Because love means never having to say you’re sorry for 15 years of losing seasons, Pirate fans can take heart that pitchers and catchers are reporting on Valentine’s Day this year. And not a moment too soon; the mantra of team management at PirateFest and in the pages of the local rags was beginning to make the most ardent Bucco Believer feel as duped as the president of the Kevin Hart Fan Club. (No, not that one … this one.)
C’mon, guys. Did this team really “underachieve” that much last year? Not so much if you’d peruse Pirate blogs (links here, here and here). That’s the thing that sets the pointy-headed baseball bloggers apart from all others sports. Any opinion –– supporting, refuting, or even both –– is at the mercy of a stat-geek firing squad armed with their graphs, pie charts, ZiPS projections, Pythagorean methods, and other think-tank generated evidence. While I love it and hate it at the same time, there’s only one Pirates Pie chart that proves anything.
Now, back to another popular public relations chant is how this Bucco brass is in the process of “changing the culture” (links here and here) within the organization. So, in other words, no more Jason Kendall-types greeting Triple A call-ups with “Welcome to hell”? The only culture that seems intended for p.r.’s sake is a change from the “We Will” slogan to “Let’s Go Bucs!” Translation: please stop demanding success and think of us as a lovable loser –– a la the Chicago Cubs. “Let’s Go Bucs!” is becoming a cheer akin to telling Jed Clampett to keep firing his shotgun at the ground, you’ll hit oil eventually. (Hey, they even have a bobblehead for that!)
Heck, why not take this “culture” thing and run with it. The 2008 Pirates can be the Culture Club of the NL Central with Jason Bay as Boy George, Xavier Nady as Jon Moss, Jose Bautista as Mikey Craig and Adam La Roche as Roy Hay. Bob Nutting can sing Karma Chameleon on Opening Day, which appropriately includes to verse:
“I’m a man without conviction / I’m a man who doesn’t know / How to sell a contradiction / You come and go / You come and go”
As Pirate fans, we love and hate the Bucs at the same time. So, yep, we’ve indeed bought Nutting’s contradiction.
2 comments:
I actually like what I am seeing from the new Buccos.
We fired DL
We fired Ed Creech.
We dumped McClatchy.
No matter what this organization did in the offseason this ballclub wouldn't be competitive in 2008, so why waste resources on an already doomed season?
The only way to right the Pirate ship is to draft and develop talent.
I have to agree with the Duke on this one. The Buccos are a long way from being good and getting rid of all the incompetence is a good place to start.
Additionally, they seem to be laying a good set of fundamentals to build a solid team in the distant future.
Now let's see how Ty Taubenheim and Manny P can help us win one or two extra games this year. Ha, ha, ha
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