Will Carroll and Baseball Prospectus

From Monday's Team Health Report at Baseball Prospectus:

But as much as I root for this franchise to turn it around, I've yet to see anything resembling a plan.

Nothing "resembling" a plan? Hyperbole is the curse of Buc punditry these days. Keep looking, Will. We see the plan. I'm not sure why no one at BP sees it too. I have a guess, based on an answer in Keith Woolner's recent chat:

We strongly support the trend of increasing use of objective metrics in MLB front offices. We're in favor of better baseball on the field. In terms of BP's professional services with MLB clubs, we do have several engagements with clubs, and we're happy and fortunate to say the number is growing all the time, including the addition of a new club this last week. However, out of respect to our clients and contractual obligations, we don't focus on those engagements on the web site.

Are the folks at BP attempting to leverage their wonderboy status into an engagement with the Pirates? "You guys suck, and until you pay us or follow our advice, we'll continue to say you suck." Two points to make now. One, if no one in the league can see Littlefield's plan, more power to him. We can discuss it in 2005 or 2006 when we see that it worked (or didn't work). He's not a moron and there is more than one way to gain a competitive advantage through innovations in strategy. Not everyone has to follow the A's model and, more important, now that many teams are, much of that advantage is lost. Two, I love BP and have been an avid and regular reader for years now. I know every book since the Beltre one cover-to-cover. But that won't stop me from calling them out when they write such things about one of the league's oldest franchises.