Pirates Starting To Build the Right Way Despite Recent Reports

Official financial documents about a few Major League Baseball Teams were recently released to the public via Deadspin.com.  The team that created the biggest outrage was the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Pirates are the most futile organization in Baseball with 18 consecutive losing seasons.  According to the report, the team profited 29.4 million dollars by gaining approximately 70 million dollars in income using MLB’s revenue sharing plan.  While many believe that the team is simply pocketing the money, the Pirates began to shed their large contracts in 2007.  While many fans were upset, these were the same players (Jason Bay, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez and Xavier Nady for example) that failed to bring the Pirates out of the cellar of the National League). 

Instead, the Pirates General Manager Neil Huntington has chosen to start a so called “youth movement” built around prospects such as Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata, and Pedro Alvarez.  The Pirates have finally realized that they have to spend their money on their minor leagues and scouting in order to build a team that can grow together and become competitive.  Small market teams such as the Twins from the early 2000’s (with Corey Koskie, Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones) and the present day Tampa Bay Rays (with Evan Longoria and B.J. Uptown) have given a model for the Pirates to try and replicate.  The Pirates are able to try and follow the lead of those teams now that the disastrous tenures of former GM’s Dave Littlefield and Cam Bonifay are in the distant past and the team is spending money on draft picks and a baseball academy in the Dominican. 

While it is understandable that Pirates fans are upset with these new financial revelations, would it be better to have a 75 win team with no potential, or a 60 win team with pieces that could form to be the foundation of a contender in the coming years?  If the Pirates start to improve, the money that was not spent in recent years could be used to buy free agents that supplement the team’s core.  If the team had spent the profits acquired from the revenue sharing plan, they probably would have simply resigned some the players that they have given up in recent years.  Time will tell if the Pirates will try and keep these young players (McCutchen for example) when they hit arbitration or free agency?