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Submitted by: Paul on Thursday, May 24, 2012
@Steve Have disagree with you on one point; blaming Nutting at this point makes no sense. The Pirates spent money this off season and they tried to spend even more but were rejected by two pitchers who signed elsewhere for less. The problem once again is that the money spent was squandered on chits and role players on the offensive side of the effort instead of players who could have made an impact. The Pirates are paying McLouth, Barajas, Barmes and McGehee in excess of $13 million dollars this season to all perform below levels that many in their minor leagues have exceed when given the opportunity. The $13 millions could easily have been spent to acquire one of several free agents who ultimately signed for less and could be helping this team right now. That gets laid squarely at the feet of Neal Huntington and is compounded by the fact that the players they do have are being coached and managed by to utter incompetents name Hurdle and Ritchie. Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington share responsibility for that.

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Submitted by: Paul on Thursday, May 24, 2012
Couple of responses: 1. The Pirates' "biggest problem" is not any one player. It's the fact that seemingly out of nowhere everyone in the lineup is unable or unwilling to take a walk. Everyone including walk magnets like McCutchen is preforming well below their career levels and expectations. The degree to which this is occurring throughout the roster would seem to suggest a larger problem not related to any one player. Namely Hurdle and Ritchie's "swing at the first pitch," swing at the second pitch, swing at every pitch and put the ball in play at all costs approach seems to be the culprit. 2. The person "who best personifies this debacle" is not McLouth,it's clearly Clint Barmes. McLouth was signed as a fourth/fifth outfielder and as such as big a liability as he's been at the plate he's not been there that often. Barmes, signed at the behest of Hurdle on the other hand is the starting short stop and while we don't normally expect a lot of offense from that position he's been utterly horrific. Not to mention the team is on the hook for 10 million to him and his defense has been just short of abysmal. That money, combined with McLouth's, Barajas' and what they're paying McGehee is far greater than the cost of what it took to sign Carlos Beltran, Carlos Pena and number of other free agents that could have actually helped the team while Pirates minor leaguers could have done at least as well as the four that were signed and likely better. The team certainly won't miss McLouth if he's released but Barmes is the one who has to go sooner rather than later. 3. As to McGehee, yes he's been a disaster as well but to some degree it's not all his fault as it wasn't all Mike Diaz's either. When is Neal Huntington going to look at the numbers and realize that his team's home park eats right handed hitters with mediocre power for lunch? No matter how many time Pirates' broadcasters shout about a deep flyout to left center being a home run in another ball park it won't change the fact that they don't play in another ball park 81 games a year. Quit acquiring right handed hitters who can't clear that fence and then complaining when they don't. 4. What's truly "amazing" about all this is that with the failures of Neal Huntington this off season, Clint Hurdle's lineup management and Ritchie's coaching so readily and indisputably apparent any of these three let all on all of them still have jobs.

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Submitted by: Steve on Thursday, May 24, 2012
Every season, everyone thinks things can only get better but I’ll never be surprised when things get worse. Oh yeah, just like last year, pitching was good but not good enough to win 1-0, 2-1 games like they’ll need to to make up for this Slumber Company, pony league lineup. Until the Pirates have an owner who deserves a winning team, I'd rather this be the result every season. The last thing we need is another fluky reason to be hopeful like last season so that they can raise ticket prices, drum up support and try to make more money from the snake oil they are selling. The fact the Huntington has assembled this lineup of sleepwalkers and still has a job, just reinforces the fact that Nutting has no business whatsoever in owning a baseball club, let alone a winning one. He obviously got into this for investment reasons and should sell the team to someone who’s more passionate about winning if he had any respect for its fans, or the city and how his team reflects upon it but he’s not a baseball person, was never a Pirates fan, and never a fan of Pittsburgh, so he really could care less about the end result, as long as he can see a buck from it. Oh yeah, he says he wants to win but at the end of the day he sleeps just as well regardless of the situation on the field. I want an owner who will shake tress and knock down walls to make things happen and that isn’t Nutting. McClatchy and now Nutting, took what was probably one of the top few respected and storied franchises in baseball history, regardless of how well they were playing at the time or their financial woes, and turned it into its laughing stock, absolute worst. They now are nothing more than a comical punch line to any joke. Sadly, this is what this team deserves and for anyone to be confused and asking how this can be and why they can be so pathetic, you simply have to look no further than the man who owns the team and hires the people that make the decisions and give you what you get. It starts at the top folks, so don’t fool yourselves into thinking that somehow, someway they will win in spite of it. Continue to ignore the man behind the curtain because we all know it’s Hurdles fault. No, wait…it’s Barmes’. Yeah, that’s the ticket.