Over .500, Pirates Return to the Mix
By TYLER KEPNER
PITTSBURGH ? For 18 years, baseball teams have known where to shop for help in the pennant race. The Pittsburgh Pirates have finished each of those seasons with a losing record, and by July, things are usually so hopeless that they trade veterans to contenders. The last two World Series winners have each included two players acquired from Pittsburgh for prospects.
Keith Srakocic/Associated Press
Reliever Joel Hanrahan said he could now "go out in town and not feel embarassed."
Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press
Andrew McCutchen, a first-round pick in 2005, was an All-Star this season.
?You?re happy for them individually, because that?s why every one of us does this,? said Neal Huntington, the Pirates? general manager. ?You love to win.?
But now it is the Pirates (51-45), of all teams, who are winning again, tied for the lead in the National League Central after Wednesday?s 3-1 loss to Cincinnati. It is the latest they have led their division since winning it in 1992.
The subsequent streak of losing seasons is a record for the four major professional sports in the United States. It has bruised a proud city that has claimed two Super Bowls and a Stanley Cup since the Pirates? last winning season.
?Times before that I?ve been here, it?s been hard to go out to dinner,? said Joel Hanrahan, the Pirates? closer, who joined the team during the 2009 season. ?You didn?t really want to go out because you didn?t want to have somebody come up and go, ?Why don?t you ever win?? Now, you can go out in town and not feel embarrassed. They?ll clear off the table for you real quick.?
The Pirates? opening day payroll, around $45 million, is the lowest in the National League. The owner, Bob Nutting, has authorized Huntington to add salary before the July 31 trading deadline, and the team needs offensive help, ranking 13th among 16 N.L. teams in runs scored.
But the Pirates must act carefully, Nutting said, to avoid the mistakes of the recent past. Spending lavishly for a short-term solution might not be the best use of money.
?You can?t let an emotional decision turn into a bad decision,? Nutting said. ?The Matt Morris trade is a good example.?
Nutting, who is also the chief executive of Ogden Newspapers Inc., was in his first season running the Pirates when the team acquired Morris from the San Francisco Giants in July 2007. The Pirates were in last place, and Morris was owed $13.5 million. But he had a decent track record as a starting pitcher, and the Pirates hoped he would give them a dependable, if decidedly average, arm through 2008.
Nutting called it a good-hearted move, but it proved to be a colossal waste of money. Morris made just 16 starts the rest of his career, winning three, with a 7.04 earned run average. The deal reinforced the image that the Pirates could not build efficiently, forever desperate for a quick fix.
Within two months of the Morris debacle, Nutting fired General Manager Dave Littlefield and replaced him with Huntington, an assistant with the Cleveland Indians. He also hired a team president, Frank Coonelly, the general counsel of labor in the commissioner?s office. They cut payroll from the major league roster, hired more scouts and plowed money into player development.
?We understand that you?re frustrated, and we understand you have no patience any longer,? Coonelly said, explaining the team?s message to fans. ?But we have to ask for more patience, because we can?t give you what you really want. What you really want is not a team that wins 81 or 82 games. What you really want is a team that is fitting of the city of champions. And that?s going to take some time.?
The Pirates have spent more than $30 million in the draft the last three seasons, more than any other team, and the trend will likely continue as they negotiate with this year?s top picks, Gerrit Cole and Josh Bell. Last summer, the team spent $11.3 million on three teenage pitchers: Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie from the draft, and Luis Heredia from Mexico. The Pirates ranked fifth in the majors last season in bonuses for international players, at $5 million.
The curious part of this season?s renaissance is that the Pirates have done it without some of the players most central to the rebuilding plan. Center fielder Andrew McCutchen was an All-Star, but third baseman Pedro Alvarez, the No. 2 overall pick in 2008, is toiling in the minors.
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