Perrotto is bought and sold like the rest of Pittsburgh's media. After a $25MM selloff at the deadline, $35MM in revenue sharing, and another $40MM from the central fund, spending $10MM on the draft, $10MM for a Latin facilty five years too late, and $40MM in payroll, means Nutting has a gross profit of $40MM before they sold one ticket.

The only thing the Pirates have the "best" of in professional sports is their spin machine which every beat writer and media outlet in that town is a part of.

But maybe one day Tabata will become another Nady and save them all.

Perrotto is bought and sold like the rest of Pittsburgh's media.

I'm sure you have evidence supporting this smear.

Paging Justin Zeth...

I don't see anything wrong with the quoted paragraph. The person who said the organization is the best is Bob Nutting - what do you expect him to say? Do you think Perrotto is wrong that they look a hell of a lot better than Littlefield & co. to date? Let's remember some major accomplishments:

* Drafting & signing arguably the #1 player on the board (and staring down Scott Boras in the process)
* Spending a record amount on the draft
* Spending a bunch of money on a Dominican program
* Making smart hires like Kyle Stark (another Kyle S!) and Dan Fox
* Turning Xavier Freakin' Nady (who sucked until this year and is gone after next year anyway) into Jose Tabata
* Not making any stupid signings/trades a la Pat Meares, Jeromy Burnitz, Matt Morris, Derek Bell, etc.

What exactly do you think the Pirates should have done differently since Huntington & co. started? I think they're doing a fine job.

"After a $25MM selloff at the deadline..."

I must have missed this. When, exactly, did we trade away half of this year's payroll? Unless, of course, you were doubling the actual figure from Bay/Nady/Marte for dramatic effect...

And what's wrong with the Dominican facility? Yeah, it would've been nice to have it five years ago, but Huntington's a GM, not ############' Dr. Who, that he can travel back in time and fix all of Littlefield's dumb-ass #### before it ever happened.

I'm also curious where the $75M in revenue sharing and central fund money comes from. That's over $20M more than any figure I've ever seen.

not ############' Dr. Who

There is never, ever, a reason to use the Doctor's name in vain.

While I've been generally impressed with both talk and action from the new Pirate crowd, having watched our hometown team all year, I've been having some doubts about their ability to identify and draft talent.

http://www.statecollegespikes.com/

That's not entirely fair. Most of this year's top picks didn't sign until last week, so the Spikes roster was a foul brew of late-rounders and Littlefield's leftovers.

The GCL team, over which new management probably had more control, has the best record in its league.

8:

And this record is unsurprising because the Pirates forced out Wilson Alvarez.... Huntington ought to be fired just for this incident.