Pirates general manager Neal Huntington had a conference call Monday evening to explain the Pirates' trade deadline deals, and I think he used the word "costs" and phrase "financial flexibility" three times each within the first three or four minutes.
I thought the Pirates were past operating in a way where the budget and years of control trump trying to get to the postseason. I thought wrong.
I've written several times this summer that this isn't a World Series team and that the Pirates should use the second half of the season to get young pitchers some experience.
I was OK with the Mark Melancon trade. It needed to be done, and the Pirates got two good young lefty arms in return.
I was still with the Pirates Monday when it was announced that the Pirates and Mets swapped Jon Niese and Antonio Bastardo. Niese hasn't worked out here, Bastardo hasn't worked out with the Mets and both teams are just hoping to get a spark and see if a change in scenery helps both pitchers.
I have no issue with the deal for a journeyman-type veteran starter such as Ivan Nova, which cost the Pirates next to nothing, because the young pitchers have been fragile and you still need someone to eat innings.
Nova will give the Pirates 11-13 starts and hopefully eat 70 or so innings, and that is 70 innings fewer they need to put on the arms of some of the rookies who have all seemingly had arm issues.
But I hated the trade of Francisco Liriano. That is the equivalent of giving up on the season.
The Pirates formula to get back to the wild card game had a number of different looks, but none were possible unless Liriano turned his season around. The Pirates had really only two pitchers _ Gerrit Cole and Liriano _ who have proven they can win at a high level and are top of the rotation guys at their best. And while the young guys are exciting to watch and all have great stuff, it is clear they are all still learning.
Thus the Pirates could sell some of their older, expensive guys (Melancon) and some of their mistakes (Niese) and still not be selling the season.
They can no longer say that, not after doing a salary dump of Liriano to Toronto. And throwing in two top 10 prospects (Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire) to make it work is obscene.
This is an organization that has held on to top-10 prospects and refused to trade them over the years _ in most cases _ to make a deal for a big name player in return. This is an organization that routinely overvalues its prospects and often refuses to even discuss trading them, regardless of what they might bring in return.
Yet now they are going to trade two of them to complete a salary dump and bring a pitcher _ Drew Hutchison _ who many scouts believe might be a good third or fourth starter some day?
Oh, and Hutchison won't be in the rotation initially; he will be in Indianapolis until Sept. 1 because the Pirates then get an extra year of control of him.
Liriano stinked this year, and, I don't necessarily think he was going to find his stuff and magically become the top-level pitcher he has been for most of the last three years.
But dumping his salary means the Pirates don't believe he will turn it around, either. Their best chance to get to the playoffs involved Liriano turning it around (I thought that Ray Searage was a miracle worker?), and it involves Andrew McCutchen turning it around.
This isn't really about Liriano; it is about a team that wasn't good enough from the start of the season and didn't build on 98 wins of a year ago. It is about an organization so interested in dumping salary that it gives away two top-10 prospects to make it happen.
You are not serious about getting to the postseason, though, if you are, as Huntington, going to have Ryan Vogelsong and Nova and a hodgepodge of rookies in your rotation.
Before you start throwing WHIP and WAR and all that other nonsense, take a look at the rotations of the teams the Pirates are fighting with for the wild card _ the Dodgers, Mets, Cardinals and Marlins _ and tell me which one you think the Pirates are comparable.
Yes, Nova could have a J.A. Happ-like revival in this last part of the season. Maybe Vogelsong can find the fountain of youth and the rookies can all put it together at the same time and the Pirates will finish strongly.
But if you believe all that is going to happen, I have the deed to the Fort Duquesne Bridge in a lock box somewhere and I will sell it to you.
The Pirates have been one of the best teams and organizations in baseball, and I still believe that Bob Nutting and Huntington have shown they care about winning.
This, however, is not a good look for the organization. I don't care what Huntington has to say _ they traded in the 2016 season for a chance to save some money.
That's the reality of these deals, and it is a reality I don't think Pirates fans are going to be willing to accept, especially since they have done their part and supported the team and bought tickets.
Huntington did say the Pirates will reallocate the dollars saved and invest them into the team and added "we won't just spend money to spend money." But we've seen that show before and know how it likely ends.
The Liriano deal is the kind that has had many fans calling Nutting cheap over the years.
In this case, I can't say I disagree.
