
By Jake, on January 18, 2010, at 11:33 pm | 26 comments
One down, three or four to go. Michael Weiner, in his first venture as head of the players union, successfully wrestled the Florida Marlins to baseball’s financial mat and is prepared to take on similarly recalcitrant revenue-sharing rogues. …
Bob Nutting, the Pirates’ managing partner, has been especially criticized by other owners for not spending the money to improve his team, which is on a record 17-year streak of losing seasons. …
“The Pirates, Marlins and Rays are spending nothing on payroll and showing operating profits of $20, $25 million, which goes into the owners’ pockets,” one executive said. …
The combined pressure exerted by Henry, other owners and the union was too much for the commissioner’s office to ignore. When Selig and Manfred don’t let a dispute get to a grievance, a management person said, “you know it’s serious. They made the Marlins accept it.”
Now the Pirates are on deck. There’s no more deserving team to bat next.
That came from an article posted today by Hall of Fame writer Murray Chass. Obviously Chass believes, as we found out yesterday Bill Madden believes, that the Pirates are a future target by some owners and the union.
Indeed.
Unfortunately after digging deep into MLB’s ownership circles Sunday, I came away with the feeling Bob and Ogden Nutting are pretty safe. That’s not to say there isn’t trouble in paradise surrounding the Nutting empire, just that the Pirate Nation isn’t likely to see them cornered by other owners between now and the new CBA talks. If ever.
You can probably thank the Nuttings impeccable strategy timing the transition of power from McClatchy for that.
Remember how McClatchy went public in 2006 stating he wanted Nutting more involved in the organization but Nutting only took baby steps that year, then took the entire 2007 season to “evaluate” his system before implementing change? That one and one-half year stall/delay seems to have perfectly positioned the Nuttings outside the crosshairs of the owners and union.
The Commissioner’s office implemented a yearly recommended minimum payroll threshold several years ago which several teams have failed to meet (the Pirates are one of the clubs that have never met it, I’m told). Not meeting that minimum has drawn the ire of the player’s union especially since quality players have either been forced out of work or had to settle for significant reductions in pay the last couple of years because of the reduced market and demand.
On one hand we have the Commissioner with a recommended salary floor the Pirates didn’t meet, on the other we have the union screaming for more demand for their product, and on the side sit a few well-heeled owners who are fit to be tied that a few owners seem to be taking their ‘charity’ for a Sunday ride and thereby devaluing the MLB brand and their financial position along the way.
Simply put, its greed vs greed vs greed where the ultimate loser will always be fans like you and I who have to bet on the longshot to win.
Last thoughts — I think an important part to the “why aren’t the Pirates being told to spend more” equation is to remember that this organization has a debt load of over $100M which grew in 2009. I questioned that figure years ago as fictional accounting because I felt it was primarily funds they would have to reimburse the state for the building of PNC and accrued interest from two loans they took on, neither of which they would have to repay unless the franchise is relocated before 2030.
Ironically, the first $20M URA loan made in 1985, and the $11.5M subsequent loan handed to the organization when McClatchy begged the city to renegotiate the terms of the first note, were both taxpayer subsidies which are being slowly written off by the city for years now. See this post for more coverage on the subject. I assume the Pirates would have to write those off their debt load too but yet they get seemingly replaced by Nutting limited partner and McClatchy buyout stock purchases made the last few years along with a few other capital expenditures.
In other words, if the owners want to play hardball and come after the Nuttings for perceived creative accounting, then all they are doing is opening a can of worms because every club is probably doing the same thing. That will never happen. The books say the Pirates have $100M+ in debt and every owner will tell you that they want one of their own to have the ability to pay down that debt with the spread the wealth formula they have in place.
So put any “Nutting gets hammered by the union” fantasies aside because they are unrealistic at this point. If you want to blame someone for that, you can blame the Nuttings for refusing to infuse deep pocket partners or refusing to sell because neither has happened despite valid attempts.
