MLB Trading Deadline Postcard: A Letter to the Pittsburgh Pirates

This is the first in a series of highly personal letters I am sending to teams of interest as we approach this year's trading deadline. Enjoy.

Dear Pirates,

Sell! Sell! For the love of love sell!

I know, I know, the thing about the winning record and twenty years of failure and people feeling good and...just stop, stop it now. This season isn’t going anywhere and you know it. There are three other teams in your own division with more major-league talent so don’t go thinking you can steal this thing. Someone is going to get hot and it’s not going to be you guys.

And bury that notion about the winning record, it’s fool’s gold. Ask the 2003 Royals how their one year above .500 turned out. Did it generate momentum? Revive fan interest in the franchise? Magically restock their farm system? NOPE.

You got this far because a bunch of overachieving veterans got together with a promising young core (Andrew McCutchen). Allow me to demonstrate:

*Jeff Karstens, 6th big league season, Career ERA 4.41, 2011 ERA 2.34

*Kevin Correia, 9th big league season, Career ERA 4.49, 2011 ERA 4.04

*Paul Maholm, 7th big league season, Career ERA 4.31, 2011 ERA 3.06

*Chris Snyder, 8th big league season, Career OPS+ 87, 2011 OPS+ 118

*Joel Hanrahan, 5th big league season, Career ERA 4.00, 2011 ERA 1.24

Hey, maybe this is one of those cases where a bunch of guys at very different points in their respective careers figure it out at exactly the same time while they're all serendipitously on the same team. Oh wait, that's never happened in the history of ever.

Trust me, it won’t be long before the overachieving veterans revert back into achieving veterans. Then where will you be?

So sell the overachievers while their overachieving and keep the jolly roger low.

Best,
Avi

PS - I like your Parrot.