Futilitywatch 09: A New Era Dawns

Futilitywatch '09 is a our semi-regular update on the Pittsburgh Pirates and their march toward their record 17th consecutive losing season.

I intimated last week that the trade deadline is always a tough time of year for Pirates fans, and Wednesday was the perfect illustration of why that is.

In a matter of about eight hours, the Pittsburgh Pirates sent their two most popular players, Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez, packing to the west coast. The moves were made in the name of rebuilding, and they were the right moves for the team to make, but sometimes that knowledge doesn't make the news any easier to take.

Wilson has really been the only starting shortstop the Pirates have known in the PNC Park era. His glove and his arm are oustanding; watching him go into the hole and pull outs out of thin air has long been one of my favorite things to watch as a fan. He's never been a great hitter, but even at the age of 31 his glove can be worth the price of admission to a game.

Wilson was joined by his high school friend Sanchez in 2004, and in 2007, Sanchez shifted from third base to second full-time to form one of the best double-play combinations in baseball. Sanchez won a batting title with the Pirates in 2006 andm when healthy, has provided the team with an above .300 average and decent gap power that has him on pace for his third 40-double season in the past four years.

The defining characteristic of Wilson and Sanchez, though, was that both enjoyed their time as Pirates. In fact, they enjoyed it so much that both approached the team with counter-offers to the extensions the team offered them last week in the final hours before they were traded. For a club that's dealt with Derek Bell's "Operation Shutdown" and numerous vets hoping to find one more paycheck, seeing players that wanted to be Pirates was refreshing.

While it's hard as a fan to watch Sanchez and Wilson go, it's also true that both trades were great moves for the Pirates. For Wilson, a pending free agent with an expensive team option, and the disgruntled Ian Snell, the Pirates pulled in Jeff Clement and three interesting young pitching prospects. For Sanchez, whose $8 million option will vest with his 600th plate appearance this year, they received Tim Alderson, the second-best pitching prospect in the Giants' pitching-rich organization.

There's certainly a risk in tearing down the big-league team to build from scratch, as the Pirates have done in dealing Xavier Nady, Jason Bay, Nate McLouth, and Nyjer Morgan before Sanchez and Wilson, but it's been clear for some time now that the status quo in Pittsburgh wasn't taking the Bucs anywhere. They had a losing record when they dealt Nady and Bay last year and they were 12 games below .500 when they dealt Wilson and Sanchez Wednesday. At the very least, Neal Huntington's wheeling and dealing has resulted in a deeper minor-league system that at least has the chance to be the start of something good in Pittsburgh. That may not sound like a lot, but it's a lot more than the Pirates have had in years.

Current Pirate record: 43-58
Record required for .500 finish: 38-23
Games by Wilson as a Pirate: 1159
Games by Sanchez as a Pirate: 676
Games by John Grabow as a Pirate: 389
*Yes, it's crazy that the team's longest tenured player at the moment is a pitcher. Ryan Doumit is currently at 362 games in black and gold and will presumably pass Grabow sometime this year or early next if he stays healthy and isn't traded.
1949 Phillies record after 91 games: 47-44