Will the new CBA negotiations offer Pirates fans any hope? I’m certainly not counting on any.
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“For us to compete in the market size we’re in, we have to do some things like this from time to time — a bold move.” — [Reds GM Walt] Jocketty on the Chapman signing
That quote is from Phil Rogers’ Sunday column in the Chicago Tribune. It was a brilliant risk in my book, one we should have taken, especially considering the deferred money payout. Unfortunately, another smaller market organization in the same division did.
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We ended Brian Bixler’s misery today by tossing him over to Neal Huntington’s ex-boss so we could clear roster space. That’s not the trade I heard about so you might see another deal here shortly outside the rumor below.
One thing I need to tell you is that Neal Huntington has taken extreme measures to quiet circuit gossip about his moves. And I do mean extreme. Bluntly put, he has made it well-known he won’t tolerate leaks anymore and he’s gone to great lengths to surround himself with old school men who don’t talk about their organization to even their best friends. Period, end of story.
However, he still has some holes in his armour plus he can’t control what happens after he talks to other clubs, so things leak out. But the waterfall of rumors all media around this club enjoyed the last five-plus years is quickly drying up, so when a rumor comes our way we’ll have to be a bit more careful not to expose our source.
Now for a juicy rumor.. is Doumit close to being dealt? I ‘tink so and I also ‘tink we’re close to signing another catcher. Now let’s see if it gets done.
“[T]he union is far from done pushing this revenue-sharing issue. Next up: the Pirates, who have been the most blatant team of all when it comes to pocketing their revenue sharing, trading off all their highest-paid players and creating a mausoleum of their beautiful taxpayer-funded new park. ..
But have faith, Buc faithful. The players’ union is coming to your rescue.”
Madden’s article represents the first honest ray of sunshine I’ve seen as a Pirates fan since 2002. I just hope he’s right.
Dejan reported January 12th: “I just communicated with a source outside the Pirates who confirmed that the Pirates are not a target for a similar push…” Well, no matter which writer is correct, the fans win if for no other reason than we are getting press on the subject. I tend to believe Coonelly and Nutting fought off their first challenge by releasing small amounts of their financial picture, but we’ll see. We’ll see. Plus I’m guessing Chuck Greenberg becoming an owner won’t hurt our cause either.
Dang, I’m actually getting some goosebumps thinking about it all. I mean, will the Nuttings run instead of fighting back or being forced to spend $65M? I’m betting they would. Maybe all these years of hammering these yo-yo’s here will finally pay off with a little prize?
Sounds like the bullpen has taken shape now that they inked Brendan Donnelly and Dotel is waiting in the wings for Huntington to clear a parking place. Assuming they go with 13 in the pen, I suspect we’ll see:
Dotel closing
Hanrahan and Donnelly as bridge workers
Meek (bridge trainee), Lopez, Carrasco, and Jackson or Hart (either one have an option?) as middle relievers
Kartsens long
Rotation of:
Ohlendorf
Maholm
Morton
Duke
McCutchen
Not exactly the depth or talent that the Reds, Cubs, or Brewers have, or even the Astros for that matter, but the Cards are in trouble if they don’t find some pitching or money.
As for Donnelly’s deal at $1.5M with an extra $1.5M in incentives, unquestionably it’s nice to have a guy with his experience in the pen. That being said, his stuff hasn’t exactly returned to being crisp offerings. With the Marlins last year he had a nice ERA but when you look at video you see quite a few floaters.
Simply put: we paid too much for him if he gets anything near the $3M. Actually, we paid way too much for him.. stupid money high. Maybe we did that because Huntington and Kerrigan believe his split-finger will play better in the division? Or maybe there is a lot more concern about the health of both Hanrahan and Meek that we aren’t hearing about? I don’t know, but I do know he doesn’t have $3M stuff – never had.. even to a team who couldn’t get anybody else to sign.
I’ll wait and see if Dotel signs before doing some model runs.
