A New Era for Pirates Fans

It's August, the MLB non-waiver trade deadline has passed, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are in a familiar position: last place. See, for Pirates fans, Christmas comes on the first day of the regular season, because it's virtually the only day of the entire year when we're in the pennant race. Optimism is abound, and even Bob Smizik can outline the positive aspects of that year's team.

But with a new CEO and GM who resemble change in an organization nearly bereft of talent, die-hard fans may have a reason to hope for the future of the franchise. General Manager Neal Huntington has done his best to dismantle his predecessors grand plan, and has not failed in doing so. Gone are Salomon Torres, Bryan Bullington, Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte, and Jason Bay. Tom Gorzelanny and Ronny Paulino have been demoted as part of the new management's promise to take a no-nonsense attitude.

The new-look Pirates are full of Major-League-ready AAA players, as opposed to AAA players who had no business being on a Major League team. Make no mistake about it, there have been times this season when management has had to promote such players. The difference is that Huntington did not disguise that fact, where former GM Dave Littlefield most likely would have stressed how important such players will be to the future of the franchise.

The difference Pittsburgh fans can expect to see will most likely take place next year in Altoona. Curve fans going to the ballpark in 2009 can expect to see real talent, possible future Pirates like Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, Brad Lincoln, Dan Moskos, Jim Negrych, Jamie Romak, Brian Friday, and Bryan Morris could all see time there next year.

Huntington has made a name for himself in his first year as GM because he is a risk-taker. Something neither Cam Bonifay or Dave Littlefield will ever have mentioned in the same sentence. Huntington's approach has been almost an exact 180-degree turn from Littlefield, in fact. Hard-throwing pitchers and high-ceiling bats are being brought in with as much regularity as Littlefield signed over-the-hill free agents.

The Littlefield-era was built upon taking two star position players, first Jason Kendall and Brian Giles then later Jason Bay and Jack Wilson, and meshing them with sub-par free agents, with a few less than stellar farm products thrown in there as well. The worst part though, is that Littlefield always wanted to build a team through pitching. His idea of pitching, however, was in line with the word finesse. In this era, finesse pitchers who succeed at the major league level are few and far between. Anyone could see that this fact alone would render Littlefield's teams useless.

By making trades, signing players off the scrap heap, and putting existing Pirates in new positions (both literally and figuratively) Huntington has begun the first true rebuilding process the Pirates have had in this soon to be record breaking losing streak. To the casual fan, these are the same old Pirates. I caution that where there's smoke, there most certainly is fire. When the Altoona Curve are smoking everyone next year, let's hope the fire is lit in Pittsburgh. While we're at it, let's hope that fire burns us into contention with guys like Pedro Alvarez, Brad Lincoln, Andrew McCutchen, Andy LaRoche, Jose Tabata and a few others leading the way. Let's Go Bucs!