Futilitywatch '09 is a our semi-regular update on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their march toward their record 17th consecutive losing season.The reason that Futilitywatch wasn't made a weekly feature earlier in the season was fairly simple; I wasn't sure the Pirates would be interesting enough to do weekly updates on. The three weeks since we've looked in on the Pirates' slow march towards infamy is emblematic of that; there just isn't much that happens week to week. In a basic week, the Pirates win two or three games and lose four or five, their record slowly eroding, with hope slowly extinguishing.
That said, three weeks encompasses almost the entire career of Garrett Jones and with the trade deadline looming, it's certainly time for an update on the team that's a mere 29 losses from setting one of the most dubious records in sports history.
Since Our Last Update
We should start with the good news. Only July 1, the Pirates called up a guy named Garrett Jones. Jones bounced around the Twins organization forever, mostly failing to advance past Triple-A, getting only 84 plate appearances in a brief 2007 cameo in the big leagues. He'd always flashed decent power in the minors, but mostly showed very little else. In the wake of the Nyjer Morgan trade at the end of June, he came to the Pirates for what was probably his last real chance to prove he could play in the big leagues.
In 18 games with the Pirates, Jones is now hitting .338/.397/.831. He's got nine homers, which actually leads the team now that Adam LaRoche has been traded. Given his minor league numbers (his career OPS is lower than his current big league slugging percentage), the bottom will certainly fall out. Until it does, Pittsburgh has it's own modern-day Paul Bunyan that's actually giving Pirate fans something to talk about in July.
On the other hand, Adam LaRoche has joined Nyjer Morgan and Nate McLouth as ex-Pirates and Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson may have joined the three of them by this time next week. Losing Sanchez and Wilson may sting Pirate fans more than losing LaRoche, Morgan, Jason Bay, and Xavier Nady combined. Wilson's been a regular since 2001 and when healthy is one of the best (and most exciting to watch) defensive shortstops in all of baseball. Sanchez has been starting since the second half of 2005 and except for an injury-riddled 2008, he's been a .300-plus hitter that's played solid defense with Wilson at second base.
The two players are good friends, very active in the Pittsburgh community, and have both said they'd be receptive to staying in Pittsburgh. Of course, they're both 31 and they're likely worth more now than they ever will be again in their careers. That means that the Pirates, who are taking rebuilding seriously for the first time since about 1997, should be shopping them. They are, and they're likely to be dealt before next Friday's trade deadline. Unfortunately, what's right for the team isn't always easy for the fans and there's going to be some serious backlash when the duo is shipped out of town.
A Little Bit of History
You may have noticed that three of Matt Snyder's 10 worst trade deadline deals since the turn of the century involved the Pirates. This is exactly why Pirate fans are so nervous about the impending trades of Sanchez and Wilson. They've been burned repeatedly, and, at some point, it's probably smart to just stop grabbing the iron before you check to see if it's plugged in.
That being said, you'll also notice that all three of the trades were made prior to September of 2007. As in, they were all made by Dave Littlefield and not current GM Neal Huntington. It's not easy as a fan to separate one front office from another, but it's also unfair to blame the present one for the sins of the past.
Look closer at Snyder's list. Bad trade No. 8 was awful for the Mets, but it was a vital part of the Rays' rebuilding process. Trade No. 3 is a big part of the reason the Rangers are in contention in 2009, and why their future in the AL West looks even brighter. Trade No. 1 laid the groundwork for the Indian squad that was just one win away from the World Series in 2007.
Maybe none of the moves that Pirates have made in the last year will ever look that one-sided (both the Xavier Nady and Nyjer Morgan trades have that potential, though, because of the talent possessed by Jose Tabata and Lastings Milledge; the question that remains is if the Pirates can succeed in unlocking that talent where other teams have failed), but the lesson is clear; struggling, small-market franchises never get anywhere by standing pat with what they have. At the very least, the Pirates are trying and that's a marked departure from the regime that made up almost 1/3rd of Snyder's list.
The Numbers
Pirates' record: 42-53
Record required to finish .500: 39-28 (yeah, that's bleak)
1949 Phillies through 95 games: 48-47
Andrew McCutchen watch: .297/.354/.462 with 21 extra-base hits and nine stolen bases in nine attempts
At this pace, Garrett Jones would hit how many home runs in 162 games? 81
Pat's cynical over/under for total homers by Jones in 2009: 15