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To my untrained eye, it looks like the coaching staff and Clement has plenty of work to do to turn him into an average first baseman by April 5, but the Pirates sound optimistic.
If Clement is dead set in his mind to remain a catcher, you would think he’d resist efforts to convert him to a first baseman. If Clement does resist, then it’s up to Russell and Huntington to “correct” that thinking which only leads us down the path to more of that counterculture stuff I was talking about the other day. Along those lines, Huntington told Pirateball.com recently:
We want him to come into camp as a first baseman,” Huntington said. “If that doesn’t happen, then maybe we consider the possibility of him as a catcher, but that is not our priority right now.” — emphasis New Bucs
I liked the fact Neal Huntington publicly gave the young man the benefit of the doubt. He’s saying “Jeff, we respect you want to catch but we need you here for now and we trust you are going to work hard to help us meet that need.” Considering the high number of head cases we’ve had on our roster dragging down morale the last few years, I think Huntington’s quote speaks volumes to Clement’s character.
Now it’s up to him — will he join the “dark side” or stand up and be a leader? This is classical old/current Pirates culture vs new/desired Pirates culture. Which one will win out? It better be leadership or we might be destined for a lot longer period of culture problems in Pittsburgh.
Oh wait, both packages include tickets to either the Yankees or Red Sox games. It only makes sense that our fans want to see some real baseball players. Ok, ok.. I’ll stop.
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It’s getting close to that special time of the year when we generally see extensions handed to the brass. Don’t be too surprised if you see another two years handed to Huntington, but I’d feel better it’s only one.
By Jake, on January 15, 2010, at 9:09 pm | 13 comments
Not sure where I’m going with this post except to ramble a bit.
– Tragic events in Haiti and today looking at photos taken at some of the larger media outlets I couldn’t help noticing how many men were wearing Pittsburgh Pirates hats in the photos. The Pirates brand is obviously strong there so I hope we see Bob Nutting step up and at least match the Yankees donation of $500k.
– Does anyone feel better after the one week mini-camp media reviews?
Your e-mails to me suggest Milledge is getting more love with some agreeing with one media outlet that he’s a breakout candidate, one party that was in Bradenton said McCutchen looked like he reported a bit soft, and lately many of you are wondering why Duke isn’t getting paid (more on that later).
The best e-mail of the week imo came from a fan outside Pittsburgh who sent me an incredible schedule analysis indicating a 72 win season. I wanted to post it but he won’t let me until he finishes it. This dude drilled all the way down and in the end he had me buying into it. Well I’ll be honest -I only bought so much. But it was good stuff.
As for Milledge breaking out this year, I don’t have him on my preliminary annual Sleeper list but neither do I have him on my Fooler list either. I’m neutral about him now but still have about three weeks of research to do before I’m ready to start projecting the season. Right now Clement and Doumit are on my initial sleeper list and Duke and Ohlendorf are my foolers. But that could change.
Duke and the Pirates not being on the same planet with the first arb offer is expected, but how did that get in the press? Duke’s side seemingly leaked the state of his contract negotiations, but why?
Until we see that type of coverage evaporate around the Pirates, we’re not going to get very far with a unified player front. It’s a pure negative because other players thinking of joining the club read it, our prospects read it, other agents read it, and the fans read it, not to mention the front office gets pissed off it’s being talked out publicly.
It’s my opinion that this type of inside media coverage beats the organization down and it ends up hurting both parties. Think 2009 pre-season Nate McLouth negotiations as a recent example, or our losing Matt Capps as another.
Any hoot, the Pirates gauged interest in Duke this winter wondering whether to offer him a long-term deal and, if so, for how much. Since I’m aware of two teams that at least inquired, I assume the Bucs probably came in low in their initial arb offer with the intention of wanting him to counter with a two or three-year deal. The Bucs will probably say they are open to that and counter with a lowball offer containing a significant hometown discount hoping he wants to stay in Pittsburgh. He’ll counter back with an industry norm deal and that’s when it starts to get ugly. Perhaps they are at that point now.
