Most hopeless pro franchises

Using the term "lack of faith" is disturbing. Pirates fans, for the most part, don't need the team to win a World Series. an above .500 record will do, and they haven't even been able put a team together to do that. THAT is what is disturbing.

 

There've been historically shittier teams than this Pirates iteration. This just seems like a big deal and long time because it's going on during our lifetimes.

The Rays have had terrible ownership, during good and bad. The difference (along with a ton of high draft picks) has mostly been one really smart guy in upper management with autonomy to run the show -- if for no other reason than the owner doesn't give a crap.

 

Washington Redskins.

Lock this bitch right now.

 

Why is it that people like you continue to spew this "woe-is-me" garbage about the Jays. Christ, look at the fricking Rays. Just face facts: the way baseball economics are set up, you can make more money by milking the system then investing in a winning team. Jays ownership hasn't decided which attitude they want to have.

 

The Blue Jays are owned by a corporate giant that makes money out the wazoo.

 

The Pirates actually have some semblance of a plan. They've spent more on the draft the past three seasons than any other team. They have upped their Latin American budget by about two million.

Neal Huntington, unfortunately, has to clean up the royal mess his predecessor left him. No talent in the majors or minors to go with tight purse strings.

Where Huntington has whiffed is at the big league level. He's tried kicking tires trying to find a Ryan Ludwick type on the scrap heap and other team's failed prospects. Seems like the big league scouting is the issue here.

It will be interesting to see what happens when McCutchen, Tabata, Alvarez and Walker hit their arbitration years. Will Bob Nutting spend to keep them?

Also, by the time the pitching develops, the hitters could be shipped off/allowed to walk.

 

I don't see in the NFL how it is not the Bengals. Even in years where they win something it always seems more like a string of close, fluke wins followed by a playoff collapse. Their owner is the cheapest in football. Recent thread on here about how, of all of the NFL teams, they are the one that charges players for cokes, doesn't have a Christmas party, etc. really sums it up well. Just a disaster of a franchise that has been freeloading off of the success of the NFL for a long, long time.
NFA discussion should begin and end with Clippers, for reasons pretty much already stated. How Donald Sterling's off court issues haven't been made a bigger deal of is beyond me.

 

I think we all know the answer to that last question. The key is going to be developing talent around those four before the team is forced to sell them for pennies on the dollar, as it has done with so many other players.

This is assuming that they all develop into quality players. Alvarez and McCutchen are both batting around .200 and Tabata is in a big slump after a great start to the season. Walker is the only one living up to expectations so far.

 

Huntington snagged a guy (Brandon Wood) who wasn't going to clear waivers, and whom you can argue wasn't given a chance to succeed with his old team, and who isn't much worse than the shortstop on the roster.

It will be interesting to see what they do with McCutchen. If/when he is locked up, another vestige of this kind of talk will wither and die.

http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/sports/bob-smiziks-blog/28572-waiting-for-cutch

 

I have to agree with Lee on the Astros. Pathetic team, pathetic system. And in the off-season McLane said he was putting the team up for sale. He should have taken the offer he had last year. No one with any brain is going to buy the franchise in the shape he's made it.

NBA-wise After this season I'm thinking the Spurs have a chance to fall into this. Their youngest starter is 29 and its hard to convince me that DeJuan Blair and George Hill give them a bright future.
Right now they may be financially sound enough to get through a couple of lean years ahead, thanks to the fact its the only major team in San Antonio, but a few lean years and the downward spiral may begin.

 

Wood was worth a shot, but I don't think you can blame all of his problems on the way the Angels handled him. So far, the guy has shown very few signs of being able to hit major-league pitching.

 

He's gotten 475 at bats spread over four seasons. The Pirates have nothing to lose. Plug him in, give him the season and if he continues to suck, then part ways with him.