The Story of the Pittsburgh Pirates: Triumph or Tragedy?

Let me start out by saying that I have not had the opportunity to watch a  Pittsburgh Pirates game on TV, so I am in no way an expert of the team. You may be shocked to find out that ESPN and Fox are not jumping to nationally televise their games. 

I am a Yankees fan, a fan of the evil empire, and in the eyes of most I should hate the small market teams. 

However, I am a fan of the underdog story—but so is everybody. 

In Rocky IV, we all wanted Rocky to win over Ivan Drago, and we all rejoiced when Rocky took down the machine.  Over the past year, millions rallied around the Dallas Mavericks as they took on the clear favorite Miami Heat (side note:  This was all after years of people saying Dirk Nowitzki was “too soft,” “not much of a leader” and “afraid of the big game”).

Of course our hearts want to see the Pittsburgh Pirates succeed.  However, I think the book is about to close on this fairy tale for the following reasons:

1.  The NL Central

The Pirates are one of four legitimate contenders in the NL Central.  The St. Louis Cardinals have a 3-4-5 combination of Albert Pujols-Matt Holiday-Lance Berkman, making it impossible to pitch around Pujols. 

The Cincinnati Reds have last year’s NL MVP Joey Votto along with Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips. 

The Milwaukee Brewers have three All-Star starters in Rickie Weeks, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. 

Do the Pirates have the pitching to handle all of these sluggers in their own division?

2.  A conservative front office

The Pirates right now need to add a big piece to stay in the race for the NL Central.  Carlos Beltran is available, and according to Buster Olney’s Twitter the Pirates are out of the Beltran deal. 

The front office has never been known to be a big spender, but now is the time to pony up and make a run at the NL Central.

3.  Money, money, money 

Flashback to 1992. 

The Pirates had already lost big-time slugger Bobby Bonilla to the New York Mets.  Sid Bream beat a Barry Bonds throw to the plate in Game 7 of the 1992 ALCS, and the Pirates have never been the same since.  Bonds signed for big money with the San Francisco Giants that year, and the Pirates have not been to the playoffs since. 

With a small payroll, can the Pirates attract free agents?  And will players like Andrew McCutchen eventually follow the path paved by Bonds and Bonilla?

Let me re-iterate, I would love to see the Pirates stay competitive.  However, I just don’t see this happening unless they make some changes. 

If they don’t, they will continue to get beat by the LeBron James and Ivan Dragos of the world.