Since there was interest in Duke as a pure #4 starter around the game, I assume they want a contract that is advantageous for them to deal him while he holds the most value under a multi-year. If they get it, fine.. if they don’t, they will take him to arb and hope for the best because his combined stats the last three years won’t terribly excite the senses of an arbitrator. So I suspect we’ll see only a one-year agreement right now and once the season starts, perhaps they will revisit a multi-year.
Personally I’d rather see the Pirates get aggressive and add two years to Maholm’s contract but that’s not going to happen unless they pony up free-agent market value which they won’t. Unfortunately that means Maholm will probably be dealt in 2010.
– Those who have asked about the handicapping site: I reached an agreement Thursday with one of the stat houses to bring in specialized Pirates material next year that will rock your socks off. Unfortunately it’s only going to be available behind the New Bucs Insider paywall for those interested in fantasy, handicapping, or want deep Pirates content because I simply didn’t want to spend a ton of money for a license allowing me to freely publish the content. But keep reading the blog because I’ll be giving away a few free subscriptions in a contest or two and I’ll also need some help with beta testing the new site so those folks will get free passes too.
– If you are a daily reader of Pirates media material on the web and would like to make a few extra dollars, e-mail me using the contact form in the navigation bar above.
– Check out this video:
Now look at this excellent photo of McCutchen and Milledge taken by the folks at the Tribune-Review.
Can you see me now?
That reminds me, Martin Luther King holiday is Monday.
– How about this headline: Doumit is Pirates’ anchor behind plate at Pirateball.com? Yeah, lead anchor. Opps.. they just changed the headline. Maybe the Pirates saw the anchor jokes coming?
– News alert:
On Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 8 p.m., a panel of sports professionals and environmental advocates will participate in the discussion “Greening the Games: Can Sustainability and Athletics Reach the Same Goals?” The event will be held in the ‘62 Center on the Williams College campus.
Admission to the discussion is free but tickets are required and can be reserved by calling the ‘62 Center Box Office at 413-597-2425. The event is sponsored by the Williams Athletics Department, the Center for Environmental Studies, the President’s Office, and the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives.
Professor of Geosciences David Dethier will moderate the discussion. Panel members are Christina Cruz, director of athletics at Southern Vermont College; Andrew Gardner, Middlebury College Nordic ski coach; Robert Nutting ‘84, principal owner and board chair of the Pittsburgh Pirates; and Williams senior and football team member Tyler Ware. Director of Athletics Harry Sheehy will introduce the panel.
The panel will discuss athletic leadership in an environment where sustainability plays a significant role and why and how athletics and athletes could become “greener.”
I debated whether to throw this up because I don’t want to cause any problems, but I thought the article was rather funny in that Nutting will be discussing how “athletes could become greener” at his daughter’s campus. I’ll stop right there because I’m guessing you are rolling like I was when I read it.
– I think blogger cubbie julie took my ‘is Garrett Jones expendable?’ article a bit too far.
By Jake, on January 7, 2010, at 11:55 pm | 23 comments
Random Thoughts:
– Who will be the manager of this ballclub on August 1, 2009? Some believe if Russell is jettisoned after a slow start Gary Varsho is his logical replacement since Joe Kerrigan is headed to retirement. Imagine the players delight if Kerrigan stepped into Varsho’s role as bench coach? Oh my.. that would should never happen.
– How pissed off is Tony Beasley after being passed over for a promotion to infield instructor.. for the second time? “Thank you very much Mr. Russell, can I have another?” Some say Beasley’s head might be in the clouds in 2010 because loyalty only goes so far.
– Will worried opponents finally counter their perceived threat of the Pirates stealing signs at PNC with nobody on base? And you thought all those bugs flying around the head of the batter were real critters? You rock Carnegie robotic lab!?!
– Assuming Doumit is dealt with Jaramillo taking his place, and assuming Tabata and Alvarez join the club as starting players in July, do you realize that from that point forward Jones will be the only white boy we put on the field – including field coaches – other than our starters?
