Turn Off the Scoreboard

So we've written ad nauseum on here about the Pirates and our support for their, finally, breaking it all down and rebuilding the right way. In fact, it's been proven again in this draft that since Bob Nutting took over principal operations, that this Pirates' organization under him and Neal Huntington is different than those before:

"The Pirates spent $8,919,000 for their 23 signed players out of 51 draft picks, sixth-highest payout in Major League Baseball, general manager Neal Huntington said. Last year, the Pirates spent a franchise-record $9,780,500 in signing 32 of 50 picks"

Sure, you may not like the fact that the ML payroll is ridiculously low, but the fact is that we are outspending nearly every ML team where we, a small market club, need to, and that's in drafting good players. This is a winning plan and this should put to rest those garbage "Bob Nutting doesn't care about winning" and "Bob Nutting won't spend money" arguments. Period.

Now, if these guys should develop into good players, contributing to a winning team, in a few years, and trades of these sorts continue because he won't give big contracts, then we'll revisit this line of thought. For now though, it's over.

Ok, now that we have that rant over with, I read a very good point on a message board that made a lot of sense and wanted to expand on it.

A poster named steelreign said here:

"For the rest of the season I am watching Pirate games like I watch Steeler pre-season games. I am not concerned with wins and losses, I am looking for and at performance from the new roster.

I am looking to see how they grow as a team and as individuals through the rest of the season. I like the fact that the guys still have a good attitude and want to get better. This group is getting a unique experience, and growth through adversity can produce amazing results.

I believe, come spring training, this 45 game tryout is gonna produce positive results come next spring. These players will learn what they need to do to become major leaguers."

I think that's a brilliant way to think of the rest of the Pirates' season. See this as an extended, or even a "pre", Spring Training. We need to just see improvement in playing ability. We need to see consistency from a lot of players now just getting their first chance. We need to see mental mistakes not being made. We need to see just plain good baseball playing.

This could be saved for September 1, when callups are made, but take a look at the current 25 man roster, you can even go so far as the 40 man roster that includes some prized minor league prospects. Those are the players we need to be watching.

Who's safe? Who needs to show more? Who's barely making it? Who's out?

Those are the questions to answer, not "who won last night?"

Towards the end of the year, I'll try and tackle those questions, but for now, just hang on and watch the show, no matter how much it may make you cringe at times.