FanPost

Smizik Losses Forest for the Trees, Again


Smizik's latest post - which I hereby pledge not to respond to on his blog and suggest yinz do the same - is here. He argues that the prospective 2010 Pirates lineup is possibly the worst in 55 years.

I only read the thing once and could barely keep breakfast down, so I don't intent to read it again. With that disclaimer, the problem is that Smizik did not define what he meant by worst. I think that he meant worst in terms of lack of proven decent big leaguers. Without dissecting the last half-century of Pirate lineups, that seems a plausible argument, which is to say I have no problem with the 2010 Bucs being in the discussion.

If I read it correctly, Smizik is not being directly critical of the Pirates as much as he is commenting on the lacking major league track record of the everyday eight. The problem is that "worst" connotes a negative, which is unfortunate because there is not necessarily a correlation between the level of MLB establishment of the lineup and the competitive state of the franchise.

Per his routine, Smizik makes zero mention of the fact that young, pedigreed prospects with favorable contract scenarios (meaning years of control much more so than cost) are slated to start at 4 of the 8 positions, with there being reasonable hope for RF, decent veterans at 2B & C, and a passable option at SS - and with high caliber prospects pushing at every position except short. I am more pleased with this everyday 8 than any other that we have trotted out since at least 2000, and probably since 1992. Since there is no reasonable doubt that the Pirates are in a much better position now than they have been for at least the last 17 years, Smizik is either:

a. Taking another cheap shot at the Pirates current front office and their strategy;

b. Ignorant;

c. Failing to communicate is point well (that is, it is a poorly written piece); or

d. Some combination of the above.

The thought here is that it is a combination of A & B.

Good day.

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