– How many more limited partners will the Nuttings buy out this winter? I’ve been talking about a division amongst some of them for a while here and you can’t help wonder how much more debt the Nuttings will add to the organization with such a move. See below.
– What becomes the first milestone with the Bradenton Marauders: the team bus is rear-ended going up I-4? Three or more players are removed from one game due to dehydration or overheating issues? We throw a no-hitter? Lightening strikes the field while playing? Or the grandstands from McKechnie Field end up three miles away in Palmetto, FL, after a hurricane?
– I hear Bob Nutting wants to add advertising to the Pirates uniforms but he’s only accepted one client: Seven Springs Ski Resort. Word has it the players will begin wearing huge neon pink Priority 7 patches this year. j/k
– Why do my models suggest that if the grass at PNC was faster on the infield and outfield, we’d save about 30 runs per year?
– Nobody’s home at a Nutting publication about the Pirates:
Makes sense to me.
– What, no January minicamp in Pittsburgh this year? I guess somebody on Federal Street finally got a brain. And 40 players are making the trip for a one-week camp????? Let me flip through the Tony LaRussa guide to winning to see how many more wins we can expect from such an impressive turnout…
.. in January.
Flip.. flip.. flip.. flip.. flip. Hmm.. nothing there. But there is this blurb: starting pitchers who are throwing at 100% a month before camp breaks are sure to have a tough haul in September, or be traded during the year.
I get it now.
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Fellow Yard Barker blogger Tim over at BUCCO Fans posted a nice article on Baseball America’s draft grades for the 2005 – 2008 seasons which basically shows what I’ve been saying here for the last two years – we’re not getting anywhere. Throw in our lack of continuity in player development, and we have a continuing mess.
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Am I the only one that found it odd that Baseball Prospectus asked the Mariners director of minor league development about two Pirates players in the middle of their Mariners chat? Both were catchers, Clement and Sanchez, and considering the club has had some interest in acquiring Ryan Doumit. Now that’s bizarre.
Or a message.
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So you didn’t like my Michael Main package for Ryan Doumit trade suggestion, huh? I got the same result last year when I suggested Adam LaRoche for Jonathan Sanchez.
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“Don’t expect central intervention.”
That was the answer I received back when I asked someone: When does Bud Selig finally step in here in Pittsburgh? 20 consecutive loss seasons? 25? When do the owners or the union step in?
When I asked about how in the world the franchise could have more than one-third its value in debt, I was told:
“They may be taking on debt but they are growing the value of their assets.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly what it is all about to the Nuttings - growing the value of their assets regardless of whether they have a piss-poor product or not.
By Jake, on January 5, 2010, at 1:21 am | 11 comments
The Pirates finally announced today that Jim Benedict was hired as their minor league pitching coordinator. Two thoughts immediately came to mind about this man better known as “Benny” – one, he is a very respected evaluator of pitching talent; and two, why the heck would he take such a demotion?
Forget for a second that he was fired from every stop where he held the same role, and let’s also forget for a second that ex-Pirates pitching coordinator Troy Buckley, who was an unmitigated disaster in Pittsburgh player development history, credits much of his teaching methods to Benny, and let’s also forget that he has some Duquette branding as well, and instead let’s focus on the man.
Let’s start with some positives – he’s known to be an excellent communicator, a very good evaluator of pitching talent, and has numerous years of experience in player development. On the flip side, he’s said to have been an independent rough rider with a heavy-handed style that many field staff and players clashed with. Think Troy Buckley on steroids and you end up with the old Jim Benedict in player development I’m told.
Now approaching 50 some wonder if Benny has calmed down his style some but I’m guessing that probably isn’t the case considering the way Neal Huntington has forced domineering control down the throats of our prospects and the little feedback I received from instructionals.
