Doug Mienkiewicz Is Incrediby Upset

Bitch, Bitch, Bitch. Thats all he does. He bitched while with the Red sox, he bitched when he was with the mets and had a terrible year, he bitched with the yankees and now with the pirates. What a whiner.

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The Pirates have a beautiful brand new ballpark but I mainly blame the fans. They don't come out. Without that revenue from attendance, the Pirates weren't able to keep Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte, and Jason Bay. With them, they would have brought up some good players from the farm system and would have been in serious contention by the third year. Recently, Marlins ownership wants a free retractable domed roof stadium with the taxpayer paying the bill. If the fans won't come out to see the Pirates, what makes them think they'll go see the Marlins? They won't as if you watch highlights when a player hits the ball into the left field seats you see an empty upper deck, middle deck and four fans running after the ball in the lower leftfield deck.

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It's the fans fault???? People in PGH won't pay for garbage. Kevin McClatchy and Bob Nutting get enough money from revenue sharing alone to pay their major league payroll every year and they spend it on bums and has beens, not real prospects,scouting or free agency. Invest in your on-field product and they will come, in droves. Don't keep using our hard earned money to pay down stadium debt and line your pockets.

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Ralph man, get a clue. The fact that there are still fans in the stands is an accomplishment in itself. Why go to games when you know the owner is just pocketing the profits for himself. The reason they said they traded Bay, Nady, and Marte was to build for the future. In reality, they wanted the money off the books so the more they can keep for themselves (also why Bautisa was dealt to Toronto). They get a revenue check from MLB each season that almost covers the payroll, everything we as fans buy through the team is almost pure profit to them. Why go watch a team when you know your getting nothing in return for your investment. How about get caught up with the situation before you run your mouth about the fans here in Pittsburgh.

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The comments here show just how clueless most people outside of Pittsburgh are about the Pirates. And it even sheds some light on how clueless the fans INSIDE Pittsburgh are. Allow me to shed some light on all of these comments:

Ralph - The Pirates had Bay locked up for another year after this season, and Nady was willing to take less money to stay with the team. They could have afforded to keep Marte too, but let's face it: he's 34 years old. By the time the Pirates can contend, he'll be retired. Besides, he hasn't been so hot with the Yankees, which just goes to show how overvalued a lefty one-out guy is. Ownership has the money to keep these players, and they would be willing to. Look at their spending in recent years...they spent $10 mil on the freaking draft this year...that's more than all but two other teams. It's a wise move by Neil Huntington to get what he can for these players instead. Also, there's no "good players" to BE called up from the farm system. Before the trades, the Pirates farm system was stacked with 26-27 year old pitchers who only have good minor league numbers because they're so much older than the competition of actual prospects. The only legit prospect was Andrew McCutchen. This resulted from the plan you were proposing, ie keeping all of their aging veteran players, waiting to trade them until they're nearly worthless in exchange for a backup catcher or something, and then bringing in some 38 year old free agent who's best years are WAY behind them (Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa, Sean Casey...) and proclaiming them the savior of your team. That was Dave Littlefield's business model. It failed for seven straight years. That's why he's no longer the GM.

Glenn - Kevin McClatchy resigned from his CEO position almost a year ago. He's no longer involved with the Pirates operations in any way. Catch up with the times, man.

Luke - The Bay trade was an excellent trade for everyone involved. The Pirates got four players, all of them who will at least be useful players in the future, one of whom is exceeding expectations in every possible way and one who is universally regarded as one of the best prospects in all of baseball, all in exchange for a slightly above-average left fielder who's approaching his 30s. Also, Jose Bautista was horrible at baseball. If you really think he was getting some kind of superstar salary that was putting a hurt on the owners, you're delusional. Andy LaRoche is already putting up numbers that are just as good as that 27-year-old hack utility man did, and he's got infinitely more upside than Bautista ever had.

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Without touching on the fact that batting average is a terrible metric, Andy LaRoche has 133 ABs for the Pirates, or about as many as it took for Pirates fans to declare Chris Duffy Baseball Jesus. It's called a small sample size, just like when Chipper Jones was hitting .400 earlier this year. Be patient.

Not to mention that this is the first real stretch of major league playing time Andy LaRoche has seen...it's called an adjustment period. Almost all players go through it. There was a player similar to Andy LaRoche on the Pirates once named Aramis Ramirez, who despite huge hype was putting up pretty bad numbers because he was going through an adjustment period. Fans booed him, and eventually he was traded and went on to be a superstar with the Cubs. Nobody was really mad at the time of the Ramirez trade, (except knowledgeable baseball fans, of which Pittsburgh has painfully few) only after he became the superstar he was supposed to did people get their panties in a bunch over it. Before he seemed like a throw-in.

When Andy LaRoche is great and you're eating your words, I'll just be laughing. You were probably one of those fans that was calling for Jason Bay to be benched when he was slumping last year, and now you're all butthurt that he's gone.

Also, Brandon Moss has 6 home runs, 10 doubles and a triple in 149 Pirate ABs. If a guy can do that consistently, I'll settle for a .220 average to go along with it, especially when the guy was supposed to be a career fourth OF.

As far as Bautista, I'm honestly surprised the Pirates got anything from him and his career .239/.325/.399 average. He's not a starting caliber major leaguer, end of story. He has his uses as a utility guy, but Andy LaRoche has infinitely more potential than he ever had.

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