The Pirates might trade outfielder Bryan Reynolds to San Diego.
Here’s what a local media member tweeted:
Reynolds is the Pirates’ best player. He got MVP votes last year. He’s 27 and in his prime. So, yeah, “his value might not get higher.”
The Pirates sent shortstop Oneil Cruz to AAA. He’s 23 and looks more than ready for big-league baseball. But the Pirates don’t want to start his service clock ticking:
Here’s what a former local media member tweeted:
The Penguins have made the playoffs 16 straight years, but Bozo the Columnist exhorts Pirates fans to “grow up” and wait ‘til 2028 0r 2029. The Pirates last made the playoffs in 2015 and last won a postseason series in 1979. But be patient.
The Pirates have no intention of ever being truly good, let alone for an extended period. Winning is a happy accident when it occurs. They sell hope of a false dawn and exploit MLB’s flawed financial structure to reap huge profit. Develop prospects, trade prospects for more prospects, rinse and repeat. Horse manure is excellent fertilizer.
The Pirates are worth $1.32 billion but are battling Reynolds, their best player, over a meager $675k in arbitration. Owner Bob Nutting wants every nickel.
Their process is akin to stealing. Nutting’s greatest trick was making you care about his money like it’s your money even as he takes your money and makes it his money.
Nutting has plenty of accomplices, not least the media stooges who normalize his thievery as the right thing to do. Whatever happened to #OurTeamNotHis ? (I think I know.)
Baseball isn’t important in Pittsburgh. But at least tell the truth.
Photo: Getty Images