As for him taking a demotion, well, that happens in this game. Sometimes guys just want to get back into battle (on the field; in the trenches), sometimes they are told to take a demotion, and other times they just want to do something different. Who knows why Benedict accepted the demotion but I’m told by a couple of sources that it isn’t likely he would have accepted a pay cut so, to him, it’s probably just another title with different responsibilities.
I don’t know what to say about this move. Benedict hasn’t been in a player development role in over a decade, he has used unorthodox instructional methods in the past which did leave problems in his wake, and yet he was successful with some of the players he touched with a few openly crediting him for their advancement in the game.
My concern is that he hasn’t toned down and that we end up with a bigger mess than we had under Buckley. But perhaps that is why Neal Huntington also hired Bernie Holliday as a mental conditioning coordinator in order to get our prospects ready to be able to handle Benedict? Seriously, it could be that bad.
For now I’ll take the middle ground and give Benedict the benefit of the doubt until the first player comes to me and tells me that Benny came out to the mound and told him he wasn’t a pitcher, had no business being in the game, and he couldn’t throw strikes if his mother’s life depended on it. Our prospects know what I mean by that comment. All we can do as fans is hope Benedict realizes his, and this organization’s, previous mistakes and takes our youth to the next level using his vast knowledge and not a vast mouth.
I wish him well and I’ll try to keep my ears pinned to the ground.
Lastly, I assume Benedict signed a two-year deal in October 2008 when Huntington brought him in so it’s possible that he enters a lame duck year along with Huntington. In other words, Benedict could end up being just a one-year wonder and even further wrecking havoc on our PD continuity. Also, and this is a bit outside the box, is it possible Frank Coonelly wouldn’t allow Huntington to bring in a new two-year contract in PD and instead sought to use up Benedict’s remaining year filling the coordinator role? I mean, if Coonelly has designs to replace Huntington then Coonelly is going to want the new GM to put his own people in place immediately. Doubtful, but possible.
As for Huntington hiring Steve Lombardozzi as their minor league fielding coordinator with zero PD experience, that’s a bummer but not the end of the world. All PD people start somewhere and he’s getting his chance. What his teaching credentials are I haven’t a clue, so we’ll just have to see what the players think of him and what he can accomplish as time goes on. Jeff Banister can guide him along too.
If you want to know if there were more experienced hires available, the answer is affirmatively yes. Would they work for Pittsburgh? Hmm. When Perry Hill and Joe Kerrigan walked out the door at the end of the season both with one-year club options remaining, that said more than any words ever could. Kerrigan re-signed but the cards had already been dealt. I’m not suggesting we couldn’t hire anybody because that’s simply not true, but at the same point I’m sure their message hurt us some.
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The Bucs threw out some names of their non-roster invitees today with the only real interest piece being Tony Sanchez. It’s common to bring in young catchers so that isn’t that amazing but instead, focus on how many at bats he gets in early spring games. That could tell us more than anything else.
It was nice to see Jimmy Barthmaier’s name. I still think this guy has some untapped ability.
Neal Cotts? Oh my.
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Here’s my first-look schedule analysis. I’ll be fine tuning this based on opponents rosters, our roster, and other factors until mid-February or so, but it isn’t likely to swing very far.
We open with two solid months of pure hell and then life gets a bit easier as the year goes on. The worst of the worst in my current model runs had us 27-61 at the break so there’s a strong possibility we could be significantly worse than 34-54 at the break (ASB). However, I have a lot of adjusting and regressing to do yet so don’t get too excited by this first run.
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Speaking of the fans being losers, bet you didn’t know that the Pirates had more than one entity working at the White House this winter?
Yup, it turns out that Mother Earth News and Natural Home Magazine, both Nutting publications under the Ogden Publication group, spent a considerable amount of money redecorating two rooms in the Blair House, the president’s official guest house, and one of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms in the State Department’s Harry S. Truman Building in Washington, D.C. before Christmas.
