2 coming off surgery agree with Pirates

the pirates are doing the right thing... they've made a lot of good trades for prospects... got rid of nate mcclouth brought up mccutchen... they're on their way

I hope that fans will give the new ownership and management a fair shake. The old management team of Littlefield and McClatchy butchered the team and the farm system, trading away quality players for peanuts just to cut salary. When Huntington took over in 2007, he had little choice but to trade Bay and the rest of the players with trade value. What is the point in keeping your best players on an otherwise below-average team, only to watch them walk away as free agents to large-market teams in a year or two, especially when your farm system doesn't have any major-league-ready players capable of replacing them in the lineup? Huntington is doing what is in the best interests of the team, which in this case meant getting value out of players before they left town.

Given the circumstances, it's really unfair to lump him in with McClatchy. It sucks that the team has been "rebuilding" for so long, but I hope that Pirate fans can tell the difference between the shameful Littlefield/McClatchy salary purge at the beginning of the decade (a transparent cash grab that they tried to pawn off as rebuilding) and the true rebuilding process that's going on now. The good Pirate teams in the early 90s were built on youth, and that's what we need to do again. We just can't be afraid to pony up a little bit of cash to keep the core of the team together when it really starts to gel.

Losing builds character, so The Pirates at least have more character than any other team, or is it just characters??

Either way
GO BUCCOS!!!!!!

How do the Twins do it? How do the Marlins do it? Indians?

I don't even believe you're a fan---more likely you work for the Pirates. No fan in their right mind would defend what has been done to this franchise. And building a winner means that sometimes you have to re-sign good players instead of trading them for minor leaguers. Building means finding the right combination----finding the right chemistry. You can't do that by purging talent and reloading with cheap kids every few years. And I think you underestimate what this franchise can be. Yes, Mark Cuban (who was actually eyeing larger market teams---Cubs and Dodgers) would be perfect for this situation. Somehow, he managed to make pro basketball a hot ticket in Dallas, Texas, which was deemed impossible before he got there. He could also make baseball a hot ticket in Pittsburgh. You have to spend money to make money. If Nutting doesn't have it, or doesn't want to spend it, that's fine---but what good is it to people who grew up loving the Pirates, when we don't even enter seasons with a chance to play .500. I want to enter seasons shooting for playoff wins and it's now been about 10 years since I realistically expected the team to play .500 baseball. If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.

Ok. Sell them to who? Mark Cuban? Really? No one with money is ever going to buy this team. $100 million isn't going to save them. Do you really blame anyone who buys the Pirates that top tier players cost more than the entire team payroll? How much of a profit do you get if you make the playoffs consistantly? Especially compared to when you can't sell out games when the tickets are sometimes $2 a piece? You HAVE TO BUILD a winner. You can't buy one, and if you can, wouldn't you want to buy it somewhere with a big market value? This is the way to do it. Don't like it? Here's a suggestion for YOU. Stop posting. Stop reading. Stop caring. Don't tell me, a fan, what to do. I'll buy it as long as it exists. So that one day, when it DOES work, you can just stay off the wagon, friend.

# 36: You are clearly the one who doesn't get it. You make my argument better than I can---this team has been bad for almost two decades. That is insane. McClatchy/Nutting have owned the team for a good portion of that time. We hear this same crap over and over---"We're building for the future. We're not going to be winners next year, but wait until you see what we'll have in two years." I don't know where you've been hiding, but that is the same damn argument blind faith imbeciles have been spewing since the team collapsed in the mid-90's. 15 years later, the same nonsense is now recycled by you. The GMs are lackey types who take money for a couple years and the door hits their butt on the way out. The owners don't give a hoot about winning more games than they lose----they want to hold on long enough to sell the team at a profit. It's disgusting---but what is more disgusting is the simple drones who buy into it. Time to boycott. Time to stop spending. Stop going. Stop watching. Stop listening. Bleed them dry. Make them sell. That's the only way dignity will be restored. Stop being a shill for these people. And the fact is, other small market teams have had winning records and playoff appearances while all of this has been going on. And if Nutting doesn't have the money to compete, we need to force him to sell to someone who does. Case closed.

Everyone listen to me close. Where's the magical money at that Nutting has that he's not spending? Alright. Here's another question. How good would a team be today with Nady, McLouth, Wilson and Sanchez? About as good as they were 2 years ago. Hmm...that wasn't a very good year, was it? I understand that everyone is pissed off that the team hasn't won in 17 years. But the team isn't the same one as it was in '93. Or in '99. Or the year the ballpark opened. Or from two years ago. You HAVE to make changes. And I like the changes they've made. I go on other sites than Yahoo, and people agree, the depth is better than it was, the talent is slightly better, and the biggest problem is middle infield and relief. So, yes, there will, no doubt, be another losing season. And that's ok, because everyone who's paying attention knows the Pirates are shooting for 2011. And if, for whatever reason, things don't work in the next two years, then you'll see the management get fired, and I bet you see a new group come in and do THE EXACT SAME THING that this one did. Clean it out, replace it and see if the new group works better than the last. This is, without a doubt, the most competent group the Pirates have had in the front office in a LONG time. So shut up, small sighted people. You'll get it one way or another in two years.

