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Burnett on mark with remarks
Burnett, an oft-injured pitcher, and outfielder Nyjer Morgan were traded earlier this season to Washington in a deal that brought as its main component to Pittsburgh outfielder Lastings Milledge.
Normally, baseball players don't send salvos at the previous employers for fear that they might need a job from them later in their careers.
But Burnett didn't seem concerned.
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An organization doesn't put together a 16-year losing streak, as the Pirates have done since last making the playoffs in 1992, without receiving some derisive snickers from other players, owners or fans. They just don't normally wind up in the newspapers.
Neal Huntington, the Pirates general manager, has completely gutted the team over the past two years, trading just about every starter in the rebuilding process that seems to arrive every five seasons in Pittsburgh.
The debate about whether this is the right move to resurrect the organization is not debatable.
It is.
Other general managers have used this same tactic - maybe not to such an extent - to shed salary, restock the organization's minor league system and rejuvenate fan interest.
But they were sabotaged by a few things:
n Patience. The previous attempts at rebuilding the Pirates died when the previous GMs, David Littlefield and Cam Bonifay, abandoned the strategy because the team wasn't winning. They wanted to keep their jobs and losing is not the way to do that.
Huntington knows these moves mean the Pirates will have a losing record this year and most likely for the next two or three years as these prospects develop. That's the price you pay for demolishing a team.
n Drafting: The Pirates might have the most abysmal history in the baseball draft, selecting less-talented but more affordable players, passing on future stars. The problem with taking pitcher Danny Moskos over catcher Matt Wieters in 2007 and pitcher Bryan Bullington over outfielder B.J. Upton in 2002 is twofold. You overpay for talent that can't get out of your farm system, and the money spent is a major drain on your finances.
Pick the best player, hold your nose, and make the deal.
n A longer reach. The Pirates are the caboose on the tracks to signing Latin American players, but they have the market cornered on pitchers from India. Ignoring this region, fertile with baseball talent, is inexcusable. Only now are they attempting to resolve this. But the payoff won't be until well into the next decade.
n Player development. So many pitchers in the organization underwent Tommy John surgery that it appeared to be a rite of passage with the club. This organization has not developed a star player since Aramis Ramirez and we all know what happened to him. That wasn't even in this decade.
Starting over is a risky proposition. Huntington believes he has talent coming, and maybe he is right with such players as Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata and Brad Lincoln getting close. The big question is when will that talent be major-league ready.
Maybe you don't like the way Burnett characterized the organization but it's hard to argue with its pathetic past. If Huntington is successful, then the Pirates will be consistent winners.
That's the way to make them stop laughing.
Assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano can be reached at jtuscano@observer-reporter.com.
