The Three Most Pathetic Franchises in Professional Sports

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Pittsburgh Pirates, MLB

The Pirates also share a dubious honor with the Clippers; one winning record in the last 18 seasons.

In the last 17 years they have placed third or higher in their division only twice. Their highest win total in that span for a single season is 78.

The Nationals are definitely a candidate for worst MLB team, but they at least have the excuse of being a relocated team, if that even counts.

What makes matters worse for the Pirates is that they are well known for their amazing minor league system and all of the great prospects they churn out. With their poor drafts, this puzzles me, but their minor league systems are a known commodity. To the delight of other teams they generally give away their best prospects in exchange for rags.

Notable bust transactions the past decade

SP Jason Schmidt to the San Francisco Giants for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong

OF Jose Guillen, and P Jeff Sparks to the Tampa Bay Rays for Joe Oliver and Humberto Cota.

OF Kenny Lofton and 3B Aramis Ramirez and cash to the Chicago Cubs for P Jose Hernandez, OF Matt Bruback, and P Bobby Hill. 

RP Damaso Marte and OF Edwin Yan to the Chicago White Sox for P Matt Guerrier.

OF Nate McLouth for prospects OF Gorkys Hernandez, P Jeff Locke, and P Charlie Morton. 

In addition to some head scratching trades they have not done well with first round picks recently. Some first round duds include:

P Bryan Bullington: The former 2002 No. 1 overall pick has never won a professional game and has a ERA of 5.45.

P Sean Burnett: Since his debut in 2004 the former 19th overall selection has a career record of 7-7 with a 4.59 ERA. 

P John Van Benschoten: He has a career 2-3 record with a 9.20 ERA, hardly worthy of his eighth overall selection. 

3B Neil Walker: He has no professional stats recorded. That should say enough.

OF Andrew McCutchen: The former No. 12 pick has one career RBI.

Brad Lincoln: The former No. 4 pick has been decimated by injuries and is currently battling for a spot in the rotation for the class AA Altoona Curve minor league team.

Unlike the Clippers, the Pirates seem destined for poor play with their cheap budget and failure to make any impact signings. At least the Clippers now possess a young team with some diverse talents. The Pirates have a small, decent nucleus of players headlined by 1B Adam LaRoche, 3B Andy LaRoche, SS Freddy Sanchez, and C Ryan Doumit. 

Their two best pitchers are SP Paul Maholm and closer Matt Capps. Beyond that, the cupboard is thin besides No. 2 pitcher Zach Duke. 

If they can generate some depth by refusing to sell their promising prospects, or All Star OF's (Jason Bay, Nate McClouth), they could slowly start to turn things around by improving they can attract some much needed impact free agent acquisitions. 

Luckily the city of Pittsburgh has the Steelers, who just wrapped up their second title in four seasons. The Penguins are also currently playing in the Stanley Cup Finals.

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