* Ok, they didn’t regularly produce players like George Brett, but their farm system was very productive.

**No offense intended, Bob.
/Posnanski

ps I’m no Republican…not with regards to today’s Republicans…I’m more of a Rand Paul-ican.

But since incompetence is ubiquitous and can no more be defended against than the Chelyabinsk meteorite, we need to recognize that the underlying problem is how baseball collectively lets cheapskate get away with it. If the luxury tax is a kind of payroll ceiling (albeit as porous as the Gaza-Egyptian border), as long as MLB refuses to institute a payroll floor owners like Glass (no relation, one assumes, to Franny and Zooey) and Scrooge McLoria will continue to flourish.

Optimism? Well I don’t like your word choice here friend. Get ready for a semantics bashing the likes of which you have never seen….

They absolutely deserve optimism – first of all March is the TIME for optimism. Think about all of the teams that have emerged from no where to make waves across an MLB season. It seems like every year there’s a surprise team that makes a run for a playoff spot. Why not the Pirates?

Secondly (and probably more towards what you were talking about) – what makes people think the Pirates have a chance of being an average to slightly above average baseball team? Well they have a nice young core of players who are still on an upward trajectory on the offensive side of things. Also they upgraded what was definitely their weakest position last year (at Catcher). The pitching staff, while unspectacular, is filled with guys who can keep their team in games, and has a decent bullpen (admittedly thought this is a down grade from last year).

So, brewcrewfan54, the Pirates, their fans, and cat-distracted analysts all have a reason for optimism when it comes to this Buccos club.

Here’s a guy who, before he became majority owner in 2000 did the following:

- Cut payroll from $41 million to $19 million his first year as Chairman of the Board after the death of Kauffman in 1993
- Led the charge to use replacement players during the 1994-95 strike
- Opposed any settlement with the players during the strike unless it included a salary cap

So what does MLB do in 2000…they allow him to become the sole owner of the team for $96 million. Since then, he has run the team like a Walmart, which is where his background was.

I’m not sure there has ever been a team that didn’t make the playoffs for 28 straight seasons in the history of Major League baseball…definitely not since Divisional Play began in 1969. I don’t feel like doing the research, but I’d be willing to bet that there aren’t many teams in ANY of the sports leagues(baseball, basketball, hockey, football) that missed the playoffs for 28 consecutive seasons.

And yet…David Glass is not the Anti-Christ. He’s not ruining baseball. He barely gets a mention when discussing those stinking Royals.

There are 6 very good teams in the NL vying for 5 play-off spots, two in each division. Sorry Arizona I don’t think you are one of them even though your team should finish above .500.