If/when Freddy goes, do you stay?

Mike Burke

ON FRIDAY, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked readers, “If second baseman Freddy Sanchez is traded, will it be the last straw between you and the Pirates?”

Of 3,206 respondents, 63 percent answered yes, and 37 answered no.

On Saturday, the Post-Gazette reported the Bucs have had talks with the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Mariners regarding Sanchez, and Peter Pascarelli reported Saturday on ESPN Radio that Sanchez could end up with the San Francisco Giants.

Now we have established the Pirates in their most recent and this time seemingly complete overhaul, need lots and lots of good young bodies to flood their farm system with if they are ever to be contenders again. Yet this goes back to our point when the Bucs traded Nate McLouth: It’s going to be difficult for the Pirates to maintain any short-team loyalty amongst their already thin fan base if they keep trading their fans’ favorite players.

But then you have to ask yourself, Do I go out to the ballpark to cheer for a player or cheer for my team? How much fun has it been finishing with a losing record for the last 17 seasons, which will become a professional sports record for futility this October?

Painful as this is, trading what marketable players they do have seems to be the only way the Pirates can successfully restock, even though you find yourself asking yourself every spring, When is it going to end?

Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson, who very well could be traded himself this month, wondered the same thing, telling the Post-Gazette of the June 3 trade of McLouth just after the June 30 trade of popular Nyjer Morgan, he is “beyond, beyond tired” of these deals.

“We know that they're looking to the future, which doesn’t say much about 2009,” he said. "That's probably what's so shocking. We're five games out, and we lost two or three of our everyday players."

“That's what hits us the most,” Wilson continued. “You can understand if it's the end of July.”

Wilson said he was understanding; to a point.

“They’re businessmen,” he said. “They're trying to achieve winning baseball in Pittsburgh. The biggest question is: When is that going to be? When do things start turning around? It's just hard for guys who have been here and seen these exact same trades happen and seen it absolutely do nothing. I've been here nine years. I've seen two or three of these trades every year and still haven't had a winning season.”

As for the Post-Gazette poll, I’m convinced the innate cynicism and, yes, bitterness that we all have as sports fans make up a fair portion of that 63 percent who said they would be done with the Bucs if Sanchez is traded. There are just some people who automatically vote in the negative as a way of venting their frustration. I also believe a fair portion of that 63 percent doesn’t go to PNC Park to begin with.

Actually, I was mildly impressed that 37 percent said they would stick with the Bucs, given the climate and the grassroots Boycott-the-Bucs web sites and campaigns that have started since the Pirates traded McLouth, then Morgan.

Sports fans are the ones who pay the bills, thus they feel entitled to be disgusted by professional sports. For Pittsburgh Pirates fans, that entitlement has been earned.

PERSONAL OPINION: As good as he is, and as exciting the prospect as to how good Orioles center fielder Adam Jones is going to be (he’s already an All-Star in just his second full season), he still needs to play about three or four steps deeper in center than he does.

Of course, Earl Weaver used to say the same thing about Paul Blair as it wasn’t uncommon for Weaver to come to the lip of the dugout, whistle and wave Blair back a few steps. Blair, naturally, always obeyed his manager — for one pitch, before moving back in those few steps on the following pitch.

Blair, of course, did win seven consecutive Gold Gloves for the Birds from 1969 to 1975 and the only balls that ever got over his head were the ones that left the ballpark. So, obviously, there aren’t many Paul Blairs running around in center field these days, and that includes Jones, who I’m sure has never even heard of Paul Blair.

(As Brooks Robinson once said, upon being informed one-time Twins third-base phenom John Castino had never heard of Brooks Robinson despite having a game that closely resembled that of the Hall of Famer’s, “That’s all right, kid. I ain’t ever heard of you, either.”)

As for Jones, twice on Friday balls hit to deep center that should have been caught had Jones been playing a few steps deeper turned into Blue Jays doubles and led to both of their runs in a 2-0 win over Baltimore.

Of course, it might not have mattered, as yet another lefthander stymied the Orioles, this time Calvert County native Brett Cecil pulling the trick. And who, you ask, is Brett Cecil? Fair question. He pitched for the University of Maryland so that should tell you something right there.

Yes, the Terps have a baseball team.

Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.