The annual Nutting money grab starts early this year

Pirates give up on present by trading McLouth


The message from the Pirates organization today to their dwindling fan base is this:

The present be damned.

By trading center fielder Nate McLouth, their best and most marketable player, to the Atlanta Braves for three minor leaguers, the Pirates have said they have no chance of winning this season, a stance that goes against what they had been saying.

It was a shocking and unexpected trade. McLouth, 27, was viewed as a cornerstone building block of the franchise. Not only does he lead the team in home runs and runs batted it, he led in both categories last season and won a Gold Glove for defensive excellence.

I think commenter Steve at Mondesi's House really understands the Nutting business model:

As long as they can sell a few thousand tickets and string the cool aide drinkers along with promise of the future -- one that will never become present -- they with net a very nice profit and every season will be a relative success in their eyes.

That in a nutshell is the hard truth, and why losing while making money is much easier for the Nutting's to swallow than spending more money than their share of revenue sharing and the MLB telvision contact will afford them, by building a winning team and possibly losing money just to make a few thousand more Pirates fans happy.

UPDATE: I cannot decide if Frank Coonelly is a clueless empty suit or an arrogant liar:

"It's not about money," Coonelly said

Has Coonelly never heard that when they say it is not about the money, it's about the money?

UPDATE 2: I like Baseball Crank's take:

Yes, the Bucs got three prospects back, but they have plenty of "prospects"; what the Pirates lack is baseball players. McLouth is 27 and, with the arguable exception of Freddy Sanchez, is the best player on the team. Maybe he'll be a little past his prime and at the end of his contract by the time Pittsburgh's younger players have come into their own, but if you keep dealing away guys like McLouth you never even get close enough to contending to make those kinds of decisions.

UPDATE 3: From SullyBaseball:

Hey Pirates... Why Even Bother?

And so it continues for the Pirates...

June has barely begun and the flag being raised isn't the Jolly Roger but the white flag of surrender.

Even though the Pirates are only 4 games under .500, the management has declared 1/3 of the season is enough... start dumping bodies.

And they did it the best way they know how:

Trade young players (like Nate McLouth) with affordable long term contracts for a bunch of young guys you've never heard of.