|
Pittsburgh Pirates
Scouting Report
By the Numbers | Players To Watch | Projected Roster
| |
The Pirates, with shortstop Kevin Polcovich, hope to find
out what it's like to be looking down in the
standings.
(Manny Millan)
|
Countless
times in recent seasons veteran Pirates leftfielder Al Martin
would reach base and a sympathetic infielder would saunter
over to express his condolences for Martin's plight as the
longest-tenured member of the National League's most
moribund team. "The
Pirates were thought of as a glorified
Triple A team," Martin says. "People treated me like I
was in baseball
prison."
The plight of the Pirates, who finished last in the East
three times between 1993 and '96, was captured poignantly
last spring when pundits noted that the combined salaries
of the '97 Pittsburgh roster
($9.1 million) was less than that of new White Sox leftfielder
Albert Belle
($11 million). By the end of the season the punch line wasn't
quite so amusing, however, especially in Chicago: The White
Sox won 80 games, only one more than the
Pirates.
For Pittsburgh, the '97 season represented a welcome blip
on the team's EKG, a sign of progress for a bunch of guys
so young they look as if they'd need fake IDs to get into
Boogie
Nights. The radical youth movement was mandated in '96 by new
owner Kevin McClatchy, who at 35 is younger than eight
Orioles. Between July and December '96 general manager Cam
Bonifay dutifully shrunk the team's payroll by purging
virtually all veteran talent
in exchange for 17 younger players. Since then the Pirates
have actually outspent most teams on scouting and
development and have cultivated one of the best farm
systems in the majors. Pittsburgh has three of the top 13
players on
Baseball
America's Top 100 prospects
list.
"When I bought the team, we had the third-worst record
and lowest attendance in baseball, and everybody thought we
were leaving town," McClatchy says. "By
developing young talent, we have given our fans one thing
back—hope."
Even though the Pirates turned a
$2 million profit last season, that barely dented the
$59 million debt McClatchy inherited when he bought the team.
The team's payroll could jump to as much as
$14 million this year, but that would still be among the lowest
in baseball. Put it this way: The same week the Red Sox
made a
$75 million deal with Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez,
Pittsburgh signed its most significant new pitcher, Jeff
Tabaka, a lefty middle reliever with four career victories,
for about $250,000. It's a fact of baseball life that every
winning team last season
spent at least
$33 million.
Therefore, McClatchy—as well as many other owners—is
convinced that his club's salvation depends on moving into
a new, baseball-only ballpark. After Pittsburgh voters
soundly rejected a .5% sales tax to finance a stadium,
McClatchy met with city and
county officials to concoct a new funding plan, which was
announced last week. He is cautiously optimistic that his
team will have a new home by
2001.
With that in mind, the franchise has tentatively begun to
commit to a more costly future. Though they entered '97
with only Martin signed to a multiyear deal, the Pirates
now have 10 players under long-term contracts. Pittsburgh
still drew the third
fewest fans in the National League last year, but attendance
has increased by 750,000 from two seasons ago and
season-ticket sales for '98 are up 15% since last year. The
Pirates faithful are beginning to warm to their pesky team
of overachievers. While
only Kevin Young (out for 35 games with a thumb injury) had as
many as 18 homers or 74 RBIs, and no pitcher won more than
11 games, Pittsburgh held first place for 40 days and
wasn't eliminated from the division race until the season's
final
week.
Still, nobody in the organization is predicting a pennant
in this millennium. "There's a fine line between
optimism and realism," Bonifay says. "For our
strategy to work we need perfect timing. Our young players
[Rich Loiselle, Jermaine Allensworth,
Freddy Garcia and Jason Kendall] must develop into winners
before they become too expensive. Frankly, we really don't
know if our plan is going to
work."
Martin is intrigued enough by his team's future that he has
refused to decorate his house. He harbors a superstition
that if he puts anything up on the walls, he might be
traded. Imagine that—a Pirate who is worried that he might
have to leave
Pittsburgh. "We're evolving," Martin says. "For years
this franchise was crawling on its hands and knees, and now
we're walking. There's a chance that someday we may be
running, but I'm just happy we're on our
feet. "
—by Tim Crothers
Scouting Report | By the Numbers | Players To Watch | Projected Roster
|