#11: You must be an average Pirates fan then. The fact is, the people who talk about the Pirates failure to maintain talented players are 100% right. Are you that thick that you actually think Neal Huntington/Bob Nutting are really trying to put together a Championship team? Get a clue guy---the Pirates do indeed trade off decent Major Leaguers for "prospects" every year or two. If by the grace of God, any of the "prospects" turn out to be decent players, they are soon traded for more "prospects." Haven't you been following this disgusting cycle for the last decade and a half? This is the worst run franchise in professional sports. No, that isn't opinion, it's fact Charlie. Wake up dopey.

yeah, the new park.........congrats Buccos, guess what, Twins are getting the stupid new park but have we signed Mauer yet?????????? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO............
got what they wanted, raid the coffers, then they take the money and run.
the "money == winning" bs- um, gotta have the will as well. (Twins ownership is more loaded than the Steinbrenners, for example.)
I agree with the guy that said that some of these owners should be forced to give up their franchises- wouldn't many other corporations take away a franchise that was underperforming?
congrats to everybody else in the Twins front office for doing such a fine job during the past decade, despite the ownership- there is something to be said for winning under constraints, but Pirates fans I do feel your pain:(

John....couldn't have said it better myself. I'll be at at South Side bar May 1st trying to forget yet another Pirate losing season.

That truly is very touching, John. Your faithfullness to your team through thick and thin [and yeah, its pretty thin these days] is a rare thing - and commendable. Your post #32 should be required reading for Donald Fehr, Michael Weiner, every last member of the MLBPA and every team owner.

I can't help myself. i have been a Pirate fan all of my 52 years. This ownership group has infuriated me season after season as each year they break our hearts again and again by selling off any decent players we might have ensuring a yet another sub .500 season. It's not right! Especially after the good people of Pittsburgh built a state of the art stadium for him, is it too much to ask to simply put together a team that is competitive enough to have a chance at winning at least half our games, or to grant us the delusion of being in the playoff picture past April? Baseball needs to do something about these owners they should be forced to have to relinquish their shares to someone who would put together team that is more than a farm club for the Yankees and Red Sox. Someone like Mark Cuban who would turn them into a class franchise and remember their winning traditions of the past. Each year i vow this is the last straw, That I don't care any more That my allegiance is complete I am done with the Pirates. But .... I can't help myself... I Love the Pirates. So each winter and spring I lurk around the hot stove with curiosity and some perverse amusement like people watching the sinking of the Titanic over and over again thinking each time this might be the time the ship finally make's it to New York. Holding on to the false hope that maybe this will be the year that we put together a team that can win; And every year by the end of April my heart is broken, but come rain or come shine, Hell or high water I remain a Pirates fan.... I can't help myself I can be nothing else, I can never change It's what I am and always will be. So When I die bury me in my favorite Pirates cap, drape my Clemente Jersey over my coffin and etch these Words into my headstone: We are Family.... Here lies a Pirates fan. He had joy he had fun he had seasons in the sun but the wine and the song of those seasons is all gone. Forever yours...... John

I still love the Pirates??????? I still question why every time I put the TV on or read the news papers. Yes Im from Pittsburgh, and it hurts when they start to play some good solid ball, then resort back to the lack luster play that has brought us to the point now. I coach High school baseball and mustang baseball, and all I ask my players at both age groups are to make the plays that should be made, don't give extra bases on errors, and play hard. Not too much to ask of those age groups. Why can't players that get paid millions do the same. I watch baseball every night and my nine year old son sees players that make mistakes every game and they don't get benched. "PIRATE BASEBALL" Our general manager has to get rid of all of this dead weight, get players that make plays, and start winning.
Simple mechanics that Bobby Hill taught can get thrown out the door now. The best coach in pro baseball and they let him go????? What the F&**%?????? We have the pitcher, we have the defense, we have hitters... They need to be held accountable for menatl mistakes and dock there money, bench them or cut them... They will start playing again!!!!!!!

Once again, year after year, I'll say it with heart.... LET'S GO BUCS!!!!!!!!!!!!! do you believe me????????

Pittsburgh's the welfare office for baseball.... thank you Yankee's for paying the salary of our team with your luxury tax.... guess thats why you guys always get dibs on whoever we have... might as well make the pirates a major league farm system for the yanks.

#25 Sympathy from a Chicago fan...wow...we are touched...haha...I am guessing you weren't the one who poisoned one of us Pittsburgh fans after the Bears game back in September...

"The Pirates have agreed to minor league contracts with right-hander Tyler Yates(notes) and left-handers Brian Burres(notes) and Neal Cotts"

WOOOOOORRRLLLLD SERIES TICKETS HEA-AH! GET-CHA WORLD SERIES TICKETS..............

Wait 'til 2020!

@9 that's hilarious man... But I'm a Cubs fan guys we don't have to put "how many years..." and "winning" in the same sentance ok? As much as I dislike the Penguins and Steelers, I feel for you on the whole Pirates thing, I really do...

neal huntington took a crap today and decided to give it the lead off spot. possibly centerfield aswell. this solidifies him as the second comig of theo epstein.

we'll never be good again without spreading the wealth like the NHL and NFL.

Hey Fred, Capps is already gone. He signed with the Nationals last month.

Priming up for being once again the worst team in baseball!! So much for the glory days of the Pirates, because small market status is a real downer nowadays.

Brian Burres is a good acquisition. If Tyler Yates returns to pre-injury status, you can't go wrong for the price. Neal Cotts should join Mario Soto in the HHL...

Burres increased his likelihood of joining the major league roster with a low spilt of pay between the major and minor league levels. Even if Neal Cotts pitched pheonominal at AAA, he may have priced himself out of a promotion with the Pirates. If he does produce at AAA, I expect him to be traded as opposed to promoted (similar to Koplove last year).