Props to the Pirates

In the past, I've been one of the more critical voices in the Pittsburgh sports blogging world when it came to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Growing up surrounded by die-hard fans, including my grandfather (RIP), I of course began to root for the Pirates. I was pretty young during the 92' NLCS so I can't say that it bothers me as much as others, not to mention that I was way more involved with the Pittsburgh Penguins by then.

As the years went by I became increasingly cynical of the Pirates...I wasn't as bad as Marf Madden (Yes I meant Marf) but I still got frustrated by the franchise by their lack of not trying to win. As with any Pittsburgher, I appreciate effort and I did not feel as if the Pirates' front-office was giving anywhere near the effort that their fans deserved. They hardly ever spent money and even when they did it was on players that were either way past their prime or had no prime at all.....And they traded away most of their good players for bad players...

I used to go to a lot of games, around 20+ a season for the most part. Let's be honest, Pirates' games are a good time. Usually great weather, fireworks, tailgating, women, guys if that's what you're into.I invested my time and money into the team and franchise, along with my emotions. I wanted the Pirates to be good and I always have. But  the franchise just was not committed to winning....

However, I now see the change. The drafting has gotten better, drafting players that they wouldn't have drafted in previous years. They've locked up key players such as Andrew McCtuchen. They've signed some really good free-agents like AJ Burnett, Francisco Liriano, and Russell Martin. The Burnett signing has changed this franchise's and team's mentality around in my opinion.

Then, after having myself and all of the other yinzers in this town bitch about the Pirates not adding a bad at the trade deadline or during trade waivers.....They added two players in a great trade. The Pirates sent Dilson Herrera and a player to be named later to the New York Mets for Marlon Byrd and catcher John Buck. Buck is whatever, a good defensive catcher but Byrd not only fills a big need (right field), he is also going to help. Byrd, 35, is having a career year, with 21 homers while batting .285. When you consider that the Pirates have McCutchen, a MVP contender in center, and Starling Marte (also batting over .280) in left field, Byrd gives them a complete and very good outfield.

It also prevents the Pirates from having guys like Andrew Lambo and Alex Presley have extended tryouts in the right field. Jose Tabata, aka "Lip Neck", can add depth to the bench. While decent, Tabata just isn't a good starting outfielder at this point. The Pirates don't make this move in the past, and most cynical yinzers would have never guessed that they would have made this move, especially after failing to add a bat at the trade-deadline.

I'm not trying to blow the Pirates, and I surely hope Neil Huntington and Bob Nutting don't sit back and say "See we made a trade for what everyone was crying for, we are trying to win" and then not do anything like this in the future. This team could have still have used some more moves, such as acquiring a decent shorstop and a first baseman. I really hope we don't have to watch Garrett Jones play baseball anymore.

Good move nonetheless. The time to win is now, the immediate future. The Pirates are 20 games over .500 at the very end of August, the expectations are now to make the playoffs and compete for a NL pennant.

But, props to the front-office for making the right move for once. Again, as someone that has been very angry towards this franchise in the past, right now they seem to be moving in the right direction. Hopefully they continue this trend and this will continue to get funner and funner. Right now it's time to enjoy the ride.