If You're Not Part of the Solution...

Let me tell YOU something Zack Stynchula.

Brandon Moss isn't the problem. Brian Bixler isn't the problem. Jesse Chavez isn't the problem...

YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.

It's people like you, who still blindly follow this garbage excuse of a team. You're the parent that sees your young kid sticking a cat in the microwave and thinks it's youthful innocence. Seventeen years later, when your kid is holding up the local 7-11 and goes on a four-state serial raping spree, it's not cute anymore.

When things go wrong, you gotta do something about it, before the real damage is done.

The Pirates aren't a baseball team, they're a marketing juggernaut. Why spend more money on players and development to help your team win when you can just give away a few bobbleheads, have a washed-up 80's band play after the game and shoot off some fireworks? As long as people are in the seats and this team makes money, it's all good (except for the baseball.) PNC Park is not a ballpark, it's a social gathering place. The Pirates are a punchline in the sporting world, and that hurts. A team with the rich history you described below, and now it's nothing more than a doormat. Growing up, I looked up to guys like Clemente, Stargell, Van Slyke, Drabek...who do kids in Pittsburgh look up to now? Andy LaRoche?

"When I grow up, I want to be Pat Meares. He got paid $15 million for playing 21 games. He's a financial genius."

So do you get my point? They are robbing you of your dignity and your God-given right to witness good baseball. You think you're being a passionate, loyal fan by supporting them through thick and thin but you're actually just allowing them to keep bending you over and steal your money. It's the same reason the Yankees can charge thousands of dollars for one ticket and get away with it. There are people stupid enough to pay for it. You're stupid enough to pay for shitty baseball. Show them you're fed up, cut and run while you can. Don't let an REO Speedwagon concert suck you back in. Don't let a two-game winning streak make you think playoffs. I admire what the new regime is trying to do, but when you see the success a guy like Jason Bay is having while the so-called "prospects" they received in return continue to battle injuries and inconsistency, it's disheartening. And when your top prospects, the "future of the Pittsburgh Pirates" include a guy married to a baby-stealing woman 20 years his senior who quit on his minor league team last year, and another guy who showed up to camp overweight and tried to screw the Pirates when it came to signing his first contract, it doesn't give me much optimism. I remember when Chad Hermansen walked on water. Well guess what? He sunk. So until I see some semblance of winning baseball with a winning atmosphere, I'm done supporting the Pittsburgh Pirates. It's amazing that in the CITY OF CHAMPIONS there are fans who continue to support this garbage. We should be ashamed. It's just some borderline major leaguers collecting a major-league paycheck until they move on to greener pastures.

Don't call me a frontrunner. The Pirates were my first love growing up. They will always have a place in my heart. I just refuse to get emotionally attached to them again until they can prove to me they're ready for a long-term relationship. Seventeen years is a long time. Pittsburgh deserves better.