Mac and the Pirates

Bob Dvorchak, in today's notebook, repeats this fact:

With the exception of reliever Jose Mesa, the Pirates have every player on the roster under control for next season. Mesa can become a free agent. The Pirates have an option on P Brian Boehringer, and C Jason Kendall has three years left on his contract. Every other player is on a one-year deal but can be renewed if he has less than three years of service or offered arbitration.

I've been mulling this comment by Mac, caught in Ed Eagle's report for August 12:

"Payroll, depth, talent -- we're outmatched most nights," said McClendon. "Most of it is because of the experience. Give these guys three or four years and maybe we'll catch up."

This quote really stuck in my mind. I found it outrageous at first but wasn't sure why. Now I'm ready to write about it. I'm going to read a lot into this one quote so, if you're not a fan of close reading, you can skip the rest of the post.

Payroll - here again Mac offers his poisonously bad take on the team's light purse. If a team is willing to sacrifice time - and the Pirates have done that the last few years - a GM can be expected to cobble together a competitive and winning team with guys that have little service time. Oliver Perez is pitching like a $15M pitcher, and Darren Dreifort has pitched like a $300,000 pitcher. There's no firm relationship between salary and current performance. How do you acquire an Oliver Perez? You give up some now (Brian Giles) for some later (Perez, Bay, Stewart). Time is money, folks, and the team that doesn't have money can make that up with time. And luck.

Also, a really low payroll is a competitive advantage going forward. The Bucs have had larger payrolls in the past and if they keep winning, they'll sell out more games, and they better have the will to increase payroll when revenues increase. If team A has a payroll of $35M and team B has a payroll of $100M, and both teams win the same number of games, which team would you rather be? Which team is in a better position to make trades, sign free agents, or suffer through an economic downturn?

Finally, it's unAmerican and a bit repulsive to complain that your opportunities are limited because you're poor. David didn't complain that he had only pebbles and a slingshot when he went after Goliath. We don't like this victim mentality. Even if we're leaning way out toward the socialist end of the political spectrum, we all know (or should know) that whining about poverty is no way to rally people to your cause. It may not be right, but it's predictably true and has been for centuries. Did Rocky whine about how he had to chase chickens and do sit-ups when training for his big fight? Americans like underdogs who are stoic about their more limited opportunities. It may not be right, but that's the way it is and the way it will continue to be. We all know the Pirates have a low payroll. The less the representatives of the team complain about it, the more credit and admiration they'll elicit from observers.

Depth - we're not "outmatched" because of payroll, and we're also not outmatched in depth. We've got a ton of depth. Look at Altoona. The problem is not depth but the lack of highly-experienced first-string players. Our third-string players are as good as the third-stringers in any organization.

Talent - I don't think a manager should ever say that his team is outmatched in "talent" - and Mac seems to agree since he recanted that immediately. Danny Murtaugh used to tell his players they had more talent than any other team in the league. Why should the manager run his guys down in the talent department? Maybe I'm being too touchy-feely about this.

If you are on the fence, and not sure if you agree or disagree with me, side with Mac. He gets the benefit of the doubt right now because he's got the team playing very good baseball the last two months. This is the last time I'll criticize him for such comments; it's time for me to shut up and sit back and watch what he says the rest of the year.

The final part of the quote that stuck with me is the offhand comment about three or four years. We know that the ownership is looking at DL and Mac as parts of that future, too. Mac's comment suggests he is looking at this team as one we'll keep together next year and beyond. A lot of our players could fetch quite a bit in trade. They're good, they're cheap, they aren't so close to free agency. Looks to me - especially with the way the Wigginton trade was tailored to fit the existing roster - that the plan is to keep this group of players together.

I like that plan. I won't expect many trades or free agent signings this offseason that involve starting position players.