


There's a culture of losing in Pittsburgh. The streak is at what, 19 straight losing seasons? If you're under 25, or hell, even 30, when you think of Pittsburgh baseball, you think of them being the doormat of the National League. During these players' careers, Pittsburgh has been a wretched team. The players are likely overlooking the surplus of young talent that the Pirates have built up, and instead looking at the here and now, which is a rebuilding, young team.

Oswalt is nearing the end of his career, and he'd like a ring. Pittsburgh won't be ready for the big time for another couple of seasons, regardless of the wealth of talent they've built up right now. The Pirates brought in just four free agents this offseason: Erik Bedard, Nate McLouth, Rod Barajas, and Clint Barmes. Barajas and Barmes will be starters for the team and Bedard will slide into the rotation, while McLouth will be a bench player. Each of the three starters they signed replaced a departed starter; Bedard replaces Paul Maholm, Barajas replaces Ryan Doumit, and Barmes replaces Ronny Cedeno. None of these guys is a dealbreaker, they're really just filling holes right now.

The Pirates have a pair of young, budding stars on offense in Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker, but the only other potentially above average regular on offense is Jose Tabata. The rest of the offense is a steaming pile of doo. Bedard is probably the best starter in the rotation now, which makes the team's pursuit of Jackson and Oswalt makes a little more sense, but why would either of those two want to slide into the second slot of a rotation and have guys like Charlie Morton, James McDonald, and Jeff Karstens behind them? These guys may be fine regulars one day, but right now, they're back-end rotation filler.

Pittsburgh has a ton of young talent in the minors, with guys like Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Josh Bell, and Starling Marte in varying degrees of closeness to the majors. Mark ranked their farm system eighth in his rankings, and while they do have a ton of talent, much of it won't be ready for the majors for at least another year. While Jackson could have been in it when they were ready, Oswalt wouldn't have been, and his logic for not wanting to talk to Pittsburgh makes sense to me. As for Jackson, I guess he wanted to play for a contender, even if he had to take a one year deal.


  • Big Money Players saying no to Pittsburgh. Well if we didnt have that major losing streak last year we would of competed for the division. Im tired signing players who once were the dominate player but know are trying to keep there head above water. I really hate that the Pittsburgh never gives the top prospects a chance, being a top prospect in Pittsburgh means 3 years in a ball 3 years in AA and AAA and finally making it when they are close to 30. I feel like the NFL if you make the big money then you should earn the big money why sign a guy and pay him millions to sit in the Minors.
  • The Pirates are big believers that if they bring up say, a young pitcher, and he has one bad outting it could set him back years. Thats BS. What sets them back years is leaving them on some farm league for 5 years. Bring these kids up. Whats it gonna hurt? One more losing season?

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