A quote that's usually attributed to Albert Einstein is "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
After their painful playoff loss in 1992, the Pirates let Barry Bonds and Doug Drabek leave as free agents, following Bobby Bonilla and the traded John Smiley from the year before. They announced that prospects Kevin Young, Carlos Garcia and Al Martin would become starters at first base, second base and left field. And they filled out their pitching rotation with youngsters like Steve Cooke and Paul Wagner. They went 75-87.
They kept filling holes with prospects, both their own and those who came over from other teams as the Pirates traded away veterans. Occasionally, they'd take back a less expensive contract when trading away larger ones. (When the Pirates traded Jay Bell and Jeff King to the Royals before 1997, they got back Joe Randa and three guys named Jeff.) When they would sign the occasional veteran free agent, it was someone from the bargain basement.
Incredibly, this strategy would lead to the same result -- another losing season.
They would draft high, but not come up with great players. They had the first draft pick three times; their choices were pitchers Kris Benson, Bryan Bullington and Gerrit Cole.
They did come up with some good players, like Jason Kendall, Brian Giles and Jason Bay. But all of them would be traded when the club decided they'd be too expensive.
At no point was there an attempt to acquire veterans they could build around; it was always about hoping this particular group of kids would come together. The same strategy every year, looking for a different result ...
This continued through three ownerships: the Pittsburgh Associates public-private partnership from 1993-95, the McClatchy group from 1996-2006, and Bob Nutting since 2007. Ted Simmons was the general manager at the beginning of 1993, but resigned during the season for health reasons. Cam Bonifay took over, and lasted until midseason 2001. Dave Littlefield was hired, and he was fired in September 2007, when Neal Huntington got the job.
There was a stretch where they would sign seemingly washed-up veteran pitchers and make them useful again. Ray Searage earned a lot of credit for that, but after front office guys Jim Benedict and Marc DelPiano moved to Miami, it was suddenly less successful.
Finally, after a North American major-league record 20 consecutive losing seasons, the Pirates built a group around two of Littlefield's first-round picks, Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker, and Cole. They also had third baseman Pedro Alvarez, who hadn't quite been reduced to a one-dimensional power hitter, pitcher A.J. Burnett, whom they got from the Yankees for a couple of lesser prospects when New York wanted to dump some salary, and catcher Russell Martin, who actually signed a two-year, $17 million contract. The club not only won 82 games, but they won 94 and hosted the Wild Card game against Cincinnati. After beating the Reds, the Pirates then lost the division series to the Cardinals, and they were able to host losing Wild Card games for the next two years.
To be fair, management did bring in veterans to help during those stretch drives. Some worked out better than others, but it was an attempt to win.
Ultimately, though, the front office seemed like the dog that caught the car; they had no idea what to do with it. After 2015, they traded second baseman and Pittsburgher Walker to the Mets for pitcher Jon Niese, who was awful during his brief time with the Pirates. And they made clear that they wanted to trade McCutchen and Cole as soon as possible. Two years later, they did, and went back to amassing prospects.
It looks like we're going into this offseason with the same top management supervising the same baseball management leading the same scouts and talent evaluators executing the same strategy and expecting different results.
Insanity.
• Yes, the team is having a good week. I hope it keeps up.
Let me know if they're in contention at the end of August.
• Don't blame the manager.
When Jim Leyland had the players from 1990-92, he won division pennants. When he didn't have players at the beginning of this process (1993-96), he finished below .500. And when he recognized that management wasn't going to get him players and moved on to a loaded Marlins team, he earned a ring in 1997.
There may be times when Josh Smoker is preferable to Dovydas Neverauskas, or vice versa. But no manager is going to look good over any length of time when those are his two options.
• How can we explain the three winning seasons? Either they were the culmination of a 20-year process, in which case we can get excited again in 2036, or they were a fluke.
• We're long past the point where management can blame the payroll on attendance. We've seen the product for the last 26 years, and it's incumbent on the front office to improve it to draw fans.