The bandwagon never gets full

Great Q & A this week from Ed Eagle.

Eagle authored an interesting piece on the team for the new Sporting News fantasy baseball magazine. In my last post I went on a rant about the state of the Bucs according to the pundits. I wasn't inspired so much by the pieces that I linked before that rant - that would be a bit of an overreaction - but by the stuff I've read, here in there, in the various magazines and on the web. As a general rule of thumb, when I see any one of the dozen or so fantasy mags, I flip to the article on the Bucs and to the write-up of a player or two. I can tell pretty quickly what I'm probably going to think of the whole thing by what they have to say about the small corner of the big leagues that I actually know something about.

TSN, in that one mag at least, picks the Bucs to finish sixth in the NL Central. While I think this is a bit harsh and generally unoriginal, I recongize that the publications are more concerned with not being too wrong than they are with being right. The projections etc. just have to be plausibe. Then, if a team like the Pirates surprise, everyone can say, "Who saw this coming?" It would be better for the Bucs that way, too.

Anyway, in this week's Q & A, Eagle turns a corner himself and comes clean with the admission that he had assumed that hopelessness was the norm of the Bucco faithful until very recently.

I'm hopeful about 2005. I think the team has turned a corner and I think the payroll situation is not a one-way ticket to last place -- for reasons Eagle states very eloquently:

As much as many fans would love to see the Pirates make long-term commitments to their favorite young players, in many instances it would work against the team's chances of competing against clubs with higher payrolls. In fact, the Pirates essentially must have some of their top performers earning near the Major League minimum if they hope to build a playoff team with a payroll in the $40 million range.

And ... we've got some guys who make close to the minimum and contribute in such a way that we can call them "top performers." There's value all over the current roster. And there's value in the mixture of more experienced players. Our bench and bullpen and back of the rotation, for example, will be stronger than most. (Pedro Astacio, who the Bucs looked at, just signed with another team to start--i.e. to be one of their top five pitchers.) As Joe M. writes:

With the core of young players who are tied to the team for at least two or three years and the mix of veterans, the Pirates have turned the corner and have a bright future in front of them this year, not just down the road. I just hope that enough people realize this before this bandwagon is full.

All I'd say to that is this, there's always room on the bandwagon, Joe. And further, there is nooooooooo real danger of us filling up the one we have now anytime soon.

I'm not saying the Pirates are going to the playoffs this year. I don't know that. But I do think there chances are decent, or, how shall I say, at least average. There's cause for hope. I don't want to get cocky or boastful or taunt anybody, but I'd rather be a fan of the Bucs right now than a couple other NL Central clubs who have, I think, worse chances. The chance to have a good year is no guarantee, of course. The team could fall on its face and so forth and so on. But so far so good: that hasn't happened yet. 2005 still looks good to me.