Mother Earth News and Natural Home Magazine, as well as all other publications involved in the project, were responsible for using their own funds for travel, lodging, personnel expenses, photographers and to decorate the Blair House and/or State Department. Suppliers with close relationships to Ogden’s two titles were contacted and generously donated their merchandise and/or products to be used as décor, though.
Ho Ho Ho, there’s where some of your Pirates ticket money goes? No wonder Bud Selig came out in support of the Nuttings so graciously. Keep up the good work Bob and Frank.
By Jake, on January 3, 2010, at 11:21 pm | 45 comments
I think I’ve been fairly patient as a fan with the Pittsburgh Pirates ownership group the last few years. I rallied behind the organization during the yellow t-shirt protests in 2006 because I felt the timing of the protest was wrong, I rallied behind the organization again in 2007 when yellow t-shirts gave way to key lime pie colored shirts in protest because they were unorganized and going to do more harm than good, and this winter I shot holes in another fan protest that was gathering steam.. again in the name of the organization.
Lately as I look across the Pirate Nation I see a mostly unhappy group who seem to be content that the ‘new regime’ are ‘doing the right things’.. ‘making decisions and sticking with them’.. ‘on the right track’.. ‘rebuilding the core foundation’.. etc, etc, etc.. and so I have purposely kept my whimpering low-key praying things were going to be different. After all, Frank Coonelly was saying all the right things even though in my heart I felt we weren’t accomplishing much (see my blog posts the last two years).
Then today I pick up the Tribune-Review and read Rob Biertempfel’s article on the Pirates spending and found this buried nugget:
“According to data provided by the team, the Pirates since 2007 have spent more than $11 million on long-term capital improvements. The club also boosted scouting, the draft and international player signings by more than $10 million.
According to Coonelly, the Pirates have poured their operating profits back into the club and also “had to borrow very modestly,” which added to the team’s $100 million debt.” (emphasis New Bucs)
Remember all those years ownership fed us “financial flexibility” stories while turning a “modest” annual profit by fielding a near worthless product? Are we now supposed to believe that those funds vanished into thin air since ownership has made it clear for the last decade they don’t take dividends?
So where did the money go?
And according to Biertempfel, they just added even more debt to the $100M they already had. How could that possibly be? If the franchise is worth around $275M, thats a preposterous 36% debt load fifteen years after purchasing the franchise for $61M ($90M price tag minus the $29M owed to the URA they didn’t have to pay).
And the Pirate Nation believes we’re headed in the right direction!?! I’m sorry but it’s inconceivable to me that ownership will ever be in a financial position to be able to field a competitive club, and that’s putting it nicely.
I was so desperate to believe in a rebuilding process that I put blinders on the last few years hoping upon hope things would get better, but I have just taken them off since the Nuttings seem hell-bent on their own mission. Bob Nutting, you win the Con Man of the Decade award in my book for allowing the fans to be fleeced as COB.
It looks like we need to start a nerdy mission of our own.
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Update Monday January 4, 2010:
Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College who was recently hired by Major League Baseball as a consultant, just passed this note to me:
Jake, I am not sure how they could be adding to debt in last couple of years. It doesn’t compute for me either, unless they are making substantial new investments in the ballpark.
As Erik first noted in the comments below and Dr. Zimbalist suggests, the added debt was most likely from long-term capital investments like the Latin academy. Dejan actually broke the story first on December 7th when he said this in his article:
Coonelly.. [said] last week that the Pirates put all their profit in that span toward $11 million in baseball-related capital investments and, even then, needed to incur additional debt to cover the rest of the amount.
Those capital investments included a $5.4 million baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, $2 million toward the renovation of the Pirate City complex in Bradenton, Fla., and the recent purchase of a new Class A affiliate to play in Bradenton. (Note by Jake – we later learned from Dejan that the price to purchase the Bradenton club was $3M).
Now follow along.. they had $10.4M in capital investments and less than $11M in profits. Seems to me they pretty much wipe each other out.
So why borrow?
This isn’t making one bit of sense to anybody I ask and I finally see why Dejan was so excited over his December 7th article.
