Pirates still don't have all the pieces

In two years, the Carolina Panthers went from being the worst team in the National Football League (1-15) to four seconds away from overtime in the Super Bowl.
How you feel about that scenario says a lot about whether you prefer today's NFL versus Major League Baseball.
Both play six-month regular seasons. Both derive plenty of income from television broadcasts.
Only one shares equally and contains salaries.
In baseball, dynasties and economic unbalance remain key components of the fabric.
In professional football, on any given Sunday (or Monday night and sometimes Saturday and Thursday) anyone can win.
Which is better? Depends on who you ask.
Hard facts
As baseball's economics have skyrocketed out of control, it's become extremely difficult for bad teams to reverse their fortunes.
Occasionally, we're surprised. The Oakland Athletics have been to the postseason for four consecutive years. The Minnesota Twins have won the American League Central Division two years in a row. And the Florida Marlins are World Champions.
But in the NFL, a bottom-dweller can become a contender almost overnight with intelligent personnel decisions.
Since winning the National League East Division in 1992 and coming three outs away from the World Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates have contended just once in the past 11 seasons (1997).
Bucs management has blown up the team at least four times during that time, trading away high-priced quality players for prospects (most of whom never blossomed as promised).
This year's team will have only two position players (catcher Jason Kendall and shortstop Jack Wilson) back from last April's team. Outfielder Brian Giles was traded to the San Diego Padres last August to create payroll space. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez was almost given away to the Chicago Cubs last July.
At the time, general manager Dave Littlefield said freeing those salaries would give him flexibility to pursue free agents.
Pirates fans are waiting for him to make a move. Signing outfielder Chris Singleton and pitchers Jose Mesa and Rick Reed doesn't count.
Manager's view
Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon, who was in Youngstown Monday for the Pirates caravan, disagrees, saying Littlefield has "done a tremendous amount of work to try and get things to come together.
"It's starting to shape up -- we still don't have all the pieces that we'd like to have. It's certainly not the doom and gloom that you guys predicted early on. We're going to be all right."
McClendon's enthusiasm is hard to fathom after three seasons of low-salaried teams. It certainly would be nice to see him get a chance to manage a quality team.
McClendon refuses to let the game's out-of-balance economics affect his thinking.
"I can't allow for players to argue for those limitations and I certainly argue for them -- if you do, that's just what they become," McClendon said. "I can't buy into that and I can't allow my players to buy into it. The game is played between the lines, not by how much money you make in the contract. The Florida Marlins proved that.
"We need to take care of our business," McClendon said. "If we go out and prepare ourselves and play the way we are capable of playing day in and day out, at the end of the season it's going to be a decent year for us.
Uphill battle
"Have we taken a step back money-wise? Of course we have. But that shouldn't stop the progress that we will continue to try and make."
Perhaps the payroll inequality doesn't matter to players and coaches. Unfortunately, it does to customers.
Still need a reason why the NFL system is better? The Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers will return to postseason action long before the Cleveland Indians and Pirates will need to print playoff tickets.
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com.