Another sell out of Bucs' players

The other day, an Indians fan asked a Pirates fan how he was doing after the Bucs traded third baseman Aramis Ramirez and center-fielder Kenny Lofton to the Chicago Cubs for a bag of magic beans, $24 in trinkets and millions of shares of Enron stock.
Actually, the Pirates received infielder Jose Hernandez (OK glove, weak bat), minor league pitcher Matt Bruback and a player to be named later.
You can decide which deal is better.
That same day, the Bucs also sent setup reliever Scott Sauerbeck to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for reliever Brandon Lyon. Two days later, the Pirates announced concerns about the health of Lyon's throwing elbow.
"Fine," the Pirates fan replied. "We're getting used to a July sell-off of players."
In 11 years, this is at least the fourth time Pirates management has dismantled a bad team to build for the future.
"It hurt two years ago when we gave away Jason Schmidt for nothing," the Pirates fan rationalized. "Schmidt was the pitcher who was going to make us forget about giving away Denny Neagle to the Atlanta Braves.
"We're getting pretty immune to the shock of our favorite team giving up."
It truly has been a sad decade for Pirates fans. The three-year run of National League East pennants ended in 1992, a lifetime in baseball year.
Prognosis
And it's about to get worse, if Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield can trick another team into taking catcher Jason Kendall (and the $42 million owed him over the next four seasons) for the right to obtain outfielder Brian Giles.
Will Giles be relocated before Thursday's trading deadline? It's hard to believe he won't be.
Recently, Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy announced that his franchise has lost $30 million since PNC Park opened in April 2001.
That year, the Bucs attracted 2.46 million fans to the new ballpark. This year, the Bucs are projecting an attendance of 1.6 million. It's time to pay back the fans who aren't coming out.
Although McClatchy and Littlefield aren't announcing specifics to their "new plan," it's obvious that they're dumping payroll, specifically future payroll, to cover that $30 million loss.
This year's Pirates began with a $57 million budget, the most in team history. All the Bucs needed to contend in the weak NL Central Division was a mediocre .500 record. That proved impossible.
Short on money
Because Major League Baseball has no real revenue sharing or salary cap, it's possible that this year's revenue shortfall has hurt the Pirates so much that issuing paychecks could be a problem in the not-too-distant future.
McClatchy has to be thinking that if he can't make money with a team featuring Giles and Ramirez, he might as well try not to lose as much money with a stripped-down model in the $20 million range.
McClatchy and the other small-market owners have only themselves to blame -- instead of banding together last summer to demand revenue sharing and a salary cap, they stood by meekly, allowing another contract settlement that favors the fat cats.
"Fine?" responded the Indians fan. "How can you be fine? Your team has given up on the rest of the season. And next season, as well. And probably the one after that. How can you be fine?"
The Pirates fan shrugged as a forlorn look came across his face.
"What choice do I have?" the Pirates fan said.
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com.