U mad, bro?: Pirates fans love their prospect rankings, but hate anyone who doesn't feel the same way

Pittsburgh Pirates fans reminded me of a valuable lesson this week.

Media members are not allowed to pass negative judgement on any aspect of a Major League Baseball draft for at least five years.

You can, however, declare it a spectacular, franchise-altering, paradigm-shifting success overnight.

That’s how things went this week in Pittsburgh when Pirates diehards — all 25 of them who remain — attacked me for failing to rubber stamp the Pirates’ draft philosophy of going under slot on the top pick so they’d have more money to spend later.

Instead, I had the raging hot take that the Pirates should’ve selected Vanderbilt pitcher Jack Leiter with the first pick in the MLB draft instead of Louisville catcher Henry Davis.

It was such a ridiculous opinion that when the Pirates passed on Leiter, he plummeted all the way down the draft board to the Texas Rangers who didn’t select him until …

…. um … well … second overall.

Think I’m exaggerating? Check my Twitter timeline.

Wait. Don’t bother. You’re about to get way too much of it in this week’s “U mad, bro?” column.

Actually, let’s start with a Steelers tweet. Another gem from inside linebacker Devin Bush.

Welcome to the mind of a psycho

— Devin Bush ll (@_Dbush11) July 13, 2021

Thanks, Devin. But the cat video was essentially all the welcoming we needed.

OK. Now to the Pirates. Take it away, Stephen B.

Tim- you’re able to talk about the Steelers, and even the penguins. But you are absolutely clueless when it comes to baseball

— Stephen B. Smith (@Stephen_B_Smlth) July 13, 2021

So, the team with four winning seasons and no divisional titles since Sid Bream slid across home plate has been right all along?

And I’m the clueless one?

Got it.

JG disagreed with a tweet I sent on the topic.

I think if you took a few minutes to do some basic research and looked at how farm system rankings typically correlate to major league success 3-4 years later you’d probably change your opinion on that last sentence.

— JG (@jg9188) July 13, 2021

I think if you did some basic research on the franchise since April 1993, you’d change yours. It’s not just about the prospect rankings. It’s about how the prospects are handled through the system, too.

And … it’s about (*gasp*) MLB performance once they get to Pittsburgh.

And … there is the small matter of contract retention once the players need to get paid as well.

Donk36 says I’m being too hard on the Pirates fan base for getting overly excited about the 2021 draft.

Yea but you’re acting like no other fan bases are doing the same thing …. You don’t think the Rangers fans are declaring that they had a great draft ?

— Donk36 (@heno_63) July 13, 2021

They should. Some silly team let them have Leiter.

I had quite the exchange with Bunker Bucco.

Half of the people who claim they wanted Leiter, had only seen his highlights this year, and had barely actually seen him pitch. He started the year around 100 mph and dipped to around 95 near the end. Not to mention a big stretch where he was giving up a ton of homers each game.

— Bunker Bucco (@bunkerbucco) July 13, 2021

Leiter had an 11-4 record with a 2.13 ERA and a .129 batting average against. He had 179 strikeouts in 110 innings pitched. He was on the All-Tournament team. He appeared in a College World Series game which he lost 1-0 and had 15 strikeouts.

Not to mention his frame, he’s only 6’0. Most star pitchers are preferred at 6’3-6’5. Even more likely at his size to get injured as well.

— Bunker Bucco (@bunkerbucco) July 13, 2021

Leiter is 6-feet tall. That’s taller than Pedro Martinez, the same height as Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. Leiter is 205 pounds. None of them broke 180.

But that’s probably just me sticking up for a “short” guy.

I just don’t think you can rip the Pirates until they develop. If Davis becomes another Tony Sanchez, rip it apart. If Leiter becomes a hall of famer tear the Pirates apart. But if 2-4 of those guys they drafted in their first 3 rounds become great, they made the right decision

— Bunker Bucco (@bunkerbucco) July 13, 2021

Great. Let’s make a deal. I won’t make Davis out to be another Tony Sanchez (which I never did) if all of you stop making him out to be Johnny Bench.

This guy was upset that I was raining on the parade of Pirates fans. So he decided to use Adam Frazier’s base hit in the All-Star Game against me.

Are we allowed to be happy that Adam Frazier broke up the no-hitter??? Or is that taboo?

— CharDeeMacDennis (@CharDeeMacDen12) July 14, 2021

Yes. You should’ve applauded him as loud as possible. It may have been your last chance before he’s shipped off to Chicago, New York or San Francisco.

Speaking of taking cheap shots over people relocating.

I will applaud very loudly when you move to another city Timmy

— TG (@tom_gladden) July 14, 2021

I did that once. But I moved back from Boston in 2015 because I knew eventually Ben Cherington would follow me here from his Red Sox general manager job and assemble the single greatest professional sports draft class since the 1974 Steelers.

See. Told you I was smart.

At least “Pittsburgh Opie” is on my side. He’s upset with the Pirates honks who are spouting on my feed.

Enough with the facts already! “Yay Pirates” is the only acceptable response to this draft. Just look at their track record.

— Pgh Opie (@Pgh_Opie) July 13, 2021

Agreed. National League manager Dave Roberts should’ve done the right thing and started Davis at catcher in the All-Star Game as he so richly deserved.

It appears Billy Balla has it figured out, too.

I remember when Pirate fans were LOLing at the "haters" because Huntington and Co were the best management team in baseball.

— Billy Balla (@BillyBalla7) July 14, 2021

Exactly. I remember when I was told I should stop being so sentimental about the Neil Walker trade to the New York Mets and accept that Jon Niese was going to help the rotation.

Lastly, @benedickUSA appears to have enjoyed my column more than just about anyone else.

Tim used to be pretty solid. Now he’s performing for the lowest common denominator.

— Benedick wants to party all the time party all … (@BenedickUSA) July 14, 2021

Well, as a Pirates fan, I’ll defer to you. You’ve had plenty of experience seeing the lowest common denominator.