The Official 2006 Pittsburgh Pirates Thread

[mjb2124]

Re: The 2006 Pittsburgh Pirate Thread

I got that image off of another site. I might make some shirts with that logo and go to a few games with them on.


Thread name changed.

Although I might want something different than the "2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread". Just haven't thought of anything witty enough yet.

[Karlos05]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

There we go.

[Thrasha]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

There we go.

LMAO at the title.

I literally almost spit out my pepsi when I read it.

[nyisles16]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

dont think Cuban can save ya.. need to go higher - maybe Gates?

i loved the title of the thread btw...

[mjb2124]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

As suffering Pirate fans for 13 going on 14 years, we're pretty good at finding ways to entertain ourselves!

Gates, Cuban.....anyone but Kevin McClatchy and G Ogden Nutting!! While we're at it, replace the entire front office. GM on up. We're cleaning house!

[mjb2124]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

What's this? Is the "Save Mark Cuban" mojo really working?

Pirates up 3-1 over Philly in the bottom of the 8th. Snell pitched 7 innings and was excellent. Best I've ever seen him pitch aside from his dual against Roger Clemens last year in HOU. Marte pitched the 8th and was absolutely flithy.

1 more inning left, but I liked what I've seen tonight.

[Karlos05]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

At least four teams -- the Marlins, Devil Rays, Pirates and Royals -- are getting more money from their good friends at MLB than they're spending on their entire payroll (this is before they sell one ticket).

This is true. All of them, according to sources, rake in around $30 million in revenue-sharing handouts alone -- plus another $20 million to $30 million in TV, radio, Internet and Central Fund payoffs (generated by national TV contracts and licensing deals).

That comes to $50 million to $60 million, by our count. But their payrolls, by anyone's count, come to slightly less than that. Or, in the Marlins' count, to insanely less.

I was going to post this and then rip into the front office for spending less on payroll than they get in revenue sharing, but after this win I'm in a good mood.

Snell pitched extremely well, and really deserved that win. I think what Tracy said a few weeks ago really got to him. When he got hitters down in the count he really went for the throat. No more meatballs. He threw some pretty wicked off speed stuff that really worked well.

BTW- I credit this name change completely to the thread name change

HOORAY Pirates!

[mjb2124]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

Karlos - Where did you get that quote? I've heard that the Pirates made between 8-12 MIL from revenue sharing.

Forbes magazine states the Pirates made 20 MIL last year. That sounds about right. There's little doubt McClatchy/Nutting are making money and pocketing it. It's just a matter of how much it is.

[Karlos05]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

Its a small quote from an insider article on ESPN.com. It's part of a larger article about the CBA being up and how they'll go about re-upping it for the next few years. It was written by Jason Stark and goes on to throw around the idea of a price basement, but how the union would never go for it.

I dont know what this means with the other info from the Forbes article, but I didn't actually put much thought into it.

[mjb2124]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

Ahh, thanks. I was just kind of wondering about the validity of it. The reason being is that the Forbes information is being struck down. Many are saying Forbes uses a formula to make a hypothesis as to what the numbers might be.

I really have no clue. I just think it's pretty obvious the owners are making money on this team.

I'm not opposed to a salary floor. Of course it won't happen, but it would make sense.

[Karlos05]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

Until the books are opened all we're going to get is guesses from everone. The brass will never show the real numbers though so it's pretty much a pointless exercise. All we know is that they're taking a good chunk, but it would be impossible for anyone to know exactly how much.

[LetsGoBucs]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

I stopped by the forum and couldn't find the Pirate thread... I wondered if it had gotten so bad for the Buccos that we even lost the Pirate board... Then I saw it... Like a beacon of light shimmering in the distance... It is now the Save Us Cuban thread...

Nice game last night. Gonzo looked a little shaky in the 9th, but I'll take it!

I just finished reading the Stark article. I would imagine that the Bucs are probably somewhere in between the $12M from Forbes and the $30M from Stark, but closer to Stark.

One question I have for you guys: How do you even fix this team right now??

I'm one that doesn't believe in overspending for marginal free agents (as visions of 'operation shutdown' and Pat Mears dance in my head). I can't see many top tier free agents wanting to go to Pittsburgh. And the minors keep producing light hitting second basemen (and by second basemen I mean any position player they produce seems more like a light hitting middle infielder) and pitchers with elbow problems. It seems like they can't develop power or plate dicipline in the minors. Their one "power hope" (Eldred) can't seem to hit and may be done for the whole season. I'm just not sure how they can fix it.....

The quote from Stark about the Royals and being stuck in an infinate loop of ineptitude seems to fit the Bucs as well...

[X*Cell]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

Scoring Margin ... as of May 1, 2006

1. +2.30 - Yankees
2. +2.00 - Tigers
3. +1.83 - White Sox
4. +1.29 - Mets
5. +1.28 - Cardinals
6. +0.72 - Indians
7. +0.72 - Reds
8. +0.71 - Astros
9. +0.60 - Brewers
10. +0.56 - Dodgers
11. +0.52 - Rangers
12. +0.48 - Diamondbacks
13. +0.43 - Blue Jays
14. +0.28 - Rockies
15. +0.00 - Braves
16. - 0.13 - Cubs
17. - 0.20 - Angels
18. - 0.38 - A's
19. - 0.40 - Red Sox
20. - 0.46 - Mariners
21. - 0.50 - Giants
22. - 0.54 - Orioles
23. - 0.73 - Marlins
24. - 0.96 - Phillies
25. - 1.00 - Nationals
26. - 1.13 - Padres
27. - 1.24 - Devil Rays
28. - 1.54 - Pirates
29. - 2.13 - Twins
30. - 2.55 - Royals

[LetsGoBucs]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

Complete game shutout today by Duke... Nice. That's the way to follow a good outing by Santos yesterday. Other than Perez the other day, they've had some pretty good starting pitching recently...

[mjb2124]

Re: The 2006 Save us Mark Cuban Thread

How about Santos? He's put together some nice starts this year. In fact, he's probably been the 2nd most consistent starter we've had; Duke being the other.

Glad to see the offense score some runs today and Duke pitch a good game. It took long enough though! Onto NY